Sanders, Pocan unveil card check bill

Card check recognition -- which unions and their allies call “majority sign-up” -- is the key feature of a labor law reform measure Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) introduced this week.

Sen. Bernie Sanders

The Workplace Democracy Act, announced the day before a White House summit on workers rights, also would mandate mediation and arbitration between labor and management if they don’t agree on a first contract following union certification.

Card check recognition and first contract arbitration are two key provisions of the former Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), a large rewrite of federal labor law which unions and their allies started pushing almost a decade ago. Another section – high and multiple fines for corporate labor-law breaking – was in a separate bill, the Wage Act, unveiled in September.

Sen. Sanders said:

Millions of Americans who want to join unions are unable to do so because of the coercive and often illegal behavior of their employers. The benefits of joining a union are clear: higher wages, better benefits and a more secure retirement. If we are serious about reducing income and wealth inequality and rebuilding the middle class, we have got to substantially increase the number of union jobs in this country. 

Card check recognition mandates that the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) certify a union represents workers if a simple majority of them sign valid authorization cards, rather than going through the time-consuming, often-delayed NLRB election process. Firms often abuse and manipulate the elections process, besides openly breaking labor law during campaigns. The Sanders-Pocan bill also says that once the union is recognized, the firm must open bargaining within 10 days.

If they can’t agree on a pact within 90 days, the union or the bosses can seek compulsory mediation. If they still can’t agree after a month of that, they submit remaining issues to binding arbitration.

• Press Associates, Inc., contributed to this report. 

New TPP deal meets resistance from all sides

Georgia Teamsters joined in protest of TPP in Atlanta last week.

Trade officials with the U.S. and 11 other Pacific Rim nations signed off on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) today, starting the clock on a months-long debate of the deal that could lead to thousands of lost American jobs and lower wages for many more.

Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa noted that everyday workers gain nothing from the TPP -- not new jobs, not higher wages or even better products imported into the U.S. Instead, the pact is all for the good of big business:

The Teamsters and many, many others just don't see any value in what TPP brings to this country. First and foremost is the deal won't create any new jobs here. That is significant and can't be pushed aside by proponents. After all, TPP backers like to insist it will result in new work for Americans, although they can never quite explain how. There's a reason why their responses are so vague.

But disagreement over the deal stretches much further than just the Teamsters and other unions. Indeed, politicians on all side of the political spectrum voiced their displeasure with the deal soon after it was announced this morning.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a leading presidential candidate, said:

Wall Street and other big corporations have won again. It is time for the rest of us to stop letting multi-national corporations rig the system to pad their profits at our expense.

But more surprising was the statement of Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), a proponent of the agreement, who argues it isn't up to snuff:

Closing a deal is an achievement for our nation only if it works for the American people and can pass Congress by meeting the high-standard objectives laid out in bipartisan Trade Promotion Authority. While the details are still emerging, unfortunately I am afraid this deal appears to fall woefully short.

And maybe the most enlightening is the comments made by Ziad Ojakli, Ford Motor Company's Group Vice President for Government and Community Relations, who notes the deal doesn't address currency manipulation concerns that would drive up U.S. trade deficits:

To ensure the future competitiveness of American manufacturing, we recommend Congress not approve TPP in its current form, and ask the Administration to renegotiate TPP and incorporate strong and enforceable currency rules. This step is critical to achieving free trade in the 21st century.

Add that up, and you've got a lot of unhappy people representing different parts of the public and private sectors. In short, this is a bad deal that doesn’t deserve the stamp of approval from Congress. As the Teamsters have stressed as part of our new Let’s Get America Working campaign, businesses need to invest at home, not abroad. And elected officials need to remember who they serve. Corporations aren't people too.

Teamsters demand Congress, feds save pensions

Teamsters President Hoffa and Sen. Sanders talked pensions on the Hill today.

Hundreds of Teamster members and retirees came to Washington today to voice outrage over proposed rules governing pension cuts and support for legislation that would bolster multi-employer plans at the center of the dispute.

They gathered at both a Capitol Hill rally this afternoon and a hearing earlier in the day hosted by the U.S. Treasury Department to share how legislation proposed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) is needed and how they would be adversely affected by potential cuts to their retirements.

Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa told workers during the Hill event that the federal government guaranteed pensions would be there for workers when they enacted the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) more than 40 years ago and must not go back on it now:

You played by the books and they pulled out the rug. It is devastating. We've been fighting it. There was a promise made, and we've got to keep it. 

Sen. Sanders, a Democratic presidential candidate, said the legislation is key because it would protect retirees who could suffer from pension changes imposed by Congress late last year
through no fault of their own. He said it would be a travesty to implement cuts that could reduce benefits by as much as 60 percent:

Tens of thousands of retirees in the middle class today, who intended to retire in the middle class, could slip into poverty. That is unconscionable and we cannot allow that. We have got to send a very loud message.

Teamsters rally against pension changes.

Earlier in the day, Teamsters International Vice President John Murphy and others testified before a panel of federal officials representing the Treasury and Labor departments as well as the International Revenue Service and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. They urged members to do everything they can to protect retirees in failing pension plans.

If cuts are ultimately necessary, Murphy said they should be phased in to minimize the burden on retirees and should be as low as possible to keep a given pension solvent:

The final regulations should not provide methods for plans to make larger cuts than necessary. A phase-in will ease the shock of the reduction. Maybe, instead of $100, you reduce $50 and then two years later, $25. That way it's not an open cut.

Retirees and workers also offered their own suggestions. They noted it is ridiculous that they are getting punished for decisions made by others and said there are better ways to keep pensions afloat, such as cutting the large investment fees paid by pensions.

Paul Flacke, a former president of Local 661 in Cincinnati who worked for 32 years before getting injured and forced to retire, said he knows workers paid their fair share into pensions because he helped negotiate many contracts. He urged the board to consider new pension rules to look at financial fees as a potential way to bolster retirement funds:

We are talking about millions of dollars being charged for moving our money. Why are they moving our money around?

Don't pare back retirement security!

Everyday Americans are finding it increasingly hard to cover their daily expenses. So it's not surprising that saving for retirement is falling behind. But many companies are making it even more difficult by reducing benefits and options for their workers.

Rep. Marcy Kaptur talked pensions on Capitol Hill in June.

A report earlier this year found that the U.S. ranks only 19th in the world when it comes to retirement security, behind Iceland and just barely in front of Slovenia. That's nothing short of an embarrassment for this country. But it is not surprising given the reduction in pensions, the fluctuations in 401(k) savings plans and continued talk of raising the retirement age for Social Security.

The Teamsters have taken an active role in fighting to protect retirees' and workers' nest eggs. The IBT and other unions got behind the Keep Our Pensions Promises Act (KOPPA), introduced earlier this year by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio). It's more essential now than ever.

On Thursday, the U.S. Treasury Department will hold a hearing in Washington on finalizing a rule that opens the door to pension cuts. This would be the first time since President Ford signed the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) into law that pension retirement security would be compromised. 

The futures of some 1.5 million workers who are enrolled in about 200 retirement plans nationwide are at risk, and potentially many more in the future if we do not act. The U.S. must take action now and stand up to these cuts. Lawmakers owe it to hardworking Americans who have earned the ability to retire with dignity. They must stand up to these cuts and restore ERISA’s protections before time runs out.

Similar attention needs to be focused on expanding, and not shrinking, Social Security. More lawmakers seem interested in making hardworking Americans work even longer to receive benefits than expanding the successful program to make sure people can have a more comfortable life in their golden years. It's nothing more than a trick, as the National Journal noted:

Raising the Social Security retirement age ... means that future retirees will get smaller payouts than previous ones did after starting to collect benefits at the very same age. The differences can be dramatic, as the following example illustrates: If, under the current cutoff, you’re eligible for $1,000 at age 67, you could instead choose to get $700 a month for retiring at 62 or $1,240 a month for retiring at 70. But if the retirement age was increased to 70—a number mentioned by John Boehner, Jeb Bush, and Chris Christie—the $1,000 benefit at 67 turns into $800, the $700 benefit at 62 turns into $565, and the $1,240 benefit at 70 turns into $1,000. 

These cuts matter significantly on the level of the individual. But, even if Social Security as a whole were in crisis (it’s not), cutting the benefits that people can collect before age 70 wouldn’t even be a particularly effective way of closing any budget gaps: Increasing the retirement age from 67 to 68 would erase 12 percent of the deficit that Social Security is expected to face 75 years from now.

As it stands, nearly two-thirds of retirees count on Social Security for half or more of their retirement income. For more than 30 percent of retirees, the funds make up 90 percent or more of their income. It may not be right, but it is true.

Policymakers cannot in good faith turn a blind eye to these numbers. Everyday Americans are counting on them. It's time to take a stand for workers and retirees who don't have friends in high places. They must do the right thing.

Today's Teamster News 07.23.15

Teamsters
Hoffa: Senate Transportation Bill is Positive Step, But Safety Issues Remain  Teamster.org  ...Today, the Senate voted to take up a six-year surface transportation reauthorization that will include three years of funding for highway, rail and transit programs. The House has passed a five-month extension funding programs until the end of the year. “While some lawmakers seem content to ignore our broad transportation infrastructure needs, it is clear many U.S. roads and bridges don’t have the luxury of time to be fixed,” said Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa...
Hoffa: Workers in D.C. and Around the Country Deserve '$15 and a Union'  Teamster.org  ...The Teamsters stand with thousands of workers who rallied on Capitol Hill today and millions of hardworking Americans around the country who deserve the dignity and respect that earning $15 an hour would bring. These same workers should also have the ability to unionize so they can advocate for themselves going forward...
Teamsters: Toyota is a Danger to American Families  Teamster.org  ...Today, the Teamsters Union posted the first of several roadside billboards about the Toyota Corporation in order to educate the American public about the economic and safety dangers posed by the company. "Toyota is bidding out much of its automobile transport work to small, unproven operators who undercut the health care protections and retirement security of their drivers,” said Kevin Moore, Teamsters International Trustee and Director of the Teamsters Carhaul Division...
Teamsters Call On UPS To Leave ALEC At Massive Protest In San Diego Teamster.org ...Hundreds of Teamsters from across California traveled to San Diego today to participate in a massive protest outside a national meeting for the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). The Teamsters had one clear message they wanted to send – it was time for UPS to end its affiliation with ALEC. The Teamsters Union represents more than 250,000 members at UPS and UPS Freight...
Port truck drivers to get hearings on wage theft claims as they strike against employer, Pacific Transportation 9  OC Register  ..."Pac 9’s desperate tactic to stop the drivers from getting their day in court has failed. History will show that the drivers’ sacrifices on the picket line, coupled with the facts presented in court, will lead to permanent change in the port trucking industry,” Eric Tate, Secretary-Treasurer of Local Teamsters 848, which is representing the drivers, said in a statement...
Leslie Marshall Show On Executive Compensation at McKesson  (radio) Teamster.org   ...Louis Malizia, with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Capital Strategies Department, spoke with the Leslie Marshall Show about the disparity between high-level managers and frontline workers at McKesson. McKesson is the world’s largest wholesale pharmaceutical distributor, yet many of its employees cannot afford health care. The Teamsters recently sponsored a shareholder proposal to curb unearned executive pay...

Global Labor & Trade
Zimbabwe Supreme Court Guts Worker Job Security  Solidarity Center  ...The Supreme Court of Zimbabwe upheld a decision late last week stating that companies can now terminate workers’ contracts at any time, without offering them layoff benefits, by giving them three months’ notice. The unanimous decision “has grave consequences for anyone under formal employment,” according to one news source and comes “at time when business is crying for flexible labor laws in order to improve industrial competitiveness”...
State poised to issue report crucial to trade deal  The Hill  ...The State Department will release a human trafficking report Monday that many lawmakers fear could raise Malaysia’s status — allowing them to remain in a sweeping international trade pact. Congressional lawmakers and human rights groups are rankled over speculation that the annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report will upgrade the Asian nation — one of 12 nations negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) — from tier 3 to a higher status that would help them remain part of the talks...
Abuse and Exploitation of Migrants Ignored in Exchange for TPPA  APR Network  ...The recent Reuters report on United States President Barack Obama’s move to upgrade the human rights status of Malaysia to allow the continuation of the negotiations of the TransPacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) gives a taste of what is to come, especially for migrants’ rights, if the trade deal will be signed. Citing congressional sources, Reuters reports that President Obama is going to move Malaysia’s status from Tier 3 in its annual trafficking in persons report, to Tier 2...
Why everyone hates Obama's signature trade deal  CNN  ...After years of painful, drawn-out meetings, negotiators are preparing for what could be the final round of talks over the biggest free trade deal in history, the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Even as the deal nears completion, plenty of groups are trying to scuttle the agreement...
Bar unhappy over Malaysia’s upgrade on U.S. watch list on trafficking  Therakyat Post  ...The Bar Council expressed its unhappiness that Malaysia may be upgraded from Tier 3 to Tier 2 Watch List status in the rankings in the imminent 2015 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report prepared by the United States Department of State. Its president, Steven Thiru, said any upgrade of Malaysia in the 2015 TIP report would appear to be primarily motivated by a desire to allow Malaysia to be included in the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA)...
TPP will prevent ban on foreign ownership  TVNZ  ...Labour says it will not support a trade partnership with the United States, Japan and 10 other Pacific nations if new conditions are not met because it worries that it could see New Zealand give up too much power. ONE News can reveal that the Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade deal will stop the right to restrict sales of homes and farm land to non-resident foreigners in fellow TPP countries...
US Trade Deficit Expansion Weighs on GDP  The Desert Sun  ...The U.S. trade deficit, which had shrunk significantly in the post "great financial recession" aftermath, reversed sharply in the first quarter 2015. Already beset by a drop in business and industry stock building early in the year, together with export restricting West Coast port strikes, and inclement weather in the East and Midwest, plus a strong export-reducing dollar, the first quarter trade deficit posted the greatest downward widening since the pre-recession (2008-10) years...
Anti-Austerity Protesters Massed Outside Greek Parliament Before Vote  Huffington Post  ...As Greek lawmakers gathered Wednesday to vote on a bill that would institute more economic reforms demanded by the nation's creditors, crowds amassed outside the Hellenic Parliament to decry the latest austerity measures. The vote, expected in the early hours of Thursday, has spurred anger among Greeks who called for an end to austerity when they elected the ruling Syriza party, only to have the government ultimately accept additional harsh economic policies in order to secure bailout funds...
Varoufakis: Troika Forced Syriza Into Choice Between 'Suicide or Execution'  Common Dreams ...In his first international television interview since stepping down from his post as Greek Finance Minister, Yanis Varoufakis told CNN's Christiane Amanpour on Monday that European lenders had forced his government to make a choice between "suicide or execution." After five months of rigorous negotiations, the outspoken Varoufakis stepped down from his post the night of the Greek referendum. And despite voting against the latest austerity package, Varoufakis said he understood why Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras decided to accept...

State & Living Wage Battles
New York Plans $15-an-Hour Minimum Wage for Fast Food Workers  New York Times  ...The labor protest movement that fast-food workers in New York City began nearly three years ago has led to higher wages for workers all across the country. On Wednesday, it paid off for the people who started it. A panel appointed by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo recommended on Wednesday that the minimum wage be raised for employees of fast-food chain restaurants throughout the state to $15 an hour over the next few years...
New York Fast Food Workers On Passage Of The $15 Wage: ‘It’s A Dream Come True’  Think Progress  ...On Wednesday, the wage board New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) convened unanimously passed a proposal for a $15 an hour minimum wage for the state’s fast food industry. The labor commissioner is expected to approve the recommendation and issue a wage order raising these workers’ pay to at least that amount. The minimum wage for fast food workers will reach $15 an hour in New York City by 2018 and in the rest of the state by 2021...
Aiming to Lift 'Starvation Wage,' Progressive Lawmakers Push for $15 Nationwide  Common Dreams  ..."We are here today to send a very loud and a very clear message to the United States Congress, the President of the United States, and corporate America," Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders bellowed before a crowd of striking low-wage workers in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday. "In the richest country on the face of the earth, no one who works 40 hours a week should be living in poverty"...
ALEC Admits School Vouchers Are for Kids in Suburbia  PR Watch  ...School vouchers were never about helping poor, at-risk or minority students. But selling them as social mobility tickets was a useful fiction that for some twenty-five years helped rightwing ideologues and corporate backers gain bipartisan support for an ideological scheme designed to privatize public schools. The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), which is meeting in San Diego today, has decided to drop the pretense that vouchers have anything to do with social and racial equity...
How Walker Turned 'Job Creation' Into a Goodie Bag for Campaign Donors  TPM  ...When Scott Walker was elected Wisconsin governor in 2010, he came into office with a playbook he’d followed as the Milwaukee County executive: he declared an emergency. Taxes: too high. Public benefits: too generous. Businesses: too burdened. Unions: too coddled. One of his first acts in January 2011 was to call an emergency session of the state legislature. One of the first pieces of legislation he signed as governor, Act 7, privatized the state’s department of commerce by turning it into a public-private hybrid called the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation...
The Governor Who Forgot How to Veto a Bill  The Atlantic  ...LePage may have learned the art of politics in the four-and-a-half years since Maine voters first elected him to the governorship, but it seems he hasn’t yet mastered state law. In a turn of events as incomprehensible as it sounds, the combative conservative apparently muffed the vetoes of 65 bills at the end of the annual legislative session. He is now asking the state’s highest court to rule on whether he successfully rejected the measures, or whether they have in fact become law...
Changes to Pittsburgh workers paid-sick leave legislation introduced  Post Gazette  ...City Councilman Corey O’Connor introduced a series of amendments Wednesday to legislation requiring Pittsburgh employers to offer paid sick leave, softening some of the rough edges to make the proposed law easier to swallow for businesses. Now, the law will not apply to seasonal workers, the amount of paid leave required is reduced and employees must work more hours to accrue it, among other changes...

Uber Strikes Deal With New York City to Avoid Cap on Ride-Hailing Vehicles in City  Slate  ...Uber and New York City struck a conciliatory tone, agreeing to a deal that would avoid the city capping the number of Uber drivers on city streets. The agreement softens a New York City Council bill that aimed at curtailing the ride-hailing service’s growth over concerns about increasing congestion on city streets caused by ride-hailing services...

U.S. Labor
Grocery Chain’s Financial Meltdown Could Leave Thousands of Union Workers Jobless  In These Times  ...Plans to dismember the A&P supermarket chain were revealed in a federal bankruptcy court in New York this week, with dire results predicted for more than 15,000 members of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union. The historic grocery retailer—the original Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. was formed back in 1859—intends to sell or close all of its 300 stores spread across six Mid-Atlantic states, according to documents filed Monday in the U.S...
NYC Airport Strike Averted at JFK, LaGuardia on Labor Truce  Bloomberg  ...More than 1,200 workers at New York’s Kennedy and LaGuardia airports will stay on the job after scrapping a strike hours before it was supposed to begin. An airline contractor, Command Security Corp.’s Aviation Safeguards unit, agreed to stay neutral in an organizing effort among its workers, the Service Employees International Union’s Local 32BJ said in an e-mailed statement Wednesday. Security officers, baggage handlers and wheelchair attendants had planned to walk off the job starting later in the day...
Future of Focus plant looms over start of Ford-UAW talks  Detroit Free Press  ...Top UAW officials and some of Ford's highest ranking executives will meet today to formally mark the start of contract talks exactly two weeks after the Dearborn automaker said it would move production of the Focus compact car to Mexico. Typically, the ceremonial event to kick-start contract negotiations is a warm and fuzzy event designed to underscore the close working relationship between the union and the automaker...
USW critical of ArcelorMittal contract proposal  Chicago Tribune  ...The United Steelworkers union said it has received an initial three-year contract proposal from ArcelorMittal management that includes no wage increases, reduced incentive payments and increased costs for health care for active and retired workers. The current USW contract with both ArcelorMittal and U.S. Steel expires on Sept. 1...
DOL Decision Could Mean the End of Wage Theft Through “Independent Contractor” Misclassification  In These Times  ...Last week, the administrator of the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division, David Weil, released a “letter of guidance” that clarifies who is an employee and who is an “independent contractor”—that is, essentially an individual running his or her own business. He argues that the most definitive statement from Congress comes from the Fair Labor Standards Act, which says that “to employ” means “to suffer or permit to work.” And, he concludes, “under the Act, most workers are employees”...
A Quiet Triumph for Gay Workers  The Atlantic   ...Gay Americans can now get married in the morning and then, in the afternoon, just for being gay, their employers can fire them. Is doing so legal? Up until last week, the answer was yes for Americans living in the 28 states without explicit bans on workplace sexual-orientation discrimination. But an important ruling from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) means that courts in those states are now more likely to say that such discrimination is illegal...
UC willl raise its minimum wage to $15 an hour, heightening focus on efforts to boost the rate statewide  LA Times  ... The campaign to significantly increase the minimum wage shifted from local government to the state Wednesday, with UC President Janet Napolitano announcing that several thousand workers would have their salaries increased to $15 an hour by 2017. UC's action is expected to heighten debate in the state Legislature about a proposal to boost the statewide minimum wage and has also prompted calls for the California State University system to follow suit...
Social Security Has Enough Money To Expand Benefits Now, Trustee's Report Shows  Alternet  ...The Social Security Board of Trustees has just released its annual report to Congress. The most important takeaways are that Social Security has a large and growing surplus, and its future cost is fully affordable. It is sometimes reported that Social Security's current costs exceed its revenue, but if that happened, we wouldn't need a report to tell us. The whole country would know, because 59 million beneficiaries would not get their earned benefits as they now do every month...
Applications for US Unemployment Aid Plummet to 42-Year Low  Associated Press  ...The number of people seeking U.S. unemployment aid plunged last week to the lowest level in nearly 42 years, evidence that employers are holding onto their staffs and likely hiring at a steady pace. Yet the drop also reflects seasonal volatility in the data. The unemployment rate fell in June mostly because many of the unemployed stopped looking for work, rather than found jobs. The proportion of Americans working or looking for work fell to a 38-year low...

Miscellaneous
Most Undocumented Immigrants Will Stay Under Obama’s New Policies, Report Says  New York Times  ...Under new immigration enforcement programs the Obama administration is putting in place across the country, the vast majority of unauthorized immigrants — up to 87 percent — would not be the focus of deportation operations and would have “a degree of protection” to remain in the United States, according to a report published Thursday by the Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan research group in Washington...
Elizabeth Warren humiliates executive invited by Senate Republicans to defend opposition to financial regulations  Salon  ...On Tuesday, Senate Republicans invited Primerica President Peter Schneider to testify against proposed regulations that would protect retirement savings from sketchy financial schemes — and it didn’t take long before he wished they hadn’t. The Huffington Post’s Zach Carter reports that Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren wasted no time in embarrassing Scheider, whose outfit is precisely the sort of sketchy financial scheme that the legislation is designed to protect the elderly against...
#SayHerName: Protests Demand Justice for Sandra Bland & Black Teen Found Dead in Jail 1 Day Later  Democracy Now  ...In Texas, new information has emerged about the arrest of Sandra Bland, the 28-year-old African-American woman found dead in a jail cell in what authorities claim was a suicide by hanging. Bland was stopped for not signaling a lane change. Dash cam video shows Texas State Trooper Brian Encinia forced her from her car, threatening to "light [her] up," after she failed to put out her cigarette. Hundreds gathered in New York to honor Sandra Bland and highlight the case of Kindra Chapman, an 18-year-old African-American woman found dead in an Alabama jail cell one day after Sandra Bland was found dead...
Sandra Bland Committed "Contempt of Cop," But That's Not Against the Law  Slate  ...In 2010, Christy Lopez, the Department of Justice official who led the federal investigation into the Ferguson, Missouri police department after Michael Brown's death, wrote a paper on the subject of "contempt of cop" arrests. (Lopez's Ferguson investigation found that officers in Ferguson had a habit of making unjustified and abusive arrests.) Lopez opens her report by noting that disagreeing with, criticizing, or otherwise being verbally difficult with a police officer is behavior protected by the First Amendement...

Fight for 15 strikes D.C. as Sanders calls for $15 minimum wage

Chanting "If you want the people's vote, $15 and a union," low-wage federal contract workers brought the Fight for 15 movement to the center of presidential politics today. Workers, families and supporters held a strike that saw thousands marching to the U.S. Capitol calling for a living wage and union rights for federal contract workers and other low-wage workers.

Addressing the crowd at a rally in front of the Capitol, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) announced that he and his colleagues introduced a bill today to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour:

If you work 40 hours a week, you have the right not to live in poverty. The current federal minimum wage is a starvation wage. Because of you, the workers, and actions like this, states and cities are realizing we need the minimum wage to be a living wage. And it's time for the federal government to do the same.

Federal contract workers from the Pentagon, the Reagan Building, the Capitol and other locations participated in today's strike. They were joined by Sanders as well as Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) and local leaders from Los Angeles and San Francisco, where the minimum wage was recently increased.

Sontia Bailey, who works at the Capitol, told the crowd why she went on strike:

I'm on strike today because I'm paid so little I had to get a second job. I work 70 hours a week and KFC pays me more than the government does.  

Workers also heard from Charles Gladden, a Senate cafeteria worker who is homeless thanks to poverty wages:

I'm striking again today because workers shouldn't have to rely on charity to survive. We work full time and shouldn't need public aid to get by.

Today's strike was supported by union members in DC and organized by Good Jobs Nation, which has been pushing for President Obama to sign executive orders granting living wages and union rights to low-wage workers subcontracted by the federal government.

With some two million low-wage jobs supported by the government, organizers say Obama can raise millions out of poverty with the stroke of a pen. Last year he signed an executive order raising the minimum wage for federal contract workers to $10.10, still a far cry from what workers need.

The Fight for 15 is gaining momentum as more states and local governments take up proposals for a higher minimum wage, including Los Angeles County, which just passed a $15 minimum wage yesterday. Fast food workers in New York are also pushing for the state's wage board to vote for a $15 minimum wage. Meanwhile, a thousand airport workers in New York City are set to walk off the job today to demand $15 an hour and the right to organize a union.

Teamsters and the labor movement stand with the Fight for 15 because we know this is not just about McDonald's and Walmart. Wages for all workers have not kept up with rising costs of living and increased worker productivity. The result is growing income inequality between corporate bosses and the rest of us.

To raise wages for all workers, we have to start at the base. That means standing in solidarity with low-wage workers who are putting their jobs on the line for living wages in America.

America needs to keep its pension promise to workers!

Teamsters VP John Murphy speaks at press event

Today Teamsters and other labor allies stood with Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) in Washington DC to support new legislation that would protect the hard-earned pensions of workers and strengthen multi-employer pension plans.

Called the "Keep Our Pension Promises Act," the measure would:

...roll back provisions slipped into the fiscal 2015 spending bill approved by Congress last year that made earned pensions benefits vulnerable to cuts. The measure would restore anti-cutback rules so that recipients in financially troubled multi-employer pension plans will be protected from having their benefits cut.

The new legislation would also create a fund within the Pension Benefit  Guarantee Corporation (PBGC) to help ensure retirees whose pension systems were abandoned by companies will continue to receive their earned benefits.

How will the government pay to cover these workers suffering the broken promise of a well-deserved retirement? By closing tax loopholes abused by some of the same corporate forces and wealthy elites looting workers' pensions across America.

As Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa said,

Retirees and workers who have played by the rules should receive the benefits they were promised. The Teamsters thank Sen. Sanders and Rep. Kaptur for taking steps to ensure the government repairs some of the damage done by big banks to these retirement plans.

Teamsters Vice President John Murphy also spoke at this morning's press conference where the bill - sponsored by Sanders and Kaptur - was unveiled:

Government actions like deregulation, bad trade deals and bailing out the big banks have all played a role in the pension crisis. The solutions to the problem should not rest on workers who have worked hard for their pensions.

Also at today's event was Frank Bryant, a retired UPS Teamster driver of 31 years. Bryant is 74 years old and is worried about his pension. He and others see the "Keep Our Pension Promises Act" as an important response to Congress's shameless betrayal of 1.5 million retirees whose troubled multi-employer plans are now open to severe cuts of 30 percent or more.

Our country made a commitment to hardworking Americans and that commitment needs to be met. We can't allow Wall Street to plunder workers' retirements security and government to renege on its promises to the men and women who make our economy run.

It's about time Congress shows the same level of concern for workers' lives - on the job and in retirement - as it shows for corporate welfare.

Big banks need to be shown who's boss

Wall Street's continuing war against workers seems endless. Just when you think it can't get any worse, it does. And even when big players in the financial world get caught for wrongdoing, the penalties never seem to make a difference.

The latest example came last week when the Justice Department announced that five major banks -- Citicorp, JP Morgan Chase, Barclays, The Royal Bank of Scotland and UBS -- were pleading guilty to felony charges and agreeing to pay more than $5 billion to settle charges they had worked together to manipulate international interest and foreign currency exchange rates.

Yet despite the "brazen" activity by the banks, as Attorney General Loretta Lynch put it herself, no one ultimately will spend a day in jail for engaging in these illegal activities. That, said former Clinton Labor Secretary Robert Reich, is simply outrageous:

America used to have antitrust laws that permanently stopped corporations from monopolizing markets, and often broke up the biggest culprits.

No longer. Now, giant corporations are taking over the economy – and they’re busily weakening antitrust enforcement. 

The result has been higher prices for the many, and higher profits for the few. It’s a hidden upward redistribution from the majority of Americans to corporate executives and wealthy shareholders.

The bad behavior of banks is nothing new for hardworking Americans, who have taken the brunt of the financial world's malfeasance. They've seen Wall Street fritter away their pensions and retirement investments and jeopardize their future. Financial institutions teamed up with big business last December to push through a federal spending bill that attacked workers' pensions and put their retirements at risk.

The same Wall Street banks that rake in hundreds of millions of dollars managing pension funds lobbied to reduce pension benefits for the people whose sweat created those funds. Congress did the bankers' bidding and reduced benefits, but the banks get to keep making millions on the backs of the very pensioners whose benefits were cut. That is unfair, unjust and plain un-American.

It's well past time for the big banks to face the consequences of their actions with punishments that have real teeth. Penalties need to be higher than any bank would pay just as part of the cost of doing business.

It's also time that financial institutions pay their fair share of taxes instead of receiving breaks while workers pick up the tab. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) previously put forward a Wall Street speculation tax proposal that would charge a fee on large financial institutions for the sale of credit default swaps, derivatives, options, future and large amounts of stock. It's an idea with merit.

Banks have continually abused the benefits given to them. It's only fair that people get treated the same as the powerful. That's what's going to get America working again.

Today's Teamster News 04.23.15

Teamsters
Teamsters reject fact-finder report, talks ongoing with Metro RTA  Ohio.com   ...A local Teamsters union has rejected a fact-finder’s report, spurring more contract talks with Metro RTA over increased wages and benefits. Teamsters Local 348, which represents 34 mechanics and maintenance workers, and RTA negotiators held a hearing March 20...
Abridged funding for infrastructure upgrades hurts all of us   Teamster Nation   ...Unions like the Teamsters take a great deal of pride in our country. We're proud to build what makes America work and we would be thrilled to get more workers on the job making our infrastructure the best in the world. It's time for a bipartisan solution to do so...

Global Labor & Trade
With 'Brave Tactic,' Sanders Tries to Slam Brakes on Fast Track  Common Dreams   ...In what is being heralded as a "brave tactic," Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Wednesday temporarily blocked lawmakers from rushing through legislation that would allow the Obama administration to "Fast Track" the controversial and highly secretive Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement. Sanders forcibly delayed the Senate Finance Committee from considering Fast Track legislation by using a rarely invoked senate scheduling rule...
China's shadow looms over Senate trade debate   Politico   ...The Senate Finance Committee’s vote late Wednesday to approve “fast track” trade legislation revealed two things: Some Democrats strongly support the measure, and concerns about China’s currency practices will dog the bill as it moves through Congress...
House Democratic Leader Joins Bid to Upend Trade-Deal Compromise   Bloomberg   ...With Pelosi’s endorsement, the Levin version could siphon Democratic votes from a bill by Representative Paul Ryan, the Wisconsin Republican who heads Ways and Means Committee, and introduced in the Senate by Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch of Utah and Ron Wyden of Oregon, the panel’s top Democrat...
Eyes wide shut on ISDS   The Hill  ...The ISDS provision allows foreign companies to sue their “host” governments though a specialized international arbitration mechanism that often grants protections exceeding those available in domestic courts. While the Obama administration has sought to downplay concerns about ISDS, the decision in Bilcon v. Canada highlights its very real problems...
Sen. Warren to Those Promising TPP Is So Great: 'Prove It. Let Us See the Deal'  Common Dreams   ..."The Administration says I'm wrong – that there’s nothing to worry about," Warren wrote in a blog post addressed to constituents and the general public on Wednesday. "They say the deal is nearly done, and they are making a lot of promises about how the deal will affect workers, the environment, and human rights. Promises – but people like you can't see the actual deal"...
Obama and Republicans Agree on the Trans-Pacific Partnership … Unfortunately   (opinion) New York Times  ...This is a bipartisan effort if ever there was one; George Will has called the TPP “Obama’s best idea.” Thus we see the administration, along with pro-business Democrats and Republicans, trying to bulletproof the deal. If that passes, Congress could vote only up or down on the deal, not amend it. That’s quite a bit of presidential power for a scheme that would have a striking impact on the global economy...
Congress Must Stop Fast Tracking Fast Track!  (opinion) Daily Kos   ...This Fast Track for secret, unread trade deals must be a wake up call that our democracy is in trouble and that politics as normal does not work. The corporate lobby from Nike, Microsoft, Google, Big Pharma, and led by the US Chamber of Commerce are all lined up against us like never before...
Murder Doesn't Matter Under U.S. Trade Deals, AFL-CIO Reveals  Huffington Post   ...Defenders of the White House push for sweeping trade deals argue they include tough enforcement of labor standards. But a top union leader scoffed at such claims Tuesday, revealing that administration officials have said privately that they don’t consider even the killings of labor organizers to be violations of those pacts...

State & Living Wage Battles
How Raising The Minimum Wage To $15 Changed These Workers' Lives  Huffington Post   ...A valet attendant and shuttle driver at a parking company called MasterPark, Babakrkhil saw his base wage jump from $9.55 per hour, before tips, up to $15. Having scraped by in America since immigrating from Afghanistan 11 years ago, he suddenly faced the pleasant predicament as his co-workers: What to do with the windfall? For the overworked father of three, it wasn't a hard question. Babakrkhil decided to quit his other full-time job to actually spend time with his wife and three young girls...
Federal Contract Workers Just Went on Strike in DC  The Nation   ...Janitors and food service workers at federal monuments are tired of earning a pittance on the taxpayers’ dime, so they’ve gone on a one-day strike. They join workers across the country to demand from Washington what their fellow fast-food workers and retail clerks in the private sector are demanding from private firms: $15 an hour and union rights...
$70,000 minimum pay turns out to be good for business   Daily Kos  ...Remember Dan Price, the CEO who cut his own pay to raise the minimum annual pay at his company to $70,000? Turns out, that wasn't just a morally good thing to do, and Price doesn't have to wait for the longer-term payoff of increased productivity and reduced staff turnover: "Price said the news has brought in dozens of new clients, making it the best week for new business in the company's 11-year history"...

Pennsylvania Scraps Flawed Test Meant To Determine If Food Stamp Recipients Are Poor Enough   Think Progress   ...Pennsylvania will no longer punish its poorest families for saving money after Gov. Tom Wolf’s (D) administration announced the end of a flawed eligibility test for food stamps that was imposed by Wolf’s Republican predecessor. On Tuesday, state officials said they are ending food stamps asset tests...
Kansas Lawmakers Want The Poor To Pay For Tax Cuts For The Rich  Washington Post   ...Even the proposed increases in sales and excise taxes would make up only a fraction of the deficit. To balance the budget for this year, Brownback and other policymakers have proposed temporary measures, such as transferring money out of the state's highway fund...
Chicago Mayor Joins Chorus of Opposition to IL Gov’s Anti-Worker “Turnaround Agenda”   We Party Patriots   ...During a city council meeting this month, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel introduced a resolution to oppose Gov. Bruce Rauner’s proposed “Right-to-Work” zones, which would enable municipalities to enact hyper-ideological anti-union legislation on a local level...
The Chamber Of Commerce Is Fighting Fiercely To Stop The Scourge Of Corporate Transparency  Huffington Post   ...The Chamber of Commerce had submitted a brief in the Citizens United case in support of lifting certain previous restrictions on corporate spending. The business lobby has been active in elections since 1998, but dramatically stepped up its efforts following the Supreme Court's ruling. Since then, the Chamber has spent over $100 million on federal elections, almost all in favor of the Republican Party...
Corporations to Workers: "We Own You"  Truthout.org   ...Right now, House Republicans are trying to give employers here in our nation's capital the right to fire their employees if they go on birth control. Last year, the Washington DC city council passed a law called the Reproductive Health Non-Discrimination Act of 2014 (RHNDA), which bans employers from firing or otherwise punishing employees for the private decisions they make about their reproductive health. Naturally, right-wing religious groups started freaking out...

U.S. Labor
Barack Obama Proposes $3.5 Billion Gas Pipeline Overhaul  Politico   ...But the amount of money the administration is proposing is just a fraction of what it would take to replace the hundreds of thousands of miles of decades-old cast-iron and bare-steel natural gas distribution pipes — the lines that are considered most vulnerable to ruptures. A full replacement would cost $270 billion, the report says. And the whole proposal immediately ran into GOP skepticism...
Pregnant Fast-Food Worker Robbed at Gunpoint Then Fired for Not Repaying Stolen Cash  Alternet   ...Marissa Holcomb was hard at work at a Popeye's in Texas. She was in the midst of one of the busiest shifts of the week when a gunman with a stocking cap entered the store, jumped over the counter and robbed the clerk at gunpoint. Unable to open the safes, she opened the registers and the thief made of with roughly $400. Did she receive praise for handing over the cash and surviving the ordeal?...
Alabama Dispute Strains UAW-Lear Relationship  WardsAuto  ...The amicable relationship built up over the years between the UAW and Lear, the world's largest supplier of automotive seating, is being tested by a dispute at the company’s non-union plant in Selma, AL. The clash is filling up the dockets in two different courts in Alabama and has triggered an angry exchange over employee safety between the company and the union...
NJEA breaks off pension talks with Christie   Philly.com   ...In a setback to Gov. Christie's proposal to overhaul New Jersey's pension and health benefit systems, the state's largest teachers' union on Tuesday said it would no longer participate in talks with a panel he appointed to tackle the funding crisis. The union also called on Christie to fully fund the pension system. Christie shorted the system about $1.6 billion for the current fiscal year...

Miscellaneous
Detroit Just Had The Single Largest Tax Foreclosure In American History  Mother Jones   ...On March 31st at the Wayne Country Treasurer's Office, that Victorian-era invention was accomplishing neither objective. Then again, no door in the history of architecture—rotating or otherwise—could have accommodated the latest perversity Detroit officials were inflicting on city residents: the potential eviction of tens of thousands, possibly as many as 100,000 people, all at precisely the same time...
Pipelines Blow Up And People Die  Politico   ...Oil and gas companies like to assure the public that pipelines are a safer way to ship their products than railroads or trucks. But government data makes clear there is hardly reason to celebrate. Last year, more than 700 pipeline failures killed 19 people, injured 97 and caused more than $300 million in damage. Two of the past five years have been the worst for combined pipeline-related deaths and injuries since 2000...
GOP Infighting Threatens NSA Bill  Politico   ...It’s the second congressional effort to reform surveillance practices since Snowden’s leaks revealed the vast nature of the NSA’s operations. But if lawmakers don’t do anything this time, key parts of the PATRIOT Act will expire, including a key provision that the government has used to justify bulk data collection...
The Sun Must Go Down On The Patriot Act (opinion)  Huffington Post   ...Some legislators want Congress to reauthorize it in its current form -- Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has just introduced a bill that would do exactly that, extending it for another five years. Others want to make relatively minor changes. Congress shouldn't do either of these things. Unless Congress can coalesce around far-reaching reform, it should simply let the provision expire...

Sanders halts consideration of fast track bill

Teamsters participated in a fast track protest on Capitol Hill this morning.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today shut down a Senate Finance Committee mark up of fast track trade promotion legislation when he used an obscure Senate scheduling rule to temporarily halt consideration of the bill.

In a statement, the pro-union, pro-worker lawmaker said it was imperative to slow the process down instead of jamming it through Congress as quickly as possible:

This job-killing trade deal has been negotiated in secret. It was drafted with input by special interests and corporate lobbyists but not from the elected representatives of the American people. Instead of rubber stamping the agreement, Congress and the public deserve a fair chance to learn what’s in the proposal

Even before Sanders took his deliberate stand to postpone consideration of the measure, protesters were on hand to make their voices heard. Fair trade backers spoke out in the hearing room. And outside the Dirksen Senate Office Building, the Teamsters joined other anti-fast track demonstrators in letting the public know that the trade vehicle would allow secret deals to sail through Congress with little oversight and result in lost jobs. Some were dressed as the "TPP Express," simulating a trade train that would bring corporate injustice and sweatshop conditions to the nations involved in the Pacific Rim trade deal.

The hearing resumed late this afternoon. In opening statements, many lawmakers made clear they were choosing to ignore the history of lost U.S. jobs caused by so-called "free" trade deals and would vote to approve fast track. The debate will move to the House side tomorrow, where the Ways and Means Committee will consider the legislation.

Today's Teamster News 04.20.15

Teamsters
First Transit Workers At Auburn University Choose Teamsters Local 612  Teamster.org   ...Drivers and mechanics with First Transit in Auburn, Ala., have voted by an overwhelming 3-1 margin in favor of Teamsters representation. The 116 workers, who provide transportation services for students at Auburn University, chose to join Teamsters Local 612 in Birmingham, Ala., seeking respect, fair pay and improved working conditions...
New Contract For MBS International Airport Unionized Workers OK’d  Midland Daily News   ...The MBS Airport Commission recently approved a collective bargaining agreement that covers 20 unionized employees. Ratified by Teamsters Local 214, the two-year contract calls for a 1 percent pay increase for each year and a $600 lump sum payment.
Teamsters: Railroad Unions Advancing Two-Person Crew Legislation To Protect Safety  Teamster.org   ...Continuing a cooperative effort to promote safety in the railroad industry, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) and the Transportation Division of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers International Association (SMART) have jointly announced that legislation requiring at least two crew members on all freight trains in the U.S. has been introduced in the 114th Congress...
1,800 CN Locomotive Engineers Represented By Teamsters Ratify 3-Year Contract  Montreal Gazette   ...Canadian National Railway says the 1,800 locomotive engineers represented by the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference have ratified a new collective agreement with the company. The railway says the three-year agreement, retroactive to Jan. 1, provides both wage increases and benefit improvements...

Global Labor & Trade
Key Democrat says he’ll try to kill Obama-backed trade bill   Market Watch   ...A key House Democrat said Friday he’ll try to kill a bill that would give President Barack Obama “fast track” trade treaty authority, a measure strongly supported by the White House. “I’m out to defeat the Hatch-Wyden bill,” Rep. Sander Levin of Michigan, the top Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee, told reporters...
Stopping Short of Rejection, Clinton Sets Conditions for a Trade Deal  New York Times  ...“Hillary Clinton believes that any new trade measure has to pass two tests,” her spokesman, Nick Merrill, said in a statement. “First, it should put us in a position to protect American workers, raise wages and create more good jobs at home. Second, it must also strengthen our national security. We should be willing to walk away from any outcome that falls short of these tests...
'Stop TTIP': Global Day of Action Draws Tens of Thousands   Common Dreams  ...Demonstrators marched around the globe Saturday to protest the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), a 'free trade' agreement currently being negotiated between the European Union (EU) and the United States. Opponents fear that TTIP will erode food, labor and environmental standards particularly with regard to the EU's strict regulations on food additives, genetically modified crops and the use of pesticides...
The Trans Pacific Partnership won’t fix our China problem  (opinion) The Hill   ...The TPP will not effectively deal with the core reason China enjoyed a $342.6 billion goods trade surplus with the U.S. last year, or an accumulated goods trade surplus with our country of $3.1 trillion since it joined the WTO: China operates based on a state-capitalist, mercantilist model, under which international trade law doesn’t mean much...
Trade Talks in Tokyo Get Push From 'Fast-Track' Deal in US  New York Times   ...Top Japan and U.S. trade officials plan to meet this weekend, seeking to close gaps over autos and farm trade before Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visits Washington later this month. The U.S. and Japan must agree on market-opening measures before the 12 countries involved can reach a long-delayed final accord on the U.S.-led Trans-Pacific Partnership, a Pacific Rim trade pact...
Bernie Sanders urges Hillary to fight trade deal  The Hill   ...Sanders said Clinton and every other 2016 presidential candidate should oppose the 12-nation Asia-Pacific pact that the Obama administration is negotiating. "My strong hope is that Secretary Clinton and all candidates — Republicans and Democrats — will make it clear that the Trans-Pacific Partnership should be rejected and that we must develop trade policies that benefit working families, not just Wall Street and multi-national corporations," Sanders said in a statement...
Durham teachers' strike seen as start of wave of labour unrest  Toronto Star   ...Durham public high school teachers hit the picket lines on Monday in a protest widely seen as the start of a wave of teacher unrest across the province, with six more boards targeted in the coming weeks and other unions growing increasingly frustrated at the bargaining table...

State & Living Wage Battles
Alabama Auto Parts Plant Slapped With Federal Restraining Order  NBC News   ...A federal judge in Alabama issued a temporary restraining order Thursday against auto parts manufacturer Lear Corp. after the Labor Department accused the company of illegally harassing its workers and obstructing a federal safety investigation...
Walker's Dark Money Allies Orchestrate Coup of the Courts  PR Watch   ...Two court cases next week--one being heard in open court, another being considered in silence behind closed doors--will decide the future of Wisconsin campaign finance law, the independence of the Wisconsin judiciary and will impact the future of presidential candidate Scott Walker...
The 'Inexcusable' Assault On Workers In Wisconsin (opinion)  Huffington Post   ...The right-to-work scam is not what we should aspire to in Wisconsin, or anywhere else. The labor movement has played a key role in helping working families enter the middle class and stay in the middle class. That's why the President encouraged Walker to offer workers "the tools they need to get ahead" rather than strip them of their hard-won rights...
Colorado Minimum-Wage Bill Dies Amid Protests Across Denver, Nation  Denver Business Journal   ...Minimum wage got a maximum amount of attention Wednesday in Denver, both inside and outside the Capitol. As protesters gathered on the Auraria Campus calling for a national hike in the minimum wage to $15 an hour, a state Senate committee killed a bill that would have allowed cities and counties to raise the floor wage level within their boundaries above the state’s minimum of $8.23 per hour...
L.A. restaurants push for tips to count toward minimum wage  LA Times   ...Labor activists warn that counting tips toward the citywide minimum wage would violate California law and leave those waiting tables, scrubbing cars or turning down hotel beds more vulnerable to being illegally underpaid. Most tipped workers have low incomes, they say, both inside and outside the restaurant world...
Getting Better Organized: San Francisco's Fight for $15 and a Union   Truthout.org   ...The demand for $15 an hour minimum wage is a good example of this progress. It is simple, clear, specific, easily understood and, very important, achievable. Though quite bold and in stark contrast to the cowardly timid proposals coming out of Washington politicians from both major parties, the slogan is still quite reasonable...


U.S. Labor
Alleging Labor Abuses, U.S. and Mexican Workers Call for Boycott of Driscoll’s Berries  In These Times   ...Driscoll’s may be the U.S.’s most recognizable brand name on strawberry, raspberry, blueberry and blackberry cartons. To keep its berries stocked far and wide, the company uses a vast supplier network stretching from Canada to Argentina. But some of those suppliers are coming under fire for allegedly abusing workers, in the U.S. and Mexico. One of Driscoll’s grower has spent weeks embroiled in a major farmworker protest, while a nearly two-year boycott against another grower recently intensified...
AFSCME union president urges members to stay strong  The Day   ...The U.S. Supreme Court will be hearing arguments soon in Friedrichs vs. California Teachers Association, "a case that will determine, essentially, whether we continue to exist," Saunders said. The suit, brought on behalf of a group of 10 California teachers, claims a law that requires public employees to pay union dues as a condition of employment violates their employee rights. Should the teachers win, the country's public sector could become a "right to work" sector, undermining the power of the labor unions...
Two Years After West, Texas Fertilizer Plant Explosion, Are Workers Any Safer? New Report Says No  In These Times   ...In a report released this week, the Center for Effective Government, a non-partisan government watchdog, examined emergency response planning and reporting on chemicals required of plants like West Fertilizer under the federal Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act of 1986 (EPCRA)—enacted in response to the 1984 release of deadly methylisocyanate gas from the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India that killed thousands and injured many more—and the Clean Air Act...

Miscellaneous
California drought spurs protest over 'unconscionable' bottled water business  The Guardian   ...Californians facing the prospect of endless drought, mandated cuts in water use and the browning of their summer lawns are mounting a revolt against the bottled water industry, following revelations that Nestlé and other big companies are taking advantage of poor government oversight to deplete mountain streams and watersheds at vast profit...
Fed Shies Away From June Rate Hike  Wall Street Journal   ...A patch of soft economic data has created uncertainty inside the Federal Reserve about when to start raising short-term interest rates, dimming the chances of a move as early as June...
Meaningful Financial Reform (opinion)  Washington Post   ...The objective can’t be questioned. The need for institutional reform is evident. Let’s break the pattern of resisting the need for administrative reform, consider the risks of repeating avoidable crises and demonstrate that this great democracy still has the capacity to act in the common interest...
Millions Spent Lobbying By Private Prison Corporations To Keep A Quota Of Arrested Immigrants, Report Says  Think Progress   ...Private prison corporations spent $11 million over six years to lobby Congress to keep immigrants in detention centers, a new report released Wednesday found. The Grassroots Leadership report, Payoff: How Congress Ensures Private Prison Profit with an Immigrant Detention Quota, found that lobbying efforts of the two largest private prison corporations have made them the main beneficiaries of aggressive immigration detention policies...

Hundreds of union workers protest government shutdown

Union workers protest shutdown today.

Locked-out federal workers gathered in front of the Capitol in Washington D.C. this morning to protest Republican extremists in Congress who shut down the government.

Members of the American Federation of Government Employees, the National Treasury Employees Union and other unions spoke for thousands of union workers employed by the government, calling the shutdown what it is: a lockout.

Led by Reps. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and union leaders, the crowd of workers chanted "Let us work" and "Shut down the shutdown." Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said the jobs of dedicated public servants should not be held hostage by tea party fanatics:

Two weeks ago a shooting took place not too far from here at the Navy Yard. Hundreds of brave federal police officers responded to stop the carnage and restore security. Today those dedicated officers are not being paid. That's outrageous.

Sanders noted the budget that Republican extremists refuse to pass is already a very conservative one. He said there's no reason for them to shut down the government over a budget that is more to the right-wing's liking than anyone else's.

As the crowd grew, furloughed federal employees talked about the uncertainty and hardship their families are facing during the shutdown. An aviation safety inspector said he can't do his job to make sure planes are safe to fly. And a worker from Good Jobs Nation who works at a McDonald's at the Smithsonian described how  the shutdown harms low-wage federal contract workers.

Workers at the rally said they should get back pay for the days they are furloughed. Some members of Congress have proposed legislation to do just that.

The pain from the shutdown is not just being felt by government employees. Speakers railed against right-wing lawmakers who put veterans' families and other vulnerable people at risk, just to score political points and to gut a law they don't like.

As for Republicans' proposal to reopen some parts of the government with piecemeal funding, workers at the rally said they want all of their coworkers to get back to work, not just some of them.

Rep. Ellison said locked out federal workers were prepared to come back and protest every day for as long as extremists in Congress keep holding the government hostage.

Lament for America's middle class

We may have posted this emotional video about the destruction of America's middle class before, but we stumbled across it recently and thought it's worth recycling. Here's what the video is about:

On June 18, 2011 artists Ligorano/Reese presented a temporary monument in the garden of Jim Kempner Fine Art in NYC called "Morning In America." The installation was witnessed by hundreds and lasted a total of 8 hours throughout the hot day. 

...A THOUSAND CUTS is a timelapse video of the event. The soundtrack was inspired by an excerpt from Senator Bernie Sanders 8 hour filibuster on the U.S. Senate floor against the extension of the Bush tax cuts and the effects on the middle class. It is orchestrated to music by composer/violinist Michael Galasso. 

Special Thanks 

Dru Arstark, Anthony Caputo, Dan Walworth, Okamoto Studio, Postworks NY
The entire text of Senator Sanders speech is available as a book, published by Nation Books, The Speech: A Historic Filibuster on Corporate Greed and the Decline of Our Middle Class,

VT sen. tries to bring down gas prices

Sometimes it seems the middle class doesn't have any friends at all in Washington. Then Sen. Bernie Sanders does something to remind us we're not completely alone.

Sanders  is the Vermont senator who convinced the Smithsonian to sell products made in America after he was appalled to find Chinese-made figurines of our Founding Fathers in one of their gift shops. Sanders also famously said on the Senate floor that America is turning into a banana republic. Here's a snippet:

Many of the nation's billionaires are on the warpath. They want more, more, more. Their greed has no end and apparently there is very little concern for our country or the people of this country if it gets in the way of the accumulation of more and more wealth and more and more power.

Now Sanders wants to bring down the price of gasoline, which is forced up by speculators like the Koch brothers. He's sponsoring a bill to limit excessive speculation. In a letter to his Senate colleagues asking them to co-sponsor the bill, he writes,

Today, the national average for a gallon of gasoline is $3.75 a gallon, even though the supply is higher than two years ago and demand is lower than two years ago when prices averaged about $2.44.

Energy experts from Exxon Mobil, Delta Airlines, and Goldman Sachs have recently said that excessive speculation is responsible for between 20 to 40 percent of the price of a barrel of crude oil....

We have a responsibility to do everything we can to lower gas prices so that they reflect the fundamentals of supply and demand and bring needed relief to the American people.

Sanders' bill would limit oil speculation, set 12 percent margin requirements and classify banks and hedge funds as speculators. Wall Street's lobbyists will try to kill it, no doubt, but it's nice to know someone cares.

The middle class has a few friends in the House of Representatives as well. Last year, Congress passed a financial reform bill (the Teamsters supported it) that required commodities regulators to rein in oil speculation. House Republicans are now trying to delay that from happening. Some Democrats, led by Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, sent a letter to Republicans asking them to let the commodities regulators do their job.

At least we have a small circle of friends inside the beltway...