NLRB sides with Fla. bus driver in dispute with Durham

In the latest positive development for school bus workers in Santa Rosa County, Fla., a National Labor Relations (NLRB) administrative law judge has ruled in favor of Durham school bus driver Diane Bence, one of the leading voices for the 200-person unit who recently took her case to the board after years of anti-worker behavior and lack of union recognition from the company.

Diane Bence

After visiting the United Kingdom with Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa more than a year ago to protest Durham’s parent company National Express, Bence became a victim of constant harassment and intimidation from the company. That included its CEO, who during Bence’s visit made disparaging comments to her that the NLRB administrative law judge found to be in violation of the National Labor Relations Act.

According to the Florida school bus driver, the icing on the cake came in literal form, as Durham management tried to stop her and her co-workers from partaking in cake during the unit’s two-year election anniversary this spring:

The real tipping point came when we held an event to recognize the two years since voting to form our union with Local 991. We had a cake with Teamsters written in icing and management made us scrape off the icing. It was humiliating and illegal, so we filed another ULP.

The decision marks the 22nd ruling in favor of the Florida workers in the two-and-a-half years since the unit overwhelmingly voting to join the Teamsters Union in 2013, but Local 991 President Jim Gookins is still waiting for the company to meet at the bargaining table to negotiate the workers a contract:

The company has fought us every step of the way, appealing to the NLRB after every ruling. But we continue to be on the winning side of this fight. This victory is due to hard work and the perseverance of Diane and her co-workers. I applaud them for their commitment and determination.

Since voting overwhelmingly to become Teamsters, Bence has been on the front lines of the fight for union representation, leading her unit to stand strong and united in the face of aggressive anti-union tactics from management. She and her co-workers remain committed to put an end to the anti-worker assaults and win union recognition:

After more than two years waiting for a contract, it’s time for the company to quit playing games. This is just further incentive to stick together and see this thing through. I have total faith in this unit. My co-workers and I will remain vigilant and continue to urge management to meet with the Teamsters to begin the collective bargaining process.

Today's Teamster News 11.02.15

TEAMSTERS
Teamsters see California as launching pad for drayage organizing efforts  JOC  ...The Teamsters union is eying California, a state with drivers clamoring for representation and a regulatory climate sympathetic to work misclassification, as a launching pad for a national drayage organizing push. The Teamsters union this past week intensified its organizing efforts in Los Angeles-Long Beach because drivers are clamoring for representation and the regulatory climate in California is favorable to champion issues such as worker misclassification, a union spokeswoman said Friday...
Port Driver and Warehouse Worker Strikes End With $3.5 Million In New Wage Theft Claims  AJOT  ...After five days of active picketing that dramatically impacted trucking companies and the marine terminal operators that continued to allow the trucks of struck companies into their yards, misclassified “independent contractor” drivers from XPO Logistics, Intermodal Bridge Transport (IBT), and Gold Point Transportation have ended their strike. Amazon warehouse workers employed by Wilmington-based California Cartage also ended their strike with the support of the Teamsters...
LA City Council backs port truck drivers in their strike action  SPLASH247  ...Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously on Friday to support the port truck drivers who have been striking since Monday at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, according to Reuters. Council members passed a resolution backing the truckers against certain trucking firms which have allegedly been misclassifying the drivers as “independent contractors” rather than as “employees”. The distinction costs the drivers in earnings and benefits...
Dr Pepper Snapple production workers in Bethlehem vote to join union  Morning Call  ...Production workers at Dr Pepper Snapple Group in Bethlehem, formerly Davis Beverage Group, have voted to unionize. Glenn Fulcher, vice president of Teamsters Local 830 in Philadelphia, said Friday that 34 workers voted 19-15 on Oct. 9 for union representation. The union is now in contact with Dr Pepper Snapple Group's labor attorney and is in the process of setting up dates for contract negotiations, Fulcher said...
Teamsters Back Patrick Murphy for the Senate in 2016  Sunshine State News  ...On Friday, the Florida Teamsters endorsed U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Fla., who is running for the Democratic nomination to replace U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., in 2016. "I'm humbled and excited by the support of the Florida Teamsters,” Murphy said on Friday. “Florida's working families need leadership — from the local level to the U.S. Senate to the White House"...

GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
US Invites Russia and China to Join TPP Deal - Kerry  Sputnik  ...The United States invites Russia and China to become part of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade agreement if they are open for cooperation, US State Secretary John Kerry said Monday. Countries all over the world, including Russia and China, are welcome to join various US-proposed initiatives, such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership deal, Kerry stated...
US 'welcomes' Thailand to join TPP  Bangkok Post  ...The United States “would welcome with open arms” Thailand’s ruling junta wanting the country to participate in the US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade pact without waiting for the return of a of a full democratic government to the country, the newly appointed US ambassador to Thailand said on Friday...
German frustration builds over TTIP secrecy from US  DW.com  ...German parliamentarians are demanding access to documents that contain the US position on transatlantic trade negotiations. TTIP supporters in the US argue that Washington shouldn't lay all of its cards on the table. In Germany, the documents are only available in the US embassy in Berlin...
UK Government austerity programme 'an international embarrassment'  News.STV  ...UK Government austerity measures are an "international embarrassment", according to the SNP. The comments were made as the United Nations launches an investigation into the impact of Conservative policies on "disadvantaged and marginalised individuals and groups" in the UK...
Petrobras Oil Workers Begin Strike, Seek to Block Asset Sales  Bloomberg  ...Brazil’s main oil union began a nationwide strike Sunday to halt asset sales by state-controlled Petroleo Brasileiro SA at a time the company is slashing investments to reduce the biggest debt load in the oil industry.
The Oil Workers Federation, known as FUP, said the nationwide strike started on Nov. 1. Some of the FUP’s regional member unions began work stoppages on Oct. 29...
Egyptian textile workers’ strike enters 10th day  Middle East Monitor  ...The workers’ strike at Egypt’s biggest textile factory has entered its 10th day as the administration threatens to end staff contracts if they do not return to work, Quds Press reported on Friday. In order to return to work, the workers’ have demanded that the company officially agree on payment of a “social allowance” equivalent to a ten per cent addition to their monthly pay...

STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Wisconsin Poised to Gut Its Campaign Finance and Anti-Corruption Laws  Mother Jones  ...Scott Walker's presidential bid may have failed, but the Wisconsin governor and his Republican allies are making a massive push to transform the way the state conducts elections and investigates illegal campaign activity. If they're successful—and by all indications, they will be—by the end of this week, they will have uprooted Wisconsin's anti-public corruption laws and lifted restrictions on the money pouring into state elections...
Koch Brothers Hit the Airwaves in Support of Wisconsin Corruption Measures  Truthout  ...The Koch-backed measures to eviscerate Wisconsin's limits on money in elections and neuter the state's election watchdog hit a stumbling block in the state senate last week, with a handful of Republican senators expressing concern that the measures go too far. So the Kochs are going on the offensive...
Counties experiment with right-to-work laws  Washington Examiner  ...An experiment in Kentucky could have major implications for workers' rights and union organizing: Can counties and other municipalities pass right-to-work laws? Conservative activists have gotten 12 counties in the Bluegrass State to pass right-to-work ordinances...
Group trying to repeal Michigan prevailing wage law starts new petition drive  Detroit Business  ...A ballot committee trying to repeal Michigan’s prevailing wage law said Friday it will start a new petition drive after it incorrectly submitted duplicate signatures to state election officials. The committee, Protecting Michigan Taxpayers, also said it asked the Board of State Canvassers to reject the petition it submitted last month to the Michigan Bureau of Elections...
Portland to vote on minimum wage increase tomorrow  WCSH  ...Starting January the minimum wage in Portland is set to go up to $10.10 an hour. This does not included tipped employees such as servers and bartenders. However on Tuesday, Portland residents will be able to vote to raise the minimum wage even more. Question number one on Tuesday's ballot is whether or not minimum wage should be raised to $15 an hour in the city of Portland...

U.S. LABOR
Steel talks enter 3rd month as USW frustration grows  Chicago Tribune  ...The rally was held as union steelworkers at ArcelorMittal and U.S. Steel were about to enter into their third month without a new contract and with no sign of any progress being made at the bargaining table in Pittsburgh. The last contract expired Sept. 1, and negotiators for both sides have been meeting since before that. They returned to the table Monday following a short recess...
SEIU reaches new four-year deal for Pittsburgh-area janitors  Washington Times  ...A union representing more than 1,000 Pittsburgh-area janitors says it has reached a new contract agreement with office building owners. The current contract is set to expire at midnight Saturday. The new, four-year deal runs through Oct. 31, 2019. The Managers, Owners and Contractors Association began negotiating with the janitors’ Service Employees International Union bargaining committee last month...
UAW members in Fairfax, Lansing split on GM contract  The Detroit News  ...Thousands of General Motors Co. hourly workers will vote Monday on a tentative agreement, which financially is richer than the company’s 2011 contract and what Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV employees ratified, but so far has received mixed support from UAW members at two GM assembly plants...
Milwaukie ratifies contract with AFSCME employees  Portland Tribune  ...With a unanimous City Council vote, the city of Milwaukie finalized the contract with its employee union on Thursday after city workers had been working with an expired contract since July 1. Although to Local 350-5 already had been making more than $15 hourly, they are also celebrating Milwaukie City Council’s Oct. 20 passage of a resolution to pay all city employees at least $15 an hour...
After Defending His Own Family Time, Paul Ryan Refuses To Support Paid Family Leave  Think Progress  ...On a number of Sunday shows this weekend, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) responded to recent calls that he support a federal paid family leave program after insisting on preserving his own family. The new speaker of the House made it clear that he won’t back such a policy. In order to consider a run, as many in his party had urged, he had laid out a number of conditions, including the protection of the weekends he flies back to Wisconsin...

SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
Immigrants Launch Hunger Strike At Detention Center With Long History Of Abuse: ‘We Are Humans’  Think Progress  ...At least 20 male immigrants, mainly from Central America, began a hunger strike at an adult immigration detention facility in California on Friday night, according to the advocacy group Community Initiatives for Visiting Immigrants in Confinement (CIVIC). The hunger strike at the Adelanto Detention Facility is the fourth one launched by immigrant detainees across the nation...
Robert Reich: Everywhere You Look Huge Cartels Are Jacking Up Prices, Gouging You However They Can   Alternet  ...Much of the national debate about widening inequality focuses on whether and how much to tax the rich and redistribute their income downward. But this debate ignores the upward redistributions going on every day, from the rest of us to the rich. These redistributions are hidden inside the market...
Republicans 'cautious' about confronting Black Lives Matter on campaign trail  The Guardian  ...There are few areas of bipartisan consensus in the 2016 presidential election. Criminal justice has emerged as one. Republicans and Democrats are agreed: reform needs to happen. However, as the Black Lives Matter movement seeks a greater role in shaping the conversation around a justice system that disproportionately affects African Americans, candidates are reacting in decidedly different ways...
More Denial, More Problems: UN Predicts Millions of Climate Refugees to Come  Truthout  ...This year continues on pace to become, by far, the hottest year ever recorded. Thus, it is obvious why the dramatic impacts of anthropogenic climate disruption (ACD) are becoming increasingly prevalent and obvious. A recent NASA report reveals that the ice covering Greenland is melting faster than previously thought...
'Absolute Crap' But Brilliant: Corporate America's Plan to 'Misbehave Without Reproach  Common Dreams  ...An independent investigation by journalists featured in the New York Times on Sunday offers an in-depth look at the way American corporations have used the inclusion of "arbitration clauses" within consumer contracts to strategically circumvent judicial review of their behavior and immunize themselves from class action lawsuits –"realistically the only tool citizens have to fight illegal or deceitful business practices"...
For Some Americans, the Housing Crisis Isn't Over  The Atlantic  ...the housing markets in many of the hardest-hit areas have recovered, and cities such as San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York are even seeing record real-estate prices. Yet while the national housing market may be well on the way to recovery, the markets in some areas of the country are actually getting worse...

Today's Teamster News 10.30.15

TEAMSTERS
Florida Teamsters Endorse Patrick Murphy for Senate  Teamster.org   ...Teamsters are proudly endorsing Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-Fla.) in his election campaign for U.S. Senate in Florida.
Murphy has been a strong advocate for workers in the U.S. House of Representatives for Florida’s 18th congressional district since 2013...
Port Truck Strike Spreads to Warehouses  Capital & Main  ...While drivers with port trucking companies have been organizing and striking repeatedly over the last few years, they have recently begun coordinating with warehouse workers to increase pressure on the logistics industry. The Teamsters have entered into a partnership with the Warehouse Worker Resource Center, a nonprofit advocacy group for warehouse workers, and have prioritized organizing the thousands of workers in the warehouse and distribution industry...
Misclassified Port Truck Drivers Strike Gold Point Transportation  Teamster.org  ...Misclassified “independent contractor” port drivers employed by Gold Point Transportation, which is owned by 3Plus Logistics Co., which also owns Harbor Express, Inc., which has been the subject of wage theft claims by its drivers, went on strike yesterday to protest unfair labor practices including misclassification and wage theft. They are picketing at the company yard as well as at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach...
Union Works Swiftly to Secure First Contract at Standard Coffee  Local 727  ...After only three negotiation meetings with management, Teamsters Local 727 representatives have secured an agreement on a strong first contract for Standard Coffee members. The majority of the contract matches or exceeds the provisions in the contracts for Hinckley Springs inside and outside workers, which Teamsters Local 727 also represents. Standard Coffee is a division of Hinckley Springs...

GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
Several green groups outline demands for Pacific trade pact  The Hill  ...More than a dozen environmental and conservation groups on Thursday laid out eight pages of demands that they say lawmakers must use to judge the strength of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement. The groups, led by the Sierra Club, are sending a letter to members of Congress well in advance of an expected vote on the sweeping Asia-Pacific deal that was completed nearly a month ago with 11 other nations...
Anti-trade Democrats say Obama’s Pacific Rim trade pact is for the dogs  Washington Post  ...No one on Capitol Hill has been more dogged in opposing President Obama's Pacific Rim trade pact than Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) and her small band of fiercely anti-trade House Democrats. On Thursday, they trotted out a new partner in their fight: Roxy, a 2-year-old bloodhound that they put on the trail to sniff out the elusive text of the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)...
USTR releases TPA-mandated transparency plan  Politico  ...The Obama administration outlined for Congress this week its plan to tackle the thorny issue of transparency in future trade negotiations. The trade consultation and engagement guidelines transmitted by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative are a requirement of the fast track trade promotion authority law, required to be released 120 days after the legislation was enacted...
U.S. wary of EU proposal for investment court in trade pact  Reuters  ...The United States is wary of a European Union proposal for a new court system to settle investment disputes as part of the world's biggest free-trade agreement, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman said. The proposals come after concerns that U.S. multinationals could use private arbitration rules in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) to challenge European food and environmental laws...
Trans-Pacific Partnership divides auto parts industry  CBC  ...As the auto parts sector awaits the appointment of a new trade minister, the industry is split over the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the trade deal that Canada signed and will soon have to ratify. New revelations from the still secret deal show that Canada agreed to phase out its 6.1 per cent tariff on imports of Japanese vehicles over a five-year period...
Brazil's Lula Urges Workers' Party to Back Austerity  Voice of America  ...Former Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva urged the ruling Workers' Party on Thursday to back fiscal austerity measures in Congress, endorsing the efforts of Finance Minister Joaquim Levy to plug a gaping deficit. Members of Lula's leftist party have opposed moves by Lula's protégée, President Dilma Rousseff, to cut public spending...
Home of Uzbek Labor Rights Activist Burned  Solidarity Center  ...Uzbek labor rights activist Dimitry Tikhonov says his home office has been burned and all the equipment and documentation he collected on Uzbekistan’s use of forced labor in the country’s cotton harvests has been destroyed. No other room in his home was touched by the fire, he says. In late September, Tikhonov was arrested and beaten by police as he took photos of some 20 busloads of teachers and school employees forced into the cotton fields...

STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Voter ID Laws and the Ghosts of Jim Crow  Huffington Post  ...The basic contours of the public discourse on voter ID laws are fairly clear. In-person voting fraud is rare. As Judge Richard Posner has concluded, restrictive voter ID laws are mainly the product of Republican legislatures targeting Democratic-leaning constituencies. Chief among those Democratic constituencies are African Americans and Latinos...
Massachusetts Immigration Reform 2015: Statewide 'Sanctuary City' Policy Pushed By Lawmakers, Has Bipartisan Opposition  IBTimes  ...Massachusetts, which advocates for “sanctuary cities,” the controversial policy instructing local police officers not to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement agents, may soon push for a statewide shielding of undocumented immigrants. Emboldened by a handful of existing sanctuary cities, at least two dozen state lawmakers have backed a proposal that would make the commonwealth a safe haven...
Study: 42 percent of Minneapolis workers don't have paid sick time  Star Tribune  ...About 123,000 Minneapolis workers don't have access to paid sick leave, according to a new analysis from the Washington, D.C.-based Institute for Women's Policy Research. The report, released Thursday, says that number amounts to about 42 percent of Minneapolis residents ages 18 and older...
Portland 'clearly needs' a higher minimum wage, City Club says  Oregon Live  ...Portland needs a higher minimum wage, and state lawmakers should overturn a law that prevents cities from setting higher minimums, according to a City Club of Portland report released Thursday. Nine members of the civic group began studying the contentious issue in April...

U.S. LABOR
Janitorial workers reach 11th hour deal with managment association to avert strike  Pittsburgh Post-Gazette  ...A Pittsburgh union representing 1,000 commercial office cleaners reached an agreement Thursday with its management association, averting a strike just two days before the current contract was set to expire. Members of the 32BJ local, a part of the Service Employees International Union, voted to strike if the sides failed to reach a deal...
UAW-GM deal would improve newer workers' health plan  Detroit Free Press  ...UAW negotiators bargained significantly better health care coverage for about 11,000 General Motors workers hired since October 2007 and the automaker will pay for most of it. But if a majority of 52,700 workers ratify the tentative agreement reached last weekend...
House Panel Advances Bill to Clarify Joint Employer Standard   Littler  ...Following a series of congressional hearings on the National Labor Relations Board's Browning-Ferris decision, the House Committee on Education and the Workforce voted on Wednesday to advance a bill that would effectively reverse the Board's action in that case. The Committee voted 21-15 along party lines to send the Protecting Local Business Opportunity Act (H.R. 3459) to the House floor...
Macy’s Will Make Employees Work On Thanksgiving Day  Think Progress  ...Macy’s announced on Thursday that its doors will be open this holiday season, starting at 6 p.m. Thanksgiving evening. Sales will continue through Black Friday and the weekend in over 700 of its retail stores nationwide.
Macy’s, along with 12 other major retailers like Target, Best Buy, and JCPenny, made employees come in to work on Thanksgiving Day in last year...

SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
Why 4 Boys In South Carolina Have Been Shackled In Solitary Confinement For 6 Weeks  Think Progress  ...A thirty minute drive from Spring Valley High School, where Officer Ben Fields slammed and dragged a teenage girl out of her desk, several young boys have been shackled and locked in solitary confinement for close to six weeks with little to no human contact.
On September 19, corrections officers at the Broad River Road Complex, a detention center for kids aged 12 to 18 in Columbia, South Carolina, confronted a group of boys who were roughhousing...
Seething With Anger, Probe Demanded into Exxon's Unparalleled Climate Crime  Common Dreams  ...A broad coalition of community groups along with prominent leaders from the nation's top civil rights, environmental, and indigeneous people's movements on Friday sent a joint letter to the U.S. Department of Justice demanding a federal investigation into allegations that oil giant ExxonMobil knew about the role fossil fuels played in driving climate change since the 1970s but concealed that information—and later sought to discredit those issuing warnings—in order to protect its own financial interests...
Ted Cruz’s Tax Plan Hands The 1 Percent A Massive Break  Think Progress  ...On Thursday evening, Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) released a tax plan that calls for a flat tax of 10 percent that would end up with a benefit for the wealthiest 1 percent that dwarfs what everyone else would get. Corporations also get a big windfall. While they would lose all of the loopholes they use to lower their on-paper tax rate of 35 percent to about 19 percent, they would still see it drop further to a 16 percent “Business Flat Tax”...

Today's Teamster News 07.30.15

Teamsters
Teamsters Remember James R. Hoffa on 40th Anniversary of Disappearance  Teamster.org  ...July 30, 2015 marks the 40th anniversary of the disappearance of one of the greatest labor leaders in American history – James R. Hoffa. As Teamsters General President, Hoffa honed his well-earned reputation as a tough and effective bargainer and gained the respect of labor and business leaders alike across the country. He worked hard to expand the number of working men and women who were protected by union contracts...
Hoffa: Senate Transportation Bill is Positive Step, but Safety Issues Remain  Teamster.org  ...Since 2008, Congress has transferred more than $62 billion from the general fund to keep the Highway Trust Fund afloat, and it has been more than a decade since Congress has passed a highway bill more than two years in duration. Meanwhile, infrastructure continues to crumble and the safety of those who work and travel along the vast network of U.S. roads and rails is being jeopardized. Despite a serious effort by the Senate to pass a long-term bill in advance of the July 31 funding deadline, here we are once again – recess and a three-month, short-term fix...
Plumbers and Pipefitters avert strike, Teamsters end strike  Belleville News-Democrat  ...Workers from two metro-east-area unions have reached tentative agreements with their respective bargaining units after one had been on strike and the other had threatened a work stoppage. About 80 members of the Teamsters Union Local 50 in Swansea are back to work after walking the picket line for just more than a week. The union confirmed a tentative agreement was reached July 24 after the union had gone on strike July 16. The union’s brief strike halted the delivery of ready-mix concrete throughout the metro-east for seven working days...
New bill would stand up for workers against misclassification  Teamster Nation  ...For years, the Teamsters have stood with port truck drivers in Southern California, Georgia and elsewhere who have been repeatedly shortchanged on wages, fair labor standards, health and safety protections and unemployment and workers' compensation benefits. This afternoon, several members of Congress rolled out legislation that would prohibit the practice as a way for companies to avoid paying their fair share of taxes. The measure, "The Payroll Fraud Prevention Act," requires all workers to be accurately classified as employees or non-employees...
Truck Drivers In Georgia Are Fight Back Against Wage Theft And Misclassification  NH Labor News  ...Throughout the country hard working men and women are being screwed out their hard earned money by companies who are “mis-classifying” their employees. These workers are getting shafted by these unscrupulous employers who are stealing from their own employers to line their pockets.  This is wrong and it has to stop! The good news is that in Georgia, workers are coming together to fight back. Watch this great video from the Port Drivers Union...

Global Labor & Trade
Environmentalists, union members protest Pacific trade pact being negotiated at Maui resort  Associated Press  ...About 400 protesters blew conch shells on a Hawaii beach on Wednesday to demonstrate against a trade agreement being negotiated by ministers from 12 Pacific Rim nations. The demonstrators blew into their shells in unison on the sand in front of the Westin Maui resort on Kaanapali Beach, where ministers were meeting this week to discuss the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact. Protest organizers say the trade agreement would benefit a few major corporations while sacrificing protections for public health, the environment, local jobs and indigenous rights...
Harper Says Canada ‘Cannot Be Left Out’ of Pacific Trade Deal  Bloomberg  ...Canada is determined to reach a final deal on the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact, though the government will safeguard the country’s highly restricted dairy and poultry markets “as best we can,” Prime Minister Stephen Harper said. While Canada has defended its protectionist system of quotas and tariffs, known as supply management, in previous trade talks, it’s become a sticking point in TPP negotiations...
Eyeing the 2016 election calendar, trade ministers meet in Hawaii  Washington Post  ...Trade ministers from a dozen nations have gathered at a beachside hotel in Maui on Tuesday for talks aimed at knocking down tariff barriers, clearing political hurdles and sealing a new Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement that would bind countries on both sides of the vast ocean. For the U.S. delegation, these late-stage negotiations may be the last chance to close the deal before it gets swamped by 2016 election politics...
Pro-trade Dems want green goals in TPP  The Hill  ...A group of pro-trade House Democrats penned letter on Wednesday, calling on the Obama administration to lock in strong environmental provisions as part of a massive Asia-Pacific trade deal. Reps. Earl Blumenauer (Ore.), Suzan DelBene (Wash.), Scott Peters (Calif.) and 16 other Democrats who supported President Obama’s trade agenda argue that the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) presents a unique chance to raise global environmental standards...
EU steps up PR campaign to overcome U.S. trade deal hostility  Reuters  ...Using some of the tools employed by anti-trade campaigners, the European Commission, which is negotiating with the United States for a deal which may still be a year off, has taken the unusual step of launching video clips on YouTube. It has also published leaflets, fact sheets and "myth-busting" brochures to counter what it says are misconceptions about TTIP...
Secret Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) Treaty: State-Owned Enterprises (SOE) Issues for Ministerial Guidance  Wikileaks  ...Today, 29 July 2015, WikiLeaks releases a secret letter from the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP or TPPA) Ministerial Meeting in December 2013, along with a comprehensive expert analysis of the document. The letter indicates a wide-ranging privatisation and globalisation strategy within the Agreement which aims to severely restrict "state-owned enterprises" (SOEs). SOEs continue to fulfil vital public functions in even the most privatised countries, such as Canada and Australia...
Pacific partners may discuss currency rules along with trade deal  Reuters  ...Pacific Rim trading partners might convene a top-level forum to discuss how to stop countries manipulating currencies for competitive advantage, Australian Trade Minister Andrew Robb said on Tuesday. Speaking on the sidelines of a meeting in Hawaii where ministers are negotiating a 12-nation trade deal, Robb said member countries of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TTP) were considering a U.S. proposal for a separate forum...
Trans-Pacific Partnership: 'Magnificent' progress sets up tough ministerial talks  CBC  ...International Trade Minister Ed Fast meets his U.S. trade counterpart Michael Froman today in Maui, with key political decisions ahead on this second day of talks towards a Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal for 12 Pacific Rim countries. Ministerial talks began Tuesday afternoon in Hawaii, following a weekend of very long days for each country's negotiators in an attempt to clear the deck of minor or technical issues...
Osun NLC Suspends Strike Again, Recalls Workers  Channels Television  ...The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in Osun State has again suspended its ongoing eight weeks industrial action, with a call on workers to resume work immediately. The workers union ended the strike after it singed another Memorandum Of Understanding (MoU) with the State government at the Governors Office in Abere, Osun State..

State & Living Wage Battles
Supreme Court upholds right-to-work for state workers  Detroit Free Press  ...The Michigan Supreme Court, in an opinion that has the effect of making state employees subject to Michigan’s 2012 right-to-work law, ruled Wednesday that Michigan's Civil Service Commission never had the authority to impose union fees on state workers, even before the controversial law was passed. The 4-3 ruling is a blow to the United Auto Workers and other unions representing about 36,000 state employees...
Jeb Bush's and Bill Clinton's Boasts of Economic Growth Based on Market Bubbles That Burst  Alternet  ...Paul Krugman rightly mocks Jeb Bush for taking credit for the strong growth in Florida during his tenure as governor. As Krugman points out, the reason for the strong growth was that Florida had one of the worst housing bubbles in the country. Its collapse gave Florida one of the worst downturns in the country...
Deadbeat corporations: How schools suffer when big companies don’t pay their fair share of state taxes  Salon  ...Corporations have reaped trillion-dollar benefits from 60 years of public education in the U.S., but they’re skipping out on the taxes meant to sustain the educational system. Children suffer from repeated school cutbacks. And parents subsidize the deadbeat corporations through increases in property taxes and sales taxes...
With new bump, Minnesota ushers in region's top minimum wage  Post Bulletin  ...Minnesota will vault past Illinois, Michigan and South Dakota this week to gain the highest minimum wage in the Midwestern region at $9 an hour, which also will rank among the most-generous state-wage floors in the country. The dollar-per-hour bump taking effect Saturday for about 288,000 of Minnesota's lowest-paid workers is the second of a three-stage increase adopted in 2014, when the state had one of the lowest minimum wages in the region...
University of California raises minimum wage to $15  USA Today  ...While fast food workers successfully organized and pushed legislation calling for action on a $15 minimum wage in New York on July 22, 2015, the University of California has become the first public school in the nation to commit to a wage increase. On July 22, the 238,000-student university system joined pioneering municipalities mandating that the wages of all employees of the university’s 10 campuses, five medical centers and three national labs — both direct and service contract employees — be raised to $15 per hour over the next three years...
Voter ID Laws Focus of Kansas Civil Rights Committee  CBS  ...The Kansas division of a federal civil rights commission will investigate whether voter identification laws have affected turnout around the state. The Kansas Committee of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission voted Tuesday to hold hearings to determine if turnout in some communities has been suppressed...
Hedge Funds Want Puerto Rico To Fire Teachers To Pay Them Back  Huffington Post  ...As Puerto Rico teeters on the edge of default, a new report commissioned by a group of hedge funds insists the U.S. territory can avoid bankruptcy if it lays off teachers, sells off many of its public assets and collects more taxes. If the government tries to restructure or avoid paying its debts, it will be sued and the crisis in confidence that follows will make things much worse for the island, an author of the report argues...

Another Fight for Fair Pay in New York  (opinion) New York Times  ...Gov. Andrew Cuomo recently earned well-deserved praise for his efforts to secure a $15-an-hour minimum wage for fast-food workers in New York. Now another fight for fairness in pay is brewing in New York that also needs his support. The issue is payroll cards — prepaid debit cards issued to employees and refilled each payday with the employees’ wages in lieu of paper checks or direct deposits into a worker’s bank account...

U.S. Labor
Guardian US votes to unionize  Washington Post  ...The Guardian US, the stateside operation of the British newspaper, has voted to unionize under the News Media Guild, according to an announcement first reported by the Huffington Post. The vote on the matter was a unanimous 45 to 0, according to guild President Bernie Lunzer. The news marks something of a trend for unionization at American digital media properties...
Clinton-Sanders contest fosters discord within labor  Aljazeera  ...The 2016 presidential primary contest has fostered discord within some of America’s biggest labor unions, weakening frontrunner Hillary Clinton’s lock on the support of a key Democratic constituency. Although a majority of union leadership and rank-and-file members appear to still support Clinton, a growing activist bloc within the labor movement has thrown its support behind Sen. Bernie Sanders...
Hundreds Take to the Streets Over Chicago Board of Education’s Decision to Further Slash CPS Funding  In These Times  ...the crowd of about 200 people—most of them members of the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU)—had grown to over 500. Among them were teachers, parents and members of community organizations like Communities United, Brighton Park Neighborhood Council (BPNC), the parent group Bad Ass Moms (BAMs) and Fight for $15, all of whom rejected the cuts and accused the Board of Ed of being "broke on purpose"...
Illinois, public labor union extend no-strike agreement  Reuters  ...The state of Illinois and its biggest labor union on Wednesday extended for two-months an agreement preventing strikes or lockouts while contract negotiations continue. Republican Governor Bruce Rauner also vetoed a bill sought by public employee labor unions that would send collective bargaining disputes to binding arbitration...
Victory for Farmworkers as Major Grocer Meets Demands for Fair Food   Common Dreams  ...The Immokalee, Florida farmworkers who have captured international attention for their decades of successful organizing against starvation wages, debt bondage, and slavery, racked up another human rights victory on Wednesday when Ahold USA agreed to become the first major grocer in the United States to join the organization's Fair Food Program...
USW workers to march on ATI headquarters  TribLive  ...Negotiators for ATI Flat-rolled Products have submitted another contract proposal to the United Steelworkers Union that shows some movement on health care issues. The USW, which represents ATI's 11 flat-rolled products plants and its 2,200 workers, said the proposal, which apparently was made last weekend, “falls far short” on the issues including health care, retirement security and scheduling...
Transit System and Amalgamated Transit Union to start negotiations Thursday  CBS  ...The Milwaukee County Transit System issued a press release today stating the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 998 and MCTS will go back to the bargaining table on Thursday, July 30.
It has been nearly a month since the ATU's strike. Milwaukee County Transit System claims the  ATU President James Macon is demanding $9 million more than what MCTS can afford...
After Threatening To Strike, NYC Airport Workers Win Union Agreement, Say They’ll Push for $15  In These Times  ...Twelve hundred workers at New York’s John F. Kennedy and LaGuardia airports may soon be negotiating a union contract after pressuring management with the threat of a strike. On July 22, Local 32BJ of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) announced that the workers’ employer, Aviation Safeguards, has agreed to remain neutral as they seek to join the SEIU through a “card check” recognition process...
United Farm Workers Turns Up Heat On California Growers  Growing Produce  ...his week, as high temperatures in parts of California’s Central Valley are expected to hover around 110 degrees, United Farm Workers (UFW) has been filing notices of intent to take access with the state Agricultural Labor Relations Board (ALRB). According to a report from Western Growers, more than 30 access filings have actually been submitted over the past month. In addition to the Central Valley, UFW organizers have visited a number of farms along the state’s southern and northern coasts...
Democrats Want To Extend Civil Rights Protections To Unpaid Interns  Huffington Post  ...Unpaid interns in most states aren't covered by the same workplace discrimination and harassment laws as employees, but some House Democrats are trying to change that. Three lawmakers introduced a trio of bills Tuesday aimed at closing loopholes that exclude unpaid interns from protection. The Civil Rights Act doesn't currently cover such workers because they aren't compensated and therefore aren't technically employees...
Applications for US unemployment benefits rose last week to still-low level of 267,000  Associated Press  ...More people sought U.S. unemployment benefits last week, though the increase was from a very low level and the figures still point to a healthy job market. Applications for jobless aid rose 12,000 to a seasonally adjusted 267,000, the Labor Department said Thursday. The four-week average, a less volatile figure that is a better measure of underlying trends, dropped 3,750 to 274,750...

Social Justice & Other News
Say Her Name: Protesters in Chicago Demand Justice for Sandra Bland  Truthout  ...This week, from Dallas to San Diego to the Midwest, activists and community members around the United States are answering a national call to demand justice for Sandra Bland, a Black woman and activist who died in police custody on July 13. In Chicago, protesters lifted up Sandra Bland's name on Michigan Avenue on July 28, as hundreds of protesters lined a bridge over the Chicago River, urging those who believe Black lives matter to "say her name"...
House passes three-month highway bill  The Hill  ...The House voted Wednesday to approve an $8 billion bill that would extend federal transportation funding until the end of October, sending it to the Senate with just two days to go before the nation's road and transit spending expires. The bill passed in a 385-34 vote, with Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.) voting present. Senators are expected to accept the patch to prevent an interruption in the nation's infrastructure spending...
House Republicans Invite Architect Of The Financial Crisis Over For Advice  Think Progress  ...Five years after the passage of a sweeping Wall Street reform package in the wake of the worst financial crisis in generations, lawmakers opposed to strict government policing of the financial industry are inviting two prominent deregulators back to the scene of the crime. When the House Financial Services Committee (HFSC) hears from former Sen. Phil Gramm (R-TX) and longtime conservative analyst Peter Wallison on Tuesday, the pair will have their laissez-faire perspectives on the money business elevated once again...
Wishing Happy Birthday to Medicare, Communities Demand Healthcare for All  Common Dreams  ...From Hawaii to Florida to Maine, communities in 25 cities across the United States are staging rallies, picnics, and flash mobs this week to celebrate Thursday's 50th anniversary of Medicare—and call for its expansion into a system that provides publicly-funded healthcare for all...
Cincinnati Cop Charged With Murder in Fatal Shooting of Unarmed Black Man  Mother Jones  ...Officials in Hamilton County, Ohio, released body-camera footage on Wednesday that shows the shooting death of Samuel DuBose, an unarmed black man pulled over by University of Cincinnati police officer Ray Tensing on July 19 for driving without a front license plate. The video was released as Hamilton County prosecutor Joe Deters announced that Tensing would be indicted on a charge of murder...

Today's Teamster News 01.17.14

Trade leak feeds Democratic insurgency  Politico   ...Democrats in Congress are fuming over the leaked environmental provisions of a massive Pacific trade deal that would dwarf the North America Free Trade Agreement, casting further doubt on President Barack Obama’s trade agenda just as his administration kicks it into high gear...

U.S. Trade Representative Dodges Senate Fast Track Hearing  Public Citizen   ...with not a single House Democrat sponsoring the Fast Track bill, the GOP House leadership has insisted that the White House present a list of 50 House Democratic votes for the bill before a vote will be scheduled...

Teamsters Call On Gate Gourmet To Protect Workers  teamster.org   ...Gate Gourmet employees, D.C. Jobs with Justice, local faith leaders, and union representatives from the Teamsters and UNITE-HERE delivered a message to Gate Gourmet at its U.S. headquarters and GateGroup CEO Andrew Gibson on Thursday, calling on the company to provide a real wage increase and affordable health care for thousands of workers across the country...
Advocates for Workers Raise the Ire of Business  New York Times   ...new types of worker advocacy groups have sprouted nationwide, and they have started to get on businesses’ nerves — protesting low wages at Capital Grille restaurants, for instance, and demonstrating outside Austin City Hall in Texas against giving Apple tax breaks...
Wall Street Mega Banks Own Tankers, Pipelines, Utilities, Mines, Metal Warehouses – And That’s Not the Worst of It  Wall Street on Parade   ...U.S. bank holding companies owned 16 utilities; 479 insurance companies; 2,388 real estate firms; 1,682 healthcare and social assistance companies; and 5 mines. We know from more recent revelations that Wall Street’s largest banks own at least 104 metal warehouses with complaints coming from beer and soda manufacturers that these firms control the London Metal Exchange and are rigging the price of aluminum to the detriment of both the manufacturers and consumers...
Workers at an Amazon Warehouse Reject Forming a Union  New York Times   ...In the first unionization vote ever held at an Amazon facility in the United States, a small group of technical workers at the company’s warehouse in Middletown, Del., voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday against forming a union...
United Continental to furlough 685 flight attendants  Reuters   ...United Continental will furlough about 685 flight attendants, as the U.S. airline company looks to prune its expenses as part of a $2 billion annual cost-cutting plan announced last year...
Income gap poses biggest threat to global community, warns WEF  The Guardian   ...World Economic Forum survey identifies inequality as biggest flashpoint as well as extreme weather and unemployment...
Gov't Charges Wal-Mart With Labor Violations  Associated Press   ...Federal officials filed a formal complaint Wednesday charging that Wal-Mart violated the rights of workers who took part in protests and strikes against the company...
'I Had a Middle Class Job and I Still Ended Up on Food Stamps at 60'  AlterNet   ...Welcome to the new reality of the working poor...
Another Trade Unionist Murdered in Colombia - Demand Justice!  iuf.org   ...Ever Luis Marín Rolong, a regional leader of the SINALTRACEBA brewery workers union, was murdered on January 4 by unknown gunmen. The next day the President of SINALTRACEBA received death threats from paramilitaries. The Teamsters support the IUF campaign demanding justice for Ever Luis and an end to anti-union violence in Colombia. Click here to send a message to the Colombian government...
Mexico enacts soda tax in effort to combat world's highest obesity rate  The Guardian   ...Health officials in the United States look to Mexico's new law as an walexperiment in curbing sugar consumption...
Washington State Bill Proposes Criminalizing Help to NSA, Turning Off Resources to Yakima Facility  Truthout   ...the bill prohibits state and local agencies from providing any material support to the NSA within their jurisdiction. This includes barring government-owned utilities from providing water and electricity. It makes information gathered without a warrant by the NSA and shared with law enforcement inadmissible in state court. It blocks public universities from serving as NSA research facilities or recruiting grounds. And it bans corporations who continue to do business with the NSA from holding any contracts with the state...
My Doctor Can Disclose My Medical Records to the NSA Without My Authorization  Fire Dog Lake …And your doctors can disclose yours, too…
NSA collects millions of text messages daily in 'untargeted' global sweep  The Guardian   ...The National Security Agency has collected almost 200 million text messages a day from across the globe, using them to extract data including location, contact networks and credit card details, according to top-secret documents...
The Malware That Duped Target Has Been Found   Wired   ...The malicious program used to compromise Target and other companies was part of a widespread operation using a Trojan tool known as Trojan.POSRAM...
You'll Be Shocked at What 'Surveillance Valley' Knows About You  AlterNet...   The most intimate details about a person’s life, packaged and sold over and over again to anyone willing to pay...
It's An Exceptionally Bad Time To Be A Recent College Grad  Huffington Post   ...Those sad stories of 20-somethings with college degrees toiling away at service jobs in restaurants, coffee shops and department stores are more than just colorful anecdotes. It's truly a terrible time for recent college graduates to find jobs, according to recently released data...
Goldman Sachs pay employees average of $383,000 after profits rise 5%  The Guardian   ...US bank's 32,900 global employees to hear size of individual bonuses, while fixed-income trading operation had fall in profits...
Judge Disallows Plan by Detroit to Pay Off Banks  New York Times   ...He ruled that Detroit could not proceed with a plan to pay $165 million to two big banks to extricate itself from some long-term financial contracts that have been costing the bankrupt city tens of millions of dollars a year. “It’s just too much money,” Judge Rhodes said...
North Carolina's poorest hit by federal cuts: 'Unless someone helps, we're bust'  The Guardian   ...As Congress wrangles with whether to restore long-term unemployment benefits, North Carolina is already experiencing the hardship likely to unfold unless the program is restored...
NC Republicans Raise Taxes on Working Families While Giving Huge Tax Breaks to Millionaires and Corporations  The Real News   ...residents with average incomes of nearly $1 million will receive a total tax cut of nearly $10,000, while the corporate tax rate will decline from 6.9 percent to 5 percent next year and could fall all the way to 3 percent if revenue goals are met in 2017...
Florida Isn't Apologizing For Lax Oversight At Abusive Youth Prisons  Huffington Post   ...The head of Florida's juvenile justice department defended her agency's oversight of private prison contractors before a state Senate panel on Wednesday amid allegations of violence and mistreatment inside the nation's third-largest juvenile corrections system...
Senators Raise Concerns About Fast Track at Hearing  teamster.org   ...Several Senate Democrats voiced opposition today to legislation that would allow a quick up-or-down vote with limited debate on proposed trade deals...

Mega-rich take aim at the states for 2014

Not just Ohio...

Billionaire sociopaths like the Koch brothers are gearing up for another attack on the middle class this year through their allies in state legislatures. Right-to-work-for-less is on their agenda in at least three states -- Missouri, Oregon and Ohio -- along with a panoply of anti-worker initiatives in others.

The Kochs and their friends have bags of money, they are ruthless and they lie.

This is how well-funded they are: Last year alone they spent $400 million on politics, as much as the entire labor movement, reported the Washington Post today:

The political network spearheaded by conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch has expanded into a far-reaching operation of unrivaled complexity, built around a maze of groups that cloaks its donors, according to an analysis of new tax returns and other documents. 

The filings show that the network of politically active nonprofit groups backed by the Kochs and fellow donors in the 2012 elections financially outpaced other independent groups on the right and, on its own, matched the long-established national coalition of labor unions that serves as one of the biggest sources of support for Democrats. 

The Post, as usual, makes the mistake of claiming the Kochs are against 'government overreach.' They aren't. They're quite happy with government overreach if they think it helps them.

Right-to-work-for-less laws  force unions to represent workers who refuse to pay the cost of that representation. If that isn't government overreach, we don't know what is.

Now that the new year is here, lawmakers are returning to state capitals and the Koch stooges among them are repeating the Kochs' lies. In Missouri, House Speaker Tim Jones repeated the tired old lie that right-to-work-for-less will make the state competitive with its neighbors. (Though you could argue that's true if  'competitive' means 'competitive in a race to the bottom.')

In Missouri, Ohio and Oregon, the Kochs' patsies want to put right-to-work-for-less on the ballot. They're up to no good in other states as well. In Florida, for example, the Sun-Sentinel is warning against their machinations:

2014 is a make-it-or-break-it year for the Kochs, JMI, FGA, ALEC and whatever new, cozy-sounding names and acronyms they concoct to hide the fact that they're out to take over the country. Somewhere, some Koch-financed group is plotting — and laughing at how easy it is to get most Americans to vote against their own self-interest. With tragic consequences, some people who've made a few bucks regurgitate the garbage of the mega-rich, fantasizing they are one of them and that they're accepted members of the club.

A terrific editorial in the Salem, Ore., Statesman-Journal, describes how the Kochs took aim at Oregon:

Our sense is that it is almost as if a big red X has been affixed to a map of our state by outside influences who have decided in secret that we are to be the next target in their misinformation campaign. Chief among the groups is the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), an unchecked conservative policy organization bent on convincing more states to enact right-to-work laws, using whatever-it-takes tactics. 

In the months to come, you should expect to hear bloated claims about the positive effects that right-to-work laws have had on state economies. The sad truth is that workers actually reap fewer gains when right-to-work laws are enacted and new businesses are lured to states. The big gains are raked in by the very corporations supporting the greedy goals that ALEC members pledge to support.

We couldn't agree more with their conclusion:

The misinformation campaign is coming, but it does not have to succeed. 

Right-to-work proponents are expecting you to roll over and play dumb. 

We suggest you sit up and become informed.

To sit up and become informed -- and to find out what you can do to help fight the battle over right-to-work-for-less -- check in with these Facebook pages: Oregon AFL-CIO,  We Are Ohio and Stop Right To Work (for less) in Missouri.

Today's Teamster News 09.02.13

Labor Economics 101: Few Jobs Means Bad Jobs  Center for Economics and Policy Research   ...because the economy is not generating decent jobs in any reasonable number, workers are forced to take bad jobs...
Calls to raise minimum wage return with Labor Day  Associated Press   ...A recurring call to raise the minimum wage has returned in the run-up to Labor Day in the form of national rallies and a new report that finds Michigan ranks second-to-worst among states for wage growth during the past 30 years...
The Battle for a Living Wage Goes On  naked capitalism   ...The battle for a living wage for the nation’s poorest workers is set against the backdrop of mass unemployment and the highest level of economic inequality in the U.S. in almost a century...
10 fastest-growing jobs in the USA  USA Today   ...For both petroleum engineers and service unit operators in the resource industry, the nation's two fastest-growing jobs, growth likely is due largely to changes in the energy sector...

The 7 Best Paying Jobs With Only High School Diploma  24/7 Wall Street   ...Subway and streetcar conductors, fashion designers, power distributors and dispatchers...
Taxpayer Dollars Paid A Third Of Richest Corporate CEOs: Report  Huffington Post   ...More than one-third of the nation's highest-paid CEOs from the past two decades led companies that were subsidized by American taxpayers, according to a report released Wednesday by the Institute for Policy Studies, a liberal think tank...
The Hazard of Free-Trade Tobacco  New York Times   ...Give thanks to Malaysia for heading off, at least temporarily, an American effort to weaken the ability of countries to impose stiff rules on the sale of cigarettes and other tobacco products within their own borders...
Eurozone unemployment steady at 12.1% in July - as it happened  The Guardian   ...Eurozone figures show youth unemployment edging higher...
Federal Court Sides With ACLU in No Fly List Lawsuit  ACLU   ...The suit challenges the process for attempting to get off the list as unfair, inadequate, and unconstitutional. The decision also asked the ACLU and the government to submit additional information about the No Fly List redress procedure in order to help the court decide the ultimate question of whether it satisfies the Fifth Amendment's guarantee of due process...
State budget is gold mine for rich, shaft for all others (opinion)  Toledo Blade   ...the richest one percent of Ohioans will net a yearly tax cut of nearly $6,000, Middle class taxpayers who earn $51,000 will see a whopping cut of $9. And some of the poorest Ohioans will see their taxes go up...
Floridians finding jobs, but often at low wages  Sun-Sentinel   ...wages are stagnant or dropping, except for the top 10 percent of households, while health-care and other costs are rising...

Today's Teamster News 06.06.13

UCLA Anderson Forecast paints dismal picture of economic recovery  Los Angeles Times   ..."It's not a recovery. It's not even normal growth. It's bad," UCLA economist Edward Leamer says...
U.S. worker productivity increases as hourly compensation drops  Los Angeles Times   ... hourly compensation fell 3.8% in the first quarter. That decline was the largest in the series, kept since 1947...
Wal-Mart's low wages cost taxpayers  CNNMoney   ...At the end of 2012, there were 3,216 Wal-Mart employees who were enrolled in Wisconsin public health care programs, more than any other employer. Add in the dependents of Wal-Mart workers and the total jumps up to 9,207...
Always Low Wages: Meet the Billionaires Who Run Walmart  The Nation   ...This week, Walmart shareholders will gather in the retail giant’s Arkansas backyard and re-elect a board of directors charged with guiding the company over the coming years...
Your student loan isn’t really a loan  Salon   ...You can't refinance, or get rid of the debt through bankruptcy. Here's how it's even more of a sham than you know...
Yes, Europe really is in the throes of austerity  Washington Post   ...“Immediate spending cuts would, by themselves, likely slow the economy.”...
Senators Introduce Currency Manipulation Bill  U.S. Senate   ...Following new figures that show a 34 percent jump over last month’s U.S.-China trade deficit, U.S. Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Richard Burr (R-NC), Susan Collins (R-ME), and Robert Casey (D-PA), today introduced the Currency Exchange Rate Oversight Reform Act of 2013, bipartisan legislation that would reform and enhance oversight of currency exchange rates...
Mothers join effort as Florida debates rules on sick leave  Herald-Tribune   ...Myriam Rivera joined a group of Central Florida mothers who used baby strollers and a red wagon to deliver 11,000 petitions to Gov. Rick Scott on Tuesday. The message: Veto a business-backed bill that would prevent local governments from setting sick-leave standards for workers...
The billionaire force behind GOP attempts to dismantle Maine’s renewable energy standards  Bangor Daily News   ...Put into effect nearly 15 years ago with bipartisan support, Maine’s Renewable Portfolio Standard has created thousands of jobs, cut down on harmful pollution and helped to keep more of Mainers’ energy dollars in the state.  So, why are some elected officials pushing legislation that would dismantle it?...
Bail Bond Bill Will Create Debtor’s Prisons  Urban Milwaukee   ...Across America, more than half a million inmates sit in jails simply because they are poor. ... They are here because they can’t make bail — sometimes as little as $50.”...
Operation: Stop Bruce Karsh From Selling Tribune to the Koch Brothers  Daily Beast   ...The left’s biggest bogeymen could snap up the ailing Tribune Company, and with it the ‘Los Angeles Times.’ David Freedlander reports on the effort to stop the billionaires—and whether it extends to the newsroom...
Delaware bill would restrict government agency use of criminal background checks for new hires  Associated Press   ...The bill introduced last week would prohibit public employers in Delaware from considering the criminal history or credit history of an applicant before making a conditional job offer...
Kentucky tax collection measure draws lawmaker concerns  Courier-Journal   ...Lawmakers fear that a provision in Kentucky’s recent pension reforms will hamper the ability of delinquent taxpayers to pay back taxes owed to the state by revoking their driver's and other professional licenses if they fail to pay...
Labor Trouble Possibly on the Horizon at Kaleida Health   WGRZ-TV   ...Three unions (SEIU, CWA, IUOE) representing 7,000 healthcare workers at Keleida Health Hospitals in Western New York have scheduled strike votes for next week...
TSA To Keep Knives Off Passenger Planes  IBT   ...The Coalition of Flight Attendants, which the Teamsters Airline Division is part of, today celebrated the success of its campaign to keep knives off planes and commended the TSA for holding the line against weapons on flights...
Derry council approves union contract for some Public Works workers  New Hampshire Union Leader   ...The Town Council approved a new three-year contract for Teamsters Local 633, the union that represents a number of divisions of the Department of Public Works...
Middletown council approves new union contract  Middletown Press   ...The Common Council approved a contract between the city and Teamsters Local 671, concluding a year-long negotiation process...
Collective Bargaining TLA Slated for June 18-21  IBT ...The IBT Training and Development Department is conducting a Teamsters Leadership Academy on Collective Bargaining, June18-21, 2013, hosted by Joint Council 40 in Mars, Pennsylvania...
Pipeline Training Fund Offers Courses in June   IBT ...The Teamsters National Pipeline Training Fund has the following trainings scheduled in Illinois for June 2013. Every Teamster Pipeliner or prospective Teamster Pipeliner is encouraged to attend...
Advanced Business Agents’ Seminar Scheduled July 29-31  IBT ...The IBT Training and Development Department will conduct an Advanced Business Agents seminar July 29-31, 2013 at Teamsters Joint Council 25 in Chicago...

Today's Teamster News 05.14.13

The 182 Percent Loan: How Installment Lenders Put Borrowers in a World of Hurt  ProPublica   ...Katrina Sutton stood at a gas pump and swiped her debit card. Insufficient funds. But that couldn't be. She'd been careful to wait until her $270 paycheck from Walmart had hit her account. The money wasn't there? It was all she had. And without gas, she couldn't get to work. She tried not to panic, but after she called her card company, she couldn't help it. Her funds had been frozen, she was told, by World Finance. Here’s how and why...
Bangladesh Garment Factories Shut Down Amid Worker Unrest, Minimum Wage Change  Huffington Post   ...Following worker protests and a decision by the Bangladeshi government to reevaluate the minimum wage, the lone national association of garment manufacturers on Monday shut down all factories in Ashulia, one of the country's major garment industry hubs...
Moms Working At Walmart Earn Less Than They Need To Feed Their Kids  Huffington Post   ...As Mother's Day approached, Charlene Fletcher, mother of two, found herself occupied with the needs of other families, attending to the crush of shoppers last week at the Walmart in Pasadena, Calif., where she works. But like many employees at Walmart, the largest private employer in the United States, she earns so little that she has to rely on government assistance to feed her kids...
IRS Set To Close Next Week  Forbes   ...A number of taxpayers will be taking next Friday off by choice. It is, after all, the day before the Memorial Day weekend begins – the perfect time to grab an extra day. But what if you were forced to take the day off as an unpaid furlough day?...
White House orders look at pay equity inside government  Washington Post   ...President Obama has called for creation of a government-wide strategy “to address any gender pay gap in the Federal workforce,” focusing on how salaries are set when employees are first hired and when they are promoted...
Early campaigns for Virginia governor toil on both the national and local stage   Washington Post
If Virginians weren’t foggy-headed enough from last year’s barrage of political ads and robo-calls, now comes a race that’s producing double vision — the two men running for governor this year are each running two campaigns featuring different issues, calendars and strategies...
Landmark $240M EEOC verdict to be slashed to $1.6M   Associated Press   ...A landmark $240 million verdict awarded to 32 mentally disabled Iowa plant workers who were subjected to years of abuse by their handlers will be reduced to just $1.6 million because of a federal cap, attorneys in the case agree...
Florida lawmakers pay peanuts for health insurance  Miami Herald   ...Florida House Republicans last month loudly and proudly rejected billions of dollars in federal money that would have provided health insurance to 1 million poor Floridians. Quietly, they kept their own health insurance premiums staggeringly low...
Rand Paul's Iowa visit triggers talk of 2016 White House bid  Mankato Free Press   ...Sen. Rand Paul brought his national ambitions to Iowa on Friday, ripping potential Democratic rival Hillary Clinton while urging his own Republican Party to broaden its appeal as he campaigned like it was already 2016...
N.J.'s plan to seize $142M in unspent COAH money from towns is 'a real slap in the face to property taxpayers'  Times of Trenton   ...Municipal officials are angrily criticizing the state’s plan to seize money from their unused affordable housing trust funds, saying the Christie administration is trying to balance the state budget by grabbing resources meant for those who need it the most...
Minnesota budget deal: Tax hikes on high earners, tobacco  Star Tribune   ...New revenue would boost school spending and fund a property tax relief plan. GOP responded with scorn...
Inspiring Stories Captivate Unity Conference Attendees  IBT …The war on workers and what the Teamsters Union is doing to fight back took center stage today at the 2013 Unity Conference, and the attendees were uplifted by powerful speeches by leaders, members and soon-to-be members...

'Pension reform,' '401k': Run when you hear those words

Florida first responders speak out against 

'Bye-bye retirement security' is what the words 'pension reform' and '401k' really mean.

American workers can't save enough on their own to retire. That includes people with 401k plans. Today, for example, the Employee Benefit Research Institute reported 60 percent of workers and their spouses have less than $25,000 in savings and investments. Half of those have less than $1,000. Those without a pension -- and that's most of them -- have a lot to worry about.

In Florida, the state that pensions made possible, lawmakers are trying to take away public service employees' pensions. We assume it's because they want to destroy business activity in the state.

Florida’s Retirement System is one of the strongest in the world. It would cost millions to change the system to a 401k. It will hurt corrections officers, firefighters, teachers and police officers.

The state AFL-CIO is urging Floridians to write their local newspaper to oppose the threat to retirement security for millions:

...tell your community about the real  retirement security threat to Florida’s Firefighters, teachers, police officers, nurses and state employees face. 

Retirement plans for state and local government workers affect millions of Floridians and boost the state economy.  These plans directly impact about 1.2 million current and former public employees in Florida and millions of their dependents and other family members.  In addition, tens of thousands of Florida’s businesses benefit each day when retirees spend their retirement checks on goods and services in every community in Florida. These vital benefits are provided through the Florida Retirement System and almost 500 local government retirement plans.

To send a letter, click here.

Btw, EBRI also reported 28 percent of respondents say they have no confidence at all that they'll afford a comfortable retirement. That's the highest number in 23 years.

We understand why.