People need to preach importance of unions

PHOENIX -- Lawmakers and activists let the thousands of Netroots Nation conference attendees know last week that workers have the power. They just need to harness it.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren at Netroots conference.

In keynote addresses and smaller panel discussions, speakers shared stories about the successes and failures in trying to embolden a movement that puts the people above the powerful. They let it be known that it wouldn't be easy, but it is necessary to take this country back from corporate rule.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) brought conventioneers to their feet by repeatedly stating that issues such as income inequality, retirement security, financial reform and student loan debt are ranked as important ones by the public, even if they are too-often ignored by many on Capitol Hill.

"On these key economic issues, these economic issues that will shape the country, America is progressive. But insider Washington can't hear you; it turns its back. So it's on us to show what we believe in and fight for those values you believe in."

She also noted the importance that unions have in creating a solid middle class. Warren said the decline in income for hardworking Americans can be directly linked to undermining of the labor movement in the U.S.

The senator's thoughts echoed those of participants on a panel looking at how unions can provide solutions to the nation's current economic shortcomings. Several of them noted that a growth in union membership is essential to making a dent in income inequality.

Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.) noted workers are currently pitted against a big business-dominated system that is doing everything it can to stop organizing nationwide.

"This has been a very deliberate, long-run effort of corporate America primarily and government to strip away the ability of unions to organize."

To change that, union advocates need to reframe the discussion, panelists said. That means explaining to Americans that a union contract is the best way to raise wages, ensure a secure retirement and receive paid leave for vacation as well as sick time.

Neera Tanden, president of the Center for American Progress, also said pro-worker activists need expand on how better-paid workers would help boost the U.S. economy overall.

"When wages are stagnant in this country, consumption drags and growth drags. It's not the most complicated argument in the world, but we need to make it over and over."

Making college affordable is key to America's future

The cost of higher education is out of control, and has been for many years. As tuition soared sky-high, more and more U.S. young adults went deep into debt trying to finance their future. And today, many are being crushed by the weight of their borrowing.

College costs are hitting students hard.

Until recently, there didn't seem to be enough lawmakers demanding change when it came to the high cost of college. Sure, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) would decry student loan interest rates, but too many elected officials were silent on the bigger question of reducing the price tag for post-secondary education.

Now, however, there seems to be momentum for a broader solution, one that could even play a role in the 2016 elections. Some 20 Democratic senators support a measure that would spur government to tap down on the spiraling costs of higher ed.

As outlined in The Hill newspaper:

The resolution deals in broad strokes rather than granular details. It calls upon the federal government to provide more support to states, which can then “make increased investments in higher education that will result in lower tuition and costs for students.” It also backs increased financial aid for students — in contrast to the House GOP’s recent budget plan that would freeze Pell grants at their current level — as well as efforts to bend the cost curve of college education downward.

The need for such legislation cannot be overstated. While rising tuition has hampered many students, it has hit those that hail from low-income families the most. Even the brightest of those coming from economically challenged families often can't finish college. Meanwhile, their less intelligent but better-off classmates muddle through.

As detailed in Slate:

What happens to these bright, low-income students? It's not so much that they don't attend college—only 12.4 percent skip higher ed entirely. The problem is that most don't finish, or settle for less than a bachelor's degree, which of course limits their earning power later in life. Sometimes they try to save money on tuition by attending community college, even though most two-year schools have a spotty track record when it comes to helping students graduate. Sometimes they get lost or overwhelmed in a college's bureaucracy, because they don't have educated parents who can help guide them along. Sometimes they try to work through school and simply can't balance the demands of a job with their academics. For one reason or another, they don't make it as far as their talent suggests they should.

America simply cannot allow this continue to happen. It tramples on this nation's history as "The Land of Opportunity" and raises questions about whether working hard is the classroom ultimately does pay off for all students. And it tamps down on innovation and U.S. economic gains.

Education is at the core of what makes this country great. If lawmakers wants to get more people working in good middle-class jobs, they need to prioritize it.

Today's Teamster News 05.27.15

Teamsters
Retired Funeral Directors, Teamsters Local 727 Reps Stand Up For Workers at Shareholders Meeting  Teamster.org  ...Longtime employees and Teamsters Local 727 representatives on May 13 called out funeral industry giant Service Corporation International’s poor business practices and called on its Board of Directors to take action during the company’s annual shareholders meeting in Houston...
National Red Cross Negotiations Begin  Teamster.org  ...Last week, leaders from eight national unions met with representatives from American Red Cross in Washington,  D.C., and reached an agreement to formally enter into national negotiations. This is a significant step in ensuring Red Cross’ mission and its employees are moving towards a brighter future...
Can the Taxi Union Get the Courts to Shut down Uber and Lyft in DC? DC Inno  ...Uber, Lyft and Sidecar were given an unfair advantage by the regulations approved last year by the D.C. Council according to the Metro Area Taxi Operators Association. The taxi union, which is affiliated with the Teamsters, filed a class-action lawsuit with six D.C. taxi drivers in U.S. District Court against the city on Friday...

Global Labor & Trade
House GOP split jeopardizes trade deal  Politico  ...Democrats in Congress are in open warfare with President Barack Obama over his pitch for fast-track authority to negotiate trade deals, but conservative dissenters are conducting their fight quietly behind closed doors — even though they may be the key to approving the deal...
GOP turns to Tea Party to win trade powers for Obama  The Hill  ...House Ways and Means Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and GOP leaders have turned to some unlikely allies to rally support for a key trade bill: Tea-Party conservatives, including some prominent names from the raucous House Freedom Caucus. Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) recently tapped Rep. Tom McClintock to give the weekly GOP address, in which the conservative Californian declared: “Trade means prosperity”...
Forced Trade and the Damaging Effects of the Trans-Pacific Partnership  (opinion) In These Times  ...Senators who voted last week to Fast Track ratification of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) call it a free trade deal, but really, it’s forced trade imposed on protesting American workers who have endured its damaging effects for decades. Under the free trade regime, rich and powerful corporate interests have hauled in ever-higher profits as they shipped manufacturing overseas to low-wage, no-environmental-regulation countries...
WaPo Takes Another Shot at Senator Warren on Behalf of the TPP (opinion) CEPR  ...The fast-track authority needed to get the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) through Congress must be in real trouble. Why else would the Washington Post devote so much space to pushing the deal and attacking its critics? The latest was a diatribe by editorial board member Jonathan Capehart which is directed largely at Senator Elizabeth Warren. The piece starts by basically calling Senator Warren a liar for describing the TPP as "secret"...
How One Country Is Poised To Hold McDonald’s Accountable  Think Progress  ...Brazil’s Senate will hold public hearings on worker allegations that McDonald’s has flouted the country’s strict labor protections for decades, union officials announced on Thursday. When politicians solicit worker testimony at the August hearing, they will create a second forum within the Brazilian government for a slate of allegations that echo accusations in the United States...
Why the Philippines’ Deadly Factory Fire Will Not Be the Last  The Nation  ...The deaths of 72 workers at a sandals factory in the Philippines earlier this month is sadly not shocking news; risk of mass death is practically considered a regular cost of doing business in the regional factories. But the blaze coincides with two grim anniversaries for Global South labor: the death of more than 1,100 workers in the Rana Plaza factory collapse in Bangladesh in 2013, and the subsequent launch of a landmark safety program for Bangladesh factories...
Striking Mineworker Injured, 6 Arrested in Peru  Solidarity Center  ...Six mineworkers were arrested and one injured from police gunfire yesterday as some 100 workers protested at the Ministry of Labor and Employment Promotion in Lima, Peru. The miners, who have been on strike for 17 days at Buenaventura’s Uchucchacua silver mine in the coastal region north of Lima, are calling for immediate improvement in safety and health conditions in the mines...

State & Living Wage Battles
John Kasich on campaign trail: No need for right-to-work law  Cincinnati  ...Gov. John Kasich says he still believes Ohio doesn't need a right-to-work law, even though he last week rescinded union rights for roughly 15,000 health-care and child-care workers. The governor's increasingly moderate stance on unions had drawn criticism from fellow Republicans – whom he's courting as he explores a possible bid for president...
Prevailing wage supporters plan defense as repeal petitions are approved for circulation  MLive  ...Construction trade groups say they plan to publicly defend Michigan's prevailing wage law in the face of a petition drive seeking to repeal it. "Let me tell you one thing, we're not going to take this lying down by any means," said Patrick "Shorty" Gleason, legislative director of the Michigan Building and Construction Trades Council...
Bucking GOP leadership, Assembly panel to take up prevailing wage law  Journal Sentinel  ...Three weeks after an effort to repeal the state's prevailing wage law failed in a Senate committee, an Assembly panel will make its own attempt to get rid of the policy that sets a minimum wage for those building roads, schools and other public infrastructure. The move goes against GOP legislative leaders. They have said they want to rewrite the law, not repeal it...
Ted Cruz's Iowa Chairman Spent $250K to Stop People From Voting  Mother Jones  ...By tapping Schultz, Cruz also tied himself to Schultz's leading cause: trying to restrict voting under the guise of combating voter fraud. During his four years as secretary of state, Schultz spent hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to unearth evidence of fraud but ended up finding little and being cited for the mismanagement of public funds...
LA’s Min. Wage Will Be $15 by 2020. But This Bay Area City’s Minimum Will Be $14.44 By July.  In These Times   ...Most of the increases will be implemented gradually over several years. LA’s minimum wage, for example, will reach $15 by 2020. But earlier this month, one small California city decided that its low-wage workers shouldn’t have to wait that long for a living wage. This summer, Emeryville will set a new national precedent when its minimum wage surges to nearly double the federal rate...
Senate committee to vote on proposed minimum wage hike  WPRI  ...Rhode Island’s lowest paid workers could soon be getting another raise. The Senate Labor Committee is set to vote Wednesday on legislation that would increase the state’s minimum wage to $10.10 per hour. If approved, the $1.10 increase would go into effect January 1...
Better Pay Comes Only When We Demand It  (opinion) CounterPunch  ...The nation’s second-biggest city joins Seattle, San Francisco and little Emeryville, Calif., in forging the way to a decent minimum. These victories are a product of the demonstrations and protests of fast food and other low-wage workers. They risked their jobs to demand decency. They put a human face on workers who labor full time but can’t lift their families out of poverty. They exposed the lie that these were transitory jobs for the young while they went to college or high school..

U.S. Labor
Public-Sector Jobs Vanish, Hitting Blacks Hard  New York Times  ...The decline reverses a historical pattern, researchers say, with public sector employees typically holding onto their jobs even during most economic downturns. Because blacks hold a disproportionate share of the jobs, relative to their share of the population, the cutbacks naturally hit them harder...
NLRB dismisses union complaint against Boeing’s North Charleston site  Post and Courier  ...The National Labor Relations Board said it has dismissed a complaint filed by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers in the wake of the union’s canceled vote at Boeing Co.’s North Charleston operations. The IAM had accused Boeing of “deliberately encouraging and promoting harassment, assaults and threats of violence against union supporters”...
T-Mobile US touts workforce gains, draws CWA ire  RCR Wireless  ...T-Mobile US continues to court controversy with its labor practices as the mobile operator announced the expansion of a call center in Alabama while at the same time the Communications Workers of America has asked T-Mobile US parent company Deutsche Telekom to “protect” worker rights at those locations...
Why turning the Postal Service into a bank isn’t nearly as ridiculous as it sounds  Salon ...The American Postal Worker’s Union, which represents over 200,000 clerks and support service staff, is in the middle of contract negotiations, and has vowed to make postal banking part of their core demands. APWU President Mark Dimondstein praised the Inspector General’s report, saying it “confirms that the Postal Service can act now to provide consumers with affordable financial services while strengthening our trusted national treasure, the public Postal Service”...

Miscellaneous
Robert Reich: Corporate Collusion Is Rampant and We All Pay the Steep Price  Alternet  ...The banks had engaged in the biggest price-fixing conspiracy in modern history. Their self-described “cartel” used an exclusive electronic chat room and coded language to manipulate the $5.3 trillion-a-day currency exchange market. It was a “brazen display of collusion” that went on for years, said Attorney General Loretta Lynch. But there will be no trial, no executive will go to jail, the banks can continue to gamble in the same currency markets...
8 Ways Robots Are Taking Over Our Jobs and Our World  Alternet  ...One of the next great challenges American workers are starting to face is the increasing automation of jobs that previously could only be done by a living, breathing human being. Here are eight jobs that robots are taking over as they take over the world...

Today's Teamster News 05.11.15

Teamsters
Hoffa: Nike's TPP Job Projections Will Be Just Another Round of Corporate Broken Promises  Teamster.org  ...Hoffa in response to Nike Inc.’s announcement today that the passage of the Trans Pacific Partnership will create thousands of new jobs in the U.S.: “Nike’s announcement that the Trans Pacific Partnership would lead to 10,000 new U.S. jobs at the company and up to 40,000 new jobs throughout the supply chain is nothing more than the same empty trade rhetoric we have heard over and over again since the passage of NAFTA"...
Albion College Workers Choose Teamsters Union  Teamster.org  ...Workers at Albion College in Albion, Mich., voted overwhelmingly in two separate elections Tuesday to join Teamsters Local 1038 in Detroit. Facility operators voted 26-9, while secretarial-clerical workers voted 24-3, in favor of the Teamsters Union over their prior representative, the Michigan Education Association (MEA). The more than 70 new Teamsters are seeking bargaining power, fair wages and the security of their first Teamster contract...
At Unity, Teamsters look ahead to a bright future  Teamster Nation  ...Some 1,600 Teamster brothers and sisters from across North America gathered together today as part of the 12th annual Unity Conference to share their success stories and speak truth to power about the increasingly perilous state of workers across the continent. Rank-and-file union members joined with Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa as well as other Teamster leaders to let attendees know they all have a role in ensuring that Teamster Power will not flourish if they don't continue to contribute and speak out...
Trucking Company Shows Facebook Road to Future   New York Times  ...More than three-quarters of the lesser-powered shares voted in 2014 to eradicate the fief, and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters has put the matter on the ballot again. Swift is urging against the idea, pointing to dual-class structures at Zynga, Groupon and LinkedIn as “some of the most successful I.P.O.s in recent years”...

Global Labor & Trade
Trade bill fate in doubt as debate kicks off  Politico   ...A controversial trade bill is well shy of the votes needed to pass the House and faces a difficult vote in the Senate as the debate in Congress kicks off in earnest this week. Congressional sources say that fewer than 20 House Democrats currently back giving President Barack Obama increased powers to cut trade deals...
Crunch time for TPPA talks  The Star   ...If the TPPA negotiations conclude, the texts will at some stage be made public, and the debate can be expected to intensify. But there are many hurdles to cross before that happens, and whether the political deadline can be met is still a big question. This will be answered in the next few weeks...
Obama’s Pacific Trade Push Faces a Senate Vote This Week  New York Times  ...President Obama’s most aggressive and sustained legislative push since the Affordable Care Act faces a crucial first test this week when a divided Senate considers a bill that would grant him accelerated power to complete a massive trade accord with 11 nations across the Pacific Rim...
Obama says 'dearest friends are wrong' when it comes to trade  The Hill   ...Several groups on the left ripped Obama for speaking about trade at the headquarters of Nike, which has been accused in the past of exploiting foreign workers. “It is sad to see how detached from reality President Obama is when it comes to TPP,” said Murshed Zaheed, deputy political director at the left-leaning CREDO...
Elizabeth Warren fires back at Obama: Here’s what they’re really fighting about  (interview) Washington Post  ...The president said in his Nike speech that he’s confident that when people read the agreement for themselves, that they’ll see it’s a great deal. But the president won’t actually let people read the agreement for themselves. It’s classified. The president has committed only to letting the public see this deal after Congress votes to authorize fast track. At that point it will be impossible for us to amend the agreement or to block any part of it without tanking the whole TPP...
Why Obama Wants To Torpedo A Plan To Fight Human Trafficking  Huff Post  ...The Senate is gearing up to vote on a bill granting Obama so-called “fast track” powers to streamline the Trans-Pacific Partnership. But a seemingly uncontroversial human rights provision authored by Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) is giving the administration serious headaches as it attempts to win over skeptical members of its own party...
Will the TPP really protect workers?  (opinion) Washington Post  ...To date, the United States has never had a trade agreement that protects basic rights and raises wages and living standards for working people. Previous agreements have failed to ensure the integrity of the democratic process and preserve consumer and environmental protections. Comparing this pact to previous agreements sets a pretty low bar...
The arguments for the TPP are transparently weak  (opinion) Aljazeera America  ...President Barack Obama must be having difficulty rounding up the necessary votes in Congress to pass fast-track authority for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Otherwise we would not be seeing President Bill Clinton’s former chief of staff Thomas McClarty, Secretary of State John Kerry and many other prominent people saying such silly things about the trade deal. If anyone is arguing that we should be happy about TPP because it will increase exports, they either do not understand basic economics or are trying to play games. Either way, this argument deserves to be ignored...
Eggs and insults fly as Uber battles for the streets of Milan  Alternet  ...Uber faces regulatory opposition in many places – authorities in the Chinese city of Chengdu paid a visit to Uber’s offices last week as part of an ongoing investigation; and the service has been banned in the US state of Kansas – but in Italy, the battle has become personal...

State & Living Wage Battles
Sen. Richard: Showdown on right-to-work looms  The Joplin Globe  ...As members of the Missouri General Assembly prepare to return to the Capitol for the final week of this year’s session, Senate Majority Leader Ron Richard is readying for a showdown over what’s known as "right-to-work," a controversial policy that aims to restrict labor union activity. Richard, a Joplin Republican who backs the policy, told reporters Friday that he planned to force a vote on the measure...
Missouri Senate will press right-to-work, Voter ID  Kansas City Biz Journal  ...The head of the Missouri Senate said he’ll push right-to-work and voter ID legislation before anything else in the Legislature’s final week, The Jefferson City News Tribune reports. Senate Majority Leader Ron Richard acknowledged that there are a number of important bills still waiting for action. But he said if his priorities “don’t make it, nobody else’s will either”...
Lawmakers will hold hearings on repealing prevailing wage laws this week  Michigan Radio   ...Unions are expected to push back this week against bills that would repeal prevailing wage laws in Michigan. A state Senate panel is expected to hold hearings on Senate Bills 1, 2, and 3. The legislation would ban laws requiring union-level compensation for workers on publicly-funded construction projects...
Where do the presidential candidates stand on paid sick leave?  Daily Kos  ...Paid sick leave is gaining ground as a national issue. It's now the law in three states and a growing number of cities, but the momentum behind it just means Republicans are gearing up to fight harder. Republicans in the Pennsylvania state legislature, for instance, are still working away at their ALEC-inspired goal of overriding Philadelphia's paid sick leave law...
Business allies cool to Garcetti's minimum wage plan  Los Angeles Times  ...With the City Council expected to vote on the minimum wage plan later this month, some of the small-business owners who backed Garcetti's first mayoral bid are having misgivings. Garcetti defended his handling of business issues, saying in a statement that he had cut red tape at City Hall, rolled back the size of the business tax and fought for an expansion of the state's film tax credit...
Protesters March For Living Wage  Newsplex   ...Cars and vans honked as protesters made their way down West Main Street screaming chants about living wage. In the summer of 2012 Charlottesville City council voted to increase the living wage from $11.67 an hour to 13.00 an hour but some say that's still not enough...

U.S. Labor
Oakland Teachers Vote to Authorize Strike, Stage ‘Work-to-Rule’ Actions in Protest of Low Pay  In These Times  ...Public school teachers with the Oakland Education Association (OEA) voted last week to authorize strike action if the union’s executive board cannot come to an agreement with the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) in its year-long bargaining for a new contract. A central sticking point in the negotiations is over salary increases...
UAW, Car Makers Weigh New Class of Hires  Wall Street Journal  ...United Auto Workers officials are considering a plan to encourage the Detroit Three auto makers to add thousands of jobs traditionally belonging to auto-parts suppliers, hoping to fuel the union’s recent string of modest membership increases...
Kellogg to appeal NLRB's Memphis ruling  BattleCreek Enquirer ...Kellogg Co. said it will appeal the National Labor Relations Board finding that the company's lockout of employees at its Memphis cereal plant was unlawful. Kevin Bradshaw, president of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union's Memphis local, said "we're just glad to see the law is on our side"...
For the First Time, Guestworkers Get Crucial Legal Protections Under New Rules  In These Times  After nearly two months of suspense, the Department of Labor (DOL) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have issued two new rules for the H-2B guestworker program. Worker advocates are praising the rules for establishing badly-needed protections for guestworkers and U.S. workers alike, while industries that rely on H-2B workers call the new rules “flawed”...

Miscellaneous
America’s Richest Congressman, Worth Almost $500 Million, Says Poor Americans Are Doing Great  Think Progress  ...Congressman Darrell Issa, America’s richest Congressman with a net worth of nearly $500 million, says the nation’s poor are actually doing very well, suggesting that if wages for lower-income Americans grow too high, American products would not be able to compete on the global marketplace...
Paul Krugman Exposes Wall Street Vampires' Latest Ploy  Alternet  ..."Last year the vampires of finance bought themselves a Congress," Paul Krugman begins his colum Monday. He then spends the rest of the piece explaining why what might seem like a pretty harsh metaphor is actually apt. But first there's the fact that the bought and paid for Congressional Republicans are trying their darndest to repay their masters by killing the financial reform bill enacted in 2010...
DOJ to Investigate Pattern of Racist Policing in Baltimore  Common Dreams  ...The United States Department of Justice announced Friday that after weeks of uproar and protest it would open an official investigation into the Baltimore Police Department to determine whether the discrimination and events that led to the brutal death of Freddie Gray were part of systemic pattern of abuse...

Today's Teamster News 04.27.15

Teamsters
New York Mayor’s Office, Teamsters Team Up For Community Grants  Variety   ...The Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment and the Theatrical Teamsters Local 817 have partnered to award three “Made in NY” grants to support community-based organizations with media, film or arts programs in high-need communities...
Teamsters Swift Transportaion Shareholder Proposal Recommended By Leading Proxy Voting Advisors  Teamster.org   ...The country’s two leading proxy voting advisors, ISS and Glass Lewis, recommend that shareholders of Swift Transportation vote for a shareholder proposal sponsored by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters that calls on the company to pursue a plan to recapitalize the company and replace the current dual class stock structure with one that ensures equal voting rights for all shareholders...

Global Labor & Trade
Liberals furious with Obama’s trade comments  MSNBC   ...The already bitter fight between the White House and the progressive base over trade policy has turned ugly after President Obama said his critics on the left “don’t know what they’re talking about” and compared their arguments to conspiracy theories about “death panels.” Progressives trade critics are up in arms over the comments, made Thursday night to a gathering of Organizing for Action...
Obama Hits the Warpath Over TPP  The Nation   ...Many of Obama’s claims, however, don’t match up to what we know about the deal so far. Others are impossible to fact-check, as the final language of the deal remains a secret to the public and even many congressional staffers. The members of Congress who have seen the deal can’t disclose what’s in it, but their public statements reveal a deep unease about the text...

Obama escalates push-back against Elizabeth Warren and other trade deal critics   Washington Post   ...The push-back, directed largely at fellow Democrats, shows just how sharply the trade deal is dividing the party — a schism that could only intensify in the days ahead. On the call, Obama ran through a number of Democratic and liberal objections to the deal...
U.S. mulling trade rules change dubbed 'poison pill' for pact   Reuters  ...The amendment, approved by the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday, would disqualify trade deals with countries deemed soft on human trafficking from special procedures designed to speed their passage through Congress. The problem arises because the 2014 list of human-trafficking offenders includes Malaysia, a partner in the TPP...
TTIP Negotiators Get An Earful From American Critics  EurActiv   ...In the margins of talks for a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) on Thursday (23 April), US opponents to the deal vocally criticised the emerging agreement, saying it was a bad deal for consumers and the environment...
Congressional Panels Approve Fast Track For Trade Deal, With Conditions  New York Times   ...House and Senate committees this week easily agreed to give President Obama fast-track authority to negotiate a sweeping trade accord with Pacific nations, but the package of bills intended to speed completion of the deal also imposes difficult burdens on its negotiators...
Obama, Hillary Clinton don't get trade   (opinion) CNN   ...Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton is trying to walk a fine line somewhere in the middle. Clinton has recently courted Warren's support while forcefully repeating the rhetoric of populism. But according to a report by The New York Times, Clinton's staff is at pains to suggest that Clinton has always been a populist as opposed to merely trying to now co-opt a current trend...
Women Around The World Rise Up To Remember Rana Plaza  Common Dreams   ...Marking two years since the Rana Plaza factory collapse in Bangladesh, protesters are converging on the country's capital and feminist actions are sweeping the globe on Friday, to honor the lives of the 1,138 people—most of them women—who perished in the tragedy and to demand justice for those they left behind...
Labour reforms trigger strike in S. Korea  AFP   ...Thousands of South Korean workers and civil servants rallied in Seoul on Friday in response to a nationwide general strike call against government labour reforms. The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) said more than 260,000 people across the country participated in the one-day strike, including health workers, teachers and factory employees...

State & Living Wage Battles
Suburbs Not Exactly Embracing Rauner's Turnaround Plan  Chicago Daily Herald   ...Gov. Bruce Rauner's controversial effort to convince local governments to back his reform agenda is getting only a so-so response in the suburbs as union supporters flood meeting rooms to oppose the plan they say will limit workers' rights...
Four Years Later, Texas Is Still Defending Its Voter ID Law  Huffington Post   ...The issue at hand -- Texas' contentious photo ID law -- is expected to ultimately make its way to the Supreme Court. Voting rights advocates will argue that a federal judge's ruling from October -- which called the law an unconstitutional "poll tax," intentionally discriminatory and an unconstitutional burden on the right to vote -- should be upheld...
Right to work amendment unlikely to advance far  Springfield News Sun  ...A legislative panel will consider adding "right to work" to the Ohio constitution, although it seems unlikely the proposal will be approved. The Ohio Constitutional Modernization Commission is reviewing the state constitution to make recommendations to the Ohio Legislature on subjects ranging from term limits to school funding...
Debate Over Raising Pennsylvania’s Minimum Wage Continues In State Capitol  CBS Philly   ...Supporters of an increase in the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour held an event at the state Capitol at which time they released a study on the impact it would have on Pennsylvania by The Keystone Research Center...
Debate swirls around whether increase in minimum wage would hurt business   News Tribune   ...This year, Missouri legislators filed five bills proposing raises to the state’s minimum wage, with rates ranging from $9.50 to $10.25 per hour. Similar bills have been filed in the past several years, but most never make it past the committee stage...
Meet The People Going Without Food For 15 Days To Demand A $15 Wage   Think Progress  ...Fast food workers like Farfan have staged nationwide strikes and protests to demand a $15 wage and the right to form a union. That pay floor has caught on in some places like Seattle and San Francisco, which both raised their wages to that level. Los Angeles lawmakers are considering joining them by raising the city’s wage to $15.25 by 2019...

U.S. Labor
SEIU, county talks frozen as Legislature considers bargaining reform  Las Vegas Review-Journal   ...Clark County government and its largest union remain locked in a standoff, unable to bargain a contract. The county and Service Employees International Union Local 1107 cannot even agree enough to take their dispute to an arbitrator for a final decision. Both sides started negotiating in June 2013. By February 2014, the SEIU had declared an impasse that continues to this day...
Assembly bill could give farmworkers a greater voice during mediation  Fresno Bee   ...As a protracted legal fight over who will represent about 3,000 Gerawan Company workers simmers, state Assembly Member Jim Patterson, R-Fresno, is stepping in the fray with a bill that could prevent future conflicts between labor unions, farmworkers and their employer...
Battling A Damaging Workplace Trend (opinion)  Huffington Post   ...One of the most pervasive and damaging trends we are seeing in the 21st-century workplace is the deliberate misclassification of workers by employers looking to shift responsibility and cut costs. Two judgments announced this week in Utah and Arizona demonstrate our commitment to cracking down on this practice, whereby companies claim that their workers are not employees but independent contractors...

Miscellaneous
In Battle Between Strong Dollar And Cheap Gas, The Strong Dollar Is Winning  New York Times   ...Oil prices plummeted last year, leading to cheaper gasoline — good news for American consumers and companies like airlines and shipping firms that are heavy fuel users. Meanwhile, the dollar soared on global currency markets, making life more difficult for exporters who faced higher costs relative to global competitors. The giant question for the economy in 2015 was which of these forces would prove more powerful. The bad news is that so far, the strong dollar is winning...
The Dirty Secret Of College Athletics Is That Students Pay Exorbitant Fees To Subsidize It  Cleveland Plain Dealer   ...But here's the dirty little secret about athletics at places like CSU and hundreds of others of colleges and universities: All these costly athletic programs are funded, in large part, by fees assessed on students -- fees that, in many cases, students don't ever realize they're paying...
A Drone Program That Has Killed Hundreds Of Civilians Finally Killed Some That The White House Regrets  Huffington Post   ...Watching the coverage of these tragic deaths, a viewer would be left with the impression of a drone program that has had a stellar record of accuracy up until it unfortunately killed two innocent people. But, in fact, killing innocent people has been a central part of the drone program from the very beginning, and is in many ways an inescapable consequence...

Today's Teamster News 04.24.15

Teamsters
Cedar Falls Schools, Teamsters open labor talks  WCF Courier  ...Teamsters Local 238 is in the middle of a two-year contract with Cedar Falls Schools, and officials are only bargaining on wages and insurance, said district spokeswoman Janelle Darst. A total of 46 people are covered by the agreement, including various custodial positions, groundskeepers, mail deliverers, laundry workers, warehouse workers, plumbers, painters, carpenters, technicians and electricians...

Global Labor & Trade
Obama 'Fast Track' Trade Agenda Advances In Senate  Huffington Post   ...The Senate Finance Committee endorsed Obama's request for "fast track" legislation, which would renew presidential authority to present trade deals that Congress can endorse or reject but not amend. If the House and Senate eventually comply, Obama is likely to ask them to approve the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership, which involves Japan, Canada and Mexico, but not China. Other trade proposals could follow...
Obama admonishes his base on trade  Politico  ... President Barack Obama told his progressive base that their stance on trade is retro. While Republicans have backed fast-tracking a 12-nation Pacific trade agreement, it’s Democrats who have balked, with liberal voices like Elizabeth Warren warning that the deal would fuel outsourcing and lost wages...
Pelosi criticizes Obama-backed trade bill  The Hill   ...Weighing in for the first time since the trade promotion authority (TPA) legislation was introduced last week, Pelosi said the bill lacks safeguards protecting U.S. workers and fritters an historic opportunity to improve worker rights, food safety and the environment across the globe...
Democrats Balk At Obama Plan To Cut Funding For Workers Hurt By Trade Deals  Huffington Post  ...The rift between President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats over trade policy deepened Wednesday as the administration opposed an effort to fully restore aid for American workers who lose their jobs to international trade...
Obama is failing us all by ignoring the need for currency rules in TPP  (opinion) The Guardian  ...If we recognize the need to address the trade deficit, and the centrality of the value of the dollar, then it is mind-boggling that the Obama administration would not have sought to include rules on currency in the TPP. After all, the Obama administration has been in office more than six years and allowed large trade deficits to persist...
Newly Leaked TTIP Draft Reveals Far-Reaching Assault On US/EU Democracy  Common Dreams   ...A freshly-leaked chapter from the highly secretive Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) agreement, currently under negotiation between the United States and European Union, reveals that the so-called "free trade" deal poses an even greater threat to environmental and human rights protections—and democracy itself—than previously known, civil society organizations warn...
Hey Mr. President: Transparency Applies to the TPP, Too   (opinion) Truthout.org   ...when it comes to transparency you can't play pick and choose. You can't be transparent about a counterterrorism operation that went horribly wrong, but then be incredibly secretive about something like... the TPP...

State & Living Wage Battles
Illinois Lawmakers To Consider Right-To-Work  WTHI   ...An Illinois legislator expects Right to Work to be debated in the state legislature.  Right to Work bills prohibit workers from being forced to join labor unions.  Indiana and Wisconsin passed Right to Work laws amidst a huge controversy...
Democrats Are Rallying Around $12 Minimum Wage  New York Times   ...Democrats in Congress are uniting around a proposal to raise the federal minimum wage to $12 an hour. Within the next several days, Senator Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the Senate committee that deals with labor issues, plans to introduce a bill to increase the minimum wage, in steps, from its current level of $7.25 to $12 by 2020...
Religious Groups To Scott Walker: Don’t Drug Test The Poor  Think Progress   ...Wisconsin faith leaders from across the religious spectrum are calling on their state legislature to reject a proposal from Gov. Scott Walker (R) that would impose drug tests for some recipients of government-funded aid, arguing such screenings don’t work and unfairly stigmatize the poor...
NLRB Files Brief Supporting Unions' Lawsuit, Calling County Right-to-Work Laws Preempted  Bloomberg News   ...The National Labor Relations Board April 17 urged a federal district court in Kentucky to invalidate a county ordinance that prohibits the use of union-security provisions in collective bargaining agreements and regulates other practices that are either permitted or prohibited by federal law...
66% of San Jose’s Confirmed Wage Theft Money Goes Unawarded; Ordinance Proposed   We Party Patriots   ...San Jose is considering a wage theft ordinance which would help the labor commission recoup lost wages and deny permits and licenses to companies with pending wage theft violations.  The proposal is similar to one passed in Santa Clara County last year.  San Jose’s version is being supported by city council members Don Rocha, Margie Matthews, Ash Kalra, and Magdalena Carrasco.  The ordinance has been sent to the Rules and Open Government Committee...
The homeless man who works in the Senate   (opinion) Washington Post   ...In the basement of the Dirksen Senate Office Building, 63-year-old Charles Gladden works alongside some of the nation’s most powerful people. But unbeknown to any of these bigwigs, or even to his employer, Gladden is homeless. Alongside hundreds of other federal contract workers, he protested the fact that our government doesn’t require the companies it does business with to pay what he considers a living wage....

U.S. Labor
Have We Seen the End of the Eight-Hour Day?  The Nation   ...Along with wages and conditions, hours used to be a basic concern in worker organizing. But since the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 enshrined the 40-hour week, hours have tended to be taken for granted. This is changing only because, in recent years, employers have entered a devastating new race to the bottom: Involuntary part-time is becoming the new norm for low-wage workers, together with schedules so unpredictable and varying that one can’t easily get another job, or go to school, or be a reliable parent...
Unions converge in Jersey City to protest legislation that they say will cut American jobs  NJ.com ...More than 100 strong, labor leaders and union workers demonstrated at the plaza in Journal Square this afternoon, urging lawmakers to vote down a federal bill they say would take jobs away from Americans. Led by Ray Greaves, a former Bayonne City Council member and chairman of the Amalgamated Transit Union, the group -- which included the Hudson County Central Labor Council, Food & Water Watch, ATU, NJ Industrial Union Council, Anakbayan and Communications Workers of America  -- spread the word to anyone in Journal Square who stopped to listen....

Miscellaneous
House Republicans vote against American consumer, again   Daily Kos  ...Proving once again how much disdain Republicans really have for the American public, the House passed a bill Wednesday, 250-173, to weaken the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Because they really, really don't want us to have any recourse against predatory businesses trying to fleece us...
Fed’s Rate Decisions Hang On Dollar, Growth Concerns  Wall Street Journal   ...The strong U.S. dollar and an unsteady global economy are emerging as primary concerns for Federal Reserve officials as they prepare for a policy meeting next week to consider the timing of the first interest-rate increase since before the financial crisis...
Airmail Via Drones Is Vexing For Prisons  New York Times   ...Drones flying over prison walls may not be the chief concern of corrections officials. But they say that some would-be smugglers are experimenting with the technique as an alternative to established methods like paying off officers, hiding contraband in incoming laundry and throwing packages disguised as rocks over fences into recreational yards...
It's Not The 1% Controlling Politics. It's The 0.01 Percent.  Mother Jones   ...In other words, about 1,200 Americans control more than 40 percent of election contributions. Notably, between 2010 and 2012, the total share of giving by these donors jumped more than 10 percentage points. That shift is likely the direct result of the Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United ruling, which struck down decades of fundraising limits and kicked off the super-PAC era. And this data only includes publicly disclosed donations, not dark money, which almost certainly means that the megadonors' actual share of total political spending is even higher...
Inequality’s Big Enabler? The Tax Code. (opinion)  Washington Post   ...Of the 10 largest tax expenditures, only two — the $70 billion-per-year earned-income tax credit and the $57 billion child tax credit — favor the poor. The others disproportionately benefit the top 20 percent of earners, according to a Congressional Budget Office report...

Today's Teamster News 04.23.15

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

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

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

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

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

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

Today's Teamster News 04.16.15

Teamsters
Big San Bernardino County union now Teamsters Local 1932   San Bernardino Sun   ...The San Bernardino Public Employees Association, which for more than 75 years has independently represented county, city and state employees across the Inland Empire, is now a chapter affiliate of Teamsters Local 1932. Results of the vote were announced Tuesday by SBPEA General Manager Deidre Rodriguez, with 3,143 members voting for Teamsters affiliation...
UPS driver saves choking woman  Fox Atlanta   ...Bryant got out of his delivery truck and performed the Heimlich maneuver while the woman's daughter called 911. Luckily, the 83-year-old victim was able to dislodge that piece of food. Paramedics then took her to a local hospital...
Teamsters take stand against fast track  Teamster Nation  ...The Teamsters joined some 1,200 fellow union members and fair trade advocates at a Capitol Hill rally today to call on Congress to stop pushing for fast track trade promotion authority that would allow a quick up-or-down vote on bad trade deals like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)...

Global Labor & Trade
The populists capture the Democratic Party  Washington Post   ...A quartet of senators and a dozen members of the House took the stage in a park across from the Capitol midday Wednesday to join hundreds of steelworkers, union faithful and environmentalists in denouncing President Obama’s bid for fast-track approval of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal...
‘Fast track’ trade authority is a mistake for most businesses  The Hill  ...When it comes to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the devil is in the details. As we understand it, the TPP will be terrible for the majority of U.S. businesses, and could prove devastating for American innovation...
Why President Obama's trade agenda just turned into a food fight Vox  ...UFCW hasn’t opposed all trade deals in the past. As the group’s chief, Marc Perrone, points out in the op-ed, the union supported the US-Korea free-trade agreement — at a time when major labor groups were divided on it. So UFCW’s defection signals an erosion of Obama’s trade coalition...
Progressives Take Stand as Fast Track Fight Kicks into High Gear on Capitol Hill  Common Dreams ...With legislation to speed up congressional approval of the Trans Pacific Partnership and other corporate-friendly trade deals on the verge of being introduced in Congress, a coalition of elected officials, labor unions, and environmental groups gathered outside the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday to voice their vehement opposition to such a bill...
AFL-CIO seeks to turn Dems against Obama on trade  CNN  ...Labor unions are launching a new advertising campaign prodding Democratic lawmakers to break with President Barack Obama on free trade. The AFL-CIO will meet the introduction of a bill to fast-track Pacific Rim and European pacts with a six-figure online and radio advertising campaign targeting 16 Democrats in the Senate and 36 in the House, the group told CNN...
Special courts for foreign investors  The Hill  ...On the precipice of the biggest congressional trade debate in decades, a once-arcane investment provision has become a lightning rod of controversy in the intensifying battle over whether Congress should revive Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), also known as “fast track,” for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) calls this provision a system of “rigged, pseudo-courts”...
MEPs Want Health Excluded From TTIP Talks  EurActiv   ...Members of the Parliament's Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) on Tuesday (14 April) voted in favour of an opinion which calls for five health-related areas to be excluded from the Transatlantic Trade and Investment partnership (TTIP) negotiations between the EU and the United States...

State & Living Wage Battles
Largest-Ever Strike Hits Fast Food Industry In 230 Cities  Think Progress   ...On Wednesday, fast food workers walked off the job in 230 cities, staging the largest-ever strike in their movement aimed at a $15 minimum wage and the right to form a union. The movement began with a single strike in New York City at the end of 2012 but has grown increasingly larger as the Fight for 15 movement has staged nine other days of coordinated strikes since then...
Hotel Industry Spins Wage Hikes as Extreme While CEOs Rake in Millions  Truthout.org  ...Omni Hotel CEO Robert Rowling is one of the richest people in the world, says Forbes, with a net worth of some $5.8 billion. Rowling has given huge contributions to Karl Rove’s American Crossroads and the Koch Brother’s Freedom Partners, which contribute to politicians across the nation working to block higher wages, paid sick days and union representation...
Fight for $15: Tens of Thousands Rally as Labor, Civil Rights & Social Justice Movements Join Forces  Democracy Now   ...Low-wage workers in the United States have staged their largest action to date to demand a $15-an-hour minimum wage, with some 60,000 workers walking off the job in more than 200 cities. The "Fight for $15" campaign brought together fast-food workers, home-care aides, child-care providers, Wal-Mart clerks, adjunct professors, airport workers and other low-wage workers...

Emanuel calls for City Council hearings on Rauner's 'right-to-work' zones  Chicago Sun Times   ...The public rift between Mayor Rahm Emanuel and his pal, Gov. Bruce Rauner, got wider Wednesday over Rauner’s provocative proposal to create local “right-to-work” zones. At a City Council meeting, Emanuel introduced a resolution declaring opposition to the governor’s plan...
Taxation Without Representation  Huffington Post   ...For the vast majority of Americans, "taxation without representation" isn't just a relic of high school social studies -- it's a perfect description of their relationship with a political system that's been thoroughly corrupted by money. A 2014 Princeton University study comparing 1,779 policy outcomes to more than 20 years of public opinion data found that "the preferences of the average American appear to have only a minuscule, near-zero, statistically non-significant impact upon public policy"...
FEMA Is Preparing For The “Very Real Possibility” Of Urban Oil Train Disasters  Salon.com   ...The Federal Emergency Management Agency has begun to take on the task of sketching out scenarios for oil train derailments in densely populated urban areas, the Wall Street Journal reports. Last month, this took the form of an exercise involving New Jersey firefighters and emergency workers...
Repeal Of Estate Tax Rewards Billionaires, Punishes Working Americans  Huffington Post   ...Who deserves a break more these days: a struggling working family, or the heir to a billion-dollar fortune? According to the Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, it's the billion-dollar baby. Recently, the House voted for a budget that would end tax credits for many working families that put $1,000 a year in their pockets, on average...
Wage Gains Won’t Last, Unless Fight for 15 Builds Worker Power (opinion) Counterpunch   ...Fight for 15 has been remarkably successful on wages, but unless it is trying to increase worker’s power on the job, any wage and benefit improvements won through public pressure, negative publicity, and community-based protest activity will be hard to sustain in the absence of ongoing workplace organization or networks of some sort...

U.S. Labor
Alabama Whistleblower Fired and Sued After Protesting Conditions NBC News   ...Selma, Alabama, factory worker who was fired, sued and slapped with a restraining order after leading a protest march is in court Wednesday to demand she be allowed to continue her fight for safer working conditions at the auto parts plant...
USW Rejects LyondellBasell's 'Last, Best and Final' Offer  Houston Press  ...After two days of voting, the final count came in late Tuesday night. Despite the fact that USW 227 members have been on strike since February 1, walking away from their jobs, paychecks and health insurance, the union members voted to continue the local strike...
Today’s Personality Tests Raise The Bar For Job Seekers  Wall Street Journal   ...In 2001, 26% of large U.S. employers used pre-hire assessments. By 2013, the number had climbed to 57%, reflecting a sea change in hiring practices that some economists suspect is making it tougher for people, especially young adults and the long-term unemployed, to get on the payroll...
The Insidious Way Corporate Thieves Are Stealing Workman's Comp Alternet   ...The infamous anti-labor bully, Wal-Mart, is among the leaders, but so are such prestigious chains as Macy's and Nordstrom, along with Lowe's, Kohl's and Safeway. Their goal is to gut our nation's workers compensation program, freeing corporate giants to injure or even kill employees in the workplace without having to cover all (or, in many cases, any) of the lost wages, medical care or burial expenses of those harmed...

Miscellaneous
Warren Blasts Government for Ignoring 'Blatantly Criminal Activity' on Wall Street   Common Dreams  ...In remarks on Wednesday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren criticized the failure of both federal regulators and Justice Department officials to prosecute or otherwise hold to account Wall Street banks and financial institutions despite their long and steady pattern of "blatantly criminal activity"...
U.S. Consumers Open Their Wallets, Cautiously  Wall Street Journal ...Sales at retailers and restaurants increased 0.9% last month to a seasonally adjusted $441.4 billion, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. That was the biggest monthly gain in a year, but it was still down from November, when retail sales reached their highest level since the end of the recession...
Don’t Be So Happy About That Tax Refund  FiveThirtyEight   ...Most Americans don’t seem to have much problem with lending their money to the Treasury interest-free. The Bankrate survey found that 57 percent of respondents wanted to receive a refund, versus 27 percent who hoped to neither owe money nor get any back. That isn’t too surprising. Getting a government check in the mail (or direct-deposited into your bank account) feels like a windfall...

Today's Teamster News 04.07.15

Teamsters
Strike delayed, Allegiant pilots union explains stance, next move  Tampa Bay Business Journal   ...Friday is the next milestone in the labor dispute between Allegiant Airlines and its pilots. That day brings to an end a temporary court injunction preventing the pilots from striking. The pilots are effectively threatening to strike to restore the conditions that existed before they decided to join the International Brotherhood of Teamsters in 2012...

Global Labor & Trade
Health experts worried as Trans Pacific Partnership negotiations conclude   Sydney Morning Herald  ...Eight health and community organisations have written to the Trade Minister Andrew Robb expressing "grave concerns" about the latest leaked draft of the nearly concluded Trans Pacific Partnership trade agreement. The organisations released a health impact assessment which found that the the investor‐state dispute settlement clauses were a threat to public health and recommended that ISDS be excluded from the agreement altogether...
The global south has free trade to thank for its obesity and diabetes epidemic  The Guardian   ...You wouldn’t think that free-trade deals could lead to a diabetes and obesity epidemic, but they have. Today, many countries in the global south are seeing an explosion of these afflictions - all because their governments welcomed in transnational food companies looking for new “growth markets”...
Strikes Grow in China as Grassroots Labor Movement Takes Shape  Common Dreams   ...As the economic landscape in China continues to shift, an awakening working class is demanding fair treatment and higher wages—and the movement is picking up steam...

State & Living Wage Battles
Weeks After Rushing Right-To-Work, Wisconsin Republicans Prepare Their Next Attack On Labor  Think Progress   ...Rep. Rob Hutton (R-Brookfield) plans to tack his bill to repeal the state’s nearly century-old “prevailing wage” law for construction workers on local and state projects onto the massive state budget that must pass some time in the next few months...
Scott Walker Controls Wisconsin’s Executive and Legislative Branches. Now His Minions Are Gunning For the Judicial   The Nation   ...Walker’s allies are focused on securing control of the judicial branch of state government in Wisconsin. The Republican Party of Wisconsin and groups that have consistently backed Walker’s agenda are leading the charge to oust a state Supreme Court justice who has championed judicial independence and to change the way in which the high court is organized...
Our Corporate Saviors (opinion)  Huffington Post   ...Outfits like McDonalds decide to make a virtue of necessity and pat themselves on the back for paying a bit more. They hope that these gestures will take some of the wind out of organizing drives. But moves like these should teach the opposite lesson--namely, that pressure works...
Extreme ‘Religious Liberty’ Bill Could Make Louisiana The Next Indiana  Think Progress   ...Louisiana is the latest state considering adopting a religious freedom bill, after state Rep. Mike Johnson (R) introduced legislation Friday that could allow businesses to refuse service for same-sex weddings and deny benefits to employees in same-sex marriages...
How Elizabeth Warren Made Expanding Social Security Cool  Mother Jones   ...For years, Washington politicians and policymakers been talking about cutting Social Security benefits. The Beltway consensus, unduly shaped by deficit hawks and Wall Streeters, has been that the system is broken and must be pared back, and progressives who support Social Security have often had to play defense. But in late March, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the populist Democrat from Massachusetts, entered the fray—and challenged the prevailing view...

U.S. Labor
Automakers, labor union face a long, hot summer of contract talks  Fortune   ...Although the Detroit-based auto industry and the United Auto Workers union are still a few months away from serious negotiations, early signs aren’t favorable for a labor contract settled on mutually agreeable terms...
BP Whiting Refinery strike hits 2-month mark  Chicago Tribune   ...The union said it gave its last offer to BP on Thursday and has yet to hear from the company. Workers are standing by their union leaders, though some say it has been rough on them and their families financially...
EEOC: New York City owes underpaid minority female employees $246 million  NY Daily News  ...The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ruled that New York City underpaid a thousand black and Hispanic female employees, a finding that could cost hundreds of millions of dollars. The Communications Workers of America lodged the complaint...

Raising Wages From the Bottom Up  American Prospect   ...The third way cities and states can build worker power is to stop the illegal practice of worker misclassification. Over the past several decades, many U.S. companies have relieved themselves of the obligation to provide their workers with benefits or pay them an adequate wage, through the expedient of declaring their workers not to be their employees.
Douglas County Fined For Violating Child Labor Laws  Grand Island Independent   ...A federal agency has fined Douglas County for violating child labor laws by letting four teenagers load a wood chipper last summer. The U.S. Department of Labor issued $3,100 in fines after discovering that four underage employees operated a wood chipper while temporarily working on a maintenance crew for the county engineer. Child labor laws allow only adults to do this...

Miscellaneous
Nestlé’s despicable water-crisis profiteering: How it’s making a killing — while California is dying of thirst   Salon   ...While California suffers through a historic 4-year drought, the corporate giant has made billions on bottled water. Nestlé has a 25-year contract with the Morongo Band of Cahuila Mission Indians to draw water from wells in Millard Canyon, in the desert city of Cabazon...
U.S. Spending Historic Amount Fighting Homelessness, And It's Working: Report  Huffington Post   ...Uncle Sam is prioritizing the fight against homelessness like he never has before. Federal funding for programs addressing homelessness is at its highest level ever, according to a report by the National Alliance to End Homelessness provided to The Huffington Post...
Is Your Favorite Baseball Team's Owner Still An Asshole?  Mother Jones   ...Chicago White Sox [owner] Jerry Reinsdorf made his fortune as a real estate developer who specialized in building tax shelters. One of the league's most anti-union owners, he was accused of colluding with fellow owners to drive down player salaries. He gives millions to charter schools, but takes even more out of the city's coffers thanks to a sweetheart deal that allows him to pay just 25 percent of the standard property tax rate for the United Center (home of the NBA's Chicago Bulls, which he also owns)...