Today's Teamster News 11.07.13

D.C. Taxi Operators Sue to Stop Fines, Towings  teamster.org   ...The Teamster-affiliated Washington, D.C. Taxi Operators Association has filed a lawsuit on behalf of the city’s more than 6,000 cab drivers, demanding that the District stop towing and impounding taxis and issuing fines to drivers who have been unable to install new dome lights or credit card machines...
Teamsters,Wegmans Meet With Federal Mediator  teamster.org   ...Teamsters Local 118 representatives and Wegmans resumed discussions Tuesday to resolve an ongoing contract dispute, this time joined by a mediator from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS.) Previous efforts to engage FMCS were thwarted by a 16-day government shutdown...
eBay CEO Shares Lessons from His First Job as a Teamster  EcommerceBytes.com   ...eBay’s CEO John Donahoe talks about his job after high school working for his friend's father's beer distribution company as a Teamster, which taught him two great leadership lessons…
Planned layoffs jumped in October on drug, financial firm cutbacks  Los Angeles Times   ...Planned layoffs by U.S. employers jumped 13.5% last month, led by cutbacks at pharmaceutical and financial services firms, according to a report Wednesday...
Planned treaties cause pain for citizens; pleasure for corporations (opinion)  Lebanon Daily News   ...If you don't know what the TPP and the TTIP are, you can be forgiven. The governments and corporations involved don't want you to know because these international agreements they are negotiating are that good for them and that bad for you...
South Carolina Ports Launch Clean Trucks Program  Truckinginfo   ...The South Carolina Ports Authority has announced a new Clean Truck Certification Program to take effect on Jan. 1, 2014 that would require trucks serving the container terminals to have engines manufactured in 1994 or later...
One by One, States Are Pushing Bans on Sick Leave Legislation  Economic Policy Institute   ...Nearly 40 million Americans—almost 40 percent of the private-sector workforce—lack the right to even a single day of paid sick leave. These employees commonly go to work sick, or leave sick children home alone, out of fear of dismissal...
California Wal-Mart workers strike, following stunning Florida victory  The Salon   ...West Coast Wal-Mart workers walked off the job as the union-backed campaign says Florida strikers won major changes...
Next Time You're Tempted To Give A Bad Tip, Consider This  Huffington Post   ...The federal minimum wage for tipped workers is only $2.13 per hour...
The Biggest, Baddest Prison Profiteer of Them All  Huffington Post   ..."CCA" has become a dirty word. Because profiting off mass incarceration is a dirty business. When private prison company Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) squanders taxpayer money and runs facilities rife with human rights abuses, it's dragging its own name through the mud...
The super-rich no longer need a middle class  AlterNet   ...They now inhabit a privatized economy and have left us at the mercy of the market...
Inside the Psyche of the 1% -- Many Actually Believe Their Ideology of Greed Makes for a Better World  AlterNet   ...If the 1% are to develop the same level of understanding of others that the 99% has, they will need to walk in their shoes...
US Tax Policy In One Chart: Rising Individual Income Taxes; Falling Corporate Income Taxes  Zero Hedge   ...Because those record offshore (tax-haven arbitraged) corporate cash balances will not grow themselves, obviously...
Apple discloses government data requests -- what little it can  Los Angeles Times   ...The company released a report Tuesday that provided some general information about requests for information it receives from governments. But seeking full disclosure is an effort in futility...
Euro Crisis Takes Major Toll On Life Satisfaction  Reuters   ...Ordinary people's satisfaction with life has plunged in the euro zone countries worst hit by the financial crisis as faith in their governments' ability to ease the strain has shrunk according to a recent study...
Consumer watchdog targets debt collectors  Los Angeles Times...   The federal government's consumer financial watchdog plans to crack down on the nation's 4,500 debt collectors with new rules to rein in the companies' aggressive tactics...
It’s Time To Stop Starving U.S. Investment  teamster.org   ...An analysis of infrastructure spending by the Financial Times shows U.S. public investment is at its lowest level since World War II. Public sector investment is now just 3.6 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product, and austerity is hurting everything from building roads to investing in science and education...

Today's Teamster News 1.4.11

Truckers Launch Clean-Trucks Appeal Journal of Commerce   ...The American Trucking Associations filed its opening brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, charging that the U.S. District Court in September erroneously upheld the concession requirements in the Port of Los Angeles' clean-truck plan...
Cuomo Cuts Own Pay 5%, Seeks State Wage Freeze in Face of $11 Billion Gap  Bloomberg News  ...Former Governor David Paterson said in October he would cut about 900 workers by year-end. Cuomo said Jan. 1 he would let that action go forward.
Drilling Is Stalled Even After Ban Is Lifted  Wall Street Journal  ...oil companies are still waiting for approval to drill the first new oil well (in the deep-water Gulf of Mexico)...
NTSB issues 'urgent' recommendations in wake of San Bruno explosion (Local 856)  Los Angeles Times  ...the seam-welded sections may not be as strong as the seamless pipe that was indicated in PG&E’s records...
Unions vow to fight Sullivan wage freezes  (Local 445)  ...Four Sullivan County unions representing some 900 employees vowed Monday to fight the county on a blanket wage and longevity freeze...
Teamsters stand up for General Logistics drivers  (Local 374) WHBF-TV Quad Cities   ...Eight specialized truck drivers for General Logistics didn't go to work on Monday...
There's One Huge State Budget Crisis That Everyone Is Refusing To Talk About  Talking Points Memo   ...(Texas) is a pro-business, lean-spending, no-union state...
Strained States Turning to Laws to Curb Labor Unions  New York Times   ...elected officials from Maine to Alabama, Ohio to Arizona, are pushing new legislation to limit the power of labor unions...

Port of Seattle Clean Truck rules take effect...

...but in L.A., trucking companies are making an end-run around stricter clean air rules.

First, about Seattle: Local authorities are trying to reduce pollution from all kinds of maritime operations. Portworld reports that as of Jan. 1, trucks

...must have model-year 1994 or newer engines, and that all trucks must be registered in the Port's Drayage Truck Registry and display the Green Gateway sticker on the driver's side door.

More than 4,000 trucks and nearly 800 trucking companies are registered at the Port of Seattle, Portworld reports.

Los Angeles has had a Clean Trucks program in place since 2008, and things haven't exactly gone smoothly. L.A. recognized that the independent contractors who drive dirty old trucks ("sweatshops on wheels") can't afford to buy new ones. So the Port of L.A. required trucking companies to employ the drivers and take financial responsibility for the trucks. The trucking industry challenged the regulation and now it's tied up in the courts. Drivers are still independent contractors, but they're supposed to buy and maintain the pricey new trucks.

Neon Tommy, a digital newspaper, reported

...truck companies skirt Clean Truck Program rules by sending new trucks to pick up cargo at the port, while their older trucks haul the loads through nearby neighborhoods and along L.A. freeways...

Last month, the California Air Resources Board voted to ban the clean-to-dirty swaps. The new regulation could take effect this summer.