Teamsters
Genentech Waste Workers Vote to Join Teamsters Local 853 Teamster.org ...Workers who collect waste materials for Genentech Inc., are the latest Silicon Valley workers to vote in favor of representation by Teamsters Local 853 in San Leandro, Calif. The 15 workers include compliance technicians, chemists, in-site technicians and administrative assistants. They work at Genentech’s South San Francisco campus through contractor Clean Harbors, collecting and packaging waste and biodegradable materials needing special attention and care...
Teamsters Laud SEC Decision Making CEO, Employee Wage Gap Public Teamster.org ...In a victory for corporate disclosure, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) today completed the CEO pay ratio rule required under the five-year-old Dodd-Frank financial law. The provision will require for the first time that companies reveal the pay gap between top executives and rank-and-file workers...
Second Group of Industrial Cleanup Workers Joins Teamsters Local 107 Teamster.org ...For the second time in four months, workers at a Philadelphia industrial cleanup company have joined Teamsters Local 107. On August 3, 2015, technicians at PSC Industrial Outsourcing, LP voted 13-2 to join Local 107 in Philadelphia. The technicians work along-side drivers of vacuum/tanker trucks and clean up contaminated liquids under city streets. The victory follows another at PSC, on March 26, when the drivers voted 11-0 to join Local 107, for a combined vote of 24-2...
Tucson bus system: Union strikes after rejecting contract Arizona Daily Star ...Unionized drivers and mechanics at Tucson's bus system went on strike early Thursday after rejecting a labor contract, a company official said. The strike against Sun Tran began at 12:01 a.m. Thursday, a spokeswoman said. The strike came after a contract extension expired at midnight. That extension had been agreed to after Teamsters Local 104's members last week rejected an offer. Officials said earlier that with a strike, Sun Tran's normal 43 routes would decrease to five...
Teamsters Call for Director Resignations at Airgas Teamster.org ...A majority, 53 percent, of Airgas shareholders voting in yesterday’s director elections withheld support from three independent board members standing for re-election. Excluding the shares held by board members and executive officers, the “no” vote was 62 percent of shares cast or more than 51 percent of total outstanding shares...
Global Labor & Trade
Trans-Pacific Partnership could pose risk to public healthcare, leaked draft shows The Guardian ...The most recently leaked draft of the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement shows it may pose a risk to public health because of excessive intellectual property protections for medicines, according to an expert on the impact of international trade agreements on healthcare. The draft predates the most recent negotiation round held in Hawaii at the end of July...
The Trans-Pacific Partnership Could Lead to Less Trade CEPR ...As a practical matter it is entirely possible that the TPP will lead to less trade. The rules that the United States is trying to impose on patents and copyrights and other forms of intellectual property claims will lead to considerably higher prices for the protected items. For example, the hepatitis C drug Sovaldi would sell for less than $1,000 per treatment without protection, but sells in the United States for $84,000 per treatment with patent protection...
TPP ministerial talks unlikely to be held by end of August The Japan Times ...Trade ministers from the 12 countries involved in a Pacific Rim free trade deal are unlikely to meet again by the end of this month amid remaining differences that prevented them from finalizing negotiations last week, sources said Thursday. Japan, the United States and the 10 other countries negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership will look at possibly reconvening a ministerial meeting in September...
Conservatives were sure Trans-Pacific Partnership deal would be signed Globe and Mail ...The Conservative government was so confident in recent weeks it would sign a Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal that it was asking business groups to loudly support the conclusion of an agreement, reasoning their voices would drown out those of unhappy milk producers – the one sector Ottawa expected would be sorely disappointed...
Ontario, auto parts suppliers raise alarm over TPP negotiations Windsor Star ...The Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association said Wednesday it was alarmed by reports that Japan and U.S. negotiators were striking secret deals on lowering vehicle content requirements that would be part of a Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade deal. “Anything lower than the 62.5 per cent NAFTA standard would threaten Canada’s auto supply chain,” said Flavio Volpe, APMA president...
Canadians spared blind vote on massive trade deal (opinion) The Star ...To trade negotiators and legacy-seeking politicians, the failure to finalize the world’s biggest trade deal in Hawaii last weekend was a frustrating setback. To Canadian voters, it was welcome pause. Most electors know little to nothing about the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a 12-country trade and investment pact hatched behind closed doors over the past six years...
Anti-austerity protests held across Athens CCTV ...Hundreds of protestors march through the streets of central Athens, demanding an end to austerity measures. They voiced their anger at the government's plans to sign a new bailout deal that includes pension cuts, tax hikes, and privatizations demanded by the country's international creditors. "We are constantly on the streets. The measures are so barbaric and there is no other alternative for us other than to fight"...
Tube strike: London commuters deal with queues and delays BBC ...Commuters are dealing with long queues and delays as they try navigating London during a strike that has shut down the whole Tube network. About 250 extra buses have been laid on but there are reports of 200 miles of tailbacks as commuters switch to cars. The 24-hour strike by four unions began on Wednesday evening and there will be no Tube service until Friday...<
State & Living Wage Battles
In Return Towards Justice, Court Rules Texas Voter ID Law 'Discriminatory' Common Dreams ...A federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that Texas's controversial voter ID law, the most severe in the country, has a "discriminatory effect" against minority voters, in what civil rights campaigners say is an important step towards justice for African-American, Latino, and low-income people suppressed under the rule...
Kansas Comes To Its Senses, Abandons Plans To Hit Welfare Recipients With Draconian Fees Think Progress ...Kansan politicians tried to force public administrators to make life harder for poor people on welfare, passing a controversial law earlier this year to limit the amount of money public assistance benefits cards can withdraw from ATM machines at any one time to $25. But the public servants are fighting back, announcing Tuesday that they would rescind the law...
Puerto Rico’s Economic "Death Spiral" Tied to Legacy of Colonialism Democracy Now ...The White House has rejected a bailout package for Puerto Rico days after the U.S. territory failed to pay a small portion of the massive $72 billion it owes to bondholders. It was the biggest municipal bond default in U.S. history. Unlike U.S. states and municipalities, Puerto Rico cannot declare bankruptcy...
Local 'right-to-work' decision now in judge's hands Business First ...A "right-to-work" law that could have state or national implications is in the hands of a judge in Louisville. Earlier this year, Hardin Fiscal Court passed an ordinance that would allow workers to go to work for unionized companies without having to join the union. Similar legislation has been passed by some states, including Indiana and Tennessee. The issue has come up for the Kentucky General Assembly before...
I work at the US Senate. I shouldn't have to dance at strip clubs to feed my son (opinion) The Guardian ...I’m a single mother and I struggle to support my son on the $10.33 an hour I make at one of the most exclusive clubs in America – the US Senate. I’m a cashier employed by the British-owned contractor that runs the cafeterias in the Senate office buildings. But even though I serve some of the wealthiest and most powerful people in the world, I can’t afford to buy my son school supplies or clothes...
U.S. Labor
Companies forced to disclose CEO-workforce pay gap The Guardian ...Publicly traded companies will have to disclose the pay ratios of their CEOs and the median pay of their workforce thanks to a split vote by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Wednesday. SEC chairwoman Mary Jo White said the regulator had no option other than to pass the rule, which passed in a 3-2 vote, with the two Republican commissioners voting against...
This new rule could reveal the huge gap between CEO pay and worker pay Washington Post ...Thousands of public U.S. companies are likely to soon be forced to share a number many would rather keep under wraps: how much more their chief executives make than their typical rank-and-file employees. The Securities and Exchange Commission is expected to finalize on Wednesday a long-delayed rule forcing businesses to share their "pay ratio," a simple bit of arithmetic that would cast an unprecedented spotlight on one of corporate America's thorniest debates...
Rauner: ‘No lockout’ of State Workers, But Strike Possible CBS ...Gov. Bruce Rauner said Wednesday that he won’t lock out state workers if his administration and the largest public-employee union can’t agree on a new contract, but both sides acknowledged that they are nowhere near a deal.
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees’ contract expired June 30, though both sides have agreed to keep workers on the job through September...
Jobless Claims in U.S. Hover Near Lowest in Four Decades Bloomberg ...Filings for U.S. unemployment benefits are hovering near the lowest levels in four decades, a sign the strong labor market will bolster U.S. growth. Jobless claims rose by 3,000 to 270,000 in the week ended August 1, a report from the Labor Department showed on Thursday in Washington. The median forecast of 41 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for 272,000. The 255,000 reading two weeks earlier was the lowest since November 1973...
Obama Drafts Order on Paid Sick Leave for Federal Contractors New York Times ...Stymied by Republicans in Congress, President Obama has drafted an executive order to force any company that contracts with the federal government to issue paid leave to employees who are sick, are seeking medical attention or need to care for a sick relative. The draft order, obtained by The New York Times on Wednesday, could affect hundreds of thousands of workers...
Christian University Claims Unions Are Against Its Religious Mission Gawker ...Duquesne is a Catholic University in Pittsburgh with nearly 10,000 students. The school’s adjunct professors would like to unionize. Conveniently, Duquesne does not believe Jesus would be in favor of that. Adjunct professors across America tend to be poorly paid with little job security. Unionizing is one of the few things they can do to try to improve their tenuous positions...
Some Uber Drivers Say Company Misled Them CNBC ...Three weeks ago, Uber rallied 400 drivers to testify in an employee classification lawsuit that they wanted to stay contractors. Now, some of them have changed their minds. After speaking with Lichten & Liss-Riordan, the law firm representing the plaintiffs in the suit, six Uber drivers out of the 400 who originally testified on behalf of Uber have decided to speak against the ride-hailing company. They submitted new court declarations saying they were misled about the difference between contractors and employees...
#BlackLivesMatter and so should the high black unemployment rate — which is almost twice as high Raw Story ...The US unemployment rate is expected to hold steady at 5.3% on Friday – the lowest unemployment rate in seven years. Yet there is one group whose unemployment rate is still close to 10%: African Americans. The unemployment rate for black Americans has remained almost twice that of the general population for so long that experts believe it’s suffering from the “wallpaper effect” – no one notices anymore. That may be about to change...
Social Justice & Other News
In Midst of Shutoffs, Protesters 'Liberate' Water from Detroit Mayor's Mansion Common Dreams ...Over a dozen protesters on Tuesday converged at the Detroit mayor's publicly-funded mansion and "liberated" his water supply, in a creative direct action highlighting the inequities that underlie the city's mass water shutoffs and resultant humanitarian crisis. Campaigners from the Detroit and Michigan Coalitions Against Tar Sands went to Mike Duggan's "Manoogian Mansion" and filled jugs of water from a hose attached to an external spigot. They carried banners that read "Water is Life"...
A Failure of Capitalism: Trump, Trucks and Voter Rage (opinion) Huffington Post ...Senator Casey's opposition to larger trucks confronts a classic example of industry misbehavior. Rather than raising wages and hiring more drivers, trucking companies are attempting to use the Federal Government to force truck drivers to haul even more freight for the same wage. Workers are being crushed from both sides -- more work for the same pay, while taxes creep steadily up. The government empowers corporations to impose demands on small businesses and workers that enable a race to the economic bottom. Trump's success is getting these small business people and workers to blame those below them...
Give Us the Ballot: The Struggle Continues 50 Years After Signing of the 1965 Voting Rights Act Democracy Now ...It was August 6, 1965, when President Lyndon Johnson signed into law the Voting Rights Act, as Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks and now 14-term Congressman John Lewis looked on. The law has been under constant attack ever since. Just two years ago, the Supreme Court struck down parts of the measure in a case called Shelby County, Alabama v. Holder when it ruled states with histories of voting-related racial discrimination no longer had to "pre-clear" changes to their voting laws with the federal government...
Trump Mocked For Having No Real Immigration Plan, But Are His GOP Rivals Any Better? Think Progress ...Thursday’s premier GOP debate will feature real estate mogul Donald Trump comfortably in the number-one slot after his controversial remarks about undocumented Mexicans. Trump, when pressed by reporters for a concrete immigration plan, has said he would build a nearly 2,000 mile wall on the U.S.’ southern border and force Mexico to pay for it, deport all 11 million undocumented people currently living in the U.S., and then let whoever he determined to be the “good ones” back in. The statements were widely mocked as costly, unrealistic, and illegal...
Jonathan Ferrell Asked for Help—and Cops Killed Him Daily Beast ...The Ferrell case began before the deaths of Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Freddie Gray, and many others sparked a media firestorm and national debate over the use of excessive police force on black men and teens. Shortly after Ferrell was killed, Kerrick was charged and suspended without pay. But it took a second grand jury to finally indict him...
Why Schools Need More Teachers of Color—for White Students The Atlantic ...In public schools, where roughly 90 percent of the country’s children are enrolled, the lessons students learn are often skewed because of who is delivering the instruction and what kind of curricula and learning materials that instruction entails. Not only is the vast majority of the country’s teaching force white, but Eurocentric attitudes also tend to filter into classrooms...
Showing posts with label CEO Pay. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CEO Pay. Show all posts
Thursday, August 6, 2015
Wednesday, August 5, 2015
SEC finally delivers on CEO pay ratio disclosure
It took five years, but now workers and shareholders will know how much a company's top executive makes compared to the average worker there.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved the CEO pay ratio rule at a meeting today after years of discussions. The provision had been mandated as part of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law approved in 2010. More than 280,000 comments had been filed with the agency in favor of the measure.
Teamsters Secretary-Treasurer Ken Hall said approval of the rule was a long time coming, but worth the wait:
But that doesn't mean the provision is perfect. As Bloomberg noted:
 |
| SEC joins Teamsters in standing up to CEOs. |
Teamsters Secretary-Treasurer Ken Hall said approval of the rule was a long time coming, but worth the wait:
At a time when corporate profits are near an all-time high and income inequality is growing, employees and shareholders have a right to know whether companies are padding the wallets of executives at the cost of workers and the company’s bottom line. It’s time we learn from the past failings that helped cause the Great Recession.The Teamsters and other unions have actively called on the SEC to implement the rule. According to an AFL-CIO study of CEO pay at S&P 500 companies, the average CEO earned 373 times more than the typical U.S. worker in 2014. In contrast, CEOs in 1980 made 42 times more than the average employee.
But that doesn't mean the provision is perfect. As Bloomberg noted:
In a nod to businesses such as Exxon Mobil Corp. that oppose the effort, the SEC will require the metric to be updated only once every three years and will allow companies to exclude as much as five percent of their foreign workers from the calculation.
The SEC allowed for some discretion in determining the median pay of workers. Companies can use sampling to estimate the figure, rather than calculating it by tallying data from all of the payrolls across the company.The new rule will make a difference, however. While the CEO pay ratio disclosure alone will not resolve income inequality in our country, it can help identify a huge source of the problem and inform how we want to shape compensation in corporate America.
Tuesday, July 14, 2015
It's time for Congress to move on CEO pay reform
 |
| The Teamsters have taken a stand against excessive pay at McKesson. |
CEOs are paid more than 300 times the average worker. In good times or bad, CEOs are coming out on top. When companies struggle, workers bear the brunt – not so for all too many bosses who chase short-term unsustainable goals, inspired by exorbitant sums of cash, equity and perks. The direct effects are clear – lack of investment going back into companies for employees, research and development, destruction of morale and motivation for front-line workers and a dangerous always escalating expectation of compensation at the top. Long-term shareholders such as pension funds suffer as companies can't sustain growth, creating more risk and uncertainty for working families.
The Teamsters are taking corporations to task on these issues. In fact, the union is currently sponsoring a shareholder proposal at McKesson that would address the automatic accelerated vesting of equity awards for top executives in the event of a change of control. At the center of the controversy is the company's CEO John Hammergren, formerly listed as as the nation's highest paid chief executive.
Hammergren's compensation is especially egregious given that many employees earn wages so low they can't contribute in the company's health or retirement plans. As Teamsters General Secretary-Treasurer Ken Hall said:
McKesson should ensure that front-line employees can afford health care and a secure retirement before lavishing hundreds of millions in unearned compensation to a handful of highly paid executives. Guaranteeing windfall payouts to top executives on their way out the door does not benefit shareholders over the long term.The Dodd-Frank Act of 2010 recognized this problem and created a mandate for publicly traded companies to disclose the ratio of CEO pay to the median company employee’s pay. Such disclosure could provide shareholders crucial insight on risks related to their investment. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to date has not implemented a rule despite receiving wide-scale public feedback on their proposed rule.
It is now five years since the passing of Dodd-Frank. Despite various pronounced timelines from the SEC that always end up being pushed back, the U.S. still has no rule, no disclosure and no end in sight for the growing pay disparity at American companies. This rule and others regarding executive compensation remain the glaring loose end from the financial reforms that came about to address the issues which lead to Great Recession.
While this disclosure alone cannot resolve income inequality in our country, it can help identify a huge source of the problem and inform how we want to shape compensation in corporate America. We as a nation cannot afford to wait any longer and the SEC must play its part.
Friday, April 10, 2015
Today's Teamster News 04.10.15
Teamsters
Teamsters: Long Beach Approves Construction Agreement Press-Telegram ...The City of Long Beach, California, has approved a new project labor agreement (PLA) for construction projects. This agreement puts into a motion an agreement to hire unionized labor for use on construction projects costing more than $500,000 each. Hundreds of construction workers in Southern California are represented by Teamsters Local 952, 166 and others...
OOIDA Files As Intervenor In Lawsuit Over Open Border To Mexican Trucks Land Line Magazine ...The granting of long-haul trucking authority to Mexico-domiciled motor carriers operating in the U.S. would adversely affect small-business truckers and highway safety, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association stated in a federal court filing on Tuesday, April 7. On behalf of the Association and its members, OOIDA filed a petition to intervene in a lawsuit brought by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters...
Global Labor & Trade
White House Reveals Desperate Lack Of Support For TPP Truthout ...The White House is having a hard time generating any momentum for fast-track trade authority for the TPP and other agreements. The Obama administration pushed to stop the Seattle City Council from opposing fast-track legislation and the TPP, but instead got a unanimous vote against them from a major port city that trades with Asia...
As Oil Money Flowed, Clinton Turned Back on Rights Abuses in Colombia: Report Common Dreams ...A new investigative look at the ties between big business interests in Colombia, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and her family's charitable foundation are raising troubling questions about the role that corporate trade deals and big oil may have played in softening the powerful Democrat's position on human rights in the South American country...
One Lethal Loophole In The TPP CounterPunch ...After spending five long years negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, the Obama administration is now pushing for the fast-track authority from Congress that would make it easier to get the final deal approved. One serious problem is that the TPP is not likely to include rules on currency, which is leading lawmakers from both parties to consider opposing the agreement. They are right to be concerned...
Fast track on trade is wrong track for America (opinion) The Register-Guard ...The TPP is built upon the foundation of the failed NAFTA and Korea “free trade” agreements. It incorporates all their shortcomings, which directly led to the loss of 743,000 American jobs and put downward pressure on wages in a wide variety of occupations. The new provisions will make it easier for corporations to challenge our labor, environmental and consumer protection laws...
Are These Strikes a Sign of Growing Militancy Among China’s Workers? The Nation ...It seems that even if not directly in contact, workers are aligned in their pushback against global manufacturing’s “race to the bottom.” As the relentless pressure to suppress labor costs begins to finally bottom out, workers may find new leverage on the shop floor, across the city, and maybe even across borders...
Protesters march in France as nationwide strikes target schools, Eiffel Tower and airspace US News ...Thousands of protesters, many blowing whistles and waving union flags, marched through Paris and other French cities on Thursday in a day of nationwide strikes.The protesters aired an array of grievances against state funding cuts, planned increases in the retirement age, and business-friendly reforms that could make firing workers easier...
State & Living Wage Battles
Politicians Try To Union-Bust Their Way To The White House Newsweek ...Fiery labor icon Mother Jones cannot be resting peacefully beneath the crabgrass in the Union Miners’ Cemetery, not far from Springfield, Illinois, where Bruce Rauner, the recently elected Republican governor, has launched an unprecedented attack on organized labor. Rauner is challenging public and private unions on several fronts—even pushing the state’s municipalities to create “right-to-work zones”...
Officials Use Decrepit Bridges, Highways To Make Their Point Washington Post ...In about 150 other cities, mayors and other officials will do stand-ups in front of bridges that need replacement and congested highways to make the point. The mayors say they’ll descend on Washington on May 11 to lobby Congress, but the attention they get Thursday will be played out on television, in print and online to the public at large...
California Lawmakers Propose Expanding Benefits To Some Immigrants San Francisco Chronicle ...California legislative leaders took a bold step Tuesday toward protecting immigrants living in the country without documentation by backing legislation to offer Medi-Cal and other public services to a population they said they want to help move out of the shadows...
Unions Oppose Bill That Would Bar Managers From Joining Albany Times Union ...In a week full of bills that have Nevada unions crying foul, an Assembly committee has passed an amended version of a bill that would dramatically change collective bargaining rules for Nevada public employees...
Senate Democrats Are Getting Fed Up With The SEC's Delay On CEO Pay Rule Huffington Post ...Senate Democrats are losing patience with the Securities and Exchange Commission over the agency's failure to implement a new CEO pay rule. Democrats have been pushing the SEC for nearly five years to move forward with the rule, which Congress required the agency to develop under the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform law. The rule would mandate that companies publicly disclose the ratio of their CEO's pay to the median earnings of workers at the firm...
Wall Street has gobbled up billions of New York City pension dollars Daily Kos ...Wall Street, not retired workers, has been getting the profits from New York City's pension funds, according to the city comptroller's office. Management fees have sucked up more than $2 billion over 10 years, virtually erasing gains for the funds that provide pensions for 715,000 city workers...
What corporate America should do for low-wage workers (opinion) Fortune ...On April 15, fast food, retail, and other low-wage workers are planning a wave of actions to demand a $15 minimum wage. This should be a wake-up call to the business community. It’s a moral disgrace that so many hard-working Americans have to scrape to get by on a minimum wage that is 25% below what it was in 1968...
U.S. Labor
Conservative Groups Rally Behind Gerawan Farming Capital & Main ...This year the Gerawans’ local state Assembly member, Republican Jim Patterson of Fresno, introduced Assembly Bill 1389. It would allow outside anti-union parties (such as Silvia Lopez) to inject themselves into mandatory mediation proceedings on the same basis as the union’s elected negotiating committee. Further, it would permit growers to decertify unions that “abandon” workers for three years...
Bank Workers Tell Their Bosses: Stop Making Us Sell Shady Products To Poor People Think Progress ...The newest line of criticism for the banking industry is coming from within, as a group of rank-and-file banking employees prepare to demand that their employer stop ordering them to use predatory sales tactics and start treating them as a valued piece of the workforce...
Miscellaneous
New Minutes Show Federal Reserve Sticking To A Gradual Approach On Rates Washington Post ...Members of the Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee were divided at the mid-March meeting over whether to raise interest rates in June or to wait a bit longer, but they remained united in their expectation that they would raise rates gradually...
Defenders of Wealth Blame Workers For Lousy Recovery, Not Policies Protecting Profits Alternet ...The Wall Street financed group Third Way and the Wall Street Journal gave us more proof for this proposition yesterday with a new explanation for the "jobless recovery." Their basic story is that the economy lost routine, relatively low-skilled jobs, but it now needs workers with high-skills for the new jobs that are being created...
Teamsters: Long Beach Approves Construction Agreement Press-Telegram ...The City of Long Beach, California, has approved a new project labor agreement (PLA) for construction projects. This agreement puts into a motion an agreement to hire unionized labor for use on construction projects costing more than $500,000 each. Hundreds of construction workers in Southern California are represented by Teamsters Local 952, 166 and others...
OOIDA Files As Intervenor In Lawsuit Over Open Border To Mexican Trucks Land Line Magazine ...The granting of long-haul trucking authority to Mexico-domiciled motor carriers operating in the U.S. would adversely affect small-business truckers and highway safety, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association stated in a federal court filing on Tuesday, April 7. On behalf of the Association and its members, OOIDA filed a petition to intervene in a lawsuit brought by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters...
Global Labor & Trade
White House Reveals Desperate Lack Of Support For TPP Truthout ...The White House is having a hard time generating any momentum for fast-track trade authority for the TPP and other agreements. The Obama administration pushed to stop the Seattle City Council from opposing fast-track legislation and the TPP, but instead got a unanimous vote against them from a major port city that trades with Asia...
As Oil Money Flowed, Clinton Turned Back on Rights Abuses in Colombia: Report Common Dreams ...A new investigative look at the ties between big business interests in Colombia, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and her family's charitable foundation are raising troubling questions about the role that corporate trade deals and big oil may have played in softening the powerful Democrat's position on human rights in the South American country...
One Lethal Loophole In The TPP CounterPunch ...After spending five long years negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, the Obama administration is now pushing for the fast-track authority from Congress that would make it easier to get the final deal approved. One serious problem is that the TPP is not likely to include rules on currency, which is leading lawmakers from both parties to consider opposing the agreement. They are right to be concerned...
Fast track on trade is wrong track for America (opinion) The Register-Guard ...The TPP is built upon the foundation of the failed NAFTA and Korea “free trade” agreements. It incorporates all their shortcomings, which directly led to the loss of 743,000 American jobs and put downward pressure on wages in a wide variety of occupations. The new provisions will make it easier for corporations to challenge our labor, environmental and consumer protection laws...
Are These Strikes a Sign of Growing Militancy Among China’s Workers? The Nation ...It seems that even if not directly in contact, workers are aligned in their pushback against global manufacturing’s “race to the bottom.” As the relentless pressure to suppress labor costs begins to finally bottom out, workers may find new leverage on the shop floor, across the city, and maybe even across borders...
Protesters march in France as nationwide strikes target schools, Eiffel Tower and airspace US News ...Thousands of protesters, many blowing whistles and waving union flags, marched through Paris and other French cities on Thursday in a day of nationwide strikes.The protesters aired an array of grievances against state funding cuts, planned increases in the retirement age, and business-friendly reforms that could make firing workers easier...
Politicians Try To Union-Bust Their Way To The White House Newsweek ...Fiery labor icon Mother Jones cannot be resting peacefully beneath the crabgrass in the Union Miners’ Cemetery, not far from Springfield, Illinois, where Bruce Rauner, the recently elected Republican governor, has launched an unprecedented attack on organized labor. Rauner is challenging public and private unions on several fronts—even pushing the state’s municipalities to create “right-to-work zones”...
Officials Use Decrepit Bridges, Highways To Make Their Point Washington Post ...In about 150 other cities, mayors and other officials will do stand-ups in front of bridges that need replacement and congested highways to make the point. The mayors say they’ll descend on Washington on May 11 to lobby Congress, but the attention they get Thursday will be played out on television, in print and online to the public at large...
California Lawmakers Propose Expanding Benefits To Some Immigrants San Francisco Chronicle ...California legislative leaders took a bold step Tuesday toward protecting immigrants living in the country without documentation by backing legislation to offer Medi-Cal and other public services to a population they said they want to help move out of the shadows...
Unions Oppose Bill That Would Bar Managers From Joining Albany Times Union ...In a week full of bills that have Nevada unions crying foul, an Assembly committee has passed an amended version of a bill that would dramatically change collective bargaining rules for Nevada public employees...
Senate Democrats Are Getting Fed Up With The SEC's Delay On CEO Pay Rule Huffington Post ...Senate Democrats are losing patience with the Securities and Exchange Commission over the agency's failure to implement a new CEO pay rule. Democrats have been pushing the SEC for nearly five years to move forward with the rule, which Congress required the agency to develop under the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform law. The rule would mandate that companies publicly disclose the ratio of their CEO's pay to the median earnings of workers at the firm...
Wall Street has gobbled up billions of New York City pension dollars Daily Kos ...Wall Street, not retired workers, has been getting the profits from New York City's pension funds, according to the city comptroller's office. Management fees have sucked up more than $2 billion over 10 years, virtually erasing gains for the funds that provide pensions for 715,000 city workers...
What corporate America should do for low-wage workers (opinion) Fortune ...On April 15, fast food, retail, and other low-wage workers are planning a wave of actions to demand a $15 minimum wage. This should be a wake-up call to the business community. It’s a moral disgrace that so many hard-working Americans have to scrape to get by on a minimum wage that is 25% below what it was in 1968...
U.S. Labor
Conservative Groups Rally Behind Gerawan Farming Capital & Main ...This year the Gerawans’ local state Assembly member, Republican Jim Patterson of Fresno, introduced Assembly Bill 1389. It would allow outside anti-union parties (such as Silvia Lopez) to inject themselves into mandatory mediation proceedings on the same basis as the union’s elected negotiating committee. Further, it would permit growers to decertify unions that “abandon” workers for three years...
Bank Workers Tell Their Bosses: Stop Making Us Sell Shady Products To Poor People Think Progress ...The newest line of criticism for the banking industry is coming from within, as a group of rank-and-file banking employees prepare to demand that their employer stop ordering them to use predatory sales tactics and start treating them as a valued piece of the workforce...
Miscellaneous
New Minutes Show Federal Reserve Sticking To A Gradual Approach On Rates Washington Post ...Members of the Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee were divided at the mid-March meeting over whether to raise interest rates in June or to wait a bit longer, but they remained united in their expectation that they would raise rates gradually...
Defenders of Wealth Blame Workers For Lousy Recovery, Not Policies Protecting Profits Alternet ...The Wall Street financed group Third Way and the Wall Street Journal gave us more proof for this proposition yesterday with a new explanation for the "jobless recovery." Their basic story is that the economy lost routine, relatively low-skilled jobs, but it now needs workers with high-skills for the new jobs that are being created...
Wednesday, April 8, 2015
Today's Teamster News 04.08.15
Teamsters
St. Vincent technicians to vote on union April 29 Telegram ...Technicians at St. Vincent Hospital who have indicated they want to join a local branch of the Teamsters will vote April 29 on whether to join the union. The vote, which has been agreed upon by the 225 technicians and management at St. Vincent Hospital, will occur during working hours...
NLRB to issue complaint against Sysco, bring justice for fired Teamsters Teamster Nation ...The Federal Government is weighing in on the side of workers at Sysco in Atlanta who were wrongly terminated after their successful campaign to join Teamsters Local 528...
Democrats, Labor Will Work To Block Youth Minimum Wage Law Rapid City Journal ...The South Dakota Democratic Party and at least one union group that successfully pushed for a voter-approved minimum wage hike last year are preparing to join opponents of a lawmaker-approved $7.50 youth minimum wage law who are working to block it from going into effect. The state Democratic Party and the Teamsters are hoping to stop the youth minimum wage measure...
Dire state of U.S. bridges shows need for infrastructure investment Teamster Nation ...The Teamsters have been a persistent advocate for infrastructure investment, saying it is the best way to create good-paying jobs that will sustain families across the nation. And a new report explains why such work is important. In short, it's too dangerous not to act...
Global Labor & Trade
Fact-Checking the Fact-Checker: Washington Post Gets It Wrong on Bogus Trade-Pact Jobs Claims Public Citizen ...As the Obama administration seeks to Fast Track the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) through Congress over public and congressional opposition, it has resorted to a familiar tactic – promising job gains from the deal on the basis of unfounded assumptions.
Activists in Blimp, RV Target Sen. Ron Wyden Over Trade Deal Wall Street Journal ...When Sen. Ron Wyden goes home to Oregon, he faces an unusual entourage: activists manning a blimp and a recreational vehicle who are set on pressuring the senator to say no to a trade deal...
Push for Controversial Trade Deal Continues With Pitch From Defense Secretary Common Dreams ...U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter on Monday trumpeted the administration's so-called Pacific pivot and urged passage of legislative power that critics say will allow a massive corporate-friendly trade deal to be rammed through Congress...
How America Became an Oligarchy Counterpunch ...The most glaring example today is the secret twelve-country trade agreement called the Trans-Pacific Partnership. If it goes through, the TPP will dramatically expand the power of multinational corporations to use closed-door tribunals to challenge and supersede domestic laws, including environmental, labor, health and other protections...
French strikes cancel flights across Europe Deutsche Welle ...Authorities in France said air traffic could be reduced by as much as 40 percent on Wednesday, with the strike expected to continue into Thursday. The union has called for talks regarding working practices and the workers' retirement age...
State & Living Wage Battles
With State Control, North Carolina Republicans Pursue Smaller Prizes New York Times ...This session, bills introduced by Republican lawmakers would reconfigure a number of local government bodies around the state, prompting allegations that Republicans are gerrymandering and changing election rules at the city council and county commission levels...
Senator Rand Paul Has No Idea Why The USPS Appears To Be Failing, But He Blames Unions NH Labor News ...Paul never strays from being a front man for the wealthy with his extreme anti-union beliefs. For Postal workers his message is clear as he advocates an end to collective bargaining rights for postal workers when their current contracts expire. He says he is not “opposed to all unions”–he just believes unions are inappropriate for public service workers...
Democratic reformers increasingly irked over SEC's delay in implementing CEO-worker pay-gap rule Daily Kos ...One of the mandates of the Dodd-Frank financial reform act was for the Security and Exchange Commission to require all publicly held companies to disclose the ratio of CEO pay to the median pay of all other employees. Thanks to heavy corporate opposition, it took more than three years from when Dodd-Franks became law for the SEC to propose such a rule...
House Democrats Push Minimum Wage Hike Texas Tribune ...The minimum wage would go up to $10.10 an hour under proposals by state Reps. Eddie Lucio, D-Brownsville, and Trey Martinez Fischer, D-San Antonio. A separate measure by Martinez Fischer would ask voters to approve a constitutional amendment setting the minimum wage at $10.10...
Fast-food workers rally across the country for higher wages AOL.com ...Fast-food workers are joining forces with home health care aids and Wal-Mart workers on April 15 to rally for higher wages. Rallies will be taking place across the country as protesters strive to increase wages up to a 15 dollar per hour rate...
In Illinois, A Pre-Emptive Strike Against Unions (opinion) St. Louis Post Dispatch ...In Illinois, the right-to-work zones are part of Mr. Rauner’s anti-union efforts. He’s also called for banning political donations by unions (even though the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision says unions and corporations are “citizens”). Mr. Rauner wants taxpayers to have a say in negotiations with public employee unions. He wants to end “prevailing wage” laws that require union wages to be paid on state and local construction projects...
U.S. Labor
Signs Of Hope For American Workers (opinion) Washington Post ...Last week’s jobs report was mostly disappointing, as it revealed that the nation’s employers broke their year-long streak of adding at least 200,000 jobs per month. Buried in the report, though, was some encouraging news about earnings. In March, average hourly earnings for private employees rose 7 cents, or about 0.3 percent, to $24.86. Sure, it’s not much, but it’s more than analysts forecast. Other recent Labor Department releases have also shown compensation quietly rising...
Victor Gotbaum, Influential New York Labor Leader, Dies At 93 Washington Post ...As leader of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees’ District Council 37 in New York, Mr. Gotbaum was the voice of the nation’s biggest municipal union when the city faced the threat of bankruptcy in the mid-1970s...
Kris Bryant, The Baseball Players’ Union And A Lesson For Labor New York Times ...The Cubs sent Bryant down to the minor leagues last week, setting off a 21st-century-style labor dispute. To the Major League Baseball Players Association, the move looked to be less about baseball aptitude than money and control...
Miscellaneous
Republic Finishes Sewer Line From Bridgeton Landfill St. Louis Post Dispatch ...Republic Services announced Friday it has completed a new sewer line connecting the Bridgeton Landfill to two Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District treatment plants, cutting down on truck traffic hauling liquid waste from the smoldering landfill...
Could Heinz-Kraft merger face opposition from the Federal Trade Commission? Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ...The Federal Trade Commission is actively trying to block the merger of food service distributors Sysco and US Foods, citing antitrust concerns, but the deal that would combine Pittsburgh’s H.J. Heinz Co. and Northfield, Ill.-based Kraft Foods Group is unlikely to face similar opposition...
St. Vincent technicians to vote on union April 29 Telegram ...Technicians at St. Vincent Hospital who have indicated they want to join a local branch of the Teamsters will vote April 29 on whether to join the union. The vote, which has been agreed upon by the 225 technicians and management at St. Vincent Hospital, will occur during working hours...
NLRB to issue complaint against Sysco, bring justice for fired Teamsters Teamster Nation ...The Federal Government is weighing in on the side of workers at Sysco in Atlanta who were wrongly terminated after their successful campaign to join Teamsters Local 528...
Democrats, Labor Will Work To Block Youth Minimum Wage Law Rapid City Journal ...The South Dakota Democratic Party and at least one union group that successfully pushed for a voter-approved minimum wage hike last year are preparing to join opponents of a lawmaker-approved $7.50 youth minimum wage law who are working to block it from going into effect. The state Democratic Party and the Teamsters are hoping to stop the youth minimum wage measure...
Dire state of U.S. bridges shows need for infrastructure investment Teamster Nation ...The Teamsters have been a persistent advocate for infrastructure investment, saying it is the best way to create good-paying jobs that will sustain families across the nation. And a new report explains why such work is important. In short, it's too dangerous not to act...
Global Labor & Trade
Fact-Checking the Fact-Checker: Washington Post Gets It Wrong on Bogus Trade-Pact Jobs Claims Public Citizen ...As the Obama administration seeks to Fast Track the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) through Congress over public and congressional opposition, it has resorted to a familiar tactic – promising job gains from the deal on the basis of unfounded assumptions.
Activists in Blimp, RV Target Sen. Ron Wyden Over Trade Deal Wall Street Journal ...When Sen. Ron Wyden goes home to Oregon, he faces an unusual entourage: activists manning a blimp and a recreational vehicle who are set on pressuring the senator to say no to a trade deal...
Push for Controversial Trade Deal Continues With Pitch From Defense Secretary Common Dreams ...U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter on Monday trumpeted the administration's so-called Pacific pivot and urged passage of legislative power that critics say will allow a massive corporate-friendly trade deal to be rammed through Congress...
How America Became an Oligarchy Counterpunch ...The most glaring example today is the secret twelve-country trade agreement called the Trans-Pacific Partnership. If it goes through, the TPP will dramatically expand the power of multinational corporations to use closed-door tribunals to challenge and supersede domestic laws, including environmental, labor, health and other protections...
French strikes cancel flights across Europe Deutsche Welle ...Authorities in France said air traffic could be reduced by as much as 40 percent on Wednesday, with the strike expected to continue into Thursday. The union has called for talks regarding working practices and the workers' retirement age...
State & Living Wage Battles
With State Control, North Carolina Republicans Pursue Smaller Prizes New York Times ...This session, bills introduced by Republican lawmakers would reconfigure a number of local government bodies around the state, prompting allegations that Republicans are gerrymandering and changing election rules at the city council and county commission levels...
Senator Rand Paul Has No Idea Why The USPS Appears To Be Failing, But He Blames Unions NH Labor News ...Paul never strays from being a front man for the wealthy with his extreme anti-union beliefs. For Postal workers his message is clear as he advocates an end to collective bargaining rights for postal workers when their current contracts expire. He says he is not “opposed to all unions”–he just believes unions are inappropriate for public service workers...
Democratic reformers increasingly irked over SEC's delay in implementing CEO-worker pay-gap rule Daily Kos ...One of the mandates of the Dodd-Frank financial reform act was for the Security and Exchange Commission to require all publicly held companies to disclose the ratio of CEO pay to the median pay of all other employees. Thanks to heavy corporate opposition, it took more than three years from when Dodd-Franks became law for the SEC to propose such a rule...
House Democrats Push Minimum Wage Hike Texas Tribune ...The minimum wage would go up to $10.10 an hour under proposals by state Reps. Eddie Lucio, D-Brownsville, and Trey Martinez Fischer, D-San Antonio. A separate measure by Martinez Fischer would ask voters to approve a constitutional amendment setting the minimum wage at $10.10...
Fast-food workers rally across the country for higher wages AOL.com ...Fast-food workers are joining forces with home health care aids and Wal-Mart workers on April 15 to rally for higher wages. Rallies will be taking place across the country as protesters strive to increase wages up to a 15 dollar per hour rate...
In Illinois, A Pre-Emptive Strike Against Unions (opinion) St. Louis Post Dispatch ...In Illinois, the right-to-work zones are part of Mr. Rauner’s anti-union efforts. He’s also called for banning political donations by unions (even though the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision says unions and corporations are “citizens”). Mr. Rauner wants taxpayers to have a say in negotiations with public employee unions. He wants to end “prevailing wage” laws that require union wages to be paid on state and local construction projects...
U.S. Labor
Signs Of Hope For American Workers (opinion) Washington Post ...Last week’s jobs report was mostly disappointing, as it revealed that the nation’s employers broke their year-long streak of adding at least 200,000 jobs per month. Buried in the report, though, was some encouraging news about earnings. In March, average hourly earnings for private employees rose 7 cents, or about 0.3 percent, to $24.86. Sure, it’s not much, but it’s more than analysts forecast. Other recent Labor Department releases have also shown compensation quietly rising...
Victor Gotbaum, Influential New York Labor Leader, Dies At 93 Washington Post ...As leader of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees’ District Council 37 in New York, Mr. Gotbaum was the voice of the nation’s biggest municipal union when the city faced the threat of bankruptcy in the mid-1970s...
Kris Bryant, The Baseball Players’ Union And A Lesson For Labor New York Times ...The Cubs sent Bryant down to the minor leagues last week, setting off a 21st-century-style labor dispute. To the Major League Baseball Players Association, the move looked to be less about baseball aptitude than money and control...
Miscellaneous
Republic Finishes Sewer Line From Bridgeton Landfill St. Louis Post Dispatch ...Republic Services announced Friday it has completed a new sewer line connecting the Bridgeton Landfill to two Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District treatment plants, cutting down on truck traffic hauling liquid waste from the smoldering landfill...
Could Heinz-Kraft merger face opposition from the Federal Trade Commission? Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ...The Federal Trade Commission is actively trying to block the merger of food service distributors Sysco and US Foods, citing antitrust concerns, but the deal that would combine Pittsburgh’s H.J. Heinz Co. and Northfield, Ill.-based Kraft Foods Group is unlikely to face similar opposition...
Sunday, March 8, 2015
Today's Teamster News 03.08.15
Teamsters
Hall Joins Thousands Of Teamsters At West Virginia Rally For Workers teamster.org ...Teamsters General Secretary-Treasurer Ken Hall delivered a rousing speech to thousands of rallying protesters in his home state of West Virginia on Saturday, urging workers to continue their fight against the legislature’s anti-worker agenda currently being pushed by state lawmakers...
Teamsters Affiliate Endorses Garcia for Mayor NBC Chicago ...Teamsters [Local 743] union affiliate endorsed mayoral candidate Jesus "Chuy" Garcia Saturday. Teamsters Local 743 represents 10,000 workers in the health care, mail order, technical and warehouse industries in the Chicago area, including the University of Chicago Medical Center and Mercy Hospital...
Trade
Labor fires back at Obama on trade The Hill ...Labor unions and other groups opposed to free-trade policies are ramping up a spring offensive against the White House and congressional Republicans with new trade legislation set to emerge in the coming weeks...
Obscure TPP Provision Will Lead to Corporations Replacing Nations As the Rulers of the Planet The Common Sense Show ...An obscure Trans Pacific Partnership provision will serve to threaten the very existence of the nation state and replace governmental authority with the power and the whim of the corporation. This secretive provision promises to supplant all national authority with a “Rollerball” type of world...
State Battles
Assembly sends Wisconsin's right-to-work bill to Scott Walker Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ...In a powerful illustration of the state's increasingly polarized politics, the Wisconsin Assembly passed so-called right-to-work legislation Friday on a strictly party-line vote, with two Republicans who had previously sided with unions now lining up against them...
War on Workers
The month that killed the middle class: How October 1973 slammed America Salon ...October 1973 was a rude awakening for the entire United States. It was a watershed month for the American middle class. The Arab Oil Embargo would lead to the downfall of the American auto industry, whose generous wages and benefits set the standard for the entire economy. It was also the month of the Saturday Night Massacre, which made inevitable the downfall of Richard Nixon. The Watergate scandal resulted in changes to the American political system that put more power into the hands of lobbyists, political action committees and wealthy, self-funded candidates...
EPA: Illinois oil train derailment threatens Mississippi River McClatchy ... An oil train derailment and spill in northwest Illinois poses an “imminent and substantial danger” of contaminating the Mississippi River, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Saturday...
Train carrying crude oil derails near Gogama, Ont. CBC News ...Several tanker cars caught fire after a Canadian National Railway train carrying crude oil derailed in northern Ontario, prompting officials to advise nearby residents to stay indoors and avoid consuming water from local sources...
A CEO's Real Fiduciary Duty Economic Populist ... profits have been increasingly paid back to shareholders, rather than invested in hiring more people and/or paying their employees better. Instead, companies have been borrowing in order to buy back their own company stock, which not only boosts their company's stock price for investors — but also for company executives, who are paid with stock-option grants as "performance pay"...
Hall Joins Thousands Of Teamsters At West Virginia Rally For Workers teamster.org ...Teamsters General Secretary-Treasurer Ken Hall delivered a rousing speech to thousands of rallying protesters in his home state of West Virginia on Saturday, urging workers to continue their fight against the legislature’s anti-worker agenda currently being pushed by state lawmakers...
Teamsters Affiliate Endorses Garcia for Mayor NBC Chicago ...Teamsters [Local 743] union affiliate endorsed mayoral candidate Jesus "Chuy" Garcia Saturday. Teamsters Local 743 represents 10,000 workers in the health care, mail order, technical and warehouse industries in the Chicago area, including the University of Chicago Medical Center and Mercy Hospital...
Trade
Labor fires back at Obama on trade The Hill ...Labor unions and other groups opposed to free-trade policies are ramping up a spring offensive against the White House and congressional Republicans with new trade legislation set to emerge in the coming weeks...
Obscure TPP Provision Will Lead to Corporations Replacing Nations As the Rulers of the Planet The Common Sense Show ...An obscure Trans Pacific Partnership provision will serve to threaten the very existence of the nation state and replace governmental authority with the power and the whim of the corporation. This secretive provision promises to supplant all national authority with a “Rollerball” type of world...
State Battles
Assembly sends Wisconsin's right-to-work bill to Scott Walker Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ...In a powerful illustration of the state's increasingly polarized politics, the Wisconsin Assembly passed so-called right-to-work legislation Friday on a strictly party-line vote, with two Republicans who had previously sided with unions now lining up against them...
War on Workers
The month that killed the middle class: How October 1973 slammed America Salon ...October 1973 was a rude awakening for the entire United States. It was a watershed month for the American middle class. The Arab Oil Embargo would lead to the downfall of the American auto industry, whose generous wages and benefits set the standard for the entire economy. It was also the month of the Saturday Night Massacre, which made inevitable the downfall of Richard Nixon. The Watergate scandal resulted in changes to the American political system that put more power into the hands of lobbyists, political action committees and wealthy, self-funded candidates...
EPA: Illinois oil train derailment threatens Mississippi River McClatchy ... An oil train derailment and spill in northwest Illinois poses an “imminent and substantial danger” of contaminating the Mississippi River, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Saturday...
Train carrying crude oil derails near Gogama, Ont. CBC News ...Several tanker cars caught fire after a Canadian National Railway train carrying crude oil derailed in northern Ontario, prompting officials to advise nearby residents to stay indoors and avoid consuming water from local sources...
A CEO's Real Fiduciary Duty Economic Populist ... profits have been increasingly paid back to shareholders, rather than invested in hiring more people and/or paying their employees better. Instead, companies have been borrowing in order to buy back their own company stock, which not only boosts their company's stock price for investors — but also for company executives, who are paid with stock-option grants as "performance pay"...
Monday, January 19, 2015
Today's Teamster News 01.19.15
Trade
TPP negotiations to resume in late January 2015 Vietnamnet …The next round of Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations will take place in New York in late January, taking up outstanding issues that were not solved at the previous talks in Washington in December 2014...
American Manufacturing Just Can’t Compete Economy in Crisis … “Free trade,” as it is practiced by China, Japan, Mexico and some others, translates to unrestricted access to buy, sell, undercut, or put out of business any company we own (which has been happening at an accelerated rate)...
War on Workers
Six Days on Fumes: A Trucker's Search for Starbucks and Sleep Bloomberg …[Tracy] Livingston is among the nation’s 2 million truckers, who endure back-to-back 14-hour days to deliver everything from aluminum cans to clothing to Christmas cookies. They practice an occupation that kills more of its practitioners than any other, with 525 dying on the road last year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Truckers pushed to their physical limits contribute to accidents in which almost 4,000 Americans die each year...
Paid Leave is Vital to Families’ Economic Security Economic Policy Institute …Mandatory paid sick time would mean that the many employers that already provide paid sick days would have a level playing field with their competitors, and all employers would be able to more easily maintain healthy workplaces. While any new labor standard generates concerns about the business climate and job creation, the evidence from jurisdictions that require paid sick days has all been positive...
The Key to $10 Billion in U.S. Human Smuggling: Big Banks Bloomberg ...Major banks, including Bank of America Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo, have been used as financial conduits for the smuggling industry, according to evidence in a federal criminal case against a gang of 15 human smugglers and warrants from prosecutors in Arizona, Maryland and Texas...
Richest 1% to own more than rest of world, Oxfam says BBC News …The charity's research shows that the share of the world's wealth owned by the richest 1% increased from 44% in 2009 to 48% last year. On current trends, Oxfam says it expects the wealthiest 1% to own more than 50% of the world's wealth by 2016...
Five Causes of Wage Stagnation in the United States AFL-CIO … "Since the late 1970s, wages for the bottom 70 percent of earners have been essentially stagnant, and between 2009 and 2013, real wages fell for the entire bottom 90 percent of the wage distribution."...
The Van Hollen Plan Takes on Soaring CEO Pay: A Debate We Need to Have Next New Deal …The CEO-Employee Paycheck Fairness Act stops corporations from claiming tax deductions for “performance pay” for executives – e.g. stock options and stock grants – “unless their workers are getting paycheck increases that reflect increases in worker productivity and the cost of living.”...
Miscellaneous
Icezilla: Ice storm leads to hundreds of accidents from Philly to New York and Connecticut CNN ...After crashing into at least 20 cars piled up on Interstate 76, one person was killed after getting out of a car and being hit by an oncoming vehicle, authorities said...
TPP negotiations to resume in late January 2015 Vietnamnet …The next round of Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations will take place in New York in late January, taking up outstanding issues that were not solved at the previous talks in Washington in December 2014...
American Manufacturing Just Can’t Compete Economy in Crisis … “Free trade,” as it is practiced by China, Japan, Mexico and some others, translates to unrestricted access to buy, sell, undercut, or put out of business any company we own (which has been happening at an accelerated rate)...
War on Workers
Six Days on Fumes: A Trucker's Search for Starbucks and Sleep Bloomberg …[Tracy] Livingston is among the nation’s 2 million truckers, who endure back-to-back 14-hour days to deliver everything from aluminum cans to clothing to Christmas cookies. They practice an occupation that kills more of its practitioners than any other, with 525 dying on the road last year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Truckers pushed to their physical limits contribute to accidents in which almost 4,000 Americans die each year...
Paid Leave is Vital to Families’ Economic Security Economic Policy Institute …Mandatory paid sick time would mean that the many employers that already provide paid sick days would have a level playing field with their competitors, and all employers would be able to more easily maintain healthy workplaces. While any new labor standard generates concerns about the business climate and job creation, the evidence from jurisdictions that require paid sick days has all been positive...
The Key to $10 Billion in U.S. Human Smuggling: Big Banks Bloomberg ...Major banks, including Bank of America Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo, have been used as financial conduits for the smuggling industry, according to evidence in a federal criminal case against a gang of 15 human smugglers and warrants from prosecutors in Arizona, Maryland and Texas...
Richest 1% to own more than rest of world, Oxfam says BBC News …The charity's research shows that the share of the world's wealth owned by the richest 1% increased from 44% in 2009 to 48% last year. On current trends, Oxfam says it expects the wealthiest 1% to own more than 50% of the world's wealth by 2016...
Five Causes of Wage Stagnation in the United States AFL-CIO … "Since the late 1970s, wages for the bottom 70 percent of earners have been essentially stagnant, and between 2009 and 2013, real wages fell for the entire bottom 90 percent of the wage distribution."...
The Van Hollen Plan Takes on Soaring CEO Pay: A Debate We Need to Have Next New Deal …The CEO-Employee Paycheck Fairness Act stops corporations from claiming tax deductions for “performance pay” for executives – e.g. stock options and stock grants – “unless their workers are getting paycheck increases that reflect increases in worker productivity and the cost of living.”...
Miscellaneous
Icezilla: Ice storm leads to hundreds of accidents from Philly to New York and Connecticut CNN ...After crashing into at least 20 cars piled up on Interstate 76, one person was killed after getting out of a car and being hit by an oncoming vehicle, authorities said...
Saturday, January 3, 2015
Today's Teamster News 01.03.15
Teamsters
Dunkin' Donuts Delivery Drivers in Chicago Join the Teamsters Teamsters Joint Council 25 ...By a 2-to-1 margin, approximately 30 drivers who make deliveries to Chicago-area Dunkin’ Donuts restaurants recently voted to join Teamsters Local 734...
Dunkin' Donuts Delivery Drivers in Chicago Join the Teamsters Teamsters Joint Council 25 ...By a 2-to-1 margin, approximately 30 drivers who make deliveries to Chicago-area Dunkin’ Donuts restaurants recently voted to join Teamsters Local 734...
BLET reaches tentative agreement with Norfolk Southern BLET ...The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) has reached a tentative contract agreement with Norfolk Southern (NS) governing rates of pay and work rules for more than 4,500 locomotive engineers...
Inaugural Toledo Walleye Winter Brewfest is a hit The Blade ...Toledo firefighter Jenny Hill fist-bumps Mark Sobczak, vice president of Teamsters Local 20, as she dispenses beer during the inaugural Toledo Walleye Winter Brewfest...
McGrain to head Ingham Board of Commissioners Lansing State Journal ...In other business, the board … Approved a 2015 wage reopener that calls for a 2.5 percent boost to the current salary schedule of members of Teamsters Local 580, the Potter Park Zoo supervisory unit...
Trade
Obama’s Trade Chief, Undaunted by Odds, Pushes for Trans-Pacific Partnership New York Times ...the deal’s completion is certainly not guaranteed. Republicans inclined to give the president trade-negotiating authority are still seething at his executive action deferring deportation of millions of undocumented immigrants. Many conservatives are in no mood to give Mr. Obama anything, said Senator Rob Portman, Republican of Ohio, and a former United States trade representative in the George W. Bush administration...
The President Set a Goal of Doubling Exports by 2014—Why Haven’t We? Economic Policy Institute ...Total U.S. goods and services exports increased by less than 50 percent ($766 billion, or 48.4 percent) between 2009 and 2014 (estimated), as shown in the figure below. Meanwhile, imports increased by an even larger $883.8 billion, and as a result, the U.S. trade deficit increased by $117.0 billion...
Trade's big breakout Politico ...Republicans and President Barack Obama are both eager to act on a massive Asia-Pacific deal, an even bigger agreement with the European Union and legislation that would fast-track their approval by Congress — all of which have a shot of moving next year...
TTIP: Chemical corporations against safety protections Ecologist ...Under the TTIP US-EU trade agreement, the world's largest chemical corporations would be able to attack US states' attempts to regulate for chemical safety, writes Patrick Gleeson. In both the US and the EU, corporate rights - asserted in secret courts - would trump democracy and attempts to raise health, safety and welfare standards...
State Battles
EBay parts ways with controversial political group ALEC Reuters ...Critics fault ALEC, a coalition of state lawmakers and companies, for promoting measures to deny the existence of climate change, defund public services, oppose Internet neutrality and limit workers' protections...
Sweatshops in California Guilty of Wage Theft Law Firm Newswire ...lothing made in California for outlets such as Macy’s, JC Penney and Kohl’s, actually comes from local sweatshops where some employers routinely unplug the clock intended to keep track of worker’s hours...
War on Workers
Koch-Funded News Outlet Defends Dark-Money Organizations Media Matters for America ...Conservative news outlet Watchdog.org released a six-part series defending dark-money organizations -- politically focused groups that conceal the identities of their donors -- but failed to disclose its own funding from the Koch brothers and other conservative dark-money players...
Pay-disclosure advocates chafe at SEC rule delays MarketWatch ...Supporters of a rule that would require public companies to disclose the ratio between executive and median employee pay say the Securities and Exchange Commission should move soon to enact the regulation....
Worker dies after falling into well WESH.com ...Thomas Wood, 41, was working at a gas station under construction on U.S. 1 and Beville Road when he fell into the 6-foot fuel tank well...
Refinery worker dies in accident in Gibbstown Associated Press ...An air compressor line broke and struck 63-year-old Gary Grimming, who was sandblasting a tank at the time. Grimming was employed by a Bethlehem, Pennsylvania-based company...
Miscellaneous
U.S. slaps new sanctions on North Korea after Sony hack CNN ...The United States is hitting North Korea with a new set of economic sanctions after determining the country was behind last month's computer hack at Sony...
Why Airlines Want to Make You Suffer The New Yorker ...In 2013, the major airlines combined made about $31.5 billion in income from fees, as well as other ancillaries, such as redeeming credit-card points...
Falling oil prices both good and bad for manufacturers Fortune ...On one hand, a steep decline in the cost of oil leads to lower expenses. But on the other, business may suffer because of lower spending by oil and chemical companies on big-ticket items like computers and new machinery...
Inaugural Toledo Walleye Winter Brewfest is a hit The Blade ...Toledo firefighter Jenny Hill fist-bumps Mark Sobczak, vice president of Teamsters Local 20, as she dispenses beer during the inaugural Toledo Walleye Winter Brewfest...
McGrain to head Ingham Board of Commissioners Lansing State Journal ...In other business, the board … Approved a 2015 wage reopener that calls for a 2.5 percent boost to the current salary schedule of members of Teamsters Local 580, the Potter Park Zoo supervisory unit...
Trade
Obama’s Trade Chief, Undaunted by Odds, Pushes for Trans-Pacific Partnership New York Times ...the deal’s completion is certainly not guaranteed. Republicans inclined to give the president trade-negotiating authority are still seething at his executive action deferring deportation of millions of undocumented immigrants. Many conservatives are in no mood to give Mr. Obama anything, said Senator Rob Portman, Republican of Ohio, and a former United States trade representative in the George W. Bush administration...
The President Set a Goal of Doubling Exports by 2014—Why Haven’t We? Economic Policy Institute ...Total U.S. goods and services exports increased by less than 50 percent ($766 billion, or 48.4 percent) between 2009 and 2014 (estimated), as shown in the figure below. Meanwhile, imports increased by an even larger $883.8 billion, and as a result, the U.S. trade deficit increased by $117.0 billion...
Trade's big breakout Politico ...Republicans and President Barack Obama are both eager to act on a massive Asia-Pacific deal, an even bigger agreement with the European Union and legislation that would fast-track their approval by Congress — all of which have a shot of moving next year...
TTIP: Chemical corporations against safety protections Ecologist ...Under the TTIP US-EU trade agreement, the world's largest chemical corporations would be able to attack US states' attempts to regulate for chemical safety, writes Patrick Gleeson. In both the US and the EU, corporate rights - asserted in secret courts - would trump democracy and attempts to raise health, safety and welfare standards...
State Battles
EBay parts ways with controversial political group ALEC Reuters ...Critics fault ALEC, a coalition of state lawmakers and companies, for promoting measures to deny the existence of climate change, defund public services, oppose Internet neutrality and limit workers' protections...
Sweatshops in California Guilty of Wage Theft Law Firm Newswire ...lothing made in California for outlets such as Macy’s, JC Penney and Kohl’s, actually comes from local sweatshops where some employers routinely unplug the clock intended to keep track of worker’s hours...
War on Workers
Koch-Funded News Outlet Defends Dark-Money Organizations Media Matters for America ...Conservative news outlet Watchdog.org released a six-part series defending dark-money organizations -- politically focused groups that conceal the identities of their donors -- but failed to disclose its own funding from the Koch brothers and other conservative dark-money players...
Pay-disclosure advocates chafe at SEC rule delays MarketWatch ...Supporters of a rule that would require public companies to disclose the ratio between executive and median employee pay say the Securities and Exchange Commission should move soon to enact the regulation....
Worker dies after falling into well WESH.com ...Thomas Wood, 41, was working at a gas station under construction on U.S. 1 and Beville Road when he fell into the 6-foot fuel tank well...
Refinery worker dies in accident in Gibbstown Associated Press ...An air compressor line broke and struck 63-year-old Gary Grimming, who was sandblasting a tank at the time. Grimming was employed by a Bethlehem, Pennsylvania-based company...
Miscellaneous
U.S. slaps new sanctions on North Korea after Sony hack CNN ...The United States is hitting North Korea with a new set of economic sanctions after determining the country was behind last month's computer hack at Sony...
Why Airlines Want to Make You Suffer The New Yorker ...In 2013, the major airlines combined made about $31.5 billion in income from fees, as well as other ancillaries, such as redeeming credit-card points...
Falling oil prices both good and bad for manufacturers Fortune ...On one hand, a steep decline in the cost of oil leads to lower expenses. But on the other, business may suffer because of lower spending by oil and chemical companies on big-ticket items like computers and new machinery...
Sunday, December 21, 2014
Today's Teamster News 12.21.14
Note to Readers: Today's Teamster News will be on hiatus until Jan. 1, 2015.
Teamsters
Teamsters donate food, toys to children’s home Sunday Gazette Mail ...Ken Hall, president of Local 175, based in South Charleston, said more than $20,000 worth of toys and food were delivered this year, beating last year’s record-setting $17,000. The local union has been raising money and making donations to the Child Center for the past 14 years...
Trade
Protesters surround EU buildings as anti-TTIP anger voiced in Brussels Euronews …A protest has shut down much of central Brussels. Its initial intent was to overshadow the last day of the EU’s summit in the Belgium capital, but the 28 member state meeting ended a day early. The protest went on regardless, as demonstrators took to the streets against a controversial EU trade deal known as TTIP being hashed out with the US...
To the Tea Party: Beware of "Free Trade" Economy In Crisis …Several national groups formed or led by establishment Republicans like Freedomworks, Tea Party Express, and Americans for Prosperity co-opted the Tea Party label for the purposes of advancing trans-national interests under the rubric of unlimited freedom of action for these same global entities...
State Battles
In a Break From Partisan Rancor, Ohio Moves to Make Elections More Competitive New York Times …in an era of hyperpartisan gerrymandering, which many blame for the polarization of state and national politics, Ohio took a step in the opposite direction last week. With the support of both parties, the Ohio House gave final approval Wednesday to a plan to draw voting districts for the General Assembly using a bipartisan process, intended to make elections more competitive...
War on Workers
NLRB changes could speed up worker decisions on unions Los Angeles Times ...It’s a relatively minor victory, given all the hurdles labor activists face in trying to organize workers, but a new ruling over access to workplace email systems should be heartening to those who support collective action by workers…
Employer Groups Express Disappointment With NLRB Final Rule on Union Elections Bloomberg BNA ...Following the release by the National Labor Relations Board of a final rule to streamline the resolution of union elections, many of the largest business organizations in the U.S. quickly expressed dissatisfaction with the divided board's action, and several said they will consider their options for challenging the final rule...
Close huge gap between CEO, worker pay (opinion) Indianapolis Star ...In the last 35 years, the pay for chief executives of the largest U.S. companies has increased over 900 percent, while the average worker compensation has increased just 10 percent...
Is It Bad Enough Yet? New York Times (opinion) …This is the United States, which, with the incoming Congress, might actually get worse. This in part explains why we’re seeing spontaneous protests nationwide, protests that, in their scale, racial diversity, anger and largely nonviolent nature, are unusual if not unique. I was in four cities recently — New York, Washington, Berkeley and Oakland — and there were actions every night in each of them. Meanwhile, workers walked off the job in 190 cities on Dec. 4...
5 Reasons for the Slow Recovery in Long-Term Unemployment Wall Street Journal ...Job openings are back to precession levels but long-term unemployment has yet to catch up. Almost 2% of the labor force have been out of work for 27 weeks or longer...
The Unfinished Civil War Jacobin …we can’t leave the South alone, even if we wanted to. And we shouldn’t want to, because there are actually enormous organizing possibilities in the region...
Families of workers killed in Dallas office tower speak out KHOU ..."They didn't have any oxygen, no training, no safety preparation, and no fire extinguisher," Garcia said...
Worker Killed in Explosion at Ammunition Factory Aol Jobs …Federal investigators are returning to the scene of a deadly explosion at an ammunition factory in Tennessee. One worker was killed and three others were injured in the blast...
FedEx truck crash sends packages spilling onto a Georgia highway GOX News …the truck driver says he was hauling two trailers Tuesday morning and lost control after the second one became loose. Cleanup was ongoing into the afternoon and some packages were destroyed...
Teamsters
Teamsters donate food, toys to children’s home Sunday Gazette Mail ...Ken Hall, president of Local 175, based in South Charleston, said more than $20,000 worth of toys and food were delivered this year, beating last year’s record-setting $17,000. The local union has been raising money and making donations to the Child Center for the past 14 years...
Trade
Protesters surround EU buildings as anti-TTIP anger voiced in Brussels Euronews …A protest has shut down much of central Brussels. Its initial intent was to overshadow the last day of the EU’s summit in the Belgium capital, but the 28 member state meeting ended a day early. The protest went on regardless, as demonstrators took to the streets against a controversial EU trade deal known as TTIP being hashed out with the US...
To the Tea Party: Beware of "Free Trade" Economy In Crisis …Several national groups formed or led by establishment Republicans like Freedomworks, Tea Party Express, and Americans for Prosperity co-opted the Tea Party label for the purposes of advancing trans-national interests under the rubric of unlimited freedom of action for these same global entities...
State Battles
In a Break From Partisan Rancor, Ohio Moves to Make Elections More Competitive New York Times …in an era of hyperpartisan gerrymandering, which many blame for the polarization of state and national politics, Ohio took a step in the opposite direction last week. With the support of both parties, the Ohio House gave final approval Wednesday to a plan to draw voting districts for the General Assembly using a bipartisan process, intended to make elections more competitive...
War on Workers
NLRB changes could speed up worker decisions on unions Los Angeles Times ...It’s a relatively minor victory, given all the hurdles labor activists face in trying to organize workers, but a new ruling over access to workplace email systems should be heartening to those who support collective action by workers…
Employer Groups Express Disappointment With NLRB Final Rule on Union Elections Bloomberg BNA ...Following the release by the National Labor Relations Board of a final rule to streamline the resolution of union elections, many of the largest business organizations in the U.S. quickly expressed dissatisfaction with the divided board's action, and several said they will consider their options for challenging the final rule...
Close huge gap between CEO, worker pay (opinion) Indianapolis Star ...In the last 35 years, the pay for chief executives of the largest U.S. companies has increased over 900 percent, while the average worker compensation has increased just 10 percent...
Is It Bad Enough Yet? New York Times (opinion) …This is the United States, which, with the incoming Congress, might actually get worse. This in part explains why we’re seeing spontaneous protests nationwide, protests that, in their scale, racial diversity, anger and largely nonviolent nature, are unusual if not unique. I was in four cities recently — New York, Washington, Berkeley and Oakland — and there were actions every night in each of them. Meanwhile, workers walked off the job in 190 cities on Dec. 4...
5 Reasons for the Slow Recovery in Long-Term Unemployment Wall Street Journal ...Job openings are back to precession levels but long-term unemployment has yet to catch up. Almost 2% of the labor force have been out of work for 27 weeks or longer...
The Unfinished Civil War Jacobin …we can’t leave the South alone, even if we wanted to. And we shouldn’t want to, because there are actually enormous organizing possibilities in the region...
Families of workers killed in Dallas office tower speak out KHOU ..."They didn't have any oxygen, no training, no safety preparation, and no fire extinguisher," Garcia said...
Worker Killed in Explosion at Ammunition Factory Aol Jobs …Federal investigators are returning to the scene of a deadly explosion at an ammunition factory in Tennessee. One worker was killed and three others were injured in the blast...
FedEx truck crash sends packages spilling onto a Georgia highway GOX News …the truck driver says he was hauling two trailers Tuesday morning and lost control after the second one became loose. Cleanup was ongoing into the afternoon and some packages were destroyed...
Tuesday, December 16, 2014
Teamsters still pressing for rule to make companies disclose gap between CEO and worker pay
CEOs who loot their companies are actually capable of being ashamed that they make hundreds of times the average salary of their workers. That's why the Teamsters want the Securities and Exchange Commission to do what Congress told it to do. The SEC is supposed to issue a rule requiring companies to disclose the gap between the pay of their CEOs and their average worker. The SEC hasn't done it yet.
And CEOs are continuing to plunder their companies and consign their workers to poverty wages.
Take McKesson CEO John Hammergren, for example. He took home $51.7 million last year and his pension is worth an estimated $114 million. Hammergren isn't anxious to talk about his warehouse workers in Lakeland, Fla., who make so little money they can't afford health care. (They voted to become Teamsters, but McKesson doesn't want to bargain.) When Glenn Gray, a Teamster, spoke out publicly about his meager wages, McKesson fired him. (Fortunately, the NLRB ordered McKesson to give Brother Gray his job back.)
Sen. Robert Mendendez, a New Jersey Democrat, is pressuring the SEC to obey the law Congress passed four years ago. He's had help from Public Citizen and the Teamsters, who helped him gather signatures for a letter to the SEC.
Public Citizen issued a statement today supporting Menendez:
Take McKesson CEO John Hammergren, for example. He took home $51.7 million last year and his pension is worth an estimated $114 million. Hammergren isn't anxious to talk about his warehouse workers in Lakeland, Fla., who make so little money they can't afford health care. (They voted to become Teamsters, but McKesson doesn't want to bargain.) When Glenn Gray, a Teamster, spoke out publicly about his meager wages, McKesson fired him. (Fortunately, the NLRB ordered McKesson to give Brother Gray his job back.)
Sen. Robert Mendendez, a New Jersey Democrat, is pressuring the SEC to obey the law Congress passed four years ago. He's had help from Public Citizen and the Teamsters, who helped him gather signatures for a letter to the SEC.
Public Citizen issued a statement today supporting Menendez:
Public Citizen lauds the effort of 15 U.S. senators led by Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) to promote the implementation of a four-year-old law that requires publicly traded companies to disclose the ratio of CEO pay to that of the median-paid employee at the firm.
In a letter to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which must implement the law, the senators ask for immediate attention to this provision of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.
“This is the simplest of the 400 rules mandated by the Wall Street reform law,” said Bartlett Naylor, financial policy advocate for Public Citizen’s Congress Watch division.
“The rule is prepared and has the public support of two of the five SEC commissioners. SEC Chair Mary Jo White need only schedule a vote.”
“This rule will help investors better understand if CEOs and average workers receive appropriate compensation,” added Naylor. “That’s important in a day when too many CEOs siphon off extraordinary investor wealth while leaving the employees who generate the revenue from products and services underpaid. This is an unsustainable recipe both for the economy and for individual firms.”
Saturday, November 29, 2014
Today's Teamster News 11.29.14
Teamsters
Walmart Black Friday Protests Hit Major Cities With Calls For '$15 And Full Time' Huffington Post ...Dirk Rasmussen ... rose early and drove to downtown Washington, eager to join a post-Thanksgiving protest against Walmart. "Our local [union] president encouraged us to take part," said Rasmussen, 58, who works in a lumber and building-supply warehouse. "I raised eight children on a Teamsters benefit package and Teamsters wage. I'm a firm believer in collective bargaining, and I'm very concerned about the security of this next generation..."
Trade
Cameron supports the TTIP. Here's why we should be angry. Impact Nottingham ...A primary concern of anti-TTIPers is that EU trading standards will be altered to match those of the U.S. The problem here is that the States have pretty lax policies when it comes to food and hygiene standards. They don’t care if their beef is pumped full of cancer-inducing growth hormones or if their tomatoes weigh 3kg each because they are inflated with pesticides...
U.S. in suspense over fate of ‘Abenomics’ Japan Times ... officials from the 12 TPP countries reportedly plan to resume talks in early December in Washington, with Japanese bureaucrats expected to be among them...
State Battles
Schimel names business lobbyist as top aide Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ... A lobbyist for Walmart, the state's biggest business group and more than a dozen other businesses and organizations will serve as the top aide to incoming Attorney General Brad Schimel..
War on Workers
Black Friday protesters picket Walmart for higher wages, consistent work USA Today ...Some Walmart shoppers looking for door-buster deals on Back Friday were met by protesters speaking out against the retailer's treatment of workers. In what is being touted as the biggest organized protest of Walmart in the company's history, more than 1,600 demonstrations were organized by the Organization United for Respect at Walmart (OUR Walmart)...
These CEOs make more than their companies pay in corporate taxes Quartz ...seven of the country’s 30 largest companies by revenue paid out more to their chief executives than they did in corporate taxes in 2013, despite the fact that pre-tax incomes for those companies totaled more than $74 billion. Six of the 7 companies received tax refunds:..
Construction Worker Dies After Ceiling Collapse at Staten Island Car Dealership New York Times ...The worker, who was identified by the police as Delfino Jesus Velazquez Mendizabal, 43, became trapped under debris around 8:15 a.m. when a large section of the mezzanine level fell inside the Dana Ford Lincoln dealership at 266 West Service Road...
Waste disposal worker killed by equipment Lawrence Eagle Tribune ...Joshua Black, 26, of Wilmington, was declared dead at the scene after he was run over by a front-end loader at Allied Waste Services at 300 Forest St., according to Police Capt. Dennis Bonaiuto...
We should all be thankful for labor unions’ successes (opinion) Des Moines Register ...Unions make the middle class strong by ensuring workers have a voice at work and in our democracy...
Miscellaneous
Barrel price of crude at lowest level since 2009 news-journal.com ...the price of a barrel of crude oil fell to its lowest level in more than four years following news that 12 major oil producing countries won’t cut back on their planned output. For U.S. shale producers, the development probably will mean more spending cuts in 2015 than they already have signaled, and a push for more efficiency in the oil patch...
Walmart Black Friday Protests Hit Major Cities With Calls For '$15 And Full Time' Huffington Post ...Dirk Rasmussen ... rose early and drove to downtown Washington, eager to join a post-Thanksgiving protest against Walmart. "Our local [union] president encouraged us to take part," said Rasmussen, 58, who works in a lumber and building-supply warehouse. "I raised eight children on a Teamsters benefit package and Teamsters wage. I'm a firm believer in collective bargaining, and I'm very concerned about the security of this next generation..."
Trade
Cameron supports the TTIP. Here's why we should be angry. Impact Nottingham ...A primary concern of anti-TTIPers is that EU trading standards will be altered to match those of the U.S. The problem here is that the States have pretty lax policies when it comes to food and hygiene standards. They don’t care if their beef is pumped full of cancer-inducing growth hormones or if their tomatoes weigh 3kg each because they are inflated with pesticides...
U.S. in suspense over fate of ‘Abenomics’ Japan Times ... officials from the 12 TPP countries reportedly plan to resume talks in early December in Washington, with Japanese bureaucrats expected to be among them...
State Battles
Schimel names business lobbyist as top aide Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ... A lobbyist for Walmart, the state's biggest business group and more than a dozen other businesses and organizations will serve as the top aide to incoming Attorney General Brad Schimel..
War on Workers
Black Friday protesters picket Walmart for higher wages, consistent work USA Today ...Some Walmart shoppers looking for door-buster deals on Back Friday were met by protesters speaking out against the retailer's treatment of workers. In what is being touted as the biggest organized protest of Walmart in the company's history, more than 1,600 demonstrations were organized by the Organization United for Respect at Walmart (OUR Walmart)...
These CEOs make more than their companies pay in corporate taxes Quartz ...seven of the country’s 30 largest companies by revenue paid out more to their chief executives than they did in corporate taxes in 2013, despite the fact that pre-tax incomes for those companies totaled more than $74 billion. Six of the 7 companies received tax refunds:..
Construction Worker Dies After Ceiling Collapse at Staten Island Car Dealership New York Times ...The worker, who was identified by the police as Delfino Jesus Velazquez Mendizabal, 43, became trapped under debris around 8:15 a.m. when a large section of the mezzanine level fell inside the Dana Ford Lincoln dealership at 266 West Service Road...
Waste disposal worker killed by equipment Lawrence Eagle Tribune ...Joshua Black, 26, of Wilmington, was declared dead at the scene after he was run over by a front-end loader at Allied Waste Services at 300 Forest St., according to Police Capt. Dennis Bonaiuto...
We should all be thankful for labor unions’ successes (opinion) Des Moines Register ...Unions make the middle class strong by ensuring workers have a voice at work and in our democracy...
Miscellaneous
Barrel price of crude at lowest level since 2009 news-journal.com ...the price of a barrel of crude oil fell to its lowest level in more than four years following news that 12 major oil producing countries won’t cut back on their planned output. For U.S. shale producers, the development probably will mean more spending cuts in 2015 than they already have signaled, and a push for more efficiency in the oil patch...
Wednesday, November 19, 2014
Today's Teamster News 11.19.14
Teamster News
Teamsters: Port Truck Driver Strike Spreads To Intermodal Rail Yards teamster.org ...Early Tuesday morning, the port truck driver strike spread from the Ports of Los Angeles/Long Beach to intermodal rail yards that are serviced by Pacer Cartage and Harbor Rail Transport (HRT). These rail yards dispatch cargo to and from warehouses and distribution centers across America...
Teamsters Rally At Facebook teamster.org ...Teamsters and Facebook drivers rallied today at Facebook headquarters, along with community and political leaders. ABC News in San Francisco reports on the efforts by Facebook drivers to organize with Teamsters Local 853 in San Leandro, Calif...
Facebook shuttle drivers to vote on union Associated Press ...Facebook shuttle bus drivers will vote to decide whether to unionize in an attempt to get better pay and working conditions...
Teamsters host giving event Saturday Troy Messenger ...The holiday season is quickly approaching and many local organizations are seeking to help those in need during a giving season, including members of Teamsters National Black Caucus...
Teamsters continue contentious talks with Hernando over delayed pay raises Tampa Bay Times ...the union has now requested minimum increases for all of its members of at least 8 percent...
Trade
Elections featured bipartisan appeal to Americans’ opposition to unfair trade The Hill ...only 20 percent of Americans believed that the trade status quo has led to U.S. job creation, while half of Americans said the result has been U.S. job losses...
Time running out for action on fast-track trade authority: Senator Reuters ...U.S. lawmakers have very little time to consider granting the White House power to fast-track trade deals before Congress finishes up for the year, the head of the Senate committee responsible for trade said on Tuesday...
State Battles
Workers’ Rights Expand Under Proposed S.F. Ordinances Washington Post ...San Francisco restaurant and retail workers could soon have more predictable schedules, more opportunity for full-time work and more rights in general after the Board of Supervisors’ budget committee sent two proposed ordinances to the full board over the objections of the business community...
Supreme Court To Hear Right-To-Work Arguments In Jan. Lansing State Journal ...The Michigan Supreme Court will in January hear oral arguments on whether the state’s controversial right-to-work law applies to state employees and on another case related to state employee pensions...
Illinois Lawmakers Rush To Pass Wage Hike Voters Asked For Bloomberg Businessweek ...By a 2-to-1 margin, Illinois voters passed a nonbinding ballot measure in the Nov. 4 midterms urging the legislature to raise the state minimum wage. But they also elected a new governor, Republican Bruce Rauner, who’s supported reducing or eliminating it entirely. So outgoing Governor Pat Quinn is pressing the legislature to pass the wage increase the voters asked for—and to do so in the two months remaining before the governor they elected has the chance to veto it...
Wisconsin developer went to Walker with interest in buying state buildings Associated Press ...One of Wisconsin's largest real estate developers wrote to Gov. Scott Walker to express his interest in buying several prominent state office buildings at the same time the Legislature was considering doing away with competitive bidding for such sales, according to newly released records...
War on Workers
Seven big U.S. companies paid CEOs more than Uncle Sam in 2013: study Reuters ...the study said the seven companies, which in 2013 reported more than $74 billion in combined U.S. pre-tax profits, came out ahead on their taxes, gaining $1.9 billion more than they owed. At the same time, the CEOs at each of the seven companies last year was paid an average of $17.3 million...
Mega-Mergers Popular Again On Wall Street New York Times ...Mergers worth $100 billion, made on Monday, put Wall Street on pace for a year of deal-making rivaling those during the dot-com bubble and the private equity upsurge just before the financial crisis...
Uber Executive Suggests Digging Up Dirt On Journalists BuzzFeed ...A senior executive at Uber suggested that the company should consider hiring a team of opposition researchers to dig up dirt on its critics in the media — and specifically to spread details of the personal life of a female journalist who has criticized the company...
Owners: Taj Mahal Closing Expected By Dec. 12 Philadelphia Inquirer ...The owners of the Trump Taj Mahal Casino in Atlantic City said in a court filing Friday they expected to close the Boardwalk property on or before Dec. 12...
1.6 Million-Member American Federation Of Teachers Bans Coca-Cola Products Citing Child Labor And Human Rights Record KWQC ...Corporate Campaign, Inc. and the Campaign to Stop Killer Coke announce that the American Federation of Teachers (AFT, AFL-CIO) has declared the banning of all Coca-Cola products from its facilities and events, as an official policy of the union...
“An Ongoing Criminal Enterprise”: Why America’s Housing Disaster Is Back And Wreaking Terror Salon.com ...According to housing analyst RealtyTrac, foreclosure filings shot up 15 percent last month, the largest increase in over four years... [mortgage servicers] are breaking laws and degrading the integrity of the courts to kick people out of their homes, a sad and enduring legacy of the destruction of the nation’s property system during the housing bubble years....
Worker at New Bedford trash hauler dies on the job Associated Press ...64-year-old Manuel Viera was walking in ABC Disposal's parking lot at about 4:30 p.m. Tuesday when a large flatbed truck that transports Dumpsters accidentally struck him...
Senate Democrats reject bill to build oil pipeline Associated Press ...The Democrat-controlled Senate has defeated a bill to approve the Keystone XL oil pipeline...
Teamsters: Port Truck Driver Strike Spreads To Intermodal Rail Yards teamster.org ...Early Tuesday morning, the port truck driver strike spread from the Ports of Los Angeles/Long Beach to intermodal rail yards that are serviced by Pacer Cartage and Harbor Rail Transport (HRT). These rail yards dispatch cargo to and from warehouses and distribution centers across America...
Teamsters Rally At Facebook teamster.org ...Teamsters and Facebook drivers rallied today at Facebook headquarters, along with community and political leaders. ABC News in San Francisco reports on the efforts by Facebook drivers to organize with Teamsters Local 853 in San Leandro, Calif...
Facebook shuttle drivers to vote on union Associated Press ...Facebook shuttle bus drivers will vote to decide whether to unionize in an attempt to get better pay and working conditions...
Teamsters host giving event Saturday Troy Messenger ...The holiday season is quickly approaching and many local organizations are seeking to help those in need during a giving season, including members of Teamsters National Black Caucus...
Teamsters continue contentious talks with Hernando over delayed pay raises Tampa Bay Times ...the union has now requested minimum increases for all of its members of at least 8 percent...
Trade
Elections featured bipartisan appeal to Americans’ opposition to unfair trade The Hill ...only 20 percent of Americans believed that the trade status quo has led to U.S. job creation, while half of Americans said the result has been U.S. job losses...
Time running out for action on fast-track trade authority: Senator Reuters ...U.S. lawmakers have very little time to consider granting the White House power to fast-track trade deals before Congress finishes up for the year, the head of the Senate committee responsible for trade said on Tuesday...
State Battles
Workers’ Rights Expand Under Proposed S.F. Ordinances Washington Post ...San Francisco restaurant and retail workers could soon have more predictable schedules, more opportunity for full-time work and more rights in general after the Board of Supervisors’ budget committee sent two proposed ordinances to the full board over the objections of the business community...
Supreme Court To Hear Right-To-Work Arguments In Jan. Lansing State Journal ...The Michigan Supreme Court will in January hear oral arguments on whether the state’s controversial right-to-work law applies to state employees and on another case related to state employee pensions...
Illinois Lawmakers Rush To Pass Wage Hike Voters Asked For Bloomberg Businessweek ...By a 2-to-1 margin, Illinois voters passed a nonbinding ballot measure in the Nov. 4 midterms urging the legislature to raise the state minimum wage. But they also elected a new governor, Republican Bruce Rauner, who’s supported reducing or eliminating it entirely. So outgoing Governor Pat Quinn is pressing the legislature to pass the wage increase the voters asked for—and to do so in the two months remaining before the governor they elected has the chance to veto it...
Wisconsin developer went to Walker with interest in buying state buildings Associated Press ...One of Wisconsin's largest real estate developers wrote to Gov. Scott Walker to express his interest in buying several prominent state office buildings at the same time the Legislature was considering doing away with competitive bidding for such sales, according to newly released records...
War on Workers
Seven big U.S. companies paid CEOs more than Uncle Sam in 2013: study Reuters ...the study said the seven companies, which in 2013 reported more than $74 billion in combined U.S. pre-tax profits, came out ahead on their taxes, gaining $1.9 billion more than they owed. At the same time, the CEOs at each of the seven companies last year was paid an average of $17.3 million...
Mega-Mergers Popular Again On Wall Street New York Times ...Mergers worth $100 billion, made on Monday, put Wall Street on pace for a year of deal-making rivaling those during the dot-com bubble and the private equity upsurge just before the financial crisis...
Uber Executive Suggests Digging Up Dirt On Journalists BuzzFeed ...A senior executive at Uber suggested that the company should consider hiring a team of opposition researchers to dig up dirt on its critics in the media — and specifically to spread details of the personal life of a female journalist who has criticized the company...
Owners: Taj Mahal Closing Expected By Dec. 12 Philadelphia Inquirer ...The owners of the Trump Taj Mahal Casino in Atlantic City said in a court filing Friday they expected to close the Boardwalk property on or before Dec. 12...
1.6 Million-Member American Federation Of Teachers Bans Coca-Cola Products Citing Child Labor And Human Rights Record KWQC ...Corporate Campaign, Inc. and the Campaign to Stop Killer Coke announce that the American Federation of Teachers (AFT, AFL-CIO) has declared the banning of all Coca-Cola products from its facilities and events, as an official policy of the union...
“An Ongoing Criminal Enterprise”: Why America’s Housing Disaster Is Back And Wreaking Terror Salon.com ...According to housing analyst RealtyTrac, foreclosure filings shot up 15 percent last month, the largest increase in over four years... [mortgage servicers] are breaking laws and degrading the integrity of the courts to kick people out of their homes, a sad and enduring legacy of the destruction of the nation’s property system during the housing bubble years....
Worker at New Bedford trash hauler dies on the job Associated Press ...64-year-old Manuel Viera was walking in ABC Disposal's parking lot at about 4:30 p.m. Tuesday when a large flatbed truck that transports Dumpsters accidentally struck him...
Senate Democrats reject bill to build oil pipeline Associated Press ...The Democrat-controlled Senate has defeated a bill to approve the Keystone XL oil pipeline...
Monday, September 29, 2014
Today's Teamster News 09.29.14
Trade
TPP deadline moves again Radio New Zealand ...Another self-imposed deadline to agree a Pacific-wide trade deal appears to be crumbling...
Study Confirms: Offshoring Sucks Economic Populist ...ever since Bill Clinton granted permanent normal trade relations to the China, the U.S has lost over 64,000 manufacturing firms and at least 5.8 million manufacturing jobs...
CAFTA and the Forced Migration Crisis Public Citizen ... The deal appears to have actually contributed to the economic instability feeding the region’s increase in violence and forced migration...
State Battles
Jerry Brown signs subcontractor bill The Sacramento Bee ...In a major victory for California labor unions, Gov. Jerry Brown announced Sunday that he has signed legislation that will hold businesses liable when subcontractors violate wage, workplace safety or workers’ compensation rules...
LA Hotel Workers Win $15.37 Minimum Wage: a New Day for Labor in the United States? Economic Policy Institute ...The LA County AFL-CIO, UNITE HERE Local 11 (the LA area union of hospitality workers), and the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, which led the campaign, don’t intend to rest on their laurels and will push for an across-the-board minimum wage increase to $13.25 an hour, far above the national minimum wage of $7.25 an hour...
Thank Goodness Wisconsin Turned Down High Speed Rail! Econbrowser ...We find that sales and measured productivity rose substantially for firms near the new (high speed rail) stations after the opening...
Under Scott Walker, Wisconsin slows updates of building and safety codes The Cap Times ...DuPont, a lobbyist representing the Alliance for Regulatory Coordination, a consortium of more than a dozen state industry and public safety groups, warned Ross that failure to do so “can negatively impact both public safety and the economy in Wisconsin because products and designs offered across the nation most often reflect the newest national model regulations...”
War on Workers
Watchdog presses SEC for CEO pay disclosure The Hill ...The Americans for Financial Reform (AFR) slammed the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Friday for dragging its feet on the CEO pay disclosure rule amid pressure from business groups to scrap it...
Hong Kong Protesters Defy Officials’ Call to Disperse New York Times ...The continued public resistance underscored the difficulties that the Hong Kong government faces in defusing widespread anger that erupted on Sunday, after the police used tear gas, pepper spray and batons to break up a three-day sit-in by students and other residents demanding democratic elections in the semiautonomous Chinese territory...
Court to Weigh Political-Contribution Ban for Government Contractors Wall Street Journal ...A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday will consider a fresh challenge to campaign-finance rules, this time a 74-year-old law prohibiting government contractors from making political contributions tied to federal elections...
'Why They Hate Us': A Rant Against U.S. Before Attack on Chicago Air Traffic Hub Bloomberg ...The man charged with setting fire to a Chicago-area air-traffic facility, paralyzing travel through the city’s two major airports, was consumed by the U.S. government’s “immoral and unethical acts,” according to a Facebook message under his name. The posting, which includes references to being under the influence of drugs, calls government workers “lazy and useless” and said the government “would rather take care of itself and the money in the world, definitely not its people.”...
Construction worker killed in Rockdale County wreck Atlanta Journal-Constitution ...A construction worker died Saturday night in Rockdale County after being trapped underneath a dump truck...
TPP deadline moves again Radio New Zealand ...Another self-imposed deadline to agree a Pacific-wide trade deal appears to be crumbling...
Study Confirms: Offshoring Sucks Economic Populist ...ever since Bill Clinton granted permanent normal trade relations to the China, the U.S has lost over 64,000 manufacturing firms and at least 5.8 million manufacturing jobs...
CAFTA and the Forced Migration Crisis Public Citizen ... The deal appears to have actually contributed to the economic instability feeding the region’s increase in violence and forced migration...
State Battles
Jerry Brown signs subcontractor bill The Sacramento Bee ...In a major victory for California labor unions, Gov. Jerry Brown announced Sunday that he has signed legislation that will hold businesses liable when subcontractors violate wage, workplace safety or workers’ compensation rules...
LA Hotel Workers Win $15.37 Minimum Wage: a New Day for Labor in the United States? Economic Policy Institute ...The LA County AFL-CIO, UNITE HERE Local 11 (the LA area union of hospitality workers), and the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, which led the campaign, don’t intend to rest on their laurels and will push for an across-the-board minimum wage increase to $13.25 an hour, far above the national minimum wage of $7.25 an hour...
Thank Goodness Wisconsin Turned Down High Speed Rail! Econbrowser ...We find that sales and measured productivity rose substantially for firms near the new (high speed rail) stations after the opening...
Under Scott Walker, Wisconsin slows updates of building and safety codes The Cap Times ...DuPont, a lobbyist representing the Alliance for Regulatory Coordination, a consortium of more than a dozen state industry and public safety groups, warned Ross that failure to do so “can negatively impact both public safety and the economy in Wisconsin because products and designs offered across the nation most often reflect the newest national model regulations...”
War on Workers
Watchdog presses SEC for CEO pay disclosure The Hill ...The Americans for Financial Reform (AFR) slammed the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Friday for dragging its feet on the CEO pay disclosure rule amid pressure from business groups to scrap it...
Hong Kong Protesters Defy Officials’ Call to Disperse New York Times ...The continued public resistance underscored the difficulties that the Hong Kong government faces in defusing widespread anger that erupted on Sunday, after the police used tear gas, pepper spray and batons to break up a three-day sit-in by students and other residents demanding democratic elections in the semiautonomous Chinese territory...
Court to Weigh Political-Contribution Ban for Government Contractors Wall Street Journal ...A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday will consider a fresh challenge to campaign-finance rules, this time a 74-year-old law prohibiting government contractors from making political contributions tied to federal elections...
'Why They Hate Us': A Rant Against U.S. Before Attack on Chicago Air Traffic Hub Bloomberg ...The man charged with setting fire to a Chicago-area air-traffic facility, paralyzing travel through the city’s two major airports, was consumed by the U.S. government’s “immoral and unethical acts,” according to a Facebook message under his name. The posting, which includes references to being under the influence of drugs, calls government workers “lazy and useless” and said the government “would rather take care of itself and the money in the world, definitely not its people.”...
Construction worker killed in Rockdale County wreck Atlanta Journal-Constitution ...A construction worker died Saturday night in Rockdale County after being trapped underneath a dump truck...
Friday, July 25, 2014
Today's Teamster News 07.25.14
Teamster News
Union Official: GET Board Rejects Offer, Strike To Continue KBFX ...Union drivers, mechanics and other support staff went on strike July 15, unhappy with pay and the part-time status of more than half of their GET drivers. The union was asking for a 4 percent wage increase every year over a three-year deal...
Latino Express Bus Drivers Still Fighting For Rights In Chicago teamster.org ...For more than three years, Teamsters Local 777 has continued to fight for approximately 100 school bus drivers in Chicago who want nothing more than fair working conditions...
Teamsters Grievance Prompts Cook County Sheriff to Conduct Manpower Study teamster.org ... Teamsters Local 700, Cook County's largest public employee union, has learned the Sheriff's Office has enlisted college-age interns to oversee a critical new study on manpower shortages facing the department...
Trade
Administration Plans Orwellian Statistics Fudge to Make Offshored Production Look Like US Made naked capitalism ...If the factoryless goods proposal were to be implemented, the value of U.S. brand-name products made outside of the United States and imported here would be counted as manufacturing “services” imports, not imported goods...
State Battles
Seattle Minimum Wage Referendum Effort Fails Daily Caller ...Forward Seattle, a group which represents local businesses in Seattle, announced Wednesday that they failed to collect enough signatures to subject the city’s $15 minimum wage to a November vote...
Recent Report Points To Job Growth Despite Minimum Wage Increase Oakland Press ...New data released by the Department of Labor points toward job growth in states that have raised the minimum wage, something still being debated in Michigan...
Republican lawmakers push 'paycheck protection' in Pa. Pocono Record ...Republican supporters of so-called "paycheck protection" legislation moved bills in both houses last week that would prevent government employee unions, such as the Service Employees International Union and the Pennsylvania State Education Association from deducting union dues and political contributions from members' checks...
Davis And State Dems Planning To Monitor For Voter Suppression, Discrimination Texas Public Radio ...Democratic gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis and the Texas Democratic Party are launching a voter protection program to monitor voter suppression and discrimination on Election Day...
Christie: Public workers' benefits must be cut Asbury Park Press ...It was the first time Gov. Chris Christie had come to any event in Republican-red Ocean County where the protesters outnumbered his supporters. And these were not just ordinary protesters — they were police officers and firefighters in the hundreds from all over New Jersey, outraged that Christie on Tuesday had come to use a municipal park their fraternal brothers and sisters had built for local children...
War On Workers
The Pay-For-Performance Myth Bloomberg Businessweek ...The trend line—the average of how much a CEO’s ranking is affected by stock performance—shows that a CEO’s income ranking is only 1 percent based on the company’s stock return. That means that 99 percent of the ranking has nothing to do with performance at all. (The size and profitability of companies didn’t affect the random patterns.)...
Obama Seeks to Close Loophole That Firms Use to Shield Profits Abroad New York Times ...President Obama on Thursday called for Congress to strip away tax advantages that have encouraged a rush of mergers and acquisitions that give companies an overseas base while they maintain their presence in the United States...
IMF Cuts US and Global Growth Forecasts for 2014 Associated Press ...The International Monetary Fund foresees the global economy expanding less than it had previously forecast, slowed by weaker growth in the United States, Russia and developing economies...
Koch High: How The Koch Brothers Are Buying Their Way Into The Minds Of Public School Students Huffington Post ...The official mission of Youth Entrepreneurs is to provide kids with "business and entrepreneurial education and experiences that help them prosper and become contributing members of society." The underlying goal of the program, however, is to impart Koch's radical free-market ideology to teenagers. In the last school year, the class reached more than 1,000 students across Kansas and Missouri...
Norfolk Southern sues to block disclosure of crude oil shipments McClatchy ...A major hauler of crude oil by rail has sued the state of Maryland to stop the public release of information about the shipments, according to court documents...
Stability Is Good For Employees And Bosses (opinion) New York Times ...Unpredictable, unstable work hours, over which workers may have little control, make it difficult for any employee, at any level of income, to combine or schedule caregiving for family members, education, participation in civic and religious organizations or another job...
Volatile Schedules Exacerbate Inequality (opinion) New York Times ...Across the economy, workers are either employed for too few hours or far too many in an ever-changing workweek that demands 24/7 availability, without guarantees of equal treatment or employee input...
Road Construction Worker Killed In Reno County KAKE ...The Kansas Highway Patrol says a construction worker died after being hit by a trash truck in Reno County...
Miscellaneous
Walmart U.S. CEO Bill Simon Is Out Huffington Post ...Walmart’s U.S. chief Bill Simon is leaving the company after a rough four years. The 54-year-old will be replaced by Greg Foran, 53, Walmart’s current president and CEO in Asia...
Union Official: GET Board Rejects Offer, Strike To Continue KBFX ...Union drivers, mechanics and other support staff went on strike July 15, unhappy with pay and the part-time status of more than half of their GET drivers. The union was asking for a 4 percent wage increase every year over a three-year deal...
Latino Express Bus Drivers Still Fighting For Rights In Chicago teamster.org ...For more than three years, Teamsters Local 777 has continued to fight for approximately 100 school bus drivers in Chicago who want nothing more than fair working conditions...
Teamsters Grievance Prompts Cook County Sheriff to Conduct Manpower Study teamster.org ... Teamsters Local 700, Cook County's largest public employee union, has learned the Sheriff's Office has enlisted college-age interns to oversee a critical new study on manpower shortages facing the department...
Trade
Administration Plans Orwellian Statistics Fudge to Make Offshored Production Look Like US Made naked capitalism ...If the factoryless goods proposal were to be implemented, the value of U.S. brand-name products made outside of the United States and imported here would be counted as manufacturing “services” imports, not imported goods...
State Battles
Seattle Minimum Wage Referendum Effort Fails Daily Caller ...Forward Seattle, a group which represents local businesses in Seattle, announced Wednesday that they failed to collect enough signatures to subject the city’s $15 minimum wage to a November vote...
Recent Report Points To Job Growth Despite Minimum Wage Increase Oakland Press ...New data released by the Department of Labor points toward job growth in states that have raised the minimum wage, something still being debated in Michigan...
Republican lawmakers push 'paycheck protection' in Pa. Pocono Record ...Republican supporters of so-called "paycheck protection" legislation moved bills in both houses last week that would prevent government employee unions, such as the Service Employees International Union and the Pennsylvania State Education Association from deducting union dues and political contributions from members' checks...
Davis And State Dems Planning To Monitor For Voter Suppression, Discrimination Texas Public Radio ...Democratic gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis and the Texas Democratic Party are launching a voter protection program to monitor voter suppression and discrimination on Election Day...
Christie: Public workers' benefits must be cut Asbury Park Press ...It was the first time Gov. Chris Christie had come to any event in Republican-red Ocean County where the protesters outnumbered his supporters. And these were not just ordinary protesters — they were police officers and firefighters in the hundreds from all over New Jersey, outraged that Christie on Tuesday had come to use a municipal park their fraternal brothers and sisters had built for local children...
War On Workers
The Pay-For-Performance Myth Bloomberg Businessweek ...The trend line—the average of how much a CEO’s ranking is affected by stock performance—shows that a CEO’s income ranking is only 1 percent based on the company’s stock return. That means that 99 percent of the ranking has nothing to do with performance at all. (The size and profitability of companies didn’t affect the random patterns.)...
Obama Seeks to Close Loophole That Firms Use to Shield Profits Abroad New York Times ...President Obama on Thursday called for Congress to strip away tax advantages that have encouraged a rush of mergers and acquisitions that give companies an overseas base while they maintain their presence in the United States...
IMF Cuts US and Global Growth Forecasts for 2014 Associated Press ...The International Monetary Fund foresees the global economy expanding less than it had previously forecast, slowed by weaker growth in the United States, Russia and developing economies...
Koch High: How The Koch Brothers Are Buying Their Way Into The Minds Of Public School Students Huffington Post ...The official mission of Youth Entrepreneurs is to provide kids with "business and entrepreneurial education and experiences that help them prosper and become contributing members of society." The underlying goal of the program, however, is to impart Koch's radical free-market ideology to teenagers. In the last school year, the class reached more than 1,000 students across Kansas and Missouri...
Norfolk Southern sues to block disclosure of crude oil shipments McClatchy ...A major hauler of crude oil by rail has sued the state of Maryland to stop the public release of information about the shipments, according to court documents...
Stability Is Good For Employees And Bosses (opinion) New York Times ...Unpredictable, unstable work hours, over which workers may have little control, make it difficult for any employee, at any level of income, to combine or schedule caregiving for family members, education, participation in civic and religious organizations or another job...
Volatile Schedules Exacerbate Inequality (opinion) New York Times ...Across the economy, workers are either employed for too few hours or far too many in an ever-changing workweek that demands 24/7 availability, without guarantees of equal treatment or employee input...
Road Construction Worker Killed In Reno County KAKE ...The Kansas Highway Patrol says a construction worker died after being hit by a trash truck in Reno County...
Miscellaneous
Walmart U.S. CEO Bill Simon Is Out Huffington Post ...Walmart’s U.S. chief Bill Simon is leaving the company after a rough four years. The 54-year-old will be replaced by Greg Foran, 53, Walmart’s current president and CEO in Asia...
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