D.C. Taxi Drivers Accuse Police Of Harassment In Barrage Of Tickets WAMU ...Officers in the Metropolitan Police Department’s Fifth District were responsible for writing 1,368 tickets to cabbies from Jan. through Oct. 2015, more than three times the 394 tickets written in the city’s other six police districts combined, according to data obtained by the Teamsters Union Local 922 and shared with WAMU 88.5. The Teamsters’ lawyers are defending the drivers in court, claiming many of the tickets are bogus...
Teamsters, Carhaul Employers to Resume Contract Negotiations Teamster.org ...The Teamsters National Automobile Transporters Industry Negotiating Committee (TNATINC) and carhaul employer representatives will reconvene this Wednesday, Jan. 13 and Thursday, Jan. 14 in Detroit to discuss and exchange proposals for a new national contract. In December, both sides made progress toward a new tentative agreement. While several of the outstanding contract issues have been largely resolved, both sides are still evaluating serious and difficult economic issues...
School district support staff union to challenge Teamsters election victory Review Journal ...A nearly 15-year fight to unseat the labor union that represents more than 11,000 bus drivers, custodians and other support staff who work for the Clark County School District again will head to court soon.
Thanks to a change in rules governing public-sector unions in Nevada, the Teamsters Local 14 claimed a landslide victory. But a lawyer for the Education Support Employees Association, which represents school support staff, promised to "promptly" challenge that in state court...
Minnesota Teamsters Endorse Angie Craig for 2nd Congressional District Teamster.org ...Today, Teamsters across Minnesota endorsed Angie Craig for Congress in the 2nd Congressional seat race set for this fall. “We are pleased to put our support behind Angie Craig who we know will be a strong advocate for working men and women across Minnesota and our country,” said Teamsters Joint Council 32 President Larry Yoswa...
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
Tensions rise as workers for Apple contractor in Indonesia plan strike Jakarta Post ...Authorities in Batam, Riau Islands, have called on thousands of workers from a major local company to drop plans to begin a three-week strike on Monday. Batam Free Trade Zone Management Agency public relations and promotions director Purnomo Andiantono said the concerns emerged after some 2,000 workers from PT Amtek Engineering Batam last week announced a plan to stage a collective strike...
UK Transport Union Announces Three 24-Hour Underground Strikes Sputnik News ...The United Kingdom's biggest Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union announced on Monday that London Underground staff were to stage three 24-hour strikes and a week of industrial action in two separate disputes over pay and night tube services. According to the RMT statement, Underground workers will strike for 24 hours on January 26, February 15 and February 17 over disputes about pay...
Tug boat workers' strike to disrupt shipping industry Financial Review ...Delays are expected to plague Australia's big east coast ports on Tuesday and Wednesday, with workers planning to walk off the job after an agreement could not be struck with tug boat engineers. The industrial action is protected and is over a new enterprise agreement between the Australian Institute of Marine and Power Engineers and operator Svitzer Australia...
Ontario correctional workers give up right to strike to reach deal CBC ...Ontario's correctional workers and the government have agreed to move to binding arbitration within the next 60 days — and to designate the province's nearly 6,000 jail guards, parole and probation officers as essential service workers. That means the union agreed to give up its right to strike, not just for this contract but for successive ones...
Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal to be signed in NZ NZ Herald ...The controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal will be signed into existence in New Zealand. Chile let the cat out of the bag early by announcing the signing last week, before officials were ready, leading to swift backpedaling from organisers. But the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade has just confirmed an event will be held in Auckland in early February...
DeLauro defies Obama on State of the Union issue CT Mirror ...Once again, U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro is defying President Obama as he prepares to deliver his State of the Union address. Once again, the split is over trade. DeLauro, D-3rd District, is leading a fight against one of the things Obama wants to leave as part of his legacy – a Trans-Pacific Partnership with 11 other nations that ring the Pacific Ocean...
Trans-Pacific Partnership could be worth almost nothing to Australia Mashable ...Over the five years it was negotiated, the potential economic impact of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), set to become one of the biggest free trade deals of all time, has been condemned and praised with equal ferocity. Australian Trade Minister Andrew Robb claimed the TPP would deliver "enormous benefits" to Australia. Now the World Bank has looked into the matter, and as it turns out, all that secrecy has added up to very little for Australia...
Tamil National Alliance backs austerity, pro-investor policies in Sri Lanka WSWS.org ...As the year began, the Tamil nationalist organizations in Sri Lanka escalated their support for austerity and the use of Sri Lankan workers as cheap labor for international capital. Mavai Senathirajah, a leading parliamentarian of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), told the media, “we are expecting several development projects and economic zones in the North-East”...
Greece Renews Challenge to Creditors’ Austerity Policies Wall Street Journal ...Greece’s left-led government renewed its challenge to its creditors’ austerity policies on Tuesday, vowing to resist further pension cuts while calling on Europe to let Greece meet budget targets mainly via economic growth, not belt-tightening. “The best way to fill this gap [in Greece’s budget] isn't by reducing, but by increasing the economy,” Labor Minister George Katrougalos said...
Haiti Earthquake Anniversary: Garment Workers Still Struggle to Survive Solidarity Center ...Six years after a major earthquake devastated the Haitian capital and its environs and the international community promised to “build back better,” Haitian workers say their daily lives are a struggle for survival, with their meager wages insufficient to cover basic expenses. In recent interviews, Haitian garment workers told the Solidarity Center that they are worse off today than before the quake...
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
How Corporate Political Spending Will Stay Secret in Wisconsin PR Watch ...Wisconsin Republicans are insisting that they didn't intend to allow corporate political donations to remain secret under the recent overhaul of the state's campaign finance laws. But secrecy, in fact, has become the distinguishing characteristic of Wisconsin elections. And that is by design. Sweeping campaign finance changes signed into law by Governor Scott Walker last month allowed corporations to donate up to $12,000 directly to "segregated funds"...
State ballot measure filed to raise minimum wage to $13.50 Seattle Times ...Supporters of raising Washington state’s minimum wage filed a ballot measure Monday that seeks to incrementally raise Washington’s minimum wage to $13.50 an hour over four years starting in 2017, as well as provide paid sick leave to employees without it. The initiative was announced at a news conference by a coalition of workers and union members...
Are Neighboring States Putting Pressure on N.H. Lawmakers to Boost Minimum Wage? NHPR ...The new legislative session kicked off last week, as lawmakers began the process of again sifting through the hundreds of new bills. Many of these proposals would affect New Hampshire’s business community, including raising the state’s minimum wage, an issue that hasn’t gone anywhere in the past...
House Committee Hears Voter ID Proposal Today Ozarks First ...Two voter photo ID proposals will be heard Tuesday by the Missouri House’s Elections committee. Representative Tony Dugger (R-Hartville) is proposing a constitutional amendment that would ask voters to approve requiring a photo ID at the polls. A companion bill sponsored by Representative Justin Alferman (R-Hermann) would create the structure for voter photo ID if the ballot issue passes...
Kasich: New mothers should work at home online, not get paid family leave Daily Kos ...Screw paid parental leave. Republican presidential candidate (yes, still) and Ohio Gov. John Kasich thinks new mothers and fathers should rely on their employers to “try to be creative” instead of being required to offer paid leave. And if the extent of their employers’ creativity is “come to work or you’re fired,” as it is for so many Americans, oh well...
Is Ohio headed for 'right-to-work' anyway? Cincinnati.com ...Remember that political grudge match called Senate Bill 5? A U.S. Supreme Court case on whether government workers must pay union dues against their wills could upend a key part of Ohioans' decisive vote against the anti-collective bargaining law. If the court rules against unions – and it's looking like it might – Ohio's public workers could become "right-to-work" overnight...
Michigan Knew Last Year That Flint’s Water Might Be Poisoned But Decided Not to Tell Anyone Slate ...Michigan governor Rick Snyder declared last week that the poisonously high levels of lead in drinking water in Flint, Michigan constitute a state of emergency. Reporting by Michigan Radio and research by the ACLU, though, alleges that the state government itself may have broken laws last year to cover up evidence of high lead levels that were turned up in tests it was supervising...
UAW Donating Water To Flint Residents WILX ...Members of the United Auto Workers union are donating drinking water to Flint residents affected by the city's water crisis. The Flint Journal reported Saturday that bottled water would be brought to the Food Bank of Eastern Michigan in a caravan of trucks. An emergency has been declared in Flint where water drawn from the Flint River leached lead from old plumbing for months...
USW: NLRB Issues Third Consolidated Complaint against Asarco PR Newswire ...The United Steelworkers (USW) today said that Region 28 of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has issued a third consolidated complaint against Asarco, LLC, which includes an allegation that the company unlawfully implemented portions of its so-called "last, best and final" contract proposal on Dec. 1, 2015, in the absence of a bargaining impasse...
National Labor Board takes McDonald’s to court Al Jazeera ...Current and former McDonald’s workers who accuse the fast-food giant of illegal union-busting will get their day in court on Monday, when an administrative law judge is expected to begin hearing arguments in a major unfair labor practice suit. The Obama administration's National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) will represent the workers in a case that could have wide-ranging consequences for the McDonald’s franchising model...
Graduate Students at Private Universities Could Soon Have the Right to Unionize The Nation ... Late last year, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) finally agreed to review the cases of Columbia University and New School graduate students who have been campaigning for years to form an official union on their campus. Their pending decision could overturn a precedent that has hamstrung labor organizing on private college and university campuses for over a decade...
Detroit Teachers Hold Sick-Out to Demand Fixes to School's "Abominable" Problems Common Dreams ...Detroit teachers on Monday organized a "sick-out" to call attention to the school district's "abominable" problems, including filthy buildings and overwhelmingly large class sizes, and called on officials to follow through on long-held promises to salvage the city's educational system. Ivy Bailey, interim president of the Detroit Federation of Teachers (DFT), said Monday, "The deplorable conditions in our schools have created a serious environmental and educational crisis"...
Why Transportation Workers Should Care About Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association TTD.org ...Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association (CTA) is an orchestrated, malicious attack on workers’ rights. This case isn’t just about teachers in California—it’s about weakening the rights of workers, specifically those employed in the public sector. The group behind the court case is the Center for Individual Rights, which has ties to greedy CEOs and wealthy special interests...
This is why you’re burning out: Science proves being on call is just as stressful as working Salon ...A recent study links extended work availability with decreased calmness, mood, and energy levels. By looking at industries from technical services to nursing, the study evaluated the effects of being on-call — that is, not at work, but being expected to remain available by phone for questions or customer requests...
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
Powerball’s $1.3 Billion Swindle Of Americans Think Progress ...In October, the consortium of states that runs Powerball approved a series of rule changes that made it much harder to win the jackpot. The purpose of this change was to increase the chances that there would be no grand prize winner for any given drawing. The purpose of creating massive jackpots is because they induce more people to play. The prospect of big payouts spark a flood of free media attention. For all the money Americans spend, they get very little in return — particularly the poorest...
Clinton calls for stopping immigration raids USA Today ...Hillary Clinton on Monday called on the Obama administration to end raids that target undocumented immigrants who recently arrived from Central America. Clinton, whose statement came during the Iowa Black and Brown forum, said that enforcement efforts should be "humane." "We have laws and we must be guided by those laws, but we shouldn't have armed federal officers showing up at peoples' homes, taking women and children out of their beds in the middle of the night"...
A Pill That Cures Hepatitis Costs Just $4, but If You Live in America It's $1,000 Alternet ...Nearly one year after receiving FDA approval, on October 10, 2014, Gilead Sciences Inc. patented Harvoni, which is Solvaldi combined with one of these inhibitors. Global demand for Harvoni quickly skyrocketed as,according to the World Health Organization, there are currently 130-150 million people living with chronic hepatitis C, globally...
The defining American crisis our corporate media still can’t be bothered to cover Salon ...Of the five Republican debates and of the three Democratic debates, not one moderator has asked a question involving the words “poverty” or “poor.” In the GOP debates, the candidates only bring up the topic as a way to swipe President Obama, which is fair enough but is not a discussion of poverty much less a good-faith attempt to mitigate it. By comparison, the Democratic debate moderators brought up “ISIS” or “Terrorism” 21 times total in all three debates...
White Nationalist PAC Blankets Iowa With Robocalls For Trump TPM ...Some registered voters in Iowa received robocalls Saturday from a white nationalist super PAC that urged them to support Donald Trump in the 2016 election: “I urge you to vote for Donald Trump because he is the one candidate who points out that we should accept immigrants who are good for America. We don’t need Muslims. We need smart, well-educated white people who will assimilate to our culture"...
Historic Settlement over NYPD's Anti-Muslim Spying Imposes Oversight & Bars Ethnic-Based Targeting Democracy Now ...In a major legal victory, New York City will appoint an independent civilian monitor to oversee the New York Police Department’s counterterrorism activities. The announcement comes after two lawsuits challenged the NYPD’s programs of spying on Muslims and religious centers. The suits argued the NYPD violated the U.S. and New York state constitutions by singling out and stigmatizing entire communities based on their religion...
