Teamster News
Teamsters Local 856 Welcomes Mt. Diablo School District Workers teamster.org ...Five hundred Mount Diablo Unified School District workers in the maintenance and operations unit have chosen to join Teamsters Local 856, San Bruno, Calif., in an overwhelming vote today...
Teamsters Helping Teamsters driveupstandards.org ...Nance Prendota, a Teamsters Local 777 school bus driver for Illinois
Central School Bus in Aurora, Ill., woke up to a house fire in
mid-January that destroyed everything in its path...
Teamster bus drivers at CCTA could strike Monday WPTZ News 5 ...Teamsters Local 597, based in South Barre, Vermont, has threatened taking action on Monday if settlement is not reached...
De Blasio Whipped by Horse Lobby Daily Beast ...NYC’s new mayor is determined to get rid of Central Park’s horse-drawn carriages this year. The fact that the animal rights lobby savaged his campaign opponent is pure coincidence, his supporters say...
Members of the Teamsters and NJSAP Coalition teamsterair.org ...Minimal progress and unjustifiable demands have motivated the NetJets Association of Shared Aircraft Pilots (NJASAP) and International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) Local 284 Executive Boards to formally launch the NetJets Unions Coalition (NUC)...
Teamsters Local 700 Endorses Best Candidates for Working Families Teamsters Local 700 ...Teamsters Local 700, based in Park Ridge, Illinois, announced endorsements in the March 18 primary elections...
Trade
U.S. readies for more 'extremely tough' trade talks with Japan Reuters ...The United States is finding talks with Japan on opening its agricultural market "extremely tough", a senior U.S. trade official said on Friday, as the two countries prepared for another round of bilateral negotiations...
It wasn't all weather: What's behind the weak manufacturing jobs report. manufacture this ...the Department of Labor announced that America's manufacturing sector added a mere 6,000 jobs in February, with significant downward revisions for January. Additionally, the U.S. Commerce Department reported that America's trade deficit with China rose substantially in January...
A Trade Pact No One Should Want Counterpunch ...We’ve heard a lot on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, but what will the Trans-Atlantic Partnership do? (Nothing good, that’s for sure.)...
Counterpoint: Don't repeat NAFTA mistakes (Opinion) Star-Tribune ...Amid secrecy and the model of broken promises, don’t ram through the TPP deal...
State Battles
Focusing on Win-Wins for Iowa Workers and Employers Iowa Senate Democrats ...This week the Senate passed a compromise version of wage theft legislation (Senate File 2295). It targets shady Iowa businesses which compete unfairly and cheat workers by shorting paychecks, confiscating tips, misclassifying workers, unauthorized paycheck deductions; and refusing to pay overtime...
Assembly passes child care, family leave bills WGRZ.com ...The (New York) state Assembly on Wednesday passed a package of bills that aim to increase access to childcare and establish paid family leave...
West Virginia Senate passes legislation to help accommodate pregnant workers Associated Press ...The West Virginia Senate has passed legislation to help accommodate pregnant women in the workplace....
Tennessee Republicans single out unions with anti-picketing bill DailyKos ..Spurred by the fact that Tennessee added 31,000 union members last year, state Rep. Jeremy Durham has introduced a bill that would create a new "mass picketing" misdemeanor specifically aimed at labor activists...
Trampling on our First Amendment Rights Michigan AFL-CIO ...The State House is contemplating the passage of HB 4643, a bill sponsored by Representative Tom McMillin (R). HB 4643 will result in civil fines of up to $10,000 per day for picketing that is deemed illegal; creating a huge chilling effect on your First Amendment rights...
War on Workers
A vast hidden surveillance network runs across America, powered by the repo industry Beta Boston ... the most significant impact of Sousa’s business is far bigger than locating cars whose owners have defaulted on loans: It is the growing database of snapshots showing where Americans were at specific times, information that everyone from private detectives to insurers are willing to pay for...
Shocking Stat: 70% of Americans Not in the Labor Force Are Under 55 Years Old AlterNet ...Infograph shows majority of 5.8 million 'missing' workers have given up the search because there simply aren’t any jobs...
Chicago May Be The Next City To Demand Paid Sick Days For ALL Workers Huffington Post ...Chicago employers would be required to offer paid sick leave to all workers under a proposal introduced by City Councilmen Wednesday...
Container truck drivers reach tentative deal at Vancouver port arineLink ...Container truck drivers at Canada's largest port reached a new deal on Thursday, narrowly avoiding an expanded job action that would have seen some 400 unionized drivers join about 1,200 non-unionized drivers who walked off the job last week...
America's New Servant Class AlterNet ...Income inequality is creating a boom in the servant industry. Welcome to the world of Downton Abbey...
BP chief executive's pay triples in 2013 The Guardian ...The pay of Bob Dudley, BP's chief executive, tripled last year despite the legal threats still hanging over the company from the Deepwater Horizon disaster...
Boeing freezing nonunion workers' pensions in 2016 Associated Press ...Boeing Co. said Thursday it is freezing the traditional defined-benefit pensions for 68,000 nonunion employees - including managers and executives - starting in 2016...
United Airlines dumps Newark Airport union jobs for janitorial contractor that will pay lower wages Daily News ...The airline has tossed out a janitorial contractor that pays its workers $9 an hour and will replace it with a company that's expected to pay $8.25 an hour. The cold-hearted move will affect nearly 270 workers...
Miscellaneous
Who Has The Right to Track You? In These Times ...As states begin to rein in mass surveillance, corporations argue that they have a right to collect data...
Staples to close 225 North American stores BBC News ...US office supplier Staples said it will close 225 stores in North America, more
than 10% of its presence, as shoppers move online and its sales slump...
Disney cuts 700 employees from its video game division Raw Story ...Walt Disney Company on Thursday confirmed that it is cutting about a quarter of the workers at its money-losing video game division...
US economy hampered by severe winter weather, Fed says The Guardian ...Federal Reserve's 'beige book' report notes that consumer spending lessened because of cold, snow and storms in winter...
How corporate America is losing the debate on taxes Washington Post ...If there is one clear loser in President Obama's budget this year, it's U.S. multinationals. Designed to plug some major leaks in the tax code, the 2015 budget proposes a total of more than $276 billion in higher taxes on overseas earnings for U.S. multinationals over the next decade, about $120 billion more than last year's budget...
New Post-ABC News poll: Keystone XL project overwhelmingly favored by Americans Washington Post ...Americans support the idea of constructing the Keystone XL oil pipeline between Canada and the United States by a nearly 3 to 1 margin, with 65 percent saying it should be approved and 22 percent opposed, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll...
Education Advocates Launch Campaign to Combat Student Debt US News ...The America that invested in and created opportunity is disappearing, Sen. Elizabeth Warren said...
Showing posts with label BP. Show all posts
Showing posts with label BP. Show all posts
Saturday, March 8, 2014
Thursday, March 6, 2014
Today's Teamster News 03.06.14
Teamster News
PA Teamsters Stand Against Paycheck Deception Bill teamster.org ...Teamster members and leaders joined with York County legislators to denounce what has been termed the ‘Paycheck Deception Bill’ (House Bill 1507) at a press conference yesterday...
Teamsters: Workers, Not the Rich, Need a Hand Up teamster.org ...The growing disparity in incomes between the “haves” and the “have nots” is a real problem for America, and one that is being felt in many corners of this country...
Deadline Rapidly Approaches for JRH Scholarship Applications teamster.org ...March 31st is the deadline to apply for the James R. Hoffa Memorial Scholarship that's been set up to benefit children or financially dependent grandchildren of Teamsters. For more details and downloadable materials, click here...
Trade
Is Japan Playing Ball with the US on the TransPacific Partnership? naked capitalism ...expect to hear the Trade Representative’s office to bray that considerable progress was made on the TPP as a result of Obama’s visit. Remember, in negotiating, the impression that progress is being made is critical. But anyone who has been following this beat and isn’t in the can for the Administration is certain to tell you otherwise...
USDA Ignores Food Safety, Hell Bent on Importing Brazilian Beef Trade Reform ...Brazil is to the U.S. beef industry what China is to the steel industry (and many other industries)… they are the goliath. They are really big. They will flood our market with potentially contaminated meat...
US: Administration outlines international trade goals just-style ....The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) has outlined the US President's international trade goals and policies for 2014 - which include completing TPP negotiations, continuing T-TIP talks and working on eliminating trade barriers...
Controversial anti-smuggling trade agreement between China and the United States renewed Art Media Agency ...A controversial anti-smuggling trade agreement established between China and the United States in 2009 has been renewed for five years...
State Battles
Highest Minimum-Wage State Washington Beats U.S. in Job Creation Bloomberg News ...When Washington residents voted in 1998 to raise the state’s minimum wage and link it to the cost of living, opponents warned the measure would be a job-killer. The prediction hasn’t been borne out. In the 15 years that followed, the state’s minimum wage climbed to the highest in the country while job growth continued above the national rate...
Indiana union petitions state Supreme Court to rule Right to Work unconstitutional Beverly Hills Courier ...As Right to Work battles continue to wage across the country, labor supporters in Indiana are looking at a decisive victory if the state Supreme Court rules in their favor...
State Supreme Court Moves to Consolidate Pension Law Challenges NBC News ...Four lawsuits from the Retired State Employee Association, the Illinois State Employee Association, the We Are One Illinois Coalition and a group of retired school teachers challenging the state's pension law reform will now be heard as one challenge, according to the ruling...|
What ALEC Has Planned For Ohio In 2014: Hurt School Districts And More Tax Cuts For The Wealthy Plunderbund ...Despite 40 years of empirical evidence showing that cutting taxes for those at the top does exactly nothing to help anybody else, and, in fact, has helped skyrocket wealth inequality to Gilded Age levels, this “tax reform” push is a top priority...
Federal investigators issue ‘scathing’ report on Indiana OSHA Indianapolis Star ...IOSHA failed to investigate an explosion at Indianapolis Power & Light in March 2013, even as the agency was negotiating a settlement with the utility company over an explosion seven months earlier that killed one worker and injured another...
War on Workers
Companies in U.S. Added Fewer Jobs Than Forecast in February Bloomberg News ...Companies added fewer workers than projected in February, a sign that U.S. employers were waiting for a pickup in demand before boosting headcount, a private report based on payrolls showed today...
A Depressingly Simple Explanation For The Weak Recovery Business Insider ...income gains have been mediocre for a broad swath of middle income households for some time, and borrowing temporarily masked the demand drag. In combination these factors have been a contributing factor to the slow recovery of U.S. consumption and economic growth...
Researchers Suggest Banks Might Be Rigging Gold Prices truthout ...the five banks that set the gold price have now been accused of price manipulation in a class-action lawsuit filed Monday in a U.S. federal court in New York...
Booming Business at Alabama Shipyard Fuels New Union Campaign In These Times ...Rapid business growth may be the key to finally unionizing shipbuilding workers in Mobile, Ala., where an Australia-based defense contractor has successfully fought union organizing for more than a decade...
More Than 2 Million Unemployed Workers Are Now Going Without Benefits ThinkProgress ...Congress is failing this 40-year nursing veteran (and 2 million others like her)...
New Democratic Strategy Goes After Koch Brothers New York Times ...On Thursday, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is starting a digital campaign that will use Internet ads and videos, as well as social media, to tie Republican Senate candidates to the policies and actions of the Koch brothers. Its slogan: “The G.O.P. is addicted to Koch” (pronounced coke)...
Imposing a Starvation Diet on Government Programs Needs to End (Opinion) Huffington Post ...As any dietician will attest, starving the body of vital nutrients in an effort to slim down is a recipe for failure. The same is true for federal government programs and services...
Miscellaneous
Americans Shut Out of Home Market Threaten Recovery: Mortgages Bloomberg ...First-time homebuyers hurt by rising prices and tougher credit standards are disappearing from the market, slowing the pace of the three-year recovery. The decline of these buyers, many of whom are young and non-white, also threatens to widen the wealth gap between owners, who benefit from appreciation, and renters, said Thomas Lawler, a former Fannie Mae economist...
Bernanke’s $250,000 fee for speech puts him near top of food chain Wall Street Journal ...Former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s reported $250,000 for a speech in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday puts him in rarefied air of public speakers, experts said. With one speech, Bernanke exceeded his $199,700 annual salary as Fed chairman in 2013...
The Inverse of Oversight: CIA Spies On Congress The Intercept ... the CIA’s inspector general has asked for a criminal investigation into CIA monitoring of computers used by Senate aides who were investigating the agency’s prominent role in the Bush-era torture of detainees...
Rolls-Royce investigated in US over bribery claims The Telegraph ...Rolls-Royce is being investigated by the US Department of Justice (DoJ), following allegations that its executives bribed officials in Indonesia, China and India in order to win lucrative contracts...
BP fails to get out of compensating oil spill victims Salon ...An appeals court shut down the company's efforts to avoid paying damages...
Frigid U.S. Weather Means Highest Power Prices Since ’08: Energy Bloomberg News ...Freezing temperatures gripping the eastern U.S. will result in the highest electricity prices in six years for consumers in Boston, Dallas and San Francisco...
Scary Emerging Scientific Consensus: There's No Such Thing as Safe Plastic Democracy Now! ...There is new research suggesting that even BPA-free plastics contain chemicals that can act like estrogen in the body and cause disease. And the plastics industry has a big propaganda denial campaign in the works....
PA Teamsters Stand Against Paycheck Deception Bill teamster.org ...Teamster members and leaders joined with York County legislators to denounce what has been termed the ‘Paycheck Deception Bill’ (House Bill 1507) at a press conference yesterday...
Teamsters: Workers, Not the Rich, Need a Hand Up teamster.org ...The growing disparity in incomes between the “haves” and the “have nots” is a real problem for America, and one that is being felt in many corners of this country...
Deadline Rapidly Approaches for JRH Scholarship Applications teamster.org ...March 31st is the deadline to apply for the James R. Hoffa Memorial Scholarship that's been set up to benefit children or financially dependent grandchildren of Teamsters. For more details and downloadable materials, click here...
Trade
Is Japan Playing Ball with the US on the TransPacific Partnership? naked capitalism ...expect to hear the Trade Representative’s office to bray that considerable progress was made on the TPP as a result of Obama’s visit. Remember, in negotiating, the impression that progress is being made is critical. But anyone who has been following this beat and isn’t in the can for the Administration is certain to tell you otherwise...
USDA Ignores Food Safety, Hell Bent on Importing Brazilian Beef Trade Reform ...Brazil is to the U.S. beef industry what China is to the steel industry (and many other industries)… they are the goliath. They are really big. They will flood our market with potentially contaminated meat...
US: Administration outlines international trade goals just-style ....The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) has outlined the US President's international trade goals and policies for 2014 - which include completing TPP negotiations, continuing T-TIP talks and working on eliminating trade barriers...
Controversial anti-smuggling trade agreement between China and the United States renewed Art Media Agency ...A controversial anti-smuggling trade agreement established between China and the United States in 2009 has been renewed for five years...
State Battles
Highest Minimum-Wage State Washington Beats U.S. in Job Creation Bloomberg News ...When Washington residents voted in 1998 to raise the state’s minimum wage and link it to the cost of living, opponents warned the measure would be a job-killer. The prediction hasn’t been borne out. In the 15 years that followed, the state’s minimum wage climbed to the highest in the country while job growth continued above the national rate...
Indiana union petitions state Supreme Court to rule Right to Work unconstitutional Beverly Hills Courier ...As Right to Work battles continue to wage across the country, labor supporters in Indiana are looking at a decisive victory if the state Supreme Court rules in their favor...
State Supreme Court Moves to Consolidate Pension Law Challenges NBC News ...Four lawsuits from the Retired State Employee Association, the Illinois State Employee Association, the We Are One Illinois Coalition and a group of retired school teachers challenging the state's pension law reform will now be heard as one challenge, according to the ruling...|
What ALEC Has Planned For Ohio In 2014: Hurt School Districts And More Tax Cuts For The Wealthy Plunderbund ...Despite 40 years of empirical evidence showing that cutting taxes for those at the top does exactly nothing to help anybody else, and, in fact, has helped skyrocket wealth inequality to Gilded Age levels, this “tax reform” push is a top priority...
Federal investigators issue ‘scathing’ report on Indiana OSHA Indianapolis Star ...IOSHA failed to investigate an explosion at Indianapolis Power & Light in March 2013, even as the agency was negotiating a settlement with the utility company over an explosion seven months earlier that killed one worker and injured another...
War on Workers
Companies in U.S. Added Fewer Jobs Than Forecast in February Bloomberg News ...Companies added fewer workers than projected in February, a sign that U.S. employers were waiting for a pickup in demand before boosting headcount, a private report based on payrolls showed today...
A Depressingly Simple Explanation For The Weak Recovery Business Insider ...income gains have been mediocre for a broad swath of middle income households for some time, and borrowing temporarily masked the demand drag. In combination these factors have been a contributing factor to the slow recovery of U.S. consumption and economic growth...
Researchers Suggest Banks Might Be Rigging Gold Prices truthout ...the five banks that set the gold price have now been accused of price manipulation in a class-action lawsuit filed Monday in a U.S. federal court in New York...
Booming Business at Alabama Shipyard Fuels New Union Campaign In These Times ...Rapid business growth may be the key to finally unionizing shipbuilding workers in Mobile, Ala., where an Australia-based defense contractor has successfully fought union organizing for more than a decade...
More Than 2 Million Unemployed Workers Are Now Going Without Benefits ThinkProgress ...Congress is failing this 40-year nursing veteran (and 2 million others like her)...
New Democratic Strategy Goes After Koch Brothers New York Times ...On Thursday, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is starting a digital campaign that will use Internet ads and videos, as well as social media, to tie Republican Senate candidates to the policies and actions of the Koch brothers. Its slogan: “The G.O.P. is addicted to Koch” (pronounced coke)...
Imposing a Starvation Diet on Government Programs Needs to End (Opinion) Huffington Post ...As any dietician will attest, starving the body of vital nutrients in an effort to slim down is a recipe for failure. The same is true for federal government programs and services...
Miscellaneous
Americans Shut Out of Home Market Threaten Recovery: Mortgages Bloomberg ...First-time homebuyers hurt by rising prices and tougher credit standards are disappearing from the market, slowing the pace of the three-year recovery. The decline of these buyers, many of whom are young and non-white, also threatens to widen the wealth gap between owners, who benefit from appreciation, and renters, said Thomas Lawler, a former Fannie Mae economist...
Bernanke’s $250,000 fee for speech puts him near top of food chain Wall Street Journal ...Former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s reported $250,000 for a speech in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday puts him in rarefied air of public speakers, experts said. With one speech, Bernanke exceeded his $199,700 annual salary as Fed chairman in 2013...
The Inverse of Oversight: CIA Spies On Congress The Intercept ... the CIA’s inspector general has asked for a criminal investigation into CIA monitoring of computers used by Senate aides who were investigating the agency’s prominent role in the Bush-era torture of detainees...
Rolls-Royce investigated in US over bribery claims The Telegraph ...Rolls-Royce is being investigated by the US Department of Justice (DoJ), following allegations that its executives bribed officials in Indonesia, China and India in order to win lucrative contracts...
BP fails to get out of compensating oil spill victims Salon ...An appeals court shut down the company's efforts to avoid paying damages...
Frigid U.S. Weather Means Highest Power Prices Since ’08: Energy Bloomberg News ...Freezing temperatures gripping the eastern U.S. will result in the highest electricity prices in six years for consumers in Boston, Dallas and San Francisco...
Scary Emerging Scientific Consensus: There's No Such Thing as Safe Plastic Democracy Now! ...There is new research suggesting that even BPA-free plastics contain chemicals that can act like estrogen in the body and cause disease. And the plastics industry has a big propaganda denial campaign in the works....
Saturday, January 25, 2014
Today's Teamster News 01.25.14
Teamsters allow Friday voting on YRC contract offer Kansas City Star ...Drivers’ work schedules have prompted the Teamsters union to allow some members to vote Friday on a new contract proposal from YRC Worldwide Inc., a union notice said...
Armed robbery at Fairview Shopping Centre: The Teamsters Union is already on it Teamsters Canada ...The Teamsters Union is already working on improving safety for the armoured car industry workers and the general public...
NTSB calls for tougher standards on trains carrying crude oil NTSB ...The NTSB issued three recommendations to the Federal Railroad Administration and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, the first would require expanded hazardous materials route planning for railroads to avoid populated and other sensitive areas...
Strong Evidence Emerges on Right to Work's Political Activity OpenSecrets ...Newly released emails and audio recordings show top officials from the National Right to Work Committee, a politically active nonprofit that is strongly opposed to labor unions, were extensively involved with a massive off-the-books mass mailing operation for state candidates in 2010. The activities directly contradict statements made to the Internal Revenue Service and may have involved violations of state law.,,
Who Backs the TPP and a ‘NAFTA on Steroids’? ALEC The Nation ...The multinational corporations that cover the group’s expenses, and help to define every aspect of its agenda, have long embraced an approach that allows them to move factories and jobs from country-to-country in order to lower wages and avoid labor, environmental and human rights regulations...
Uber rival accuses car service of dirty tactics CNN Money ...Gett, which allows users to order cars with a smartphone app, claims that Uber employees in New York ordered and canceled over a hundred of its cars during a span of three days last week...
How NBA Owners Claimed Poverty, Locked Out Players, And Made Off Like Bandits ThinkProgress ...New data from Forbes shows that two years after the NBA lockout, the league and its teams are in the best financial health they've ever known...
"If I Didn't Sell Drugs, I'd Be Dead": What It's Like to Lose Unemployment Benefits Mother Jones ...1.3 million Americans lost their unemployment benefits last month. Here are stories from five of them...
No progress on UI in Senate Politico ...A proposal to extend expired jobless benefits that can garner 60 votes in the Senate continues to elude lawmakers involved in bipartisan negotiatons...
JPMorgan Chase's Jamie Dimon Gets a Raise After Bank Paid $20 Billion in Fines for Breaking Laws AlterNet ...In 2013, JP Morgan Chase paid billions in fines, but bank's chief is still living large...
BP Still Struggling to Put Gulf Spill Behind It New York Times ...Robert W. Dudley, the chief executive, says BP is ready to move on from the disaster, focusing on exploration and deal-making...
Wall Street’s Frightening New Plan To Become America’s Landlord ThinkProgress ...Financial companies seem poised to turn the rental housing market into the same sort of high-risk cash mill that created the last financial collapse...
New York City Pantries Ran Out Of Food After Food Stamps Were Cut ThinkProgress ...After food stamps were reduced at the beginning of November, New York City food pantries and soup kitchens ran out of food, turned people away, and reduced the meals they handed out after experiencing a surge of demand...
Holder: Feds to set rules for banks and pot money Politico ...he Obama administration will soon announce regulations to make it easier for banks to do business with legal marijuana sellers, Attorney General Eric Holder said Thursday...
At ‘NATO 3′ Trial, Undercover Cop Defends Chicago Police Spying on Activist Communities Fire Dog Lake ...A female undercover police officer, who has been on the stand for multiple days in the trial of the “NATO 3″ in Chicago, was confronted by the first of multiple defense attorneys that contend she was part of an operation to encourage defendants to engage in criminal acts they never had any intent to commit...
Union Growth Should Serve as Signal to Elected Officials (opinion) teamster.org ...The union movement is growing. In the last year, thousands of workers took to the streets to protest low pay and their lack of ability to organize...
Armed robbery at Fairview Shopping Centre: The Teamsters Union is already on it Teamsters Canada ...The Teamsters Union is already working on improving safety for the armoured car industry workers and the general public...
NTSB calls for tougher standards on trains carrying crude oil NTSB ...The NTSB issued three recommendations to the Federal Railroad Administration and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, the first would require expanded hazardous materials route planning for railroads to avoid populated and other sensitive areas...
Strong Evidence Emerges on Right to Work's Political Activity OpenSecrets ...Newly released emails and audio recordings show top officials from the National Right to Work Committee, a politically active nonprofit that is strongly opposed to labor unions, were extensively involved with a massive off-the-books mass mailing operation for state candidates in 2010. The activities directly contradict statements made to the Internal Revenue Service and may have involved violations of state law.,,
Who Backs the TPP and a ‘NAFTA on Steroids’? ALEC The Nation ...The multinational corporations that cover the group’s expenses, and help to define every aspect of its agenda, have long embraced an approach that allows them to move factories and jobs from country-to-country in order to lower wages and avoid labor, environmental and human rights regulations...
Uber rival accuses car service of dirty tactics CNN Money ...Gett, which allows users to order cars with a smartphone app, claims that Uber employees in New York ordered and canceled over a hundred of its cars during a span of three days last week...
How NBA Owners Claimed Poverty, Locked Out Players, And Made Off Like Bandits ThinkProgress ...New data from Forbes shows that two years after the NBA lockout, the league and its teams are in the best financial health they've ever known...
"If I Didn't Sell Drugs, I'd Be Dead": What It's Like to Lose Unemployment Benefits Mother Jones ...1.3 million Americans lost their unemployment benefits last month. Here are stories from five of them...
No progress on UI in Senate Politico ...A proposal to extend expired jobless benefits that can garner 60 votes in the Senate continues to elude lawmakers involved in bipartisan negotiatons...
JPMorgan Chase's Jamie Dimon Gets a Raise After Bank Paid $20 Billion in Fines for Breaking Laws AlterNet ...In 2013, JP Morgan Chase paid billions in fines, but bank's chief is still living large...
BP Still Struggling to Put Gulf Spill Behind It New York Times ...Robert W. Dudley, the chief executive, says BP is ready to move on from the disaster, focusing on exploration and deal-making...
Wall Street’s Frightening New Plan To Become America’s Landlord ThinkProgress ...Financial companies seem poised to turn the rental housing market into the same sort of high-risk cash mill that created the last financial collapse...
New York City Pantries Ran Out Of Food After Food Stamps Were Cut ThinkProgress ...After food stamps were reduced at the beginning of November, New York City food pantries and soup kitchens ran out of food, turned people away, and reduced the meals they handed out after experiencing a surge of demand...
Holder: Feds to set rules for banks and pot money Politico ...he Obama administration will soon announce regulations to make it easier for banks to do business with legal marijuana sellers, Attorney General Eric Holder said Thursday...
At ‘NATO 3′ Trial, Undercover Cop Defends Chicago Police Spying on Activist Communities Fire Dog Lake ...A female undercover police officer, who has been on the stand for multiple days in the trial of the “NATO 3″ in Chicago, was confronted by the first of multiple defense attorneys that contend she was part of an operation to encourage defendants to engage in criminal acts they never had any intent to commit...
Union Growth Should Serve as Signal to Elected Officials (opinion) teamster.org ...The union movement is growing. In the last year, thousands of workers took to the streets to protest low pay and their lack of ability to organize...
Thursday, January 23, 2014
Today's Teamster News 01.23.14
Midwest Foods Warehouse Workers Choose Teamsters teamstersjc25.com ...Thirty distribution employees and drivers at Midwest Foods overwhelmingly voted to join Teamsters Local 703, which negotiated a strong, new five-year contract for their newest members...
N.Y. Teamsters Join Anti-Fast Track Fight teamster.org ...The Secretary-Treasurer of Teamsters Local 553 in New York City, spoke out Tuesday against legislation that would force a quick up-or-down vote on bum trade deals like the TPP...
Unions coalesce against ‘paycheck protection’ legislation Pennsylvania Independent ...Unions across Pennsylvania are fighting a proposal that would end the practice of automatically deducting dues from public workers’ paychecks. The plan squelches the voice of organized labor, the labor groups say...
Thievery: How Congress Keeps Stealing From Our Retirement Benefits and Social Safety Net AlterNet...Military pensions, unemployment, disability and Social Security are all targets...
Labor, business interests debate Missouri 'right to work' legislation Colombia Missourian ...Labor and business representatives turned out in large numbers Tuesday morning in the second public hearing for House Bills 1053 and 1143, popularly known as the "right to work" bills...
No, It’s About Profits, Not “Free Speech” NH Labor News ...Don’t be fooled. Tueday's Supreme Court hearing in Harris v. Quinn was about corporate profits – the cold, hard cash that employers can save when they break their workers’ union...
BP Employees, Outraged by Lack of Compensation, Warn Oil Spill Victims Truthout ...Long-term employees accuse oil giant BP of greed, exploitation and lying about their pensions...
Public Employees Are Transforming the Workplace Jobs With Justice ...As the 2014 state legislative sessions commence, an increasing number of elected officials have declared open season on public employees and their unions. Yet examples abound of productive labor-management relations in the public sector—even in the wake of government agencies reeling from the Great Recession...
NSA sets dangerous global trend for surveillance The Raw Story ...The U.S. is setting a dangerous example for the world with its sweeping surveillance programmes, giving governments an excuse for mass censorship of online communications, Human Rights Watch said in its annual report Tuesday...
Housing costs are killing the American Dream Moyers & Company ...Historically, economic and geographic mobility have been intertwined. Studies have shown that the number one reason that people pick up and move to another community is for work:. But something has happened. In the 1980s, we began to stay put...
West Virginia Governor On Safety Of Water Supply: ‘It’s Your Decision… I’m Not A Scientist’ ThinkProgress ...Amid growing concern over whether or not West Virginia's water is actually safe, the state's governor said it was up to residents to decide whether they use it...
Company that contaminated WV water supply reaches bankruptcy deal, bemoans 'perception' problem
DailyKos ...The spill is causing the spiller a "perception" problem...
The Myth of the Absent Black Father ThinkProgress ...CDC research dispels prevailing assumptions about black fathers, they're more involved with their children's lives than previously thought...
New study reveals major gaps in FDA’s ‘regulatory flexibility’ The Raw Story ...Consumers may expect that medical treatments approved for the US market are safe and thoroughly tested, but a study out Tuesday said that is not always the case...
Ownership of WaPo by CIA Contractor Puts U.S. Journalism in Dangerous Terrain The Real News ...Norman Solomon: There is a major conflict of interest in the ownership of The Washington Post by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, who holds a $600 million contract with the CIA...
Senator Warren: Let students refinance their loans Associated Press ...U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren is planning to file a bill to let students refinance their old loans at a new lower rate...
Slumping Intel to cut more than 5,000 jobs in 2014 Associated Press ...Intel plans to trim more than 5,000 jobs from its workforce this year in an effort to boost its earnings amid waning demand for its personal computer chips...
Texas Instruments cutting 1,100 jobs; 4Q profit up Seattle Post-Intelligencer ...Chipmaker Texas Instruments Inc. said Tuesday that it will cut 1,100 jobs worldwide, about 3 percent of its workforce, to trim costs and will reduce its investments in certain markets...
N.Y. Teamsters Join Anti-Fast Track Fight teamster.org ...The Secretary-Treasurer of Teamsters Local 553 in New York City, spoke out Tuesday against legislation that would force a quick up-or-down vote on bum trade deals like the TPP...
Unions coalesce against ‘paycheck protection’ legislation Pennsylvania Independent ...Unions across Pennsylvania are fighting a proposal that would end the practice of automatically deducting dues from public workers’ paychecks. The plan squelches the voice of organized labor, the labor groups say...
Thievery: How Congress Keeps Stealing From Our Retirement Benefits and Social Safety Net AlterNet...Military pensions, unemployment, disability and Social Security are all targets...
Labor, business interests debate Missouri 'right to work' legislation Colombia Missourian ...Labor and business representatives turned out in large numbers Tuesday morning in the second public hearing for House Bills 1053 and 1143, popularly known as the "right to work" bills...
No, It’s About Profits, Not “Free Speech” NH Labor News ...Don’t be fooled. Tueday's Supreme Court hearing in Harris v. Quinn was about corporate profits – the cold, hard cash that employers can save when they break their workers’ union...
BP Employees, Outraged by Lack of Compensation, Warn Oil Spill Victims Truthout ...Long-term employees accuse oil giant BP of greed, exploitation and lying about their pensions...
Public Employees Are Transforming the Workplace Jobs With Justice ...As the 2014 state legislative sessions commence, an increasing number of elected officials have declared open season on public employees and their unions. Yet examples abound of productive labor-management relations in the public sector—even in the wake of government agencies reeling from the Great Recession...
NSA sets dangerous global trend for surveillance The Raw Story ...The U.S. is setting a dangerous example for the world with its sweeping surveillance programmes, giving governments an excuse for mass censorship of online communications, Human Rights Watch said in its annual report Tuesday...
Housing costs are killing the American Dream Moyers & Company ...Historically, economic and geographic mobility have been intertwined. Studies have shown that the number one reason that people pick up and move to another community is for work:. But something has happened. In the 1980s, we began to stay put...
West Virginia Governor On Safety Of Water Supply: ‘It’s Your Decision… I’m Not A Scientist’ ThinkProgress ...Amid growing concern over whether or not West Virginia's water is actually safe, the state's governor said it was up to residents to decide whether they use it...
Company that contaminated WV water supply reaches bankruptcy deal, bemoans 'perception' problem
DailyKos ...The spill is causing the spiller a "perception" problem...
The Myth of the Absent Black Father ThinkProgress ...CDC research dispels prevailing assumptions about black fathers, they're more involved with their children's lives than previously thought...
New study reveals major gaps in FDA’s ‘regulatory flexibility’ The Raw Story ...Consumers may expect that medical treatments approved for the US market are safe and thoroughly tested, but a study out Tuesday said that is not always the case...
Ownership of WaPo by CIA Contractor Puts U.S. Journalism in Dangerous Terrain The Real News ...Norman Solomon: There is a major conflict of interest in the ownership of The Washington Post by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, who holds a $600 million contract with the CIA...
Senator Warren: Let students refinance their loans Associated Press ...U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren is planning to file a bill to let students refinance their old loans at a new lower rate...
Slumping Intel to cut more than 5,000 jobs in 2014 Associated Press ...Intel plans to trim more than 5,000 jobs from its workforce this year in an effort to boost its earnings amid waning demand for its personal computer chips...
Texas Instruments cutting 1,100 jobs; 4Q profit up Seattle Post-Intelligencer ...Chipmaker Texas Instruments Inc. said Tuesday that it will cut 1,100 jobs worldwide, about 3 percent of its workforce, to trim costs and will reduce its investments in certain markets...
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
Today's Teamster News 01.14.14
UPS Freight Teamsters Approve 5-Year Pact Transport Topics ...UPS Freight employees in the Teamsters union approved a five-year agreement that gives workers a total $2.50 per hour wage boost...
Three county union contracts nearing vote Times Leader ...Luzerne County Council in Pennsylvania is expected to vote this month on three new collective bargaining agreements with unionized workers, including members of Teamsters Local 401 in Wilkes-Barre...
After 2 strikes and 18 months, school bus drivers approve contract Poughkeepsie Journal ...After 18 months, two strikes and multiple charges filed, school bus drivers and monitors with Teamsters Local 445 approved a contract with Poughkeepsie-based Durham School Services that will improve working conditions and safety…
WV: Freedom Industries Has Ties to Koch Brothers DailyKos ...If news reports have left you with the impression that Freedom Industries - the company that has contaminated the water supply serving 300,000 people (and who knows how much wildlife) in nine West Virginia counties - is a rinky-dink Charleston operation, that might be because the media isn't mentioning its influential ties...
Lack of oversight questioned in West Virginia chemical spill Salon ...Reports question why state and company officials were so slow to respond to the leak...
Boeing Goes to Pieces The American Conservative ...Aerospace execs sell their industry to Japan—one part at a time...
GOP lawmakers propose allowing 7-day work week in Wisconsin Associated Press ...Wisconsin manufacturing and retail workers could volunteer to work seven days straight without a day off under a bill two Republican lawmakers are circulating on behalf of the state's largest business group...
Per Capita Income: Wisconsin vs. Minnesota Econbrowser ...Real per capita income in Wisconsin has lagged Minnesota a cumulative 2.2% (log terms) since 2011...
Florida House panel votes to ban new red-light cameras Daytona Beach News-Journal ...Installation of new red-light cameras would be banned across the state under a bill that passed a key committee in the Florida House Thursday, signaling a renewed debate over the devices’ use to catch traffic light violations...
EU report reveals massive scope of secret NSA surveillance DW ...Moraes and his fellow rapporteurs showed themselves unconvinced that the NSA's only goal is the fight against terrorism, as the US government has claimed. In their draft report, European politicians suspect that there are instead "other power motives," such as "political and economic espionage."...
An Investment Manager's 2014 Update on the Top 1% Who Rules America? ...Wealth and income are streaming to the very top of the system and, particularly, to those who are direct or indirect beneficiaries of the financial industry. Professionals and workers have slipped further behind...
New report says millions of women at risk of falling into poverty, economic ruin NBC News ...a staggering number of women across the country are still teetering on the verge of poverty and economic disaster...
A Farewell to Retirement Security In These Times ...Here’s what the loss of pensions at Boeing means for U.S. workers...
BP loses bid over Gulf oil payouts BBC News ...BP has lost an appeal to cancel the terms of its multi-billion-dollar settlement with businesses over the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster. A US federal appeals court upheld the terms of the original 2012 settlement...
Now Neiman Marcus appears to have been hacked, too Washington Post ...Hours after we learned that the hack against Target was much worse than initially feared, the retailer Neiman Marcus has also admitted it was compromised during the holiday season...
Now We Know: JPMorgan Chase Is Worse Than Enron Truthout ...It's beginning to look as if JPMorgan Chase has had a hand in every major banking scandal of the last decade...
Feds investigating Christie’s use of money intended for Sandy relief Salon ...According to a CNN report, federal investigators are now looking into whether New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie steered Sandy relief funds to a firm that promised to feature him and his family in its ads to promote tourism at the Jersey Shore...
Unseasonably harsh weather kept a quarter of a million Americans home from work last month Salon ...And that was before the polar vortex...
Three county union contracts nearing vote Times Leader ...Luzerne County Council in Pennsylvania is expected to vote this month on three new collective bargaining agreements with unionized workers, including members of Teamsters Local 401 in Wilkes-Barre...
After 2 strikes and 18 months, school bus drivers approve contract Poughkeepsie Journal ...After 18 months, two strikes and multiple charges filed, school bus drivers and monitors with Teamsters Local 445 approved a contract with Poughkeepsie-based Durham School Services that will improve working conditions and safety…
WV: Freedom Industries Has Ties to Koch Brothers DailyKos ...If news reports have left you with the impression that Freedom Industries - the company that has contaminated the water supply serving 300,000 people (and who knows how much wildlife) in nine West Virginia counties - is a rinky-dink Charleston operation, that might be because the media isn't mentioning its influential ties...
Lack of oversight questioned in West Virginia chemical spill Salon ...Reports question why state and company officials were so slow to respond to the leak...
Boeing Goes to Pieces The American Conservative ...Aerospace execs sell their industry to Japan—one part at a time...
GOP lawmakers propose allowing 7-day work week in Wisconsin Associated Press ...Wisconsin manufacturing and retail workers could volunteer to work seven days straight without a day off under a bill two Republican lawmakers are circulating on behalf of the state's largest business group...
Per Capita Income: Wisconsin vs. Minnesota Econbrowser ...Real per capita income in Wisconsin has lagged Minnesota a cumulative 2.2% (log terms) since 2011...
Florida House panel votes to ban new red-light cameras Daytona Beach News-Journal ...Installation of new red-light cameras would be banned across the state under a bill that passed a key committee in the Florida House Thursday, signaling a renewed debate over the devices’ use to catch traffic light violations...
EU report reveals massive scope of secret NSA surveillance DW ...Moraes and his fellow rapporteurs showed themselves unconvinced that the NSA's only goal is the fight against terrorism, as the US government has claimed. In their draft report, European politicians suspect that there are instead "other power motives," such as "political and economic espionage."...
An Investment Manager's 2014 Update on the Top 1% Who Rules America? ...Wealth and income are streaming to the very top of the system and, particularly, to those who are direct or indirect beneficiaries of the financial industry. Professionals and workers have slipped further behind...
New report says millions of women at risk of falling into poverty, economic ruin NBC News ...a staggering number of women across the country are still teetering on the verge of poverty and economic disaster...
A Farewell to Retirement Security In These Times ...Here’s what the loss of pensions at Boeing means for U.S. workers...
BP loses bid over Gulf oil payouts BBC News ...BP has lost an appeal to cancel the terms of its multi-billion-dollar settlement with businesses over the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster. A US federal appeals court upheld the terms of the original 2012 settlement...
Now Neiman Marcus appears to have been hacked, too Washington Post ...Hours after we learned that the hack against Target was much worse than initially feared, the retailer Neiman Marcus has also admitted it was compromised during the holiday season...
Now We Know: JPMorgan Chase Is Worse Than Enron Truthout ...It's beginning to look as if JPMorgan Chase has had a hand in every major banking scandal of the last decade...
Feds investigating Christie’s use of money intended for Sandy relief Salon ...According to a CNN report, federal investigators are now looking into whether New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie steered Sandy relief funds to a firm that promised to feature him and his family in its ads to promote tourism at the Jersey Shore...
Unseasonably harsh weather kept a quarter of a million Americans home from work last month Salon ...And that was before the polar vortex...
Thursday, October 24, 2013
Today's Teamster News 10.24.13
Local 700 Member Saves 19-Month-Old, Receives Life Saving Award Teamsters Local 700 ...East Hazel Crest Police Officer Mitchell Drake was responding to a gas leak when a dispatcher called and redirected him to help a family whose baby stopped breathing...
Voting on grocery deal expected to take 2 weeks The Olympian ...Puget Sound union grocery workers, including Teamsters, will decide over the next two weeks whether to accept a new contract proposal from four major grocers or head back to the bargaining table...
Lansing approves wage hikes, benefit cuts for 200 workers Lansing State Journal ...Lansing City Council has approved a new three-year contract with its public service employees that call for wage increases and reduced pension and healthcare benefits. The city is now is negotiating contracts with Lansing firefighters and with city workers represented by Teamsters Local 580...
Unions Back MGM Plan For Casino WBAL News ...The unions, including Teamsters Local 639, that represent construction and labor workers in Prince George's County, Maryland are throwing their support behind a plan by MGM to build a casino at the National Harbor...
Ohio unions remain steady as opposition postures ‘support’ for Right to Work Beverly Hills Courier ...As Right to Work supporters ramped up efforts to take the law into their own hands and force the controversial Right to Work agenda onto a statewide ballot in 2014, unions say they are not only ready to fight but believe they have common sense and the public on their side...
Lawsuit holding up sale dates to errant newspaper toss Telegram and Gazette ...The lawsuit stalling billionaire John W. Henry's $70 million purchase of two Massachusetts newspaper stems from whether newspaper carriers classified as independent contractors should really be considered employees...
Diebold Charged With Bribery, Falsifying Docs, 'Worldwide Pattern of Criminal Conduct' BradBlog ...One of the world's largest ATM manufacturers and, formerly, one of the largest manufacturers of electronic voting systems, has been indicted by federal prosecutors for bribery and falsification of documents ... a U.S. Attorney says the latest charges are in response to "a worldwide pattern of criminal conduct" by the company....
Video: McDonald’s tells workers to get food stamps Salon ...A new recording captures the fast food giant's worker 1-800 number touting public assistance...
The number of families with children living in deep poverty has gone up 130 percent since 1996 Salon ... the number of families with children living on $2 a day or less has gone up nearly 130 percent...
Americans spend less now than in '73, report says McClatchy ...Even with the added cost of smartphones and other technology, American families spend less of their total income today than 40 years ago, according to new research. But people aren't saving that extra money...The roughly 14 percent of unaccounted-for income today may go toward expenses such as debt, but it's impossible to be sure...
Bangladesh workers could get 50% raise – but that’s just 9 cents more The Salon ...While strikes may garner improvements for garment workers, the real decision maker will be Western retailers...
New York Sets Work Rules for Young Models New York Times ...Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo signed legislation on Monday night that will recognize fashion models under the age of 18 as child performers. The new law, which is expected to go into effect in 30 days, will have a significant impact on the casting of models for the next New York Fashion Week in February...
US Free Trade Agreements Are Bad Not Just For The Economy, But For The Environment, Too Techdirt ...Far from boosting US exports and creating more jobs as purported by the politicians, both the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and KORUS, the free trade agreement with South Korea, actually did the opposite. They increased the US trade deficit with those countries, and destroyed hundreds of thousands of American jobs...
BP Oil Refinery Waste Stored At Koch Brothers-Owned Site Polluting Nearby Chicago Neighborhoods Huffington Post ...Residents in several lower-income Chicago neighborhoods say a dirty oil byproduct from a nearby BP refinery is creating environmental and health hazards -- and no one is doing enough to stop it...
Food stamp benefits going down before the holidays NBC News ...Millions of American families could face a sparse holiday table when food stamps benefits get reduced in November, and that could be just the start of deeper cuts to the program to feed poor families...
IRS delays start of tax season due to government shutdown Associated Press ...Here's more fallout from the government's partial shutdown: Early tax filers will have to wait an extra week or two to get tax refunds next year...
This 1 Chart Makes Gordon Gekko Look Like An Average Joe Huffington Post ...In 1987 … our typical Wall Street character brought home some $69,550, which was easily more than double the $26,750 of the typical non-Wall Street employee in New York City… That is, until you consider 2012, by which time those two numbers had jumped to $360,700 and $69,200, respectively...
Social Security Pumps $2 Into US Economy for Every Benefit Dollar Spent Truthout ...Just as food stamps stimulate the economy by creating about $1.80 of economic activity for every dollar of food stamps spent, Social Security pumps up job-generating and business activity by about $2 for every dollar recipients spend...
Is Detroit really broke? Crucial bankruptcy trial to begin Associated Press ...A judge starts exploring that question in an unusual trial to determine whether Detroit indeed is eligible to scrub its books in the largest public bankruptcy in U.S. history. Unions and pension funds are claiming the city failed to negotiate in good faith before filing for Chapter 9 protection in July...
Zoos Get Pandas, China Gets Uranium: Is This a Fair Trade? Truthout ...China’s central government seems, more than ever, to be using its monopoly on pandas as a valuable bargaining chip to gain resources including uranium (to power nuclear plants) and access to renewable energy technology...
As many as 300,000 jobless affected by state software snags Los Angeles Times ...Problems are growing worse for the state's Employment Development Department after a new computer system backfired, leaving some Californians without much-needed benefit checks for weeks...
Alabama makes plan for issuing free voter IDs Associated Press ...The secretary of state's plan for implementing Alabama's photo ID requirement for voting includes making free ID cards available at many locations throughout the state...
Report: Scott Walker decisions drove insurance rates much higher in Wisconsin than in Minnesota The Cap Times ...Gov. Scott Walker’s rejection of federal Medicaid money and the state’s hands-off approach to rate regulation has pushed health care exchange rates up to 99 percent higher than in neighboring Minnesota...
Voting on grocery deal expected to take 2 weeks The Olympian ...Puget Sound union grocery workers, including Teamsters, will decide over the next two weeks whether to accept a new contract proposal from four major grocers or head back to the bargaining table...
Lansing approves wage hikes, benefit cuts for 200 workers Lansing State Journal ...Lansing City Council has approved a new three-year contract with its public service employees that call for wage increases and reduced pension and healthcare benefits. The city is now is negotiating contracts with Lansing firefighters and with city workers represented by Teamsters Local 580...
Unions Back MGM Plan For Casino WBAL News ...The unions, including Teamsters Local 639, that represent construction and labor workers in Prince George's County, Maryland are throwing their support behind a plan by MGM to build a casino at the National Harbor...
Ohio unions remain steady as opposition postures ‘support’ for Right to Work Beverly Hills Courier ...As Right to Work supporters ramped up efforts to take the law into their own hands and force the controversial Right to Work agenda onto a statewide ballot in 2014, unions say they are not only ready to fight but believe they have common sense and the public on their side...
Lawsuit holding up sale dates to errant newspaper toss Telegram and Gazette ...The lawsuit stalling billionaire John W. Henry's $70 million purchase of two Massachusetts newspaper stems from whether newspaper carriers classified as independent contractors should really be considered employees...
Diebold Charged With Bribery, Falsifying Docs, 'Worldwide Pattern of Criminal Conduct' BradBlog ...One of the world's largest ATM manufacturers and, formerly, one of the largest manufacturers of electronic voting systems, has been indicted by federal prosecutors for bribery and falsification of documents ... a U.S. Attorney says the latest charges are in response to "a worldwide pattern of criminal conduct" by the company....
Video: McDonald’s tells workers to get food stamps Salon ...A new recording captures the fast food giant's worker 1-800 number touting public assistance...
The number of families with children living in deep poverty has gone up 130 percent since 1996 Salon ... the number of families with children living on $2 a day or less has gone up nearly 130 percent...
Americans spend less now than in '73, report says McClatchy ...Even with the added cost of smartphones and other technology, American families spend less of their total income today than 40 years ago, according to new research. But people aren't saving that extra money...The roughly 14 percent of unaccounted-for income today may go toward expenses such as debt, but it's impossible to be sure...
Bangladesh workers could get 50% raise – but that’s just 9 cents more The Salon ...While strikes may garner improvements for garment workers, the real decision maker will be Western retailers...
US Free Trade Agreements Are Bad Not Just For The Economy, But For The Environment, Too Techdirt ...Far from boosting US exports and creating more jobs as purported by the politicians, both the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and KORUS, the free trade agreement with South Korea, actually did the opposite. They increased the US trade deficit with those countries, and destroyed hundreds of thousands of American jobs...
BP Oil Refinery Waste Stored At Koch Brothers-Owned Site Polluting Nearby Chicago Neighborhoods Huffington Post ...Residents in several lower-income Chicago neighborhoods say a dirty oil byproduct from a nearby BP refinery is creating environmental and health hazards -- and no one is doing enough to stop it...
Food stamp benefits going down before the holidays NBC News ...Millions of American families could face a sparse holiday table when food stamps benefits get reduced in November, and that could be just the start of deeper cuts to the program to feed poor families...
| Taxpayers To Help Pay JPMorgan’s Fine For Causing 2008 Financial Crisis Fire Dog Lake ...Feeling generous? You should because you are about to help pay for JPMorgan’s $13 billion fine for causing the 2008 financial crisis... Justice Department Misrepresents JP Morgan Settlement The Real News ..."it's a $6 billion deal,” said Black. “That still, of course, is a large number, but compared to how much wealth was extracted by the senior officers and directors, it's actually not that big a deal, and compared to the losses they caused to the world through these frauds that drove the financial crisis, it's actually a pittance...” Countrywide defrauded Fannie and Freddie, federal prosecutor says Bloomberg News ...Bank of America Corp.'s Countrywide unit defrauded Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac by selling them thousands of loans known to be defective, an attorney for the U.S. said in closing arguments in a lawsuit against the lender… |
This 1 Chart Makes Gordon Gekko Look Like An Average Joe Huffington Post ...In 1987 … our typical Wall Street character brought home some $69,550, which was easily more than double the $26,750 of the typical non-Wall Street employee in New York City… That is, until you consider 2012, by which time those two numbers had jumped to $360,700 and $69,200, respectively...
Social Security Pumps $2 Into US Economy for Every Benefit Dollar Spent Truthout ...Just as food stamps stimulate the economy by creating about $1.80 of economic activity for every dollar of food stamps spent, Social Security pumps up job-generating and business activity by about $2 for every dollar recipients spend...
Is Detroit really broke? Crucial bankruptcy trial to begin Associated Press ...A judge starts exploring that question in an unusual trial to determine whether Detroit indeed is eligible to scrub its books in the largest public bankruptcy in U.S. history. Unions and pension funds are claiming the city failed to negotiate in good faith before filing for Chapter 9 protection in July...
Zoos Get Pandas, China Gets Uranium: Is This a Fair Trade? Truthout ...China’s central government seems, more than ever, to be using its monopoly on pandas as a valuable bargaining chip to gain resources including uranium (to power nuclear plants) and access to renewable energy technology...
As many as 300,000 jobless affected by state software snags Los Angeles Times ...Problems are growing worse for the state's Employment Development Department after a new computer system backfired, leaving some Californians without much-needed benefit checks for weeks...
Alabama makes plan for issuing free voter IDs Associated Press ...The secretary of state's plan for implementing Alabama's photo ID requirement for voting includes making free ID cards available at many locations throughout the state...
Report: Scott Walker decisions drove insurance rates much higher in Wisconsin than in Minnesota The Cap Times ...Gov. Scott Walker’s rejection of federal Medicaid money and the state’s hands-off approach to rate regulation has pushed health care exchange rates up to 99 percent higher than in neighboring Minnesota...
Thursday, October 17, 2013
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...
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...
Friday, October 4, 2013
Today's Teamster News 10.04.13
Teamsters Across Washington Support Local Grocery Store Workers teamster.org ...The Joint Council of Teamsters No. 28, which represents more than 50,000 members and their families across Washington, Alaska and Northern Idaho, says it will honor a grocery worker strike if one occurs...
Agreement reached with public works, police talks go on Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ...Public works and parks employees, who are represented by Teamsters Local 249 in Pittsburgh, have reached a contract with the borough of Franklin Park, Pennsylvania...
Report Suggests Commercial Waste Management Reform Epoch Times ...“Growing up, jobs in the sanitation industry were good paying jobs with good pension plans. Now the majority of private owners pay very low wages and little in benefits. Many break the most basic health and safety regulations,” said Sean Campbell, a former garbage truck driver and current president of Teamsters Local 813...
Corporate Profits Are Soaring, But You're Not Feeling It Huffington Post ...real wages have declined by nearly seven percent in the past seven years, while, corporate profits have increased by 18.6 percent over the past year...
Democrats Balk at Obama’s Fast-Track on Pacific Trade Bloomberg News ...Some Democrats in Congress, whose support Barack Obama needs for trade accords, want to put the brakes on a Pacific-region deal just as the president prepares to meet with leaders of nations drafting the pact...
Sorry Charlie? American-made tuna claim questioned manufacture this ...”Foreign flag vessels, using who knows what gear type, no traceability, canned in Samoa. Hilarious..."
FMCSA Taking Comments on Mexican Truck Program Applicant Transport Topics ...The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is allowing the public to comment on an application by Transportation and Cargo Solutions S de RL de CV to participate in the Mexican cross-border trucking pilot program...
Thousands march to mark anniversary of infamous Mexico City protest AFP ...Protesters clashed with riot police in Mexico City, leaving dozens injured as thousands of people marched to mark the anniversary of the 1968 massacre of students...
Happy 100th Birthday Income Taxes! Or How the Rich Have Gamed the System to Pay a Smaller Share AlterNet ...October 3 marked the 100th anniversary of the federal income tax. That is, the income tax that we have today – the first US tax raised on earned incomes was a temporary one imposed to help pay for the War of 1812. Another helped pay for the Civil War, but was allowed to expire in 1872...
Google and ExxonMobil run rings around outdated tax laws The Conversation ... ExxonMobil (has a) ... Spanish subsidiary (that) operated for a while from the same address as its auditors PricewaterhouseCoopers. The Spanish company apparently had one employee on an annual salary of €55,000, but it reported net profits of €9.9 billion for the period 2009 to 2011. The key to this was a strategy designed to take advantage of Spanish laws for attracting foreign investment...
Coal Use Falling, Proof of Progress to Low-Carbon Future Oil Price ...The vehemence in this pace of growth has led the IEA to project that coal consumption will challenge oil as the top global energy source by 2017. From this point, however, its reign will wane as an increasing emphasis is placed on other more clean-burning fuels...
Now the Government Shutdown Is Stopping Blood Drives Mother Jones ... in just two days, four federal agency blood drives scheduled by one DC-area health care system have been canceled. The regional Red Cross has had to cancel six others in the Washington region...
The Republican Hardliners Aren't Conservatives, They're Radicals The Atlantic ...The legislators driving the direction of the GOP aren't interested in smart, limited government. They're aiming to eviscerate even the parts that work well...
NSA director admits to misleading public on terror plots Salon ...The Vermont Democrat then asked the NSA chief to admit that only 13 out of a previously cited 54 cases of foiled plots were genuinely the fruits of the government’s vast dragnet surveillance systems...
Treasury Says Mere Prospect of Default May Harm Economy New York Times ...The debt-limit impasse could cause credit markets to freeze, the dollar to plummet and interest rates to rise precipitously with catastrophic effects, according to a Treasury Department released Thursday...
Apple now hoards 10% of US corporate cash Money Control ...After the technology sector, the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry is the next most cash-flush sector, according to Moodys. Pfizer for example, is sitting on a USD 50 billion cash pile...
BP wins appeal of spill claims ruling Associated Press ...A federal appeals court on Wednesday revived BP’s claims that a judge’s interpretation of a settlement over its 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico could force the company to pay billions of dollars for bogus or inflated claims by businesses...
Florida prison healthcare providers sued hundreds of times Miami Herald ...The Florida Department of Corrections awarded a five-year, $1.2 billion contract to provide medical care for thousands of state prisoners in North and Central Florida to a Tennessee company that was sued 660 times for malpractice in the past five years...
New RTW Battles in Michigan and Ontario Democracy Tree ...Two new right-to-work threats to report: one in Michigan against the non-union, dues-based State Bar of Michigan, and another across the border in Ontario. Michigan attorneys are firing back against the shadowy forces behind RTW. The Koch brothers should be warned: Don’t piss-off 43,600 lawyers...
Detroit residents cope with bankruptcy in daily lives USA TODAY ...Here are some far-reaching effects of the city’s lack of operating funds on both its citizens and workers...
Trade unions rail against non-union worksite Philadelphia Inquirer ...Philadelphia Trade unions have taken their dispute with developers Michael and Matthew Pestronk to a new level, producing a sleek documentary that accuses the brothers of safety and health violations at their signature project, the unfinished Goldtex building...
Agreement reached with public works, police talks go on Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ...Public works and parks employees, who are represented by Teamsters Local 249 in Pittsburgh, have reached a contract with the borough of Franklin Park, Pennsylvania...
Report Suggests Commercial Waste Management Reform Epoch Times ...“Growing up, jobs in the sanitation industry were good paying jobs with good pension plans. Now the majority of private owners pay very low wages and little in benefits. Many break the most basic health and safety regulations,” said Sean Campbell, a former garbage truck driver and current president of Teamsters Local 813...
Corporate Profits Are Soaring, But You're Not Feeling It Huffington Post ...real wages have declined by nearly seven percent in the past seven years, while, corporate profits have increased by 18.6 percent over the past year...
Democrats Balk at Obama’s Fast-Track on Pacific Trade Bloomberg News ...Some Democrats in Congress, whose support Barack Obama needs for trade accords, want to put the brakes on a Pacific-region deal just as the president prepares to meet with leaders of nations drafting the pact...
Sorry Charlie? American-made tuna claim questioned manufacture this ...”Foreign flag vessels, using who knows what gear type, no traceability, canned in Samoa. Hilarious..."
FMCSA Taking Comments on Mexican Truck Program Applicant Transport Topics ...The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is allowing the public to comment on an application by Transportation and Cargo Solutions S de RL de CV to participate in the Mexican cross-border trucking pilot program...
Thousands march to mark anniversary of infamous Mexico City protest AFP ...Protesters clashed with riot police in Mexico City, leaving dozens injured as thousands of people marched to mark the anniversary of the 1968 massacre of students...
Happy 100th Birthday Income Taxes! Or How the Rich Have Gamed the System to Pay a Smaller Share AlterNet ...October 3 marked the 100th anniversary of the federal income tax. That is, the income tax that we have today – the first US tax raised on earned incomes was a temporary one imposed to help pay for the War of 1812. Another helped pay for the Civil War, but was allowed to expire in 1872...
Google and ExxonMobil run rings around outdated tax laws The Conversation ... ExxonMobil (has a) ... Spanish subsidiary (that) operated for a while from the same address as its auditors PricewaterhouseCoopers. The Spanish company apparently had one employee on an annual salary of €55,000, but it reported net profits of €9.9 billion for the period 2009 to 2011. The key to this was a strategy designed to take advantage of Spanish laws for attracting foreign investment...
Coal Use Falling, Proof of Progress to Low-Carbon Future Oil Price ...The vehemence in this pace of growth has led the IEA to project that coal consumption will challenge oil as the top global energy source by 2017. From this point, however, its reign will wane as an increasing emphasis is placed on other more clean-burning fuels...
Now the Government Shutdown Is Stopping Blood Drives Mother Jones ... in just two days, four federal agency blood drives scheduled by one DC-area health care system have been canceled. The regional Red Cross has had to cancel six others in the Washington region...
The Republican Hardliners Aren't Conservatives, They're Radicals The Atlantic ...The legislators driving the direction of the GOP aren't interested in smart, limited government. They're aiming to eviscerate even the parts that work well...
NSA director admits to misleading public on terror plots Salon ...The Vermont Democrat then asked the NSA chief to admit that only 13 out of a previously cited 54 cases of foiled plots were genuinely the fruits of the government’s vast dragnet surveillance systems...
Treasury Says Mere Prospect of Default May Harm Economy New York Times ...The debt-limit impasse could cause credit markets to freeze, the dollar to plummet and interest rates to rise precipitously with catastrophic effects, according to a Treasury Department released Thursday...
Apple now hoards 10% of US corporate cash Money Control ...After the technology sector, the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry is the next most cash-flush sector, according to Moodys. Pfizer for example, is sitting on a USD 50 billion cash pile...
BP wins appeal of spill claims ruling Associated Press ...A federal appeals court on Wednesday revived BP’s claims that a judge’s interpretation of a settlement over its 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico could force the company to pay billions of dollars for bogus or inflated claims by businesses...
Florida prison healthcare providers sued hundreds of times Miami Herald ...The Florida Department of Corrections awarded a five-year, $1.2 billion contract to provide medical care for thousands of state prisoners in North and Central Florida to a Tennessee company that was sued 660 times for malpractice in the past five years...
New RTW Battles in Michigan and Ontario Democracy Tree ...Two new right-to-work threats to report: one in Michigan against the non-union, dues-based State Bar of Michigan, and another across the border in Ontario. Michigan attorneys are firing back against the shadowy forces behind RTW. The Koch brothers should be warned: Don’t piss-off 43,600 lawyers...
Detroit residents cope with bankruptcy in daily lives USA TODAY ...Here are some far-reaching effects of the city’s lack of operating funds on both its citizens and workers...
Trade unions rail against non-union worksite Philadelphia Inquirer ...Philadelphia Trade unions have taken their dispute with developers Michael and Matthew Pestronk to a new level, producing a sleek documentary that accuses the brothers of safety and health violations at their signature project, the unfinished Goldtex building...
Tuesday, October 1, 2013
Today's Teamster News 10.01.13
Teamsters: House GOP's Political Games Endanger Economy, Jobs teamster.org ...The Teamsters Union blasted extremist House Republicans today for endangering the U.S. economy and threatening the livelihood of millions of public and private sector workers with a possible government shutdown...
Teamsters reject Wegmans contract offer Rochester Democrat & Chronicle ...The International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 118 has rejected Wegmans "last, best and final" contract offer. The grocery company says the move authorizes union members to go on strike...
Hospital, union deserve praise (opinion) Montana Standard ...Congratulations are in order for St. James Healthcare and Teamsters Local 2, who reached a last-minute deal late on Sept. 19 to avoid a strike...
U.S. Wealth Is Now the Most Concentrated at the Top Since 1916 AlterNet ...The top ten-thousandth of the U.S. population have done very well under President Obama’s leadership, even if they had predominantly voted and contributed to Mitt Romney...
US Chamber of Commerce: TPP is one month away CNBC ..."I think we are getting close. The [U.S.] President will be able to announce, as will other world leaders, progress in the right direction [at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting], but my guess is that it's got another month in it," Donohue told CNBC Asia's Squawk Box on Tuesday...
FHA to get $1.7 billion in its first taxpayer-funded bailout Los Angeles Times ...The Federal Housing Administration dramatically expanded its role after the subprime market collapsed, but at the expense of its own finances. Now, the government agency will get a first-ever bailout of $1.7 billion...
Google Paid $55 Million In UK Taxes On $5.5 Billion Sales In 2012 Reuters ...Google, which has been grilled twice in the past year by a UK parliamentary committee over its tax practices, had a UK tax bill of 35 million pounds ($55 million) in 2012, on sales of $5.5 billion to British customers, its accounts showed...
A Wave of U.S. Sewing Jobs as Orders Pile Up New York Times ...Factories are finding that years of doing business overseas has shrunk what once was a thriving textile and apparel work force...
Toyota says it will export U.S.-built Corollas to Latin America Los Angeles Times ...The new Toyota Corolla has barely hit car dealers but Toyota is already saying it plans to export the U.S.-built version of the compact sedan to 18 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean starting next year...
NYC inmate almost as costly as Ivy League tuition Associated Press ...New York is indeed an expensive place, but experts say that alone doesn't explain a recent report that found the city's annual cost per inmate was $167,731 last year — nearly as much as it costs to pay for four years of tuition at an Ivy League university...
Huge Spike In Poverty Among Elderly Women Catches Analysts By Surprise Think Progress ...The number of women over the age of 65 living in extreme poverty jumped by 18 percent last year after having held steady for most of the previous decade the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) reported Thursday...
Wall Street Predators Wage Secret War on American Retirements AlterNet ...Financiers are lying their way to another giant theft of public money...
BP returns to court over Deepwater Horizon spill as $18 billion in fines loom The Guardian ...Penalties against BP for the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster could add up to $18 billion – five times the $3.5 billion originally set aside for fines...
Airlines shift focus from baggage fees to new services to make flying better, boosting revenue Associated Press ...Airlines are introducing a new bevy of fees, but this time passengers might actually like them...
American Airlines plans to hire 1,500 pilots Reuters ...American Airlines plans to hire 1,500 pilots over the next five years as it expands international flying and takes delivery of new planes, the carrier said on Monday...
Indiana, Illinois governors endorse Illiana Expressway Associated Press ...The governors of Indiana and Illinois have given their endorsement to a planned 47-mile expressway aimed at relieving traffic congestion in the Chicago area and creating jobs in both states...
Consultants' contracts soar to more than $62 million for Detroit bankruptcy Detroit Free Press ...Contracts approved for consultants and lawyers advising emergency manager Kevyn Orr’s team as it restructures city government and prepares for a likely Chapter 9 bankruptcy have skyrocketed to at least $62 million, with some firms getting more than $10-million increases, according to records reviewed by the Free Press...
Teamsters reject Wegmans contract offer Rochester Democrat & Chronicle ...The International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 118 has rejected Wegmans "last, best and final" contract offer. The grocery company says the move authorizes union members to go on strike...
Hospital, union deserve praise (opinion) Montana Standard ...Congratulations are in order for St. James Healthcare and Teamsters Local 2, who reached a last-minute deal late on Sept. 19 to avoid a strike...
U.S. Wealth Is Now the Most Concentrated at the Top Since 1916 AlterNet ...The top ten-thousandth of the U.S. population have done very well under President Obama’s leadership, even if they had predominantly voted and contributed to Mitt Romney...
US Chamber of Commerce: TPP is one month away CNBC ..."I think we are getting close. The [U.S.] President will be able to announce, as will other world leaders, progress in the right direction [at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting], but my guess is that it's got another month in it," Donohue told CNBC Asia's Squawk Box on Tuesday...
FHA to get $1.7 billion in its first taxpayer-funded bailout Los Angeles Times ...The Federal Housing Administration dramatically expanded its role after the subprime market collapsed, but at the expense of its own finances. Now, the government agency will get a first-ever bailout of $1.7 billion...
Google Paid $55 Million In UK Taxes On $5.5 Billion Sales In 2012 Reuters ...Google, which has been grilled twice in the past year by a UK parliamentary committee over its tax practices, had a UK tax bill of 35 million pounds ($55 million) in 2012, on sales of $5.5 billion to British customers, its accounts showed...
A Wave of U.S. Sewing Jobs as Orders Pile Up New York Times ...Factories are finding that years of doing business overseas has shrunk what once was a thriving textile and apparel work force...
Toyota says it will export U.S.-built Corollas to Latin America Los Angeles Times ...The new Toyota Corolla has barely hit car dealers but Toyota is already saying it plans to export the U.S.-built version of the compact sedan to 18 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean starting next year...
NYC inmate almost as costly as Ivy League tuition Associated Press ...New York is indeed an expensive place, but experts say that alone doesn't explain a recent report that found the city's annual cost per inmate was $167,731 last year — nearly as much as it costs to pay for four years of tuition at an Ivy League university...
Huge Spike In Poverty Among Elderly Women Catches Analysts By Surprise Think Progress ...The number of women over the age of 65 living in extreme poverty jumped by 18 percent last year after having held steady for most of the previous decade the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) reported Thursday...
Wall Street Predators Wage Secret War on American Retirements AlterNet ...Financiers are lying their way to another giant theft of public money...
BP returns to court over Deepwater Horizon spill as $18 billion in fines loom The Guardian ...Penalties against BP for the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster could add up to $18 billion – five times the $3.5 billion originally set aside for fines...
Airlines shift focus from baggage fees to new services to make flying better, boosting revenue Associated Press ...Airlines are introducing a new bevy of fees, but this time passengers might actually like them...
American Airlines plans to hire 1,500 pilots Reuters ...American Airlines plans to hire 1,500 pilots over the next five years as it expands international flying and takes delivery of new planes, the carrier said on Monday...
Indiana, Illinois governors endorse Illiana Expressway Associated Press ...The governors of Indiana and Illinois have given their endorsement to a planned 47-mile expressway aimed at relieving traffic congestion in the Chicago area and creating jobs in both states...
Consultants' contracts soar to more than $62 million for Detroit bankruptcy Detroit Free Press ...Contracts approved for consultants and lawyers advising emergency manager Kevyn Orr’s team as it restructures city government and prepares for a likely Chapter 9 bankruptcy have skyrocketed to at least $62 million, with some firms getting more than $10-million increases, according to records reviewed by the Free Press...
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Today's Teamster News 06.25.13
American factory exec says he's being held hostage by scores of angry workers in Beijing Associated Press ...An American executive said Monday he has been held hostage for four days at his medical supply plant in Beijing by scores of workers demanding severance packages like those given to 30 co-workers in a phased-out department...
76% of Americans are living paycheck-to-paycheck CNN Money ...Fewer than one in four Americans have enough money in their savings account to cover at least six months of expenses, enough to help cushion the blow of a job loss, medical emergency or some other unexpected event, according to the survey of 1,000 adults. Meanwhile, 50% of those surveyed have less than a three-month cushion and 27% had no savings at all...
U.S. Surveillance Is Not Aimed at Terrorists Bloomberg ...monitoring phone calls is hardly the way to catch terrorists. They’re generally not dumb enough to use Verizon...
Court makes it harder to sue businesses Associated Press ...The court's conservatives, in two 5-4 decisions, ruled that a person must be able to hire and fire someone to be considered a supervisor in discrimination lawsuits, making it harder to blame a business for a co-worker's racism or sexism. The court then decided to limit how juries can decide retaliation lawsuits...
Supreme Court to decide whether union-business agreement valid The Republic ...The Supreme Court will decide whether a business and a union's agreement is valid after the business helped the union organize in return for help with a ballot initiative...
Lawmakers want to stop government from buying USA flags from China Daily Caller ...Lawmakers in the House of Representatives are renewing a push to stop the federal government from buying and flying American flags made outside the country...
They’re not telling us all of it Trade Reform ...I met with 22 Congressional offices last week. None of them had seen the TPP language...
Rising middle class fuels Brazil's protests Forbes ... in the protests that have gripped Brazil since last week, regional experts say economic growth is actually feeding discontent, as a rising middle class puts demands on social services such as education and transportation that the government has failed to meet...
7-Eleven convenience stores raided as part of US probe Associated Press ...Federal authorities say they’ve raided 7-Eleven convenience stores in two US states as part of a probe into human smuggling, identity theft and money laundering...
McDonald's pay practice scrutinized by federal authorities Citizens’ Voice ...As a lawsuit against a local McDonald's franchise gains national attention, federal authorities are investigating the company's practice of forcing employees to be paid only by debit cards that come with an assortment of fees...
Twinkies Set to Make 'Sweetest Comeback' in July ABC News ...Hostess is now owned by the private equity firms Apollo Global Management and Metropoulos & Co...
Wearing a mask at a riot is now a crime CBC News ...A bill that bans the wearing of masks during a riot or unlawful assembly and carries a maximum 10-year prison sentence with a conviction of the offence became law today (in Canada)...
Tennessee Ends $40 Million in Child Allowances for Unemployed Associated Press ...The state is notifying Tennesseans drawing unemployment benefits that they will soon lose a weekly $15-per-child allowance as part of a new law signed by Republican Gov. Bill Haslam...
State of Ohio skips union, picks private food service Columbus Dispatch ...A Philadelphia mega-company that provides food and beverage service at ballparks, national parks, hospitals and schools nationwide has been picked to provide private food service for Ohio prisons...
Alaska minimum wage hike plan gets go-ahead Associated Press ...The organizers of a ballot initiative to raise the minimum wage in Alaska have been given the go-ahead to begin collecting signature, Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell said Monday....
Montana will prosper with equal pay for equal work (opinion) Billings Gazette ...Fifty years after President Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act, American women earn, on average, 77 percent of what their male counterparts do. In Montana, women are earning only 67 percent for doing the same work, putting Montana in 39th place for pay equity...
Indiana gives BP a pass on mercury Chicago Tribune ...Under the terms of an earlier decision by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, the BP refinery can legally discharge an annual average of 23.1 parts per trillion of mercury — nearly 20 times the federal water quality standard...
Indiana grain elevator blast kills 1 worker Associated Press ...An explosion Monday inside a grain elevator killed a worker at a sprawling northwestern Indiana farm co-op, authorities said...
Teamster UPS Vote IBT ...National Master Contract 34037 (Y) 29576 (N)...
Teamster UPS Freight Returns IBT ...1897 (Y) 4244 (N)...
Pepsi Plant Employees Reject Contract Offer Associated Press ...Employees at the Pepsi Beverage plant in Huntington, who are members of Teamsters Local 175, have unanimously rejected a contract offer they claim would erode their current benefits...
Carteret firm's truckers to vote Friday on joining Teamsters union NJ.com ...Friday’s vote, which follows a contentious unionization campaign, involves 112 short and long-haul drivers and support workers for Toll Global Forwarding...
Listen To The Rick Smith Show’s Broadcasts From His People’s Tour Of America IBT ...The Teamsters are supporting Brother Rick Smith as he takes his labor radio show from his home in Harrisburg, Pa. on a cross-country tour from June 11 to July 5. On the way, he is meeting with union leaders and workers about the state of the American labor movement and the challenges facing the middle class. Come back to this page daily to hear the latest from his road travels...
76% of Americans are living paycheck-to-paycheck CNN Money ...Fewer than one in four Americans have enough money in their savings account to cover at least six months of expenses, enough to help cushion the blow of a job loss, medical emergency or some other unexpected event, according to the survey of 1,000 adults. Meanwhile, 50% of those surveyed have less than a three-month cushion and 27% had no savings at all...
U.S. Surveillance Is Not Aimed at Terrorists Bloomberg ...monitoring phone calls is hardly the way to catch terrorists. They’re generally not dumb enough to use Verizon...
Court makes it harder to sue businesses Associated Press ...The court's conservatives, in two 5-4 decisions, ruled that a person must be able to hire and fire someone to be considered a supervisor in discrimination lawsuits, making it harder to blame a business for a co-worker's racism or sexism. The court then decided to limit how juries can decide retaliation lawsuits...
Supreme Court to decide whether union-business agreement valid The Republic ...The Supreme Court will decide whether a business and a union's agreement is valid after the business helped the union organize in return for help with a ballot initiative...
Lawmakers want to stop government from buying USA flags from China Daily Caller ...Lawmakers in the House of Representatives are renewing a push to stop the federal government from buying and flying American flags made outside the country...
They’re not telling us all of it Trade Reform ...I met with 22 Congressional offices last week. None of them had seen the TPP language...
Rising middle class fuels Brazil's protests Forbes ... in the protests that have gripped Brazil since last week, regional experts say economic growth is actually feeding discontent, as a rising middle class puts demands on social services such as education and transportation that the government has failed to meet...
7-Eleven convenience stores raided as part of US probe Associated Press ...Federal authorities say they’ve raided 7-Eleven convenience stores in two US states as part of a probe into human smuggling, identity theft and money laundering...
McDonald's pay practice scrutinized by federal authorities Citizens’ Voice ...As a lawsuit against a local McDonald's franchise gains national attention, federal authorities are investigating the company's practice of forcing employees to be paid only by debit cards that come with an assortment of fees...
Twinkies Set to Make 'Sweetest Comeback' in July ABC News ...Hostess is now owned by the private equity firms Apollo Global Management and Metropoulos & Co...
Wearing a mask at a riot is now a crime CBC News ...A bill that bans the wearing of masks during a riot or unlawful assembly and carries a maximum 10-year prison sentence with a conviction of the offence became law today (in Canada)...
Tennessee Ends $40 Million in Child Allowances for Unemployed Associated Press ...The state is notifying Tennesseans drawing unemployment benefits that they will soon lose a weekly $15-per-child allowance as part of a new law signed by Republican Gov. Bill Haslam...
State of Ohio skips union, picks private food service Columbus Dispatch ...A Philadelphia mega-company that provides food and beverage service at ballparks, national parks, hospitals and schools nationwide has been picked to provide private food service for Ohio prisons...
Alaska minimum wage hike plan gets go-ahead Associated Press ...The organizers of a ballot initiative to raise the minimum wage in Alaska have been given the go-ahead to begin collecting signature, Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell said Monday....
Montana will prosper with equal pay for equal work (opinion) Billings Gazette ...Fifty years after President Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act, American women earn, on average, 77 percent of what their male counterparts do. In Montana, women are earning only 67 percent for doing the same work, putting Montana in 39th place for pay equity...
Indiana gives BP a pass on mercury Chicago Tribune ...Under the terms of an earlier decision by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, the BP refinery can legally discharge an annual average of 23.1 parts per trillion of mercury — nearly 20 times the federal water quality standard...
Indiana grain elevator blast kills 1 worker Associated Press ...An explosion Monday inside a grain elevator killed a worker at a sprawling northwestern Indiana farm co-op, authorities said...
Teamster UPS Vote IBT ...National Master Contract 34037 (Y) 29576 (N)...
Teamster UPS Freight Returns IBT ...1897 (Y) 4244 (N)...
Pepsi Plant Employees Reject Contract Offer Associated Press ...Employees at the Pepsi Beverage plant in Huntington, who are members of Teamsters Local 175, have unanimously rejected a contract offer they claim would erode their current benefits...
Carteret firm's truckers to vote Friday on joining Teamsters union NJ.com ...Friday’s vote, which follows a contentious unionization campaign, involves 112 short and long-haul drivers and support workers for Toll Global Forwarding...
Listen To The Rick Smith Show’s Broadcasts From His People’s Tour Of America IBT ...The Teamsters are supporting Brother Rick Smith as he takes his labor radio show from his home in Harrisburg, Pa. on a cross-country tour from June 11 to July 5. On the way, he is meeting with union leaders and workers about the state of the American labor movement and the challenges facing the middle class. Come back to this page daily to hear the latest from his road travels...
Monday, May 20, 2013
Today's Teamster News 05.20.13
Bangladesh Factory Safety Accord: At Least 14 Major North American Retailers Decline To Sign Huffington Post ...The deadline to sign onto the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh passed on Tuesday, and at least 14 major North American retailers declined to participate...
The great tax charade: Amazon plays the system while businesses like ours suffer The Independent ...We own a pair of independent book shops in Warwickshire. All around us the high street is, essentially, collapsing.... It’s simply not fair that Amazon starts at a an advantage on every sale because it’s not paying its fair share of tax...
Robert Reich: The Hollowing-Out of Government Moyers & Company ...The deadly explosion at a West, Texas, fertilizer plant was absolutely preventable. The plant was had not been inspected since 1985, and heavily violated safety standards. Why did this happen? The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is the government agency set to ensure workplace safety, but it’s been steadily hollowed out by Republicans…
Koch Brothers Dump Three-Story Pile of Toxic Byproduct on Detroit The Gawker ...There's a new addition to the scenic view along the Detroit River: a three-story pile of petroleum coke, a byproduct of the tar sands drilling in northern Canada over 2,000 miles away...
Class-Action Lawsuit Aimed at Walmart Hispanic Business ...Walmart can be sued for being negligent in hiring contractors that employ workers at their distribution centers, according to a federal ruling this week...
Michael Kinsley Feels Your Austerity Pain, Middle Class, But Pain Makes You Beautiful Huffington Post ...The austerity policies that gripped the world in the face of the global economic downturn have not worked. Unless the intent was to make a bad situation almost intractably worse...
Say no to Chained CPI scheme (opinion) Times-Standard ...Recipients of Social Security benefits and those about to retire should be aware that President Obama's proposed switch to the so-called Chained Consumer Price Index is, if adopted, will result in reduced benefits to all recipients...
Corporations Are Stealing From Hard Working Americans New Hampshire Labor News ...If you do not agree that corporations are stealing from Americans then you do not understand our current tax structure...
How Trade Pacts Threaten Public Health and Freedom U.S. News & World Report ...Let's face it: trade agreements bore most people. But modern trade pacts reach deep into our lives in ways that have nothing to do with trade. Deals now under discussion undermine the freedom of people everywhere to decide how to live, and they restrict the ability of democratically-elected governments to promote public health. It's time for the rest of us to pay attention…
Winners and losers from the 2013 session of the Missouri General Assembly Kansas City Star ...More importantly for the labor movement, the GOP largely abandoned the bill that unions most despised — a ban on unions requiring workers to pay dues, better known as “right to work.”...
Wisconsin Gov. Walker signs work-share bill Green Bay Press Gazette ...Gov. Scott Walker has signed into law a bill creating a program that gives employers an alternative to laying off employees when work slows...
Minimum Wage Hike Would Give Women A Needed Boost Hartford Courant ...Recently, the Appropriations Committee of the Connecticut General Assembly took a strong step toward growing and strengthening the wages of Connecticut's lowest-wage earners by voting to increase the state's minimum wage. In doing so, the committee also took a stand for women, as women are disproportionately impacted by a low minimum wage...
Texas sues BP, Halliburton, others over oil spill CNN News ...Texas on Friday became the latest state to sue BP, Halliburton and others tied to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, alleging the parties "engaged in willful and wanton misconduct" and seeking penalties and damages "to the fullest extent allowed by law."...
Indiana Halts Support of Fertilizer Plant on U.S. Bomb Concerns Bloomberg News ...Indiana Governor Mike Pence pulled his support of a plan by a Pakistani company to build a fertilizer plant after the Pentagon raised concerns that its products were being used to make bombs...
Georgia depends heavily on federal money Atlanta Journal-Constitution ...With Congress promising more federal spending cuts, some Georgia officials are facing up to a politically unpopular fact: the state has become more reliant on billions of dollars from Washington since the start of the Great Recession...
The great tax charade: Amazon plays the system while businesses like ours suffer The Independent ...We own a pair of independent book shops in Warwickshire. All around us the high street is, essentially, collapsing.... It’s simply not fair that Amazon starts at a an advantage on every sale because it’s not paying its fair share of tax...
Robert Reich: The Hollowing-Out of Government Moyers & Company ...The deadly explosion at a West, Texas, fertilizer plant was absolutely preventable. The plant was had not been inspected since 1985, and heavily violated safety standards. Why did this happen? The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is the government agency set to ensure workplace safety, but it’s been steadily hollowed out by Republicans…
Koch Brothers Dump Three-Story Pile of Toxic Byproduct on Detroit The Gawker ...There's a new addition to the scenic view along the Detroit River: a three-story pile of petroleum coke, a byproduct of the tar sands drilling in northern Canada over 2,000 miles away...
Class-Action Lawsuit Aimed at Walmart Hispanic Business ...Walmart can be sued for being negligent in hiring contractors that employ workers at their distribution centers, according to a federal ruling this week...
Michael Kinsley Feels Your Austerity Pain, Middle Class, But Pain Makes You Beautiful Huffington Post ...The austerity policies that gripped the world in the face of the global economic downturn have not worked. Unless the intent was to make a bad situation almost intractably worse...
Say no to Chained CPI scheme (opinion) Times-Standard ...Recipients of Social Security benefits and those about to retire should be aware that President Obama's proposed switch to the so-called Chained Consumer Price Index is, if adopted, will result in reduced benefits to all recipients...
Corporations Are Stealing From Hard Working Americans New Hampshire Labor News ...If you do not agree that corporations are stealing from Americans then you do not understand our current tax structure...
How Trade Pacts Threaten Public Health and Freedom U.S. News & World Report ...Let's face it: trade agreements bore most people. But modern trade pacts reach deep into our lives in ways that have nothing to do with trade. Deals now under discussion undermine the freedom of people everywhere to decide how to live, and they restrict the ability of democratically-elected governments to promote public health. It's time for the rest of us to pay attention…
Winners and losers from the 2013 session of the Missouri General Assembly Kansas City Star ...More importantly for the labor movement, the GOP largely abandoned the bill that unions most despised — a ban on unions requiring workers to pay dues, better known as “right to work.”...
Wisconsin Gov. Walker signs work-share bill Green Bay Press Gazette ...Gov. Scott Walker has signed into law a bill creating a program that gives employers an alternative to laying off employees when work slows...
Minimum Wage Hike Would Give Women A Needed Boost Hartford Courant ...Recently, the Appropriations Committee of the Connecticut General Assembly took a strong step toward growing and strengthening the wages of Connecticut's lowest-wage earners by voting to increase the state's minimum wage. In doing so, the committee also took a stand for women, as women are disproportionately impacted by a low minimum wage...
Texas sues BP, Halliburton, others over oil spill CNN News ...Texas on Friday became the latest state to sue BP, Halliburton and others tied to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, alleging the parties "engaged in willful and wanton misconduct" and seeking penalties and damages "to the fullest extent allowed by law."...
Indiana Halts Support of Fertilizer Plant on U.S. Bomb Concerns Bloomberg News ...Indiana Governor Mike Pence pulled his support of a plan by a Pakistani company to build a fertilizer plant after the Pentagon raised concerns that its products were being used to make bombs...
Georgia depends heavily on federal money Atlanta Journal-Constitution ...With Congress promising more federal spending cuts, some Georgia officials are facing up to a politically unpopular fact: the state has become more reliant on billions of dollars from Washington since the start of the Great Recession...
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