Today's Teamster News 11.20.13

Teamsters File Suit Against Allegiant Air   Teamsters Local 1224   ...The International Brotherhood of Teamsters Airline Division and Teamsters Local 1224 filed a lawsuit against Allegiant Air Friday afternoon, November 15, in the federal district court in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.  The lawsuit alleges that Allegiant Air is violating the Railway Labor Act by disregarding many of the provisions and protections contained in the Work Rules Agreement negotiated by Allegiant Air and AAPAG, the former independent union representing the pilots of Allegiant Air...
Teamsters, church distribute free dinners  Troy Messenger   ...This Thanksgiving, the Teamsters National Black Caucus and the youth department of Dunn’s Chapel AME Church are teaming up for their sixth annual distribution of Thanksgiving meals for the elderly, handicapped and disabled veterans on November 23...
36-Hour Strike Targets Trucking Companies at LA and Long Beach Ports  89.3 KPCC   ...Dozens of truck drivers for companies that move cargo in and out of the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are walking picket lines on Monday, as part of a long-running campaign by the Teamsters Union to organize truck drivers at ports nationwide...
Port Truck Drivers On Strike in Long Beach  teamster.org   ...Port truck drivers employed by Green Fleet, Pac9 and American Logistics were joined on picket lines by Teamster port drivers from New Jersey along with drivers from Savannah and Seattle during the 36-hour strike in Long Beach. See the video...
Revealed: McDonalds tells workers to “sing away stress,” “chew away cares,” and go to church  Salon   ...“Stress hormone levels rise by 15% after ten minutes of complaining" the giant corporation warns employees online...
Wal-Mart could pay every U.S. employee $14.89 just by not buying its own stock  The Salon   ...Rather than buying stock to enrich Waltons, says new report, Wal-Mart could use the same cash to give $5.83 raises...
Meet The Lawmaker Trying To Protect Workers' Thanksgivings  Huffington Post   ...(Mike) Foley, a Democrat representing Cleveland in the Ohio House of Representatives, plans to introduce a bill in the next several weeks requiring that stores open on Thanksgiving pay their workers triple time. The bill would also protect workers from retaliation if they opt out of working the holiday...
Congress May Have Just Killed The Trans-Pacific Partnership   The Diplomat   ...The increasingly beleaguered Trans-Pacific Partnership might have been delivered a mortal blow last week when a large bipartisan group of Congress members came out against giving President Obama Fast Track Trade Promotion Authority...
JPMorgan finalizes $13 billion settlement with U.S. over toxic mortgages  Washington Post   ...This marks the largest penalty ever levied against a single company...
Capital gains: Spending on contracts and lobbying propels a wave of new wealth in D .C.  Washington Post   ...The winners in the new Washington are not just the former senators, party consiglieri and four-star generals who have always profited from their connections. Now they are also the former bureaucrats, accountants and staff officers for whom unimagined riches are suddenly possible...
OSHA Levies $1 Million Fine Against Carrier for Firing Whistleblowers   Trucking Info   ...The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has ordered Gaines Motor Lines of N.C. along with company officials to compensate four former truck drivers who were fired in violation of federal whistleblower laws and pay more than $1 million in back pay wages, interest and damages...
Kids to Skip Meals After Food Stamp Cuts  AlterNet   ...A map published by Stateline highlights the impact of $5 billion in food stamp cuts across the country...
Right-wing pension-cutters get humiliated by their own survey data  Salon   ...Though the anti-pension coalition has spent millions of dollars on ads and public campaigns to portray public employees as greedy parasites, the pollsters found that “voters have generally favorable views of public employees” and that those favorable views are found among voters of both political parties. Poll respondents gave teachers, police officers and state public employees net favorability ratings of 88, 86 and 60 percent, respectively....
How Austerity Kills Innovation  Alternet   ... the most important background condition for any seller of things is the ability of other people to buy the things you want to sell. Thus, a years-long spell of mass unemployment will be absolute poison to the entrepreneur class as a whole...
A ‘Historic Moment’ for Campus Solidarity  In These Times   ...In a labor action rarely seen on university campuses, graduate student employees in the University of California system announced on Wednesday that they plan to strike alongside university service workers walking off the job next week due to allegations of illegal retaliation against members of their union...
State Rep. Uses Sledgehammer To Destroy Homeless People’s Possessions  ThinkProgress   ...five-term State Rep. Tom Brower (D) ... told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser about his own personal brand of “justice”: “If I see shopping carts that I can’t identify, I will destroy them so they can’t be pushed on the streets.” Brower has waged this campaign for two weeks, estimating that he’s smashed about 30 shopping carts in the process....
Google to pay Massachusetts $357k to settle allegations that it improperly tracked some consumers’ Web habits  Boston Globe   ...Google Inc. has agreed to pay the Commonwealth $357,000 as part of a $17 million settlement with nearly 40 states to settle allegations that it placed tracking cookies on the computers of some consumers using the Safari browser without their knowledge or consent, the office of Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley said Monday...

Today's Teamster News 03.14.13

Out of Control – New Report Exposes JPMorgan Chase as Mostly a Criminal Enterprise  naked capitalism   ...as you read the report, it’s hard to see the bank as anything but a criminal racket just days away from imploding, were it not propped up by implicit bailout guarantees and light-touch regulators...
Oil Riding Rails Creates Jobs as Buffett Puffs Chest: Freight  Bloomberg News   ...They’re boosting employment in the process: Rail transportation payrolls have climbed by 9.1 percent, a pace more than twice as fast as total job growth, since the end of 2009...
Sales at U.S. Retailers Advance by Most in Five Months   Bloomberg News  ...Costco Wholesale Corp. (COST) and Ford Motor Co. are benefiting as employment gains bolster confidence and enable Americans to withstand the payroll tax increase that took effect in January...
Europeans want U.S. to Ditch “Buy American” Rules  Trade Reform   ...Obama keeps pushing a Trans Atlantic trade deal with Europe, despite the fact that other trade deals have helped make the trade deficit worse. One of the goals for Europeans is to get rid of Buy American rules in the U.S...
Majority of British children will soon be growing up in families struggling 'below the breadline'  The Independent   ...The impact on children of the economic downturn and austerity measures was underlined by an analysis that concluded that the number of under-18s living in households below minimum income standards would increase by 690,000 between 2010 and 2015...
Getting rich off of schoolchildren  Salon   ...Stop pretending wealthy CEOs pushing for charter schools are altruistic "reformers." They're raking in billions...
Measure May Undermine Union Politics  Arizona Public Radio   ...Voters may get a chance next year to decide on a measure that would undermine union political influence...
What tax changes mean for Michigan's working class  Michigan Public Radio   ...many poor, working-class families saw an increase in their taxes in addition to tax increases they felt from other legislative changes...
Editorial: Missouri Senate blames unions for economic woes. Oh, please.  St. Louis Post-Dispatch   ...Early Tuesday morning, while some of those workers were helping roll over your grandma or grandpa at the nursing home so they didn’t get bed sores, the Republicans who lead the state Senate set things right. They gave initial approval to a bill that will make it a little harder for the unions that represent those public employees to collect fees that might be used to elect thoughtful people to elected office...
Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll resigns amid state, federal probe of non-profit veterans group  Miami Herald   ...Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll abruptly resigned Tuesday after law enforcement officials questioned her about ties to a purported veterans charity organization at the center of a $300 million multi-state racketeering investigation...
Report: Some Pa. lawmakers received $117K in gifts; legislators deny freebies influenced votes  The Republic   ...Some Pennsylvania lawmakers took free trips to Ireland, Poland, Taiwan and Turkey. Others accepted tickets to Steelers, Penn State, Pitt and 76ers games, according to financial disclosure statements filed with the State Ethics Commission...
Governor trying to reduce pensions for state workers/teachers  WHTM   ..."Our (Pennsylvania) members did pay for a lot of years and they continued to pay," said Wendell Young, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers union. "They earned those benefits and they played by the rules. Now this governor comes along and kind of forgets that the state got a pass."...
Scott Walker signs bills on worker training, secretary of state powers  Milwaukee Journal Sentinel   ...La Follette sharply criticized the measure, which is the latest in a long line of steps to strip the secretary of state's office of most of its meaningful powers...
Hoffa, Floyd Demand Mayor Bloomberg Negotiate Settlement Of Equal Pay Class Action Suit By School Safety Agents  IBT   ...More than 5,000 current and former school safety agents—70 percent of whom are women—have joined the gender-based wage discrimination suit, which seeks to remedy the fact that other peace-officer titles, which are 70 percent male, receive $7,000 more in annual pay...
Judge orders Pratt to rehire truck drivers  McClatchy-Tribune   ...The ruling could also result in the truck drivers getting union representation. The company in April terminated Lower Nazareth resident Christian Salazar, who was speaking with other truck drivers about organizing a union with the Teamsters. Shortly afterward, the company laid off 11 additional truck drivers...
Teamsters to rally  Youngstown Vindicator   ...Teamsters Local 377 will have a rally and leafleting event today at the headquarters of Exal Corp. at One Performance Place to stir up support and inform employees of its efforts to unionize 364 workers at the aluminum-can-making company...

Today's Teamster News 10.14.12

JPMorgan Chase's Debt Collection Agency's Sleazy Tactics to Squeeze Student Loans Debtors of Their Last Cash  Alternet   ...First, the big banks create debt. Then they get paid to collect it...
Questions From a Bailout Eyewitness  New York Times   ...“The balance of power has shifted too far in favor of large financial interests in Washington,” she said in the interview. “The bailouts, and the quantitative easing that continues, have overwhelmingly benefited the upper classes. Workers, homeowners, small businesses have by and large been left to fend for themselves...”
William Koch, Billionaire Koch Brother, Accused Of Imprisoning Executive  Huffington Post   ...Billionaire William Koch is facing a lawsuit in federal court from a former top-level employee who claims the energy mogul lured him to a secluded property, where he was imprisoned and interrogated for a period of time, according to a report in Courthouse News...
Soda Industry Sues to Stop Bloomberg's Sales Limits  New York Times   ...The American soft-drink industry, joined by several New York restaurant and business groups, filed a lawsuit on Friday that aims to overturn restrictions, proposed by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and approved by the Board of Health, on sales of large sugary drinks at many dining locations in the city...
Vote to join Teamsters throws off Hamiltonban contract renewal  The Evening Sun   ...The Hamiltonban Township Board of Supervisors doesn't plan to renew its police department contract at the end of this year because the department's lone officer has decided to join the Teamsters union, board chairman Robert Gordon said...
Hoffa Rocks Cleveland At GOTV Rally  IBT   ...Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa called on hundreds of members of the Teamsters to get out the vote on Nov. 6 and do their part to protect the middle class during a rally today at Teamsters Local 436 in Valley View, Ohio...

Today's Teamster News 05.15.12

Germans getting ahead by getting along  Washington Times   ...Underlying Germany’s vaunted manufacturing machine is a system of close collaboration among business, labor and government that has served the nation well in recent years and stands in marked contrast to the increasingly adversarial system in the U.S. Most factories in Germany are unionized, businesses have labor representatives on their boards, and union demands typically are not sources of tension or hostility with management.,,
KC Man Sues Bank Over Foreclosure Error  KMBC.com   ...Allan Danforth bought a house in a short sale in fall 2010. JPMorgan Chase held the previous owner's mortgage. Danforth said two months later, without notice, the bank changed the locks and hauled away $25,000 worth of furniture, appliances and family heirlooms...
China’s Yuan Remains Hugely Undervalued, Dragging down U.S. Growth, Jobs  Trade Reform   ...The biggest barrier to U.S. sales in China, and greatest advantage Chinese products enjoy in U.S. markets, remains the undervalued yuan...
Making Banks Small Enough And Simple Enough To Fail  The Baseline Scenario   ...This week’s debacle at JP Morgan only strengthens the case for this kind of legislative action in the near future. The proposition is simple: Too-big-to-fail banks should be made smaller, and preferably small enough to fail without causing global panic...
Secrecy, Dishonesty At Center Of Walker's Performance, Recallability  The Political Environment   ...This penchant for secrecy and power politicking has corroded the state's civic climate and led to poisonous partisan legislating and ideological policy-making...
Teamsters get 3 percent raise in each of two years  Pekin Daily Times   ...Teamsters Local 627 workers with the city of Pekin will see a 3 percent pay increase in each of the next few years, but they will also see a slight increase in their health insurance contributions...

Chase jails man for cashing legit Chase check

This story will turn your blood to steam. A Washington state branch of JPMorgan Chase ordered a construction worker arrested because he tried to cash a cashier's check issued by JPMorgan Chase.

His name is Ikenna Njoku. Apparently a teller just didn't like his looks. So she gave him the runaround, took his driver's license and the check and disappeared. When he returned the next day to get his money, the police were waiting for him and threw him in jail. For five days. His car was impounded and sold and he lost his job.

KING 5 in Seattle has the whole story:

A Seattle attorney offered to help. Last week, Felix Luna sent Chase a scathing letter. ...

“It’s one thing to make a mistake,” Luna said. “It’s one thing to make multiple errors of judgment like Chase has made and then, once you realize that your error has caused such harm to somebody else, to just ignore it for a year. I think he deserved better. I think all their customers do.”

Like Njoku, KING 5 had a difficult time getting answers from Chase. A week after first contacting them, they sent a two line e-mail.

The. Banks. Are. Too. Big.

Today's Teamster News 02.04.11

Gallup Finds U.S. Unemployment Up Slightly in January to 9.8%  Gallup   ...Underemployment at 18.9%, compared with 19.0% at the end of December...
Learning To Walk: Fear, Shame And Your Underwater Mortgage  Huffington Post   ...Nearly one in every four homeowners across the country owe more on their home than it's worth...
JP Morgan Hid Doubts on Madoff, Documents Suggest  New York Times   ...but continued to do business with him, according to internal bank documents made public in a lawsuit on Thursday...
Crowd debates right-to-work bill  Manchester Union-Leader   ...A right-to-work bill that would end the days when non-union workers in union shops have to pay a share of union expenses is making its way through the New Hampshire House...
Union leaders, officials ask A&P distributor to extend deadline on 1,200 layoffs  (Local 863)  Newark Star-Ledger   ...Union leaders and state and local officials today made an 11th-hour plea for a grocer store distributor to stay in Middlesex County instead of laying off its 1,200 workers..
Unions campaign for members at merged carrier  Houston Chronicle   ...Hoffa began a push Thursday to convert thousands of United Airlines workers now represented by another union...
YRC Worldwide, ABF Freight System Appeal Gets Expedited Review  Kansas City Business Journal   ...the company warned that drawing out the process could harm its effort to restructure its finances...
Analysts: YRC Worldwide will report lower revenue, more losses  Kansas City Business Journal  ...Analysts...predict that the company will report a loss of $1.37 a share for the three months ending Dec. 31...
UPS Increases Dividend 11%, Projecting Strong 2011 Cash Flow  Bloomberg   ...“We believe that 2011 is going to be a great year for UPS ...
ABF Freight Posts $58 Million Loss for 2010  Journal of Commerce   ...TruckingHigher rates help LTL trucker cut losses 42 percent from 2009...
Oilsands crude will flow regardless of Keystone XL, says new report  Alaska Dispatch   ... the study found that regardless of whether or not the line is built, the U.S. will still import oil from Western Canada...
2 big sections of high-speed rail line face delays  Associated Press   ...The state agency...has recommended delaying the environmental impact report on segments running through two densely populated areas until at least next year...
Workers angered about changes in Florida pension plan  Examiner   ...Unions have circulated a video of Scott during his campaign in which he promised not to support a reduction in state pension benefits...
Local 700 Wins Overtime Grievance   IBT   ...Bureau of Rodent Control Must Post Overtime Lists...
House, Senate toss labor provision  Memphis Commercial Appeal   ...The Senate began debating a Federal Aviation Administration authorization bill Wednesday that does not contain a controversial labor provision, objected to by FedEx...
City Hall Docks Pay For Workers' Snow Day  (Local 237)  NY1News   ...Some city workers are criticizing Mayor Bloomberg for a mixup in messaging during last week's snowstorm...
USA 3000 Pilots Withdraw from Voluntary ASAP  PR Newswire  

Why we're poorer

The peerless Dean Baker has the answer in a nutshell: 

...the rules get changed whenever it is necessary to make sure that money flows upward from ordinary workers to the rich...

Here are a few numbers that reveal just how poor America has become: 42 million Americans are on food stamps; 48.5 million Americans are on Medicaid; 35.9 million Americans live below the poverty line.

Those horrific numbers could get worse if the attacks on working people continue. Overt attacks include governors putting union-busters on the state payroll, right-to-work (for LESS) proposals in state legislatures, demonizing government workers, attempts to eliminate prevailing wage and project labor agreements and on and on and on.

Baker, though, identifies a subtler attack: legal changes that siphon money from people who work to people with wealth. "Debts Should Be Honored, Except When the Money Is Owed to Working People," is the headline to his excellent article today at truthout. That working people can't collect what's owed them, writes Baker,

...seems to be the lesson that our nation's leaders are trying to pound home to us.

Baker notes that members of Congress are trying to find a way to let states declare bankruptcy so they don't have to pay their pension obligations. 

State governments are legally obligated to pay retirees the pensions they worked for just like any other debt. It is fascinating to see the interest by many pro-business conservative types in defaulting on this debt. Many of these same people have been determined to argue that homeowners who are underwater in their mortgages should pay their debts....back in 2005, some of the same crew were busy rewriting the bankruptcy law. They wanted to make it harder for individuals to get out of their debt through bankruptcy...

But when the banks were close to bankruptcy because of their own recklessness, the government gave them trillions of dollars of loans for practically nothing, writes Baker. The Treasury even changed tax law (though the Constitution says only Congress can change tax law) to let Wells Fargo buy insolvent Wachovia in 2008.

One of the bailed-out banks that's getting all those near-zero-interest loans is JP Morgan. And guess what? The more people go on food stamps, the more JP Morgan makes because it contracts to provide food stamp debit cards in 26 states and the District of Columbia.

Writes Baker, sadly,

...In 21st century America, upward redistribution seems to be the guiding principle.