Teamsters
Hoffa: Port Driver Efforts Show The Long, Hard Fight For Justice Huffington Post ...The port truck industry is highly fragmented, poorly organized and grossly inefficient. Deregulation has forced trucking companies to engage in cutthroat competition. Consequently, many are gearing up to fight the efforts of drivers and the Teamsters to organize and receive a fair wage. Luckily, more and more decision makers are beginning to side with workers...
Teamsters, Consumers And Community Protest Sprouts Farmers Market teamster.org ...“It’s time for UNFI to stop the bullying and stop the intimidation,” said Steve Vairma, Teamsters Warehouse Division Director. “Over the years UNFI has tried to undermine workers who have asserted their rights protected by United States law, even where the Teamsters have been certified as the workers’ union through federally supervised elections. UNFI wants to destroy its workers’ fundamental rights join together to improve their working conditions.”...
Trade
The Trans-Pacific Partnership clause everyone should oppose Washington Post …Agreeing to ISDS in this enormous new treaty would tilt the playing field in the United States further in favor of big multinational corporations. Worse, it would undermine U.S. sovereignty...
Obama's Trans-Pacific Partnership Promises Echo Clinton's On NAFTA Op-Ed News …NAFTA -- the North American Free Trade Agreement -- was sold with promises of jobs and prosperity on all sides of the border. What really happened was that an increased trade deficit sucked demand and jobs out of the U.S. economy; workers lost bargaining power, resulting in pay and benefit cuts; and income inequality rose as corporations pocketed the wage differential. Now the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is being sold with literally the same promises…
Trade Crazy: The Push For Fast-Track Trade Authority (opinion) Huffington Post ...There are many issues in the TPP that our trading partners don't like. They don't like rules that will force them to pay more for drugs from Pfizer and Merck, nor do they like rules that will make them pay more money to Time Warner for Hollywood movies, or to Microsoft for software...
State Battles
Wisconsin Senate approves right-to-work bill Chicago Tribune …The Wisconsin state Senate narrowly passed a right-to-work bill Wednesday and sent it on to the Assembly, where the Republican majority is wider...
Koch-Funded Allies Descend on Wisconsin to Push Right to Work Center for Media and Democracy …It's a rare citizen who would rush to testify that the higher wages, benefits, and training that unions bring are a bad idea. Fortunately, the Wisconsin GOP had the full support of the Koch-funded "think tanks" that are a critical part of the right-wing infrastructure...
Registrations at Wisconsin Senate hearing overwhelmingly against right-to-work bill Associated Press …Opponents to right-to-work outnumbered supporters 70-to-1 at a Wisconsin state Senate public hearing that was cut short before Republicans voted to advance the bill...
Kenton County To Adopt "Right to Work" Ordinance River City News ...Kenton County will pass a so-called "Right to Work" ordinance at its next meeting after hearing a first reading on Tuesday night in Covington...
Missouri house passes two voter ID measures CedarRepublican.com …The Missouri House passed two measures Thursday, Feb. 19, which would make Missouri the 32nd state to require a government issued ID to vote...
Iowa Senate Approves $8.75 Minimum Wage Bill Des Moines Register ...Senate File 269 was approved 27-22 with no debate. All 26 Democrats voted for the bill. Only one Republican, Sen. Rick Bertrand of Sioux City, voted yes. Iowa's minimum wage is currently $7.25 per hour. The bill would increase Iowa's minimum wage to $8 an hour on July 1, 2015, and to $8.75 an hour on July 1, 2016...
This Billionaire Governor Taxed The Rich And Increased The Minimum Wage -- Now, His State's Economy Is One Of The Best In The Country Huffington Post ...The reason Gov. Dayton was able to radically transform Minnesota's economy into one of the best in the nation is simple arithmetic. Raising taxes on those who can afford to pay more will turn a deficit into a surplus. Raising the minimum wage will increase the median income. And in a state where education is a budget priority and economic growth is one of the highest in the nation, it only makes sense that more businesses would stay. It's official -- trickle-down economics is bunk. Minnesota has proven it once and for all. If you believe otherwise, you are wrong...
War on Workers
T.J. Maxx to hike minimum wage for workers CNN Monday …The owner of T.J. Maxx, Marshall's and Home Goods is raising wages for its workers to at least $10 an hour by next year...
JPMorgan, Still On 2-Year Probation, Under Scrutiny in Gold Fixing Probe Wall Street on Parade …the U.S. Justice Department is investigating at least 10 of the biggest U.S. and foreign banks for potentially rigging the gold market and other precious metals markets. That investigation comes while ongoing investigations continue into the potential rigging by big banks of the setting of interest-rate benchmarks and foreign currency...
Student Debt Strikers Take On Corinthian College Mathbabe …Good for them. Corinthian College is a predatory and fraudulent company which was in the business of gaming the federal loan system while making false promises to its students. Those students are victims of fraud and should not be the ones paying back the government money for an education they never got. Instead, Corinthian should pay back the money...
Iron Worker At Barclays Center Crushed To Death By Steel Beams New York Daily News ...A 52-year-old iron worker constructing a green roof on the Barclays Center in Brooklyn was crushed to death by steel beams on Tuesday, police said. Hardhat Peter Zepf was helping to move the massive beams — called joists — from a truck onto a hoist when four of the parts fell on him near the Atlantic Ave. side of the arena around 1 p.m., witnesses said...
Miscellaneous
Janet Yellen Puts Fed On Path To Lift Rates Wall Street Journal ...If the economy continues to strengthen as the Fed anticipates and officials become more confident that low inflation will rise toward their 2% goal, she said, the central bank “will at some point begin considering an increase in the target range for the federal funds rate.”...
Showing posts with label JPMorgan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label JPMorgan. Show all posts
Thursday, February 26, 2015
Monday, January 12, 2015
Today's Teamster News 01.12.15
Trade
Ron Patenaude: Rep. Neal should defend Massachusetts economy Berkshire Eagle ...Richard Neal, has been exceptionally disappointing on a key issue for Massachusetts workers. Rep. Neal was one of just a handful of Democrats in the House of Representatives to not stand up against an undemocratic 1970s-era procedure known as Fast Track that has been used to railroad the most controversial and damaging of U.S. "trade" deals through Congress...
New U.S. international trade deal raises concerns about shadowy negotiations Borderzine ...Clouded in secrecy, the United States is negotiating a trade agreement with 11 other countries throughout the Asia-Pacific region, including Mexico, known as the Trans Pacific Partnership (TTP)...
Voters Not Congress Should Decide TPP Trade Pact Scoop ...Regardless of which political party controls the US House of Representatives, the Senate or the White House, they should defer to the will of the American people on an issue as important as the TPP (Trans Pacific Pact) because the deal impacts the role of our democratically controlled government in our economy and many other parts of our economic future...
State Battles
Fields expects Fiscal Court voteon right-to-work The Daily News ...Butler County [Kentucky] Judge-Executive David Fields said he expects Fiscal Court to take a vote on a right-to-work ordinance, but that vote might not come until February...
Privatizing liquor won't yield a pot of gold for the state budget: David Fillman PennLive ...Incredibly, some lawmakers and editorial writers are touting risky proposals to privatize the PLCB [PA Liquor Control Board] as a way out of this mess. This new push for a bad idea is surprising, given the factual record established in the last four years...
At best, right-to-work is a questionable idea Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ...The chances of a right-to-work bill passing the state Legislature look considerably dimmer than they did just a month ago — and that's a good thing as far as we're concerned...
War on Workers
Why do Republicans Hate Social Security? (opinion) Economic Populist ...when they say "government", the Republicans don't mean corporate subsidies, corporate bankruptcies, corporate bailouts, defense spending or federal disaster relief when Mother Nature destroys one of their great Red States. No, to the GOP, "government" means anything that primarily benefits either the poor or working-class Americans (aka the 99%)...
A GOP Effect on the NLRB? Human Resources Executive Online ...it’s anyone’s guess what will happen after a coalition representing an array of industry sectors and businesses—including the Society for Human Resource Management—filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to stop the NLRB from moving forward with its “ambush-elections” rule, which it issued on Dec. 12...
Is Nothing Sacred at JPMorgan? Wall Street on Parade ...the Christ Church Cathedral in Indianapolis filed a lawsuit in Federal Court alleging that its endowment funds meant to feed and shelter homeless families and children, keep food banks stocked, and give exhausted pastors a sabbatical, ended up as a wealth transfer scheme at JPMorgan...
Worker dies after falling off roof in Edmonton MacroInsider ...A man died right after falling off the roof he was working on Friday morning in north Edmonton.He was functioning for B & B Roofing Ltd. as the prime contractor for Sabal Houses...
$60 meth bust led to shooting of officer Albuquerque Journal ...t was an undercover operation to bust two men for selling $60 worth of methamphetamine, but things didn’t go as planned. An Albuquerque police lieutenant shot a fellow officer who was working undercover in a McDonald’s parking lot near Central and Tramway just before noon Friday...
Miscellaneous
Blue billionaires on top Politico ...The 100 biggest donors of 2014 gave nearly $174 million to Democrats, compared to more than $140 million to Republicans,…that edge doesn’t take into account contributions to deep-pocketed non-profit groups that don’t disclose their donors. They heavily favored Republicans, with reports showing conservative secret money non-profits outspending liberal ones $127 million to $33 million...that’s just a fraction of the overall undisclosed money spent in 2014...
Ron Patenaude: Rep. Neal should defend Massachusetts economy Berkshire Eagle ...Richard Neal, has been exceptionally disappointing on a key issue for Massachusetts workers. Rep. Neal was one of just a handful of Democrats in the House of Representatives to not stand up against an undemocratic 1970s-era procedure known as Fast Track that has been used to railroad the most controversial and damaging of U.S. "trade" deals through Congress...
New U.S. international trade deal raises concerns about shadowy negotiations Borderzine ...Clouded in secrecy, the United States is negotiating a trade agreement with 11 other countries throughout the Asia-Pacific region, including Mexico, known as the Trans Pacific Partnership (TTP)...
Voters Not Congress Should Decide TPP Trade Pact Scoop ...Regardless of which political party controls the US House of Representatives, the Senate or the White House, they should defer to the will of the American people on an issue as important as the TPP (Trans Pacific Pact) because the deal impacts the role of our democratically controlled government in our economy and many other parts of our economic future...
State Battles
Fields expects Fiscal Court voteon right-to-work The Daily News ...Butler County [Kentucky] Judge-Executive David Fields said he expects Fiscal Court to take a vote on a right-to-work ordinance, but that vote might not come until February...
Privatizing liquor won't yield a pot of gold for the state budget: David Fillman PennLive ...Incredibly, some lawmakers and editorial writers are touting risky proposals to privatize the PLCB [PA Liquor Control Board] as a way out of this mess. This new push for a bad idea is surprising, given the factual record established in the last four years...
At best, right-to-work is a questionable idea Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ...The chances of a right-to-work bill passing the state Legislature look considerably dimmer than they did just a month ago — and that's a good thing as far as we're concerned...
War on Workers
Why do Republicans Hate Social Security? (opinion) Economic Populist ...when they say "government", the Republicans don't mean corporate subsidies, corporate bankruptcies, corporate bailouts, defense spending or federal disaster relief when Mother Nature destroys one of their great Red States. No, to the GOP, "government" means anything that primarily benefits either the poor or working-class Americans (aka the 99%)...
A GOP Effect on the NLRB? Human Resources Executive Online ...it’s anyone’s guess what will happen after a coalition representing an array of industry sectors and businesses—including the Society for Human Resource Management—filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to stop the NLRB from moving forward with its “ambush-elections” rule, which it issued on Dec. 12...
Is Nothing Sacred at JPMorgan? Wall Street on Parade ...the Christ Church Cathedral in Indianapolis filed a lawsuit in Federal Court alleging that its endowment funds meant to feed and shelter homeless families and children, keep food banks stocked, and give exhausted pastors a sabbatical, ended up as a wealth transfer scheme at JPMorgan...
Worker dies after falling off roof in Edmonton MacroInsider ...A man died right after falling off the roof he was working on Friday morning in north Edmonton.He was functioning for B & B Roofing Ltd. as the prime contractor for Sabal Houses...
$60 meth bust led to shooting of officer Albuquerque Journal ...t was an undercover operation to bust two men for selling $60 worth of methamphetamine, but things didn’t go as planned. An Albuquerque police lieutenant shot a fellow officer who was working undercover in a McDonald’s parking lot near Central and Tramway just before noon Friday...
Miscellaneous
Blue billionaires on top Politico ...The 100 biggest donors of 2014 gave nearly $174 million to Democrats, compared to more than $140 million to Republicans,…that edge doesn’t take into account contributions to deep-pocketed non-profit groups that don’t disclose their donors. They heavily favored Republicans, with reports showing conservative secret money non-profits outspending liberal ones $127 million to $33 million...that’s just a fraction of the overall undisclosed money spent in 2014...
Friday, December 5, 2014
Today's Teamster News 12.05.14
Teamster News
First Student School Bus Workers Vote To Join Teamsters Local 653 teamster.org ...School bus workers at the Abington, Mass., First Student yard have voted overwhelmingly, 38-8, in favor of representation by Teamsters Local 653 in South Easton, Mass. The group of 60 drivers and monitors transport children in the Rockland, Holbrook and Weymouth school districts...
New Yorkers Swamp City Council Members With Phone Calls, Opposing Bill de Blasio’s Ban On Horse Carriages New York Daily News ...Angered by Mayor de Blasio’s drive to ban horse-drawn carriages, New Yorkers fought back Tuesday with their fingertips — swamping City Council members with phone calls urging them to oppose the mayor’s plan...
LA schools reach tentative agreement with supervisor staff union; teacher negotiations ongoing Associated Press ...LAUSD and Teamsters Local 572 announced agreements on job protections, food service practices and payment cycles Wednesday. The two sides had previously reached an agreement on salary...
Union workers turn the heat up in fight over oil terminal in the Bronx New York Daily News ...Dozens of union workers at a Bronx heating oil supply facility braved freezing rain Wednesday to fight for their jobs and protest the transfer of their facility...
College Scholarships Available To Sons and Daughters of Teamster Members teamster.org ...College scholarships, ranging in award amount between $1,000 and $10,000, are available to the sons, daughters or financially-dependent grandchildren of Teamster members through the James R. Hoffa Memorial Scholarship Fund...
Trade
Obama Claims that Economic Reality Will Make It Hard to Get Political Support for His Trade Deals Center for Economic Policy and Research ... It's not clear why President Obama would be surprised that most of the public opposes trade deals that are likely to redistribute more income upward...
US To Determine Whether Child Labour Is Used In Indian Carpets Economic Times ...The US has proposed to determine whether Indian carpets are produced by forced or indentured child labour, even as it added cotton and sugarcane to the already existing child labour produced list from India...
State Battles
Wisconsin Senate to quickly take up right-to-work legislation Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ...Nearly four years after mostly eliminating collective bargaining for public workers, Republicans are considering putting limits on most private-sector unions while giving an unprecedented exemption to the labor groups that support them politically...
After Republican Wins, Right To Work Bills On The Agenda Washington Post ...Republicans in at least five states — Wisconsin, New Mexico, New Hampshire, Ohio and Missouri — have introduced or plan to introduce versions of the law in legislative sessions that will begin in January. Legislators in Colorado, Kentucky, Montana and Pennsylvania are all likely to push similar laws, though union-friendly Democratic governors in each state will act as firewalls...
War on Workers
Minimum wage fight hits the streets of nearly 200 U.S. cities Reuters ...Thousands of U.S. fast-food workers and supporters marched in nearly 200 cities around the United States on Thursday including Chicago and Boston to advocate for a $15 minimum wage and other labor rights...
JPMorgan Rushed to Hire Trader Who Suggested on His Resume That He Knew How to Game Electric Markets Wall Street on Parade ...“There’s two things that I find incredible about this. First, that anyone would advertise in a resume that they know about a flaw in the system — signaling that they’re ready and willing to exploit that flaw. And, second, that somebody would hire the person sending that signal.”...
The Incredible Shrinking Incomes Of Young Americans The Atlantic ...In retail, wholesale, leisure, and hospitality—which together employ more than one quarter of this age group—real wages have fallen more than 10 percent since 2007...
Which U.S. Cities Have the Biggest Income Gaps? Wall Street Journal ...Fairfield County had the widest inequality of any U.S. metro area in 2009-13, according to newly released Census data...
Unsteady Incomes Keep Millions Behind On Bills New York Times ...A more recent national survey by the Federal Reserve, based on 2013 data, suggests the problem has not only persisted as the economy recovers but may even have worsened. More than 30 percent of Americans reported spikes and dips in their incomes. Among that group, 42 percent cited an irregular work schedule; an additional 27 percent blamed a span of joblessness or seasonal work...
Ohio Power Prices Could Spike With U.S. Plan To Cut Power Plant CO2 Emissions Cleveland Plain Dealer ...The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio filed a 67-page analysis with the U.S. EPA arguing the federal proposal would spike power prices, hurt industry and destabilize the regional high-voltage grid...
Oil Trains Hide In Plain Sight Wall Street Journal ...Finding the locations of oil-filled trains remains difficult, even in states that don’t consider the information top secret. There are no federal or state rules requiring public notice despite several fiery accidents involving oil trains, including one in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, that killed 47 people...
Miscellaneous
The NSA Listened In On Trade Group Talks To Stay Ahead Of Phone Encryption The Verge ...By monitoring any new encryption proposals before they were made public, the agency was able to get a head start on finding ways to break the new systems...
First Student School Bus Workers Vote To Join Teamsters Local 653 teamster.org ...School bus workers at the Abington, Mass., First Student yard have voted overwhelmingly, 38-8, in favor of representation by Teamsters Local 653 in South Easton, Mass. The group of 60 drivers and monitors transport children in the Rockland, Holbrook and Weymouth school districts...
New Yorkers Swamp City Council Members With Phone Calls, Opposing Bill de Blasio’s Ban On Horse Carriages New York Daily News ...Angered by Mayor de Blasio’s drive to ban horse-drawn carriages, New Yorkers fought back Tuesday with their fingertips — swamping City Council members with phone calls urging them to oppose the mayor’s plan...
LA schools reach tentative agreement with supervisor staff union; teacher negotiations ongoing Associated Press ...LAUSD and Teamsters Local 572 announced agreements on job protections, food service practices and payment cycles Wednesday. The two sides had previously reached an agreement on salary...
Union workers turn the heat up in fight over oil terminal in the Bronx New York Daily News ...Dozens of union workers at a Bronx heating oil supply facility braved freezing rain Wednesday to fight for their jobs and protest the transfer of their facility...
College Scholarships Available To Sons and Daughters of Teamster Members teamster.org ...College scholarships, ranging in award amount between $1,000 and $10,000, are available to the sons, daughters or financially-dependent grandchildren of Teamster members through the James R. Hoffa Memorial Scholarship Fund...
Trade
Obama Claims that Economic Reality Will Make It Hard to Get Political Support for His Trade Deals Center for Economic Policy and Research ... It's not clear why President Obama would be surprised that most of the public opposes trade deals that are likely to redistribute more income upward...
US To Determine Whether Child Labour Is Used In Indian Carpets Economic Times ...The US has proposed to determine whether Indian carpets are produced by forced or indentured child labour, even as it added cotton and sugarcane to the already existing child labour produced list from India...
State Battles
Wisconsin Senate to quickly take up right-to-work legislation Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ...Nearly four years after mostly eliminating collective bargaining for public workers, Republicans are considering putting limits on most private-sector unions while giving an unprecedented exemption to the labor groups that support them politically...
After Republican Wins, Right To Work Bills On The Agenda Washington Post ...Republicans in at least five states — Wisconsin, New Mexico, New Hampshire, Ohio and Missouri — have introduced or plan to introduce versions of the law in legislative sessions that will begin in January. Legislators in Colorado, Kentucky, Montana and Pennsylvania are all likely to push similar laws, though union-friendly Democratic governors in each state will act as firewalls...
War on Workers
Minimum wage fight hits the streets of nearly 200 U.S. cities Reuters ...Thousands of U.S. fast-food workers and supporters marched in nearly 200 cities around the United States on Thursday including Chicago and Boston to advocate for a $15 minimum wage and other labor rights...
JPMorgan Rushed to Hire Trader Who Suggested on His Resume That He Knew How to Game Electric Markets Wall Street on Parade ...“There’s two things that I find incredible about this. First, that anyone would advertise in a resume that they know about a flaw in the system — signaling that they’re ready and willing to exploit that flaw. And, second, that somebody would hire the person sending that signal.”...
The Incredible Shrinking Incomes Of Young Americans The Atlantic ...In retail, wholesale, leisure, and hospitality—which together employ more than one quarter of this age group—real wages have fallen more than 10 percent since 2007...
Which U.S. Cities Have the Biggest Income Gaps? Wall Street Journal ...Fairfield County had the widest inequality of any U.S. metro area in 2009-13, according to newly released Census data...
Unsteady Incomes Keep Millions Behind On Bills New York Times ...A more recent national survey by the Federal Reserve, based on 2013 data, suggests the problem has not only persisted as the economy recovers but may even have worsened. More than 30 percent of Americans reported spikes and dips in their incomes. Among that group, 42 percent cited an irregular work schedule; an additional 27 percent blamed a span of joblessness or seasonal work...
Ohio Power Prices Could Spike With U.S. Plan To Cut Power Plant CO2 Emissions Cleveland Plain Dealer ...The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio filed a 67-page analysis with the U.S. EPA arguing the federal proposal would spike power prices, hurt industry and destabilize the regional high-voltage grid...
Oil Trains Hide In Plain Sight Wall Street Journal ...Finding the locations of oil-filled trains remains difficult, even in states that don’t consider the information top secret. There are no federal or state rules requiring public notice despite several fiery accidents involving oil trains, including one in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, that killed 47 people...
Miscellaneous
The NSA Listened In On Trade Group Talks To Stay Ahead Of Phone Encryption The Verge ...By monitoring any new encryption proposals before they were made public, the agency was able to get a head start on finding ways to break the new systems...
Monday, November 10, 2014
Today's Teamster News 11.10.14
Teamsters
Boston’s parking attendants unionizing Boston Globe ...Now, Teamsters Local 25 is working to organize the roughly 1,600 parking workers in Greater Boston, aiming to improve their working conditions and increase union membership...
Centerplate and Teamsters Reach Agreement for Employees at AT&T Park, Other SF Venues: New Pressure on Local 2 UNITE HERE to Bargain in Good Faith San Francisco Sentinel ...Centerplate, one of the largest hospitality and concession companies in North America, and San Francisco’s Teamsters Local 853 recently announced the ratification of a collective bargaining agreement for 200 retail and food service employees working at AT&T Park, Candlestick, and the Cow Palace...
Teamsters Union Accuses Dart Caring More About Protecting Inmates Than Officer Safety CBS Chicago ...One of the nation’s largest local unions is berating Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart in a full page ad in the Chicago Sun Times on Sunday...
Trade
US rules out TPP trade deal at APEC meeting Middle East North America Financial Network ...There will be no "major announcement" on a Washington-backed Asia-Pacific free trade deal during a meeting of leaders from the region in Beijing this week, US Trade Representative Michael Froman said yesterday...
State Battles
Scott Walker victory opens doors for a new wave of conservative bills — and a presidential run Wisconsin State Journal ...Walker says he hopes to fast-track the state budget process, expand the taxpayer-funded school voucher program, require drug tests for those seeking food stamps and unemployment benefits, and continue income and property tax cuts...
Link Shows How Lobby Firm Cultivates Influence New York Times ...Attorney General Pam Bondi of Florida, after taking a free ride on a chartered jet last year to a resort island far from her home state, made an unusual offer to one of the corporate lawyers from Washington who helped foot the bill: an invitation to stay at her Tampa home while recuperating from surgery...
War on Workers
October's Payroll Gains Are Primarily in Low Paying Jobs Economic Populist ... The job gains this month sound great until one realizes 52,000 of those jobs were in notoriously low paying Leisure and Hospitality and yet another 27,100 of those jobs were in loaded with low paying jobs retail trade sector...
Household Wealth Falls Considerably for Majority of Americans Center for Economic and Policy Research ...The net wealth for the middle quintile (ages 35-44) of mid-career workers averaged $50,100, less than half the net wealth of the same quintile ($103,800) in 1989...
The $9 Billion Witness: Meet JPMorgan Chase's Worst Nightmare Rolling Stone ...Back in 2006, as a deal manager at the gigantic bank, Fleischmann first witnessed, then tried to stop, what she describes as "massive criminal securities fraud" in the bank's mortgage operations...
Dark Money Helped Win the Senate (opinion) New York Times ...The next Senate was just elected on the greatest wave of secret, special-interest money ever raised in a congressional election...
EMTA worker dies days after being hurt on the job Go Erie ...Erie County Deputy Coroner Dennis Suscheck said Jacob Schwab died at 4:34 a.m. Sunday at UPMC Hamot. Schwab was hurt Tuesday while repairing a bus when something in his work area exploded and struck him in the head...
Oil worker injured in rig fire dies KSAT.com ...A rig worker burned in an oil well fire two weeks ago has died...
Miscellaneous
Republicans Are Only Sometimes the Party of Uber New York Times ...On Monday, R Street and Engine, a group advocating policies that support start-ups, will release a report card rating the 50 largest cities on their friendliness to ride sharing. The eight cities receiving failing grades include ones in blue areas (Philadelphia and Portland, Ore.) and red ones (Omaha, Phoenix and San Antonio)...
Boston’s parking attendants unionizing Boston Globe ...Now, Teamsters Local 25 is working to organize the roughly 1,600 parking workers in Greater Boston, aiming to improve their working conditions and increase union membership...
Centerplate and Teamsters Reach Agreement for Employees at AT&T Park, Other SF Venues: New Pressure on Local 2 UNITE HERE to Bargain in Good Faith San Francisco Sentinel ...Centerplate, one of the largest hospitality and concession companies in North America, and San Francisco’s Teamsters Local 853 recently announced the ratification of a collective bargaining agreement for 200 retail and food service employees working at AT&T Park, Candlestick, and the Cow Palace...
Teamsters Union Accuses Dart Caring More About Protecting Inmates Than Officer Safety CBS Chicago ...One of the nation’s largest local unions is berating Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart in a full page ad in the Chicago Sun Times on Sunday...
Trade
US rules out TPP trade deal at APEC meeting Middle East North America Financial Network ...There will be no "major announcement" on a Washington-backed Asia-Pacific free trade deal during a meeting of leaders from the region in Beijing this week, US Trade Representative Michael Froman said yesterday...
State Battles
Scott Walker victory opens doors for a new wave of conservative bills — and a presidential run Wisconsin State Journal ...Walker says he hopes to fast-track the state budget process, expand the taxpayer-funded school voucher program, require drug tests for those seeking food stamps and unemployment benefits, and continue income and property tax cuts...
Link Shows How Lobby Firm Cultivates Influence New York Times ...Attorney General Pam Bondi of Florida, after taking a free ride on a chartered jet last year to a resort island far from her home state, made an unusual offer to one of the corporate lawyers from Washington who helped foot the bill: an invitation to stay at her Tampa home while recuperating from surgery...
War on Workers
October's Payroll Gains Are Primarily in Low Paying Jobs Economic Populist ... The job gains this month sound great until one realizes 52,000 of those jobs were in notoriously low paying Leisure and Hospitality and yet another 27,100 of those jobs were in loaded with low paying jobs retail trade sector...
Household Wealth Falls Considerably for Majority of Americans Center for Economic and Policy Research ...The net wealth for the middle quintile (ages 35-44) of mid-career workers averaged $50,100, less than half the net wealth of the same quintile ($103,800) in 1989...
The $9 Billion Witness: Meet JPMorgan Chase's Worst Nightmare Rolling Stone ...Back in 2006, as a deal manager at the gigantic bank, Fleischmann first witnessed, then tried to stop, what she describes as "massive criminal securities fraud" in the bank's mortgage operations...
Dark Money Helped Win the Senate (opinion) New York Times ...The next Senate was just elected on the greatest wave of secret, special-interest money ever raised in a congressional election...
EMTA worker dies days after being hurt on the job Go Erie ...Erie County Deputy Coroner Dennis Suscheck said Jacob Schwab died at 4:34 a.m. Sunday at UPMC Hamot. Schwab was hurt Tuesday while repairing a bus when something in his work area exploded and struck him in the head...
Oil worker injured in rig fire dies KSAT.com ...A rig worker burned in an oil well fire two weeks ago has died...
Miscellaneous
Republicans Are Only Sometimes the Party of Uber New York Times ...On Monday, R Street and Engine, a group advocating policies that support start-ups, will release a report card rating the 50 largest cities on their friendliness to ride sharing. The eight cities receiving failing grades include ones in blue areas (Philadelphia and Portland, Ore.) and red ones (Omaha, Phoenix and San Antonio)...
Tuesday, November 4, 2014
Today's Teamster News 11.04.14
Teamster News
Sysco Drivers In Missouri Vote To Join Teamsters Local 41 teamster.org ...Sysco drivers voted to join Teamsters Local 41 in Kansas City, Mo. There are 43 drivers in the bargaining unit and the vote count announced today was 25-14...
Hoffa Makes Final GOTV Push At Worksites Around Detroit teamster.org ...Teamster General President Jim Hoffa pounded the pavement today across the Detroit metro area, encouraging hundreds of members to exercise their right to vote in tomorrow's election...
Deadly Driving Fleet Owner ...What's so hard about coming up with a rational set of training standards for new commercial truck drivers? Apparently the task is so difficult that the Dept. of Transportation has failed to respond to two specific demands from Congress to up the requirements for obtaining a truck driving license for more than 20 years. It has taken so long that the Teamsters and a few safety interest groups have now turned to the courts for a remedy...
Sysco Doesn't See US Foods Deal Closing This Year Market Watch ...Sysco Corp. said Monday that it doesn't expect its pending acquisition of US Foods to close before the first quarter of next year...
Trade
Corporations Aren't People And They Aren't Nation States, Either (opinion) Huffington Post ...Despite what some politicians say, corporations aren't people. But, even worse, when it comes to the world's biggest trade deals, corporations are actually treated like nation states. Thankfully, a major storm is brewing that could put a crack in this fundamental pillar of the existing free trade regime...
State Battles
SKW = Scott Walker Crooks & Liars ...prosecutors have stated that Walker is at the center of another "criminal scheme". This secondary investigation is about the illegal collaboration between Walker's campaign and dark money groups. Walker hasn't denied doing this...
David Perdue: 'Sure, We Closed Plants All The Time' Daily Kos ...Said Perdue: “Sure, we closed down plants all the time. I mean, but it was never in direct relationship to things going on offshore.”...
Even Without Voter ID Laws, Minority Voters Face More Hurdles To Casting Ballots Mother Jones ...Nationally, African Americans waited about twice as long to vote in the 2012 election as white people (23 minutes on average versus 12 minutes); Hispanics waited 19 minutes. White people who live in neighborhoods whose residents are less than 5 percent minority had the shortest of all wait times, just 7 minutes...
Kansas Tax Cuts Fail Again, As New Revenue Numbers Plague Sam Brownback But Help Paul Davis (opinion) Kansas City Star ..the Brownback tax-cut “experiment” is not working and Kansas voters need to oust him at the polls on Tuesday. The tax cuts are bleeding the state of needed funds to pay for high-quality public services to the people of Kansas. If the revenue problems continue, the next governor is going to have to cut services to the people — and certainly halt proposed bigger tax reductions in their tracks...
Holder sends poll watchers to 18 states The Hill ...The Department of Justice plans to send federal monitors to 18 states to watch for discrimination against voters. Monitors will head to Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, North Carolina, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin...
War on Workers
JP Morgan Under Criminal Investigation for Foreign Exchange Trading Abuses naked capitalism ...J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. said the Justice Department is conducting a criminal investigation of its foreign-exchange-related matters and bumped up a figure measuring the bank’s potential legal costs by $1.3 billion, according to a regulatory filing that the bank released Monday...
The New York Fed Has Contracted JPMorgan to Hold Over $1.7 Trillion of its QE Bonds Despite Two Felony Counts and Serial Charges of Crimes Wall Street on Parade ...During the period in which JPMorgan has been the trusted custodian of a major part of the assets of the U.S. central bank, it has been repeatedly charged with serial crimes...
More Protests, Concern Over Growth Of Oil Trains In Washington NBC News ...Thursday's meeting was moved to the Red Lion Hotel on Evergreen Park Drive after it became clear that there wouldn't be enough room to hold it at the Department of Ecology offices in Lacey, said Lisa Copeland, the agency's communications manager. A meeting was held in Spokane earlier this week, a city also seeing growing train traffic...
Supreme Court Rejects Challenge to Senate Filibuster Rule Wall Street Journal ...The Supreme Court on Monday declined to review whether the Senate’s filibuster rule violates the Constitution, denying without comment an appeal filed by a public interest group and four House Democrats...
Uber Charges Man $539 For 18-Mile Trip yahoo.com ...Many Halloween partiers opted to pay a driver instead of risking the cost of a DUI, but a Denver man who used Uber the popular car service paid a much, much higher price than he ever thought possible...
Worker killed in Marshall power line accident Charleston Gazette ...One worker was killed and another seriously hurt in an electric power line accident Monday afternoon in Marshall County, authorities said...
Charlotte-based worker killed by falling tape measure wsoctv.com ... A man delivering sheet rock to a construction site in New Jersey was killed Monday when a tape measure fell 50 stories and hit him on the head, authorities said...
Miscellaneous
Voting Information League of Women Voters ...Click on the link and enter your address for personalized voting information including the address of your polling place, hours you can vote and voter registration information...
Waiting For Keystone Al-Jazeera America ...Baker, a city a few miles from the North Dakota border, home to a little less than 2,000 residents, makes clear why: It’s bustling thanks to the ancillary effects of the oil industry, mainly drilling in eastern Montana and western North Dakota. Hotels are full, real estate prices are high, and the population is slowly growing...
NSA Phone Program Faces Key Court Test The Hill ...Along with other high-profile court cases challenging the constitutionality of the NSA’s spying, civil liberties advocates are sensing that the wind is at their backs, even as Congress has failed to push legislation past the finish line...
Sysco Drivers In Missouri Vote To Join Teamsters Local 41 teamster.org ...Sysco drivers voted to join Teamsters Local 41 in Kansas City, Mo. There are 43 drivers in the bargaining unit and the vote count announced today was 25-14...
Hoffa Makes Final GOTV Push At Worksites Around Detroit teamster.org ...Teamster General President Jim Hoffa pounded the pavement today across the Detroit metro area, encouraging hundreds of members to exercise their right to vote in tomorrow's election...
Deadly Driving Fleet Owner ...What's so hard about coming up with a rational set of training standards for new commercial truck drivers? Apparently the task is so difficult that the Dept. of Transportation has failed to respond to two specific demands from Congress to up the requirements for obtaining a truck driving license for more than 20 years. It has taken so long that the Teamsters and a few safety interest groups have now turned to the courts for a remedy...
Sysco Doesn't See US Foods Deal Closing This Year Market Watch ...Sysco Corp. said Monday that it doesn't expect its pending acquisition of US Foods to close before the first quarter of next year...
Trade
Corporations Aren't People And They Aren't Nation States, Either (opinion) Huffington Post ...Despite what some politicians say, corporations aren't people. But, even worse, when it comes to the world's biggest trade deals, corporations are actually treated like nation states. Thankfully, a major storm is brewing that could put a crack in this fundamental pillar of the existing free trade regime...
State Battles
SKW = Scott Walker Crooks & Liars ...prosecutors have stated that Walker is at the center of another "criminal scheme". This secondary investigation is about the illegal collaboration between Walker's campaign and dark money groups. Walker hasn't denied doing this...
David Perdue: 'Sure, We Closed Plants All The Time' Daily Kos ...Said Perdue: “Sure, we closed down plants all the time. I mean, but it was never in direct relationship to things going on offshore.”...
Even Without Voter ID Laws, Minority Voters Face More Hurdles To Casting Ballots Mother Jones ...Nationally, African Americans waited about twice as long to vote in the 2012 election as white people (23 minutes on average versus 12 minutes); Hispanics waited 19 minutes. White people who live in neighborhoods whose residents are less than 5 percent minority had the shortest of all wait times, just 7 minutes...
Kansas Tax Cuts Fail Again, As New Revenue Numbers Plague Sam Brownback But Help Paul Davis (opinion) Kansas City Star ..the Brownback tax-cut “experiment” is not working and Kansas voters need to oust him at the polls on Tuesday. The tax cuts are bleeding the state of needed funds to pay for high-quality public services to the people of Kansas. If the revenue problems continue, the next governor is going to have to cut services to the people — and certainly halt proposed bigger tax reductions in their tracks...
Holder sends poll watchers to 18 states The Hill ...The Department of Justice plans to send federal monitors to 18 states to watch for discrimination against voters. Monitors will head to Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, North Carolina, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin...
War on Workers
JP Morgan Under Criminal Investigation for Foreign Exchange Trading Abuses naked capitalism ...J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. said the Justice Department is conducting a criminal investigation of its foreign-exchange-related matters and bumped up a figure measuring the bank’s potential legal costs by $1.3 billion, according to a regulatory filing that the bank released Monday...
The New York Fed Has Contracted JPMorgan to Hold Over $1.7 Trillion of its QE Bonds Despite Two Felony Counts and Serial Charges of Crimes Wall Street on Parade ...During the period in which JPMorgan has been the trusted custodian of a major part of the assets of the U.S. central bank, it has been repeatedly charged with serial crimes...
More Protests, Concern Over Growth Of Oil Trains In Washington NBC News ...Thursday's meeting was moved to the Red Lion Hotel on Evergreen Park Drive after it became clear that there wouldn't be enough room to hold it at the Department of Ecology offices in Lacey, said Lisa Copeland, the agency's communications manager. A meeting was held in Spokane earlier this week, a city also seeing growing train traffic...
Supreme Court Rejects Challenge to Senate Filibuster Rule Wall Street Journal ...The Supreme Court on Monday declined to review whether the Senate’s filibuster rule violates the Constitution, denying without comment an appeal filed by a public interest group and four House Democrats...
Uber Charges Man $539 For 18-Mile Trip yahoo.com ...Many Halloween partiers opted to pay a driver instead of risking the cost of a DUI, but a Denver man who used Uber the popular car service paid a much, much higher price than he ever thought possible...
Worker killed in Marshall power line accident Charleston Gazette ...One worker was killed and another seriously hurt in an electric power line accident Monday afternoon in Marshall County, authorities said...
Charlotte-based worker killed by falling tape measure wsoctv.com ... A man delivering sheet rock to a construction site in New Jersey was killed Monday when a tape measure fell 50 stories and hit him on the head, authorities said...
Miscellaneous
Voting Information League of Women Voters ...Click on the link and enter your address for personalized voting information including the address of your polling place, hours you can vote and voter registration information...
Waiting For Keystone Al-Jazeera America ...Baker, a city a few miles from the North Dakota border, home to a little less than 2,000 residents, makes clear why: It’s bustling thanks to the ancillary effects of the oil industry, mainly drilling in eastern Montana and western North Dakota. Hotels are full, real estate prices are high, and the population is slowly growing...
NSA Phone Program Faces Key Court Test The Hill ...Along with other high-profile court cases challenging the constitutionality of the NSA’s spying, civil liberties advocates are sensing that the wind is at their backs, even as Congress has failed to push legislation past the finish line...
Thursday, September 11, 2014
Today's Teamster News 09.11.14
Teamster News
Teamsters Score Victory For Investor Rights At Sysco teamster.org ...The Teamsters Union scored a major victory for Sysco [NYSE: SYY] shareholders when the board of directors agreed this week to adopt the union’s proposal to amend company by-laws and provide shareholders with the right to call a special meeting. In 2015, a quorum of Sysco investors owning 25 percent of the company’s outstanding shares will be empowered to call a special meeting of shareholders...
Teamsters aim to organize FedEx Freight Indy drivers Indianapolis Star ...The Teamsters union is trying to whip up pro-union sentiment among 250 local FedEx Freight drivers as it lays the groundwork for a possible unionization vote...
NM Jail Employees In Union To Receive Retroactive Raise Corrections One ...It is the first contract for Teamsters Local 492 of Albuquerque, which was elected by jail employees to represent county detention sergeants, detention officers and booking specialists. The raise is for all union members regardless of their salary level...
Detroit's Creditors Are Morally Bankrupt (opinion) teamster.org ...Detroit city worker retirees have given more than their fair share when it comes to making pension concessions. So have current municipal employees. Together, they helped Motor City officials earlier this year cobble together a “grand bargain” as part of the city’s bankruptcy plan. But evidently, that’s still not enough for some...
Trade
U.S. groups leery of fast-track trade deals demand transparency Reuters ...More than 500 U.S. organizations on Wednesday urged the Obama administration to ditch the system of congressional authority to fast-track trade negotiations, demanding a more transparent method of handling trade negotiations...
U.S. Commerce Drops Duties On Turkish Steel Rebar Imports, Confirms Mexican Duties Reuters ...The U.S. Commerce Department on Tuesday dropped a preliminary decision to impose anti-dumping duties on steel rebar imports from Turkey while it confirmed anti-dumping duties on Mexican material of up to 66.7 percent...
State Battles
Gov. Brown Signs Bill Requiring Paid Sick Leave For Millions Of Workers CBS Los Angeles ...Assembly Bill 1522, known as The Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014, requires employers to provide paid sick leave to any employee who works in California for 30 or more days within a year from the commencement of employment starting on or after July 1, 2015...
Federal Panel Suggests Koch-Tied Judge Overreached When He Halted Walker Probe Center for Media and Democracy ...Tuesday's hearing suggested the 7th Circuit judges were wary of a federal court cutting off a state criminal investigation, being conducted under state law, and overseen by state courts...
Court Hears Arguments On Secret Scott Walker Investigation MSNBC ...A 7th Circuit Court of Appeals panel heard oral arguments Tuesday from Wisconsin prosecutors and attorneys for the conservative political group Wisconsin Club for Growth State prosecutors had been investigating since 2012 whether Walker and his campaign staff illegally coordinated with conservative groups to raise and spend campaign dollars in a way that skirted state contribution limits...
Minneapolis Leaders Consider $15-An-Hour Minimum Wage Minneapolis Star Tribune ...The new effort comes six weeks after the statewide minimum wage went up from $7.25 to $8 an hour — on its way to $9.50 in 2016.Cano is taking a measured approach. She said that process would begin with an update to the city’s rules for how it pays its contractors, then be expanded to include a higher minimum wage for all people working in Minneapolis, similar to Seattle’s recent minimum wage boost...
Tennessee Hasn't Inspected Tobacco Farms Since 2006 The Tennessean ...unlike some other states, Tennessee has virtually no oversight of child labor on tobacco farms. The Tennessee Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the state agency charged with inspecting and enforcing safety and sanitation standards on the state's farms, has conducted no tobacco farm inspections since December 2006...
Homeowners steamrolled as Florida courts clear foreclosure backlog Center for Public Integrity ...“The state’s entire court system has been compromised,” says Matt Weidner, an outspoken foreclosure defense lawyer who practices in Tampa and St. Petersburg and blogs about the system. “They’re stripping away private property rights and transferring billions of dollars in assets from individuals to large entities...”
War On Workers
Senate advances Paycheck Fairness Act The Hill ...Senate Republicans decided not to block the advancement of the Paycheck Fairness Act. Democrats needed 60 votes to advance the legislation procedurally; the tally was 73-25 on Wednesday. The move will once again tie up the Senate in debate for days...
Republicans Make Big Advances Thanks to Citizens United American Prospect ...the ruling has significantly benefited Republican candidates for state legislatures -- especially in North Carolina and Tennessee...
Bible College President Admits He Used Foreign Students As Slave Labor crooks and liars ...Miller forced foreign students at his supposedly Christian "Bible college" to live in substandard living conditions, work long hours for little or no pay, and - when students complained - he threatened them with deportation...
Worker Killed After Being Run Over By Trash Truck Tulsa's Channel 8 ...On Wednesday morning a Sand Springs sanitation worker lost his life while on the job...
Worker Killed In Johnston County Oil Rig Accident KTEN ...The sheriff's office says a man was killed when something went horribly wrong at an oil rig in Mannsville, Oklahoma...
Police and fire unions sue City of Indianapolis over alleged contract violations Fox 58 ...Lawyers for the unions accuse city officials of violating union contracts. According to the lawsuit, the city plans to get rid of the current HMO advantage plan beginning this January. The plan would be replaced by a health savings account or (HSA)...
At The Uber For Home Cleaning, Workers Pay A Price For Convenience Washington Post ...At the end of a five-hour trip back and forth, averaged out, he has made $10 an hour, without any taxes being withheld, as they would be if he were an employee. What’s more, he doesn’t get workers’ compensation, unemployment insurance, time off or retirement benefits — all the perks and protections of working for a traditional business...
U.S. mortgage applications fall to lowest since Dec 2000: MBA Reuters ...Applications for U.S. home mortgages fell last week to the lowest since December 2000 as interest rates rose for the first time in four weeks, an industry group said on Wednesday...
Elizabeth Warren: Jamie Dimon Gets $8.5 Million Raise for Illegal Conduct at JPMorgan Wall Street on Parade ...despite the misconduct at these banks that generated tens of billions of dollars in settlement payments by the companies, not a single senior executive at these banks has been criminally prosecuted...
Senators and Other Experts to Appeals Court: NSA's Phone Records Program Is a Massive Invasion of Privacy Electronic Frontier Foundation ...Senators Ron Wyden, Mark Udall, and Martin Heinrich—members of the committee charged with overseeing the NSA—write that they “have seen no evidence that the bulk collection of Americans’ phone records has provided any intelligence of value that could not have been gathered through means that caused far less harm to the privacy interests of millions of Americans.”...
When A ‘Contractor’ Is Really A Cheated Employee (opinion) Tacoma News Tribune ...‘Worker misclassification” is a dry term that smacks of paperwork mistakes and picayune regulations. But as a multi-state McClatchy Newspaper investigation has revealed, it’s often a deliberate scheme to cheat laborers out of wages and defraud the public...
Miscellaneous
Union Members Remember 9/11 By Rebuilding The World Trade Center AFL-CIO ...As millions of Americans took a moment this morning to remember the tragedy that occurred 11 years ago on Sept. 11 in New York City, Virginia and Pennsylvania, military veterans who’ve found careers through the Ironworkers, Laborers (LiUNA), Heat and Frost Insulators and Bricklayers (BAC) are rebuilding the World Trade Center in New York...
Teamsters Score Victory For Investor Rights At Sysco teamster.org ...The Teamsters Union scored a major victory for Sysco [NYSE: SYY] shareholders when the board of directors agreed this week to adopt the union’s proposal to amend company by-laws and provide shareholders with the right to call a special meeting. In 2015, a quorum of Sysco investors owning 25 percent of the company’s outstanding shares will be empowered to call a special meeting of shareholders...
Teamsters aim to organize FedEx Freight Indy drivers Indianapolis Star ...The Teamsters union is trying to whip up pro-union sentiment among 250 local FedEx Freight drivers as it lays the groundwork for a possible unionization vote...
NM Jail Employees In Union To Receive Retroactive Raise Corrections One ...It is the first contract for Teamsters Local 492 of Albuquerque, which was elected by jail employees to represent county detention sergeants, detention officers and booking specialists. The raise is for all union members regardless of their salary level...
Detroit's Creditors Are Morally Bankrupt (opinion) teamster.org ...Detroit city worker retirees have given more than their fair share when it comes to making pension concessions. So have current municipal employees. Together, they helped Motor City officials earlier this year cobble together a “grand bargain” as part of the city’s bankruptcy plan. But evidently, that’s still not enough for some...
Trade
U.S. groups leery of fast-track trade deals demand transparency Reuters ...More than 500 U.S. organizations on Wednesday urged the Obama administration to ditch the system of congressional authority to fast-track trade negotiations, demanding a more transparent method of handling trade negotiations...
U.S. Commerce Drops Duties On Turkish Steel Rebar Imports, Confirms Mexican Duties Reuters ...The U.S. Commerce Department on Tuesday dropped a preliminary decision to impose anti-dumping duties on steel rebar imports from Turkey while it confirmed anti-dumping duties on Mexican material of up to 66.7 percent...
State Battles
Gov. Brown Signs Bill Requiring Paid Sick Leave For Millions Of Workers CBS Los Angeles ...Assembly Bill 1522, known as The Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014, requires employers to provide paid sick leave to any employee who works in California for 30 or more days within a year from the commencement of employment starting on or after July 1, 2015...
Federal Panel Suggests Koch-Tied Judge Overreached When He Halted Walker Probe Center for Media and Democracy ...Tuesday's hearing suggested the 7th Circuit judges were wary of a federal court cutting off a state criminal investigation, being conducted under state law, and overseen by state courts...
Court Hears Arguments On Secret Scott Walker Investigation MSNBC ...A 7th Circuit Court of Appeals panel heard oral arguments Tuesday from Wisconsin prosecutors and attorneys for the conservative political group Wisconsin Club for Growth State prosecutors had been investigating since 2012 whether Walker and his campaign staff illegally coordinated with conservative groups to raise and spend campaign dollars in a way that skirted state contribution limits...
Minneapolis Leaders Consider $15-An-Hour Minimum Wage Minneapolis Star Tribune ...The new effort comes six weeks after the statewide minimum wage went up from $7.25 to $8 an hour — on its way to $9.50 in 2016.Cano is taking a measured approach. She said that process would begin with an update to the city’s rules for how it pays its contractors, then be expanded to include a higher minimum wage for all people working in Minneapolis, similar to Seattle’s recent minimum wage boost...
Tennessee Hasn't Inspected Tobacco Farms Since 2006 The Tennessean ...unlike some other states, Tennessee has virtually no oversight of child labor on tobacco farms. The Tennessee Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the state agency charged with inspecting and enforcing safety and sanitation standards on the state's farms, has conducted no tobacco farm inspections since December 2006...
Homeowners steamrolled as Florida courts clear foreclosure backlog Center for Public Integrity ...“The state’s entire court system has been compromised,” says Matt Weidner, an outspoken foreclosure defense lawyer who practices in Tampa and St. Petersburg and blogs about the system. “They’re stripping away private property rights and transferring billions of dollars in assets from individuals to large entities...”
War On Workers
Senate advances Paycheck Fairness Act The Hill ...Senate Republicans decided not to block the advancement of the Paycheck Fairness Act. Democrats needed 60 votes to advance the legislation procedurally; the tally was 73-25 on Wednesday. The move will once again tie up the Senate in debate for days...
Republicans Make Big Advances Thanks to Citizens United American Prospect ...the ruling has significantly benefited Republican candidates for state legislatures -- especially in North Carolina and Tennessee...
Bible College President Admits He Used Foreign Students As Slave Labor crooks and liars ...Miller forced foreign students at his supposedly Christian "Bible college" to live in substandard living conditions, work long hours for little or no pay, and - when students complained - he threatened them with deportation...
Worker Killed After Being Run Over By Trash Truck Tulsa's Channel 8 ...On Wednesday morning a Sand Springs sanitation worker lost his life while on the job...
Worker Killed In Johnston County Oil Rig Accident KTEN ...The sheriff's office says a man was killed when something went horribly wrong at an oil rig in Mannsville, Oklahoma...
Police and fire unions sue City of Indianapolis over alleged contract violations Fox 58 ...Lawyers for the unions accuse city officials of violating union contracts. According to the lawsuit, the city plans to get rid of the current HMO advantage plan beginning this January. The plan would be replaced by a health savings account or (HSA)...
At The Uber For Home Cleaning, Workers Pay A Price For Convenience Washington Post ...At the end of a five-hour trip back and forth, averaged out, he has made $10 an hour, without any taxes being withheld, as they would be if he were an employee. What’s more, he doesn’t get workers’ compensation, unemployment insurance, time off or retirement benefits — all the perks and protections of working for a traditional business...
U.S. mortgage applications fall to lowest since Dec 2000: MBA Reuters ...Applications for U.S. home mortgages fell last week to the lowest since December 2000 as interest rates rose for the first time in four weeks, an industry group said on Wednesday...
Elizabeth Warren: Jamie Dimon Gets $8.5 Million Raise for Illegal Conduct at JPMorgan Wall Street on Parade ...despite the misconduct at these banks that generated tens of billions of dollars in settlement payments by the companies, not a single senior executive at these banks has been criminally prosecuted...
Senators and Other Experts to Appeals Court: NSA's Phone Records Program Is a Massive Invasion of Privacy Electronic Frontier Foundation ...Senators Ron Wyden, Mark Udall, and Martin Heinrich—members of the committee charged with overseeing the NSA—write that they “have seen no evidence that the bulk collection of Americans’ phone records has provided any intelligence of value that could not have been gathered through means that caused far less harm to the privacy interests of millions of Americans.”...
When A ‘Contractor’ Is Really A Cheated Employee (opinion) Tacoma News Tribune ...‘Worker misclassification” is a dry term that smacks of paperwork mistakes and picayune regulations. But as a multi-state McClatchy Newspaper investigation has revealed, it’s often a deliberate scheme to cheat laborers out of wages and defraud the public...
Miscellaneous
Union Members Remember 9/11 By Rebuilding The World Trade Center AFL-CIO ...As millions of Americans took a moment this morning to remember the tragedy that occurred 11 years ago on Sept. 11 in New York City, Virginia and Pennsylvania, military veterans who’ve found careers through the Ironworkers, Laborers (LiUNA), Heat and Frost Insulators and Bricklayers (BAC) are rebuilding the World Trade Center in New York...
Thursday, September 4, 2014
Today's Teamster News 09.04.14
Teamsters
Unions press for complete rejection of Norwegian Air US flight bid The Hill ...Emboldened by a decision on Tuesday by the Department of Transportation (DOT) to dismiss an attempt by Norwegian Airlines to expedite approval of its bid to gain access to airports in the U.S., labor groups in Washington are pushing the agency now to completely reject the Scandinavian company's request...
Trade
U.S. Sets Steep Preliminary Duties On Chinese Steel Wire Rod Imports Reuters ...The U.S. Department of Commerce on Tuesday set preliminary duties of up to 110 percent on imports of carbon and alloy steel wire rod from China after ruling the products were being sold below cost in the U.S. market...
Dear President Clinton: How’s that China free market thing working out? Trade Reform ...They could use state-owned enterprises, other industrial subsidies, value added taxes, indigenous innovation requirements, currency manipulation as part of a Chinese Communist Party industrial strategy that was going to penetrate the U.S. consumer market at all costs...
Get Rid Of Provisions In Pact That Will Hit Public Health, TPP Negotiators Told The Sun Daily ...Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has called on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiating countries to struck off provisions in the free trade agreement that will severely impact public health of millions of people in Asia...
State Battles
Emanuel To Sign Order Raising Minimum Wage Chicago Contract Workers ABC News ...Mayor Rahm Emanuel is expected to sign an executive order that will require Chicago contractors and subcontractors to pay employees at least $13 an hour...
Why Walker should be held to jobs promise (opinion) Post Crescent ...Of the 65 promises Walker made, none has received more attention than the promise he made to create 250,000 new jobs for Wisconsin in his first term. Walker has created a little over 100,000 jobs in the state, with only four months remaining in his term. PolitiFact has mercifully ruled the promise as "stalled." Even Walker admits he's not going to hit the number he said he would...
California Bill Would Enable Uber, Lyft Drivers To Finally Get Insurance KQED ...AB2293, the ride-service insurance bill that passed the California Legislature last week, could pave the way for drivers for companies like Lyft and Uber to finally get coverage for both personal and commercial use of their vehicles...
Uber Unrest: Drivers In Los Angeles Protest The Slashing Of Rates Salon.com ...Over 50 Los Angeles based Uber drivers gathered in a North Hollywood parking lot, on Tuesday, to protest the ride-sharing app’s declining rates. While one driver, Aya Valilar, states that she still loves the app, she concedes that in her year-and-a-half working as an Uber driver, she’s seen rates slashed four times...
War On Workers
Protesters arrested after blocking BNSF oil train JournalStar.com ...The protest by about a dozen demonstrators blocked some railroad tracks from 6 a.m. local time until about 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday….A sign on the tripod said: "Cut Oil Trains Not Conductors," an apparent reference to a deal negotiated by BNSF and a union to allow the railroad to run some freight trains with only an engineer on board...
Unemployment Trickles Down to Poorer Workers, Study Finds Wall Street Journal ...Unemployment “trickles down” to America’s poorest and most vulnerable because, during recessions, higher-income workers with more education take jobs that are below their qualification level, according to new research...
Apple, Google resume talks with tech workers in hiring lawsuit: filing Reuters ...Plaintiffs accused Apple, Google, Intel (INTC.O) and Adobe (ADBE.O) of conspiring to avoid poaching each other's employees. Last month, U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California rejected a proposed $324.5 million settlement in the class action case, saying it was too low...
US household food security fails to improve Aljazeera America ...More U.S. households are having a hard time putting food on the table than before the recession. But there is a sliver of hope: The numbers are not going up...
Scott Brown: It's Not My Job To Create Jobs (VIDEO) Talking Points Memo ...Former Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA), now a U.S. Senate candidate in New Hampshire, said that his job isn't to create jobs. That's for other Americans...
Volkswagen Union Could Signal Change For Tennessee Chattanooga Times Free Press ...Eric DeLacy ... is among more than 700 workers who have joined a new local union started in March by the United Auto Workers...
Charles Koch Complains He And His Brother Are 'In Front Of The Firing Squad' Huffington Post ...It isn't easy being a politically connected billionaire. At a private political strategy summit earlier this year, Charles Koch lamented that he and his brother David were being unfairly persecuted...
Miscellaneous
Keystone XL: Six Years And Still Waiting Townhall ...September 19th will mark the sixth anniversary of when TransCanada first applied for a presidential permit to build the Keystone XL Pipeline. Hurt the most are the people whose job it is to build and operate the pipeline...
Tesla chooses Nevada for battery factory: Sources CNBC ...Tesla has finally decided that it will build its $5 billion lithium-ion battery plant—dubbed the gigafactory—in Nevada, sources say...
From Russia With Love: JPMorgan Hack May Be Warning, Says Former NSA Chief Bloomberg ...Hackers who stole gigabytes of data from JPMorgan Chase & Co. may have been trying to send a message that U.S. financial institutions can be disrupted, the former director of the National Security Agency said...
Unions press for complete rejection of Norwegian Air US flight bid The Hill ...Emboldened by a decision on Tuesday by the Department of Transportation (DOT) to dismiss an attempt by Norwegian Airlines to expedite approval of its bid to gain access to airports in the U.S., labor groups in Washington are pushing the agency now to completely reject the Scandinavian company's request...
Trade
U.S. Sets Steep Preliminary Duties On Chinese Steel Wire Rod Imports Reuters ...The U.S. Department of Commerce on Tuesday set preliminary duties of up to 110 percent on imports of carbon and alloy steel wire rod from China after ruling the products were being sold below cost in the U.S. market...
Dear President Clinton: How’s that China free market thing working out? Trade Reform ...They could use state-owned enterprises, other industrial subsidies, value added taxes, indigenous innovation requirements, currency manipulation as part of a Chinese Communist Party industrial strategy that was going to penetrate the U.S. consumer market at all costs...
Get Rid Of Provisions In Pact That Will Hit Public Health, TPP Negotiators Told The Sun Daily ...Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has called on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiating countries to struck off provisions in the free trade agreement that will severely impact public health of millions of people in Asia...
State Battles
Emanuel To Sign Order Raising Minimum Wage Chicago Contract Workers ABC News ...Mayor Rahm Emanuel is expected to sign an executive order that will require Chicago contractors and subcontractors to pay employees at least $13 an hour...
Why Walker should be held to jobs promise (opinion) Post Crescent ...Of the 65 promises Walker made, none has received more attention than the promise he made to create 250,000 new jobs for Wisconsin in his first term. Walker has created a little over 100,000 jobs in the state, with only four months remaining in his term. PolitiFact has mercifully ruled the promise as "stalled." Even Walker admits he's not going to hit the number he said he would...
California Bill Would Enable Uber, Lyft Drivers To Finally Get Insurance KQED ...AB2293, the ride-service insurance bill that passed the California Legislature last week, could pave the way for drivers for companies like Lyft and Uber to finally get coverage for both personal and commercial use of their vehicles...
Uber Unrest: Drivers In Los Angeles Protest The Slashing Of Rates Salon.com ...Over 50 Los Angeles based Uber drivers gathered in a North Hollywood parking lot, on Tuesday, to protest the ride-sharing app’s declining rates. While one driver, Aya Valilar, states that she still loves the app, she concedes that in her year-and-a-half working as an Uber driver, she’s seen rates slashed four times...
War On Workers
Protesters arrested after blocking BNSF oil train JournalStar.com ...The protest by about a dozen demonstrators blocked some railroad tracks from 6 a.m. local time until about 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday….A sign on the tripod said: "Cut Oil Trains Not Conductors," an apparent reference to a deal negotiated by BNSF and a union to allow the railroad to run some freight trains with only an engineer on board...
Unemployment Trickles Down to Poorer Workers, Study Finds Wall Street Journal ...Unemployment “trickles down” to America’s poorest and most vulnerable because, during recessions, higher-income workers with more education take jobs that are below their qualification level, according to new research...
Apple, Google resume talks with tech workers in hiring lawsuit: filing Reuters ...Plaintiffs accused Apple, Google, Intel (INTC.O) and Adobe (ADBE.O) of conspiring to avoid poaching each other's employees. Last month, U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California rejected a proposed $324.5 million settlement in the class action case, saying it was too low...
US household food security fails to improve Aljazeera America ...More U.S. households are having a hard time putting food on the table than before the recession. But there is a sliver of hope: The numbers are not going up...
Scott Brown: It's Not My Job To Create Jobs (VIDEO) Talking Points Memo ...Former Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA), now a U.S. Senate candidate in New Hampshire, said that his job isn't to create jobs. That's for other Americans...
Volkswagen Union Could Signal Change For Tennessee Chattanooga Times Free Press ...Eric DeLacy ... is among more than 700 workers who have joined a new local union started in March by the United Auto Workers...
Charles Koch Complains He And His Brother Are 'In Front Of The Firing Squad' Huffington Post ...It isn't easy being a politically connected billionaire. At a private political strategy summit earlier this year, Charles Koch lamented that he and his brother David were being unfairly persecuted...
Miscellaneous
Keystone XL: Six Years And Still Waiting Townhall ...September 19th will mark the sixth anniversary of when TransCanada first applied for a presidential permit to build the Keystone XL Pipeline. Hurt the most are the people whose job it is to build and operate the pipeline...
Tesla chooses Nevada for battery factory: Sources CNBC ...Tesla has finally decided that it will build its $5 billion lithium-ion battery plant—dubbed the gigafactory—in Nevada, sources say...
From Russia With Love: JPMorgan Hack May Be Warning, Says Former NSA Chief Bloomberg ...Hackers who stole gigabytes of data from JPMorgan Chase & Co. may have been trying to send a message that U.S. financial institutions can be disrupted, the former director of the National Security Agency said...
Sunday, August 17, 2014
Today's Teamster News 08.17.14
Trade
Why Germany Is Backing Away From a Trade Deal That Lets Corporations Sue the Government truthout ...Germany might reject a new trade agreement between Canada and the European Union. The deal is called the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, or CETA. It's part of a new wave of large, aggressive trade deals that also includes the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) between the United States and the European Union, and the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) between 12 countries of the Pacific Rim...
State Battles
Get pumped for a Moral Week of Action! NC State AFL-CIO ...Join us for seven consecutive days of action at the North Carolina State Capitol to expose and challenge the destructive laws coming out of Raleigh...
How Zephyr Teachout Became a Contender The Nation ...Andrew Cuomo’s unlikely challenger for Governor of New York is gaining endorsements and giving him a headache...they have managed to tap into some of the profound frustration that people feel with a governor who has come to symbolize the corporate-friendly wing of the Democratic party...
On Wall Street, ‘Right-to-Work’ Means a Wider Gap Between Rich & Poor (opinion) CT News Junkie ...As part of “Employee Freedom Week,” a nationally coordinated effort to convince workers to drop out of their unions, ads are running in Connecticut urging home healthcare workers to opt out. This is a thinly veiled attempt to convince these workers to act against their own self-interest, and could have lethal repercussions in an industry where collective bargaining rights have not only alleviated home health aides’ difficult working conditions, but also have helped prolong their patients’ lives...
War on Workers
Sandwich Artists Unionize In These Times ...On July 18, after a three-month campaign, employees of a Subway franchise in Bloomsbury, N.J. voted 8-5 to join the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union (RWDSU) Local 108...
More Jobs Are Open, but They’re Filling Slowly New York Times ...In a report this week, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said that employers reported in June that they had 4.5 million available jobs that they were unable to fill. That is the highest number since 2007, and more than twice as high as the figure in October 2009, when the economy was officially beginning to recover but there were no signs of that in the labor market...
Cry for Argentina: Fiscal Mismanagement or Pillage? truthout ...Paul Singer’s Elliott Management has spent over a decade aggressively trying to force Argentina to pay down nearly $1.3 billion in sovereign debt. Elliott would get about $300 million for bonds that Argentina claims it picked up for $48 million. Where most creditors have accepted payment at a 70% loss, Elliott Management would thus get a 600% return...
Miscellaneous
How High Up Did the Madoff Fraud Go at JPMorgan? Wall Street on Parade ...It is universally agreed among these authors, the prosecutors and the trustee for the Madoff victims’ fund that JPMorgan Chase (or its predecessor banks) stood at the center of the fraud as Madoff’s commercial bank for more than 20 years. It’s the lack of criminal prosecutions against the JPMorgan wrongdoers that has incensed these attorneys to launch the book and web site...
You Can Get Hacked Just By Watching This Cat Video on YouTube The Intercept ...The only thing you need to do to render your computer’s secrets—your private conversations, banking information, photographs—transparent to prying eyes is watch a cute cat video on YouTube, and catch the interest of a nation-state or law enforcement agency that has $1 million or so to spare...
Why Germany Is Backing Away From a Trade Deal That Lets Corporations Sue the Government truthout ...Germany might reject a new trade agreement between Canada and the European Union. The deal is called the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, or CETA. It's part of a new wave of large, aggressive trade deals that also includes the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) between the United States and the European Union, and the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) between 12 countries of the Pacific Rim...
State Battles
Get pumped for a Moral Week of Action! NC State AFL-CIO ...Join us for seven consecutive days of action at the North Carolina State Capitol to expose and challenge the destructive laws coming out of Raleigh...
How Zephyr Teachout Became a Contender The Nation ...Andrew Cuomo’s unlikely challenger for Governor of New York is gaining endorsements and giving him a headache...they have managed to tap into some of the profound frustration that people feel with a governor who has come to symbolize the corporate-friendly wing of the Democratic party...
On Wall Street, ‘Right-to-Work’ Means a Wider Gap Between Rich & Poor (opinion) CT News Junkie ...As part of “Employee Freedom Week,” a nationally coordinated effort to convince workers to drop out of their unions, ads are running in Connecticut urging home healthcare workers to opt out. This is a thinly veiled attempt to convince these workers to act against their own self-interest, and could have lethal repercussions in an industry where collective bargaining rights have not only alleviated home health aides’ difficult working conditions, but also have helped prolong their patients’ lives...
War on Workers
Sandwich Artists Unionize In These Times ...On July 18, after a three-month campaign, employees of a Subway franchise in Bloomsbury, N.J. voted 8-5 to join the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union (RWDSU) Local 108...
More Jobs Are Open, but They’re Filling Slowly New York Times ...In a report this week, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said that employers reported in June that they had 4.5 million available jobs that they were unable to fill. That is the highest number since 2007, and more than twice as high as the figure in October 2009, when the economy was officially beginning to recover but there were no signs of that in the labor market...
Cry for Argentina: Fiscal Mismanagement or Pillage? truthout ...Paul Singer’s Elliott Management has spent over a decade aggressively trying to force Argentina to pay down nearly $1.3 billion in sovereign debt. Elliott would get about $300 million for bonds that Argentina claims it picked up for $48 million. Where most creditors have accepted payment at a 70% loss, Elliott Management would thus get a 600% return...
Miscellaneous
How High Up Did the Madoff Fraud Go at JPMorgan? Wall Street on Parade ...It is universally agreed among these authors, the prosecutors and the trustee for the Madoff victims’ fund that JPMorgan Chase (or its predecessor banks) stood at the center of the fraud as Madoff’s commercial bank for more than 20 years. It’s the lack of criminal prosecutions against the JPMorgan wrongdoers that has incensed these attorneys to launch the book and web site...
You Can Get Hacked Just By Watching This Cat Video on YouTube The Intercept ...The only thing you need to do to render your computer’s secrets—your private conversations, banking information, photographs—transparent to prying eyes is watch a cute cat video on YouTube, and catch the interest of a nation-state or law enforcement agency that has $1 million or so to spare...
Thursday, May 22, 2014
Today's Teamster News 05.22.14
Teamster News
Teamsters Strike Averted Pekin Daily Times ...After about five hours of mediation between the city of Pekin and Teamsters Local 627 officials the two sides reached a tentative agreement Tuesday to keep city services operational...
International Brotherhood Of Teamsters Reports Taylor Farms Workers' Rights Violations Insurance News Net ...Taylor Farms workers and Teamster members gathered with state and community leaders at a forum on May 15 evening to investigate workers' rights violations at the company's facilities in Tracy, California, according to a release from International Brotherhood of Teamsters...
ACTR Drivers To Vote On Union The Eagle ...Bus drivers of ACTR, Addison County Transit Resources, will vote to unionize June 11, according to driver Craig Bingham. Bingham says the drivers will decide to join the Teamsters Local 597...
Drivers Physicals Must Now Be Performed by Certified Medical Examiners Trucking Info ...The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is reminding the trucking industry Wednesday marks the start of new regulations requiring that all U.S. DOT physicals must be performed by a qualified health professional listed on the National Registry of Certified Medical Examiners.
The new program sets baseline training and testing standards for medical professionals who perform commercial driver physicals and for tracking of driver medical certificates...
Teamsters Local 727 Defends Funeral Workers at SCI Shareholders Meeting Teamsters Local 727 ...Teamsters Local 727 President John Coli Jr. on May 14 publicly denounced funeral giant Service Corporation International at its annual shareholders meeting in Houston for the company’s mistreatment of Chicago-area workers...
Trade
Surprise, US media fails to cover talks on big 'trade' deal with Europe TeamsterNation ...The European media came out for a press conference today against TAFTA, the latest power grab by big corporations and the 1%. The American media wasn't interested in the so-called trade deal with Europe...
Trans-Pacific Partnership Talks To Intensify As Key Players Remain Divided Raw Story ...Asia-Pacific trade ministers said Tuesday they would intensify talks on a vast trans-Pacific free trade agreement, but offered no clue on when a final accord would be reached. At the end of a two-day meeting in Singapore, ministers and chief negotiators of the 12 putative member economies of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) remained divided on key issues...
State Battles
Christie's pension payment reduction plan sparks lawsuit from CWA NJ.com ...Another prominent labor union, the Communications Workers of America, says it will file a lawsuit in an effort to stop Gov. Chris Christie's plans to grab $2.43 billion meant for the pension system to balance the state budget...
Minnesota vs. Wisconsin, and More Econbrowser ... No turnaround for Wisconsin — it continues to lag Minnesota and the Nation...
War On Workers
U.S. Fast Food Protests Go Global The Hill ...Last Thursday, fast food workers in over 30 countries participated in protests over poverty wages, a lack of full-time positions, poor working conditions and management retaliation against union activism. U.S. workers protested in over 160 cities...
McDonald's Vacates Headquarters Ahead Of Massive Protest Business Insider ...McDonald's executives vacated the company headquarters in Oak Brook, Illinois, on Wednesday ahead of a massive protest involving thousands of workers and supporters...
Why Is Credit Suisse Still Allowed to Do Business in the United States? The Atlantic ...Credit Suisse, the gigantic Swiss bank, is clearly a criminal organization. In its guilty plea yesterday, Credit Suisse admitted that it has been actively helping Americans (and no doubt people from all around the world) evade taxes for years...
Is Credit Suisse Really in Jail? Baseline Scenario ...no one will go to jail because of the conviction...
Hubris at the Top: The Imperial and Tone Deaf CEO Wall Street on Parade ...Yesterday, at the JPMorgan shareholders’ meeting, which has been held in Tampa, Florida for the past three years, more than 1,000 miles from the JPMorgan headquarters in New York (ostensibly to avoid mass protests), CEO Jamie Dimon’s pay package was rubber stamped by shareholders at $20 million for 2013. Over the past 18 months, the bank has been charged with ever alarming amounts of crimes, including the unprecedented two-felony count charge for aiding and abetting the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme which devastated financial lives across America...
Miscellaneous
TransCanada Considers Keystone XL Pipeline Alternative, Oil By Rail Reuters ...TransCanada Corp is in talks with customers about shipping Canadian crude to the United States by rail as an alternative route as its Keystone XL pipeline project that has been mired in political delays, Chief Executive Russ Girling said on Wednesday...
Couple Fined $750, Threatened With Jail for Feeding Homeless People Alternet ...A Florida couple who fed more than 100 homeless people each week have been accused of breaking the law for their good deed...
Saudi Arabia: Filipino Maid Disfigured with Boiling Water for not Bringing Coffee on Time IBT ...The maid, who is from Pikit, North Cotabato, said she had been working for the Arab family in Riyadh for two months. She was not given her salary or provided with proper meals...
Teamsters Strike Averted Pekin Daily Times ...After about five hours of mediation between the city of Pekin and Teamsters Local 627 officials the two sides reached a tentative agreement Tuesday to keep city services operational...
International Brotherhood Of Teamsters Reports Taylor Farms Workers' Rights Violations Insurance News Net ...Taylor Farms workers and Teamster members gathered with state and community leaders at a forum on May 15 evening to investigate workers' rights violations at the company's facilities in Tracy, California, according to a release from International Brotherhood of Teamsters...
ACTR Drivers To Vote On Union The Eagle ...Bus drivers of ACTR, Addison County Transit Resources, will vote to unionize June 11, according to driver Craig Bingham. Bingham says the drivers will decide to join the Teamsters Local 597...
Drivers Physicals Must Now Be Performed by Certified Medical Examiners Trucking Info ...The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is reminding the trucking industry Wednesday marks the start of new regulations requiring that all U.S. DOT physicals must be performed by a qualified health professional listed on the National Registry of Certified Medical Examiners.
The new program sets baseline training and testing standards for medical professionals who perform commercial driver physicals and for tracking of driver medical certificates...
Teamsters Local 727 Defends Funeral Workers at SCI Shareholders Meeting Teamsters Local 727 ...Teamsters Local 727 President John Coli Jr. on May 14 publicly denounced funeral giant Service Corporation International at its annual shareholders meeting in Houston for the company’s mistreatment of Chicago-area workers...
Trade
Surprise, US media fails to cover talks on big 'trade' deal with Europe TeamsterNation ...The European media came out for a press conference today against TAFTA, the latest power grab by big corporations and the 1%. The American media wasn't interested in the so-called trade deal with Europe...
Trans-Pacific Partnership Talks To Intensify As Key Players Remain Divided Raw Story ...Asia-Pacific trade ministers said Tuesday they would intensify talks on a vast trans-Pacific free trade agreement, but offered no clue on when a final accord would be reached. At the end of a two-day meeting in Singapore, ministers and chief negotiators of the 12 putative member economies of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) remained divided on key issues...
State Battles
Christie's pension payment reduction plan sparks lawsuit from CWA NJ.com ...Another prominent labor union, the Communications Workers of America, says it will file a lawsuit in an effort to stop Gov. Chris Christie's plans to grab $2.43 billion meant for the pension system to balance the state budget...
Minnesota vs. Wisconsin, and More Econbrowser ... No turnaround for Wisconsin — it continues to lag Minnesota and the Nation...
War On Workers
U.S. Fast Food Protests Go Global The Hill ...Last Thursday, fast food workers in over 30 countries participated in protests over poverty wages, a lack of full-time positions, poor working conditions and management retaliation against union activism. U.S. workers protested in over 160 cities...
McDonald's Vacates Headquarters Ahead Of Massive Protest Business Insider ...McDonald's executives vacated the company headquarters in Oak Brook, Illinois, on Wednesday ahead of a massive protest involving thousands of workers and supporters...
Why Is Credit Suisse Still Allowed to Do Business in the United States? The Atlantic ...Credit Suisse, the gigantic Swiss bank, is clearly a criminal organization. In its guilty plea yesterday, Credit Suisse admitted that it has been actively helping Americans (and no doubt people from all around the world) evade taxes for years...
Is Credit Suisse Really in Jail? Baseline Scenario ...no one will go to jail because of the conviction...
Hubris at the Top: The Imperial and Tone Deaf CEO Wall Street on Parade ...Yesterday, at the JPMorgan shareholders’ meeting, which has been held in Tampa, Florida for the past three years, more than 1,000 miles from the JPMorgan headquarters in New York (ostensibly to avoid mass protests), CEO Jamie Dimon’s pay package was rubber stamped by shareholders at $20 million for 2013. Over the past 18 months, the bank has been charged with ever alarming amounts of crimes, including the unprecedented two-felony count charge for aiding and abetting the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme which devastated financial lives across America...
Miscellaneous
TransCanada Considers Keystone XL Pipeline Alternative, Oil By Rail Reuters ...TransCanada Corp is in talks with customers about shipping Canadian crude to the United States by rail as an alternative route as its Keystone XL pipeline project that has been mired in political delays, Chief Executive Russ Girling said on Wednesday...
Couple Fined $750, Threatened With Jail for Feeding Homeless People Alternet ...A Florida couple who fed more than 100 homeless people each week have been accused of breaking the law for their good deed...
Saudi Arabia: Filipino Maid Disfigured with Boiling Water for not Bringing Coffee on Time IBT ...The maid, who is from Pikit, North Cotabato, said she had been working for the Arab family in Riyadh for two months. She was not given her salary or provided with proper meals...
Monday, April 14, 2014
Today's Teamster News 04.14.14
Teamsters
Teamsters’ opposition to growler sales could stall Sunday booze bill Minnesota Public Radio ...Teamsters Union political director Ed Reynoso said the union started lobbying against Sunday growler sales after he learned a company that distributes alcohol and employs members of the union suggested the law would allow them to reopen their labor contracts because of it...
Keep the Carriage Horses (opinion) New York Times ...Let the carriages and the horses alone. Let this small business survive. Side with the drivers and do not add fleets of new cars, electric or not, into the streets and parks...
Darden gets sued over bylaw changes Orlando Sentinel ...A Teamsters fund that invests in Darden Restaurants stock has sued the company over recent changes to its bylaws. Darden last month added language allowing it to delay its annual shareholder meeting and making it tougher for unhappy investors to push for changes…
Trade
Vietnam Releases Dissidents Amid U.S. Trade Talks Time ...Vietnam has granted early release to two more high profile dissidents. The unusual moves come as the country is negotiating a free trade deal with the United States. Washington has said that it would be hard to get the deal past Congress unless Vietnam made some meaningful steps toward improving its human rights record...
US-Japan deadlock points to no April TPP deal for Obama Financial Times ...An impasse between the US and Japan over import tariffs means Barack Obama’s visit to Tokyo this month looks unlikely to yield the prize that some had hoped for: the key to uniting a dozen Pacific Rim economies in one trade zone...
State Battles
11 Missouri lawmakers in right-to-work spotlight Associated Press ...That's the number of Republicans who didn't vote last week when the chamber gave initial approval to a proposed ballot measure that would ask voters to prohibit union fees from being a condition of employment...
The War on Workers
You Know What Doesn’t Work So Well? Private Prisons Working America ...The myth put forth by private prison corporations like Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and the GEO Group that private prisons are cheaper than public prisons is shattered by a new report from In the Public Interest, thus undercutting the primary rationale for prison privatization efforts across the country...
Pay for Performance? It Depends on the Measuring Stick New York Times ...The median compensation for C.E.O.s at the 100 largest companies that have filed so far was $13.9 million, according to the Equilar 100 C.E.O. Pay Study, conducted by Equilar, an executive compensation data firm. That’s up 9 percent from 2012...
Jamie Dimon to JPMorgan Shareholders: Don’t Believe Your Lying Eyes Wall Street on Parade ...Out of total deposits of $1.3 trillion, Dimon says that a mere $19 billion of credit was extended to U.S. small businesses last year. And yet, that’s a key U.S. engine of job growth. In contrast, the bank “provided $274 billion of credit to consumers,” raising the concern that the weak job market and stagnating wages are forcing more households into deeper debt...
Charles Koch’s public message represents rhetorical spin at its flimsiest (opinion) Kansas City Star ...Koch’s analysis is that he and his brother ought to be free to run their vast pipeline, fossil-fuels and other businesses without restraint. What he declines to recognize is the idea that government can serve to protect citizens from the wanton, unregulated forces of corporate actions that spew toxic materials into our air and water, limit the economic power of American people and otherwise endanger our daily lives...
Miscellaneous
Google, once disdainful of lobbying, now a master of Washington influence Washington Post ...Google — once a lobbying weakling — has come to master a new method of operating in modern-day Washington, where spending on traditional lobbying is rivaled by other, less visible forms of influence. That system includes financing sympathetic research at universities and think tanks, investing in nonprofit advocacy groups across the political spectrum and funding pro-business coalitions cast as public-interest projects...
Teamsters’ opposition to growler sales could stall Sunday booze bill Minnesota Public Radio ...Teamsters Union political director Ed Reynoso said the union started lobbying against Sunday growler sales after he learned a company that distributes alcohol and employs members of the union suggested the law would allow them to reopen their labor contracts because of it...
Keep the Carriage Horses (opinion) New York Times ...Let the carriages and the horses alone. Let this small business survive. Side with the drivers and do not add fleets of new cars, electric or not, into the streets and parks...
Darden gets sued over bylaw changes Orlando Sentinel ...A Teamsters fund that invests in Darden Restaurants stock has sued the company over recent changes to its bylaws. Darden last month added language allowing it to delay its annual shareholder meeting and making it tougher for unhappy investors to push for changes…
Trade
Vietnam Releases Dissidents Amid U.S. Trade Talks Time ...Vietnam has granted early release to two more high profile dissidents. The unusual moves come as the country is negotiating a free trade deal with the United States. Washington has said that it would be hard to get the deal past Congress unless Vietnam made some meaningful steps toward improving its human rights record...
US-Japan deadlock points to no April TPP deal for Obama Financial Times ...An impasse between the US and Japan over import tariffs means Barack Obama’s visit to Tokyo this month looks unlikely to yield the prize that some had hoped for: the key to uniting a dozen Pacific Rim economies in one trade zone...
State Battles
11 Missouri lawmakers in right-to-work spotlight Associated Press ...That's the number of Republicans who didn't vote last week when the chamber gave initial approval to a proposed ballot measure that would ask voters to prohibit union fees from being a condition of employment...
The War on Workers
You Know What Doesn’t Work So Well? Private Prisons Working America ...The myth put forth by private prison corporations like Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and the GEO Group that private prisons are cheaper than public prisons is shattered by a new report from In the Public Interest, thus undercutting the primary rationale for prison privatization efforts across the country...
Pay for Performance? It Depends on the Measuring Stick New York Times ...The median compensation for C.E.O.s at the 100 largest companies that have filed so far was $13.9 million, according to the Equilar 100 C.E.O. Pay Study, conducted by Equilar, an executive compensation data firm. That’s up 9 percent from 2012...
Jamie Dimon to JPMorgan Shareholders: Don’t Believe Your Lying Eyes Wall Street on Parade ...Out of total deposits of $1.3 trillion, Dimon says that a mere $19 billion of credit was extended to U.S. small businesses last year. And yet, that’s a key U.S. engine of job growth. In contrast, the bank “provided $274 billion of credit to consumers,” raising the concern that the weak job market and stagnating wages are forcing more households into deeper debt...
Charles Koch’s public message represents rhetorical spin at its flimsiest (opinion) Kansas City Star ...Koch’s analysis is that he and his brother ought to be free to run their vast pipeline, fossil-fuels and other businesses without restraint. What he declines to recognize is the idea that government can serve to protect citizens from the wanton, unregulated forces of corporate actions that spew toxic materials into our air and water, limit the economic power of American people and otherwise endanger our daily lives...
Miscellaneous
Google, once disdainful of lobbying, now a master of Washington influence Washington Post ...Google — once a lobbying weakling — has come to master a new method of operating in modern-day Washington, where spending on traditional lobbying is rivaled by other, less visible forms of influence. That system includes financing sympathetic research at universities and think tanks, investing in nonprofit advocacy groups across the political spectrum and funding pro-business coalitions cast as public-interest projects...
Sunday, April 13, 2014
Today's Teamster News 04.13.14
Trade
Taiwan protesters end long occupation of parliament over trade deal Los Angeles Times ...Hundreds of protesters in Taiwan ended a nearly monthlong blockade of parliament Thursday, giving leaders a fragile reprieve to finish a disputed trade pact with China...
We are in danger of losing our country’s assets! Trade Reform ...How many are aware that the chain of AMC Theaters is now owned by Chinese Corporation? … This means that the Chinese will now be in a position to shape public opinion and mold the minds of our children through entertainment media...
State Battles
Scott Walker campaign asks Supreme Court to intervene in 'John Doe' investigation Wisconsin State Journal ...Another legal challenge has been filed in the ongoing investigation into possible illegal campaign activity during Wisconsin’s spate of recalls, this time by the attorney for Gov. Scott Walker’s campaign...
University of Southern Maine, Facing Organized Opposition from Students and Faculty, Rescinds Proposed Cuts naked capitalism ...University of Southern Maine President Theodora Kalikow on Friday rescinded the 12 faculty layoffs that had prompted weeks of protests, saying she’s open to alternative plans for finding up to $14 million in cuts...
The War on Workers
Soglin: Ride-sharing companies refuse to meet standards Channel 3000...Madison Mayor Paul Soglin said ride-sharing companies operating in the city refuse to meet standards, and to date, refuse to respect Madison ordinances. Lyft and Uber, which launched in Madison in recent months, allow customers to order a ride from drivers using a downloadable phone application...
Something To Keep An Eye On: College Enrollment Has Dropped Substantially Since 2012 Economic Policy Institute ...Enrollment was on a general upward trend since 1985, but peaked in 2012 and has since dropped in each of the last two years...
Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Vexed by Low Demand for Mortgages Bloomberg ...New York-based JPMorgan said jobs at its mortgage business declined 14,000, or 30 percent, since the start of last year. Wells Fargo set plans to cut 1,100 positions in the most recent three months, which ranked as its worst first quarter for mortgage revenue since 2008...
Spy planes: Millions of airline passengers using inflight WiFi are being tracked by the NSA… and it could be illegal Daily Mail ...Gogo, the main supplier of WiFi to airlines, gives data to U.S. authorities...
Thousands in Paris and Rome Protest Austerity Measures Al Jazeera America ...Tens of thousands of people took part in protests in central Paris and Rome, organized by hard-left parties opposed to government economic reform plans and austerity measures...
Why Won't Washington Take on Wall Street's Biggest Crimes? Atlantic ...The Justice Department has successfully convicted dozens of bankers for insider trading. But the big banks did something much worse and got away with it...
Taiwan protesters end long occupation of parliament over trade deal Los Angeles Times ...Hundreds of protesters in Taiwan ended a nearly monthlong blockade of parliament Thursday, giving leaders a fragile reprieve to finish a disputed trade pact with China...
We are in danger of losing our country’s assets! Trade Reform ...How many are aware that the chain of AMC Theaters is now owned by Chinese Corporation? … This means that the Chinese will now be in a position to shape public opinion and mold the minds of our children through entertainment media...
State Battles
Scott Walker campaign asks Supreme Court to intervene in 'John Doe' investigation Wisconsin State Journal ...Another legal challenge has been filed in the ongoing investigation into possible illegal campaign activity during Wisconsin’s spate of recalls, this time by the attorney for Gov. Scott Walker’s campaign...
University of Southern Maine, Facing Organized Opposition from Students and Faculty, Rescinds Proposed Cuts naked capitalism ...University of Southern Maine President Theodora Kalikow on Friday rescinded the 12 faculty layoffs that had prompted weeks of protests, saying she’s open to alternative plans for finding up to $14 million in cuts...
The War on Workers
Soglin: Ride-sharing companies refuse to meet standards Channel 3000...Madison Mayor Paul Soglin said ride-sharing companies operating in the city refuse to meet standards, and to date, refuse to respect Madison ordinances. Lyft and Uber, which launched in Madison in recent months, allow customers to order a ride from drivers using a downloadable phone application...
Something To Keep An Eye On: College Enrollment Has Dropped Substantially Since 2012 Economic Policy Institute ...Enrollment was on a general upward trend since 1985, but peaked in 2012 and has since dropped in each of the last two years...
Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Vexed by Low Demand for Mortgages Bloomberg ...New York-based JPMorgan said jobs at its mortgage business declined 14,000, or 30 percent, since the start of last year. Wells Fargo set plans to cut 1,100 positions in the most recent three months, which ranked as its worst first quarter for mortgage revenue since 2008...
Spy planes: Millions of airline passengers using inflight WiFi are being tracked by the NSA… and it could be illegal Daily Mail ...Gogo, the main supplier of WiFi to airlines, gives data to U.S. authorities...
Thousands in Paris and Rome Protest Austerity Measures Al Jazeera America ...Tens of thousands of people took part in protests in central Paris and Rome, organized by hard-left parties opposed to government economic reform plans and austerity measures...
Why Won't Washington Take on Wall Street's Biggest Crimes? Atlantic ...The Justice Department has successfully convicted dozens of bankers for insider trading. But the big banks did something much worse and got away with it...
Friday, March 21, 2014
Jon Stewart takes on Fox News' poor bashing
Here's a great clip from a recent 'Daily Show' in which Jon Stewart explains how JPMorgan pushes people onto food stamps, then profiteers from the food stamp system, all the while employing cheap laborers in India to help run the business.
We also liked Stewart's comment:
What I'm getting from Fox is this: exploiting government largess while reprehensive and morally corrupting for an individual, is A-okay for a corporations. So, maybe this will help. Don't think of food stamps and Head Start - programs like that - as feeding and helping a small child. Think about it as investing in a promising start up with a liquidity problem.
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
Today's Teamster News 03.19.14
Teamster News
Teamster bus drivers at CCTA will continue strike Associated Press ...About 70 bus drivers, represented by Teamsters Local 597, went on strike Monday leaving about 9,500 people who ride the buses every day in Burlington, Vermont scrambling...
Teamster Simulator Technicians at Southwest Approve New Contract Dallas Morning News ...Southwest Airlines and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters announced Friday that flight simulation technicians have approved a two-year contract...
Teamsters: Ask Congress to Fund High Speed Rail and Amtrak teamster.org ...The Republicans in the House have taken a whack at funding for Amtrak and eliminated funding for high speed rail. They want to cut federal spending on Amtrak by 29 percent and eliminate funding for High Speed Rail...
Pepsi Lays Off 60 Workers WREG-TV ...Meetings are underway between the PepsiCo company and Teamsters Local 984 after 60 employees were laid off unexpectedly Thursday. The company says it was a matter of efficiency, but the union says PepsiCo violated the law by not giving workers a 60 day notice...
Teamsters: Poverty Is Bad For Your Health teamster.org ...Covering the tab for life’s basic needs has always been tough for lower income people. But increasing reports make it clear that being a member of the working poor is also hazardous to your health and could drive you to an early grave...
Trade
New Study Shows Dangers of Trade Agreements that Help Corporations Sue Governments naked capitalism ...Pacific Rim/OceanaGold is ... one of 31 oil, gas, and mining corporations suing governments in Latin America in the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), based at the World Bank. ICSID is the most frequently used tribunal under existing pro-corporate, anti-democratic trade and investment rules...
Korea Trade Agreement – Exports Actually Decrease Trade Reform ...the USTR is embarrassed that our exports to Korea actually decreased since the Korea trade and global government agreement was passed. Yes. Exports (not net exports) decreased...
State Battles
New York Settles With McDonald's Restaurants In Wage Theft Investigation Huffington Post ...New York state has reached a settlement with the owner of seven McDonald's franchises that will give nearly $500,000 to fast-food workers who claimed they were shorted on pay, according to state Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman...
Calif. Gov. Brown takes swipes at GOP, praises labor unions Los Angeles Times ...Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown gave a rousing pro-worker speech to a ballroom filled with union representatives Monday night, thanking organized labor for helping pass his vote-approved tax hike in 2012 and worker's compensation reform and vowing to be “around for the next five years.’’...
How Auto Dealers Are Muscling State Legislatures Into Barring Tesla Motors AlterNet ...New Jersey is the latest state to ban the electric car company from selling directly to consumers, which threatens auto dealers' business model. Is New York next?...
RI pension settlement ballots mailed Associated Press ...Mail ballots have been sent to the retired and active public workers who will soon decide the fate of a proposed settlement in the litigation surrounding Rhode Island’s 2011 pension overhaul...
War on Workers
The rich strike back Politico ...“I hope it’s not working,” Ken Langone, the billionaire co-founder of Home Depot and major GOP donor, said of populist political appeals. “Because if you go back to 1933, with different words, this is what Hitler was saying in Germany. You don’t survive as a society if you encourage and thrive on envy or jealousy...”
Southern California Port Truck Drivers Allege Labor Exploitation New America Media ...A new report by a national labor rights group says that the port truck driving industry is rampant with examples of companies employing tactics to exploit drivers, from misclassification as an independent contractor, to depriving drivers of employee benefits, workplace standards and proper wages…
Fifth financial executive with ties to JPMorgan found dead Housing Wire ...Just over 11 weeks into 2014 comes tragic news that an 11th financial executive has apparently committed suicide...
The Plummeting Labor Market Fortunes of Teens and Young Adults Brookings ...Employment prospects for teens and young adults in the nation’s 100 largest metropolitan areas plummeted between 2000 and 2011. On a number of measures—employment rates, labor force underutilization, unemployment, and year-round joblessness—teens and young adults fared poorly, and sometimes disastrously...
Inside Low-wage Workers’ Plan to Sue McDonald’s — and Win Portside ...The wall that fast food workers hope to blast through with these class-action suits is the franchise system. All of the lawsuits name McDonald’s itself as a defendant, even though most of the targeted restaurants are owned not by McDonald’s but by McDonald’s franchisees...
Union chief accuses SEPTA of trying to provoke strike Philadelphia Inquirer ...With no bargaining talks scheduled between SEPTA and transit workers, the president of the agency's largest union accused it of trying to provoke a strike...
Amazon’s near sweatshops and awful conditions: It doesn’t have to be this way Salon ...Labor conditions at Amazon and Wal-Mart are like the pre-New Deal era. These reforms, working elsewhere, would help...
The Shocking Ways Debt Collectors Are Hounding U.S. Military Service Members AlterNet ...Companies use threats of rank reduction and courts-martial...
Miscellaneous
Coalition Files Lawsuit Against Idaho Ag-Gag Law That Targets Journalism, Whistleblowing & Speech Fire Dog Lake ...A coalition of groups and journalists are challenging a law passed in Idaho, which makes it possible for anyone who secretly films or records animal abuse to be jailed for up to a year...
2013 Was a Record Year For Oil-Train Accidents, and Insurers Are Wary Alternet ...All told, railcar accidents spilled more than 1.15 million gallons of crude oil in 2013, federal data shows, compared with an average of just 22,000 gallons a year from 1975 through 2012 — a fifty-fold spike...
24 States Pressure Walmart, Walgreens To Stop Selling Cigarettes Huffington Post ...Attorney Generals from 24 states, Washington D.C., and three U.S. territories sent letters to the country's biggest pharmaceutical retailers Monday, including Walmart and Walgreens, asking them to stop selling tobacco products...
9 Retailers Closing The Most Stores 24/7 Wall St. ...Brick-and-mortar retailers have been suffering from slow economic activity for years, as well as from increased competition from online retailers. The rise in store closings is a prominent sign of their struggles...
Teamster bus drivers at CCTA will continue strike Associated Press ...About 70 bus drivers, represented by Teamsters Local 597, went on strike Monday leaving about 9,500 people who ride the buses every day in Burlington, Vermont scrambling...
Teamster Simulator Technicians at Southwest Approve New Contract Dallas Morning News ...Southwest Airlines and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters announced Friday that flight simulation technicians have approved a two-year contract...
Teamsters: Ask Congress to Fund High Speed Rail and Amtrak teamster.org ...The Republicans in the House have taken a whack at funding for Amtrak and eliminated funding for high speed rail. They want to cut federal spending on Amtrak by 29 percent and eliminate funding for High Speed Rail...
Pepsi Lays Off 60 Workers WREG-TV ...Meetings are underway between the PepsiCo company and Teamsters Local 984 after 60 employees were laid off unexpectedly Thursday. The company says it was a matter of efficiency, but the union says PepsiCo violated the law by not giving workers a 60 day notice...
Teamsters: Poverty Is Bad For Your Health teamster.org ...Covering the tab for life’s basic needs has always been tough for lower income people. But increasing reports make it clear that being a member of the working poor is also hazardous to your health and could drive you to an early grave...
Trade
New Study Shows Dangers of Trade Agreements that Help Corporations Sue Governments naked capitalism ...Pacific Rim/OceanaGold is ... one of 31 oil, gas, and mining corporations suing governments in Latin America in the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), based at the World Bank. ICSID is the most frequently used tribunal under existing pro-corporate, anti-democratic trade and investment rules...
Korea Trade Agreement – Exports Actually Decrease Trade Reform ...the USTR is embarrassed that our exports to Korea actually decreased since the Korea trade and global government agreement was passed. Yes. Exports (not net exports) decreased...
State Battles
New York Settles With McDonald's Restaurants In Wage Theft Investigation Huffington Post ...New York state has reached a settlement with the owner of seven McDonald's franchises that will give nearly $500,000 to fast-food workers who claimed they were shorted on pay, according to state Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman...
Calif. Gov. Brown takes swipes at GOP, praises labor unions Los Angeles Times ...Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown gave a rousing pro-worker speech to a ballroom filled with union representatives Monday night, thanking organized labor for helping pass his vote-approved tax hike in 2012 and worker's compensation reform and vowing to be “around for the next five years.’’...
How Auto Dealers Are Muscling State Legislatures Into Barring Tesla Motors AlterNet ...New Jersey is the latest state to ban the electric car company from selling directly to consumers, which threatens auto dealers' business model. Is New York next?...
RI pension settlement ballots mailed Associated Press ...Mail ballots have been sent to the retired and active public workers who will soon decide the fate of a proposed settlement in the litigation surrounding Rhode Island’s 2011 pension overhaul...
War on Workers
The rich strike back Politico ...“I hope it’s not working,” Ken Langone, the billionaire co-founder of Home Depot and major GOP donor, said of populist political appeals. “Because if you go back to 1933, with different words, this is what Hitler was saying in Germany. You don’t survive as a society if you encourage and thrive on envy or jealousy...”
Southern California Port Truck Drivers Allege Labor Exploitation New America Media ...A new report by a national labor rights group says that the port truck driving industry is rampant with examples of companies employing tactics to exploit drivers, from misclassification as an independent contractor, to depriving drivers of employee benefits, workplace standards and proper wages…
Fifth financial executive with ties to JPMorgan found dead Housing Wire ...Just over 11 weeks into 2014 comes tragic news that an 11th financial executive has apparently committed suicide...
The Plummeting Labor Market Fortunes of Teens and Young Adults Brookings ...Employment prospects for teens and young adults in the nation’s 100 largest metropolitan areas plummeted between 2000 and 2011. On a number of measures—employment rates, labor force underutilization, unemployment, and year-round joblessness—teens and young adults fared poorly, and sometimes disastrously...
Inside Low-wage Workers’ Plan to Sue McDonald’s — and Win Portside ...The wall that fast food workers hope to blast through with these class-action suits is the franchise system. All of the lawsuits name McDonald’s itself as a defendant, even though most of the targeted restaurants are owned not by McDonald’s but by McDonald’s franchisees...
Union chief accuses SEPTA of trying to provoke strike Philadelphia Inquirer ...With no bargaining talks scheduled between SEPTA and transit workers, the president of the agency's largest union accused it of trying to provoke a strike...
Amazon’s near sweatshops and awful conditions: It doesn’t have to be this way Salon ...Labor conditions at Amazon and Wal-Mart are like the pre-New Deal era. These reforms, working elsewhere, would help...
The Shocking Ways Debt Collectors Are Hounding U.S. Military Service Members AlterNet ...Companies use threats of rank reduction and courts-martial...
Miscellaneous
Coalition Files Lawsuit Against Idaho Ag-Gag Law That Targets Journalism, Whistleblowing & Speech Fire Dog Lake ...A coalition of groups and journalists are challenging a law passed in Idaho, which makes it possible for anyone who secretly films or records animal abuse to be jailed for up to a year...
2013 Was a Record Year For Oil-Train Accidents, and Insurers Are Wary Alternet ...All told, railcar accidents spilled more than 1.15 million gallons of crude oil in 2013, federal data shows, compared with an average of just 22,000 gallons a year from 1975 through 2012 — a fifty-fold spike...
24 States Pressure Walmart, Walgreens To Stop Selling Cigarettes Huffington Post ...Attorney Generals from 24 states, Washington D.C., and three U.S. territories sent letters to the country's biggest pharmaceutical retailers Monday, including Walmart and Walgreens, asking them to stop selling tobacco products...
9 Retailers Closing The Most Stores 24/7 Wall St. ...Brick-and-mortar retailers have been suffering from slow economic activity for years, as well as from increased competition from online retailers. The rise in store closings is a prominent sign of their struggles...
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
Today's Teamster News 02.26.14
Teamster News
Teamsters Local 722 Secures Three-Year Contract for School Bus Workers teamster.org ...More than 70 Teamster school bus workers in western Illinois have ratified a new three-year contract with First Student...
Anheuser-Busch Brewery Contract Extended Until March 31 teamster.org ...The Teamster negotiators for the Anheuser-Busch brewery contract which covers 3,500 members at 12 breweries have reached a one-month extension agreement with the company...
State Battles
Mo. Republicans Fight for “Right-To-Work” CBS St. Louis ...Greater St. Louis Labor Council President Robert Soutier gave emotionally charged testimony. Everything that s being proposed will hurt workers, it hurts the very core people that we represent, said Soutier. It drives wages down. Why are we interesting in attracting low wage workers to this state? ...
Trade
The Trans-Pacific Partnership: No end in sight The Economist ...opposition to TPP seems to be growing in America as well. The most obvious manifestation of this is that Barack Obama seems to have little immediate hope of winning “fast-track” authority (known now as “Trade-Promotion Authority” or TPA) to negotiate trade agreements that Congress cannot challenge clause by clause...
TPP Talks Fizzle Again under Broad Opposition Public Citizen ...The talks have missed a succession of deadlines due to opposition from negotiating countries to corporate-backed U.S. demands that would increase the cost of medicines, restrict financial stability measures, and empower corporations to challenge health and environmental safeguards...
War on Workers
Why We Oppose the Oakland Spy Center The Oakland Privacy Working Group ...there is great potential for abuse of civil liberties, and the city cannot afford it. The city has no data retention and privacy policy or oversight committee for the DAC...
Credit Suisse 'cloak-and-dagger' tactics cost US taxpayers billions – senators The Guardian ...John McCain and Carl Levin say offshore schemes operated by Swiss firm helped 22,000 Americans hide billions from taxman...
JP Morgan to cut 8,000 jobs in mortgage and retail BBC News ...The bank reported profits of $17.9bn (£10.7bn) in 2013, down from $21.3bn a year earlier....
Bombshell Documents Vanish in the JPMorgan-Madoff Investigation Wall Street on Parade ...The Feds slap a $1.7 billion penalty on a bank, file a two-felony count indictment against it, put it on probation for two years – all for not filing a Suspicious Activity Report and yet when a bank did file a Suspicious Activity Report no documents exist to show there was ever an investigation. ...
Democrats again delay Senate minimum wage vote Associated Press ... Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin, the bill's author, said Tuesday they now expect to consider it after lawmakers return in late March...
Teamsters Local 722 Secures Three-Year Contract for School Bus Workers teamster.org ...More than 70 Teamster school bus workers in western Illinois have ratified a new three-year contract with First Student...
Anheuser-Busch Brewery Contract Extended Until March 31 teamster.org ...The Teamster negotiators for the Anheuser-Busch brewery contract which covers 3,500 members at 12 breweries have reached a one-month extension agreement with the company...
State Battles
Mo. Republicans Fight for “Right-To-Work” CBS St. Louis ...Greater St. Louis Labor Council President Robert Soutier gave emotionally charged testimony. Everything that s being proposed will hurt workers, it hurts the very core people that we represent, said Soutier. It drives wages down. Why are we interesting in attracting low wage workers to this state? ...
Trade
The Trans-Pacific Partnership: No end in sight The Economist ...opposition to TPP seems to be growing in America as well. The most obvious manifestation of this is that Barack Obama seems to have little immediate hope of winning “fast-track” authority (known now as “Trade-Promotion Authority” or TPA) to negotiate trade agreements that Congress cannot challenge clause by clause...
TPP Talks Fizzle Again under Broad Opposition Public Citizen ...The talks have missed a succession of deadlines due to opposition from negotiating countries to corporate-backed U.S. demands that would increase the cost of medicines, restrict financial stability measures, and empower corporations to challenge health and environmental safeguards...
War on Workers
Why We Oppose the Oakland Spy Center The Oakland Privacy Working Group ...there is great potential for abuse of civil liberties, and the city cannot afford it. The city has no data retention and privacy policy or oversight committee for the DAC...
Credit Suisse 'cloak-and-dagger' tactics cost US taxpayers billions – senators The Guardian ...John McCain and Carl Levin say offshore schemes operated by Swiss firm helped 22,000 Americans hide billions from taxman...
JP Morgan to cut 8,000 jobs in mortgage and retail BBC News ...The bank reported profits of $17.9bn (£10.7bn) in 2013, down from $21.3bn a year earlier....
Bombshell Documents Vanish in the JPMorgan-Madoff Investigation Wall Street on Parade ...The Feds slap a $1.7 billion penalty on a bank, file a two-felony count indictment against it, put it on probation for two years – all for not filing a Suspicious Activity Report and yet when a bank did file a Suspicious Activity Report no documents exist to show there was ever an investigation. ...
Democrats again delay Senate minimum wage vote Associated Press ... Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin, the bill's author, said Tuesday they now expect to consider it after lawmakers return in late March...
Friday, February 21, 2014
Today's Teamster News 02.21.14
Teamster News
Massachusetts Highway Workers Unanimously Ratify Contract teamster.org ...Workers with the Newbury Highway Department in Newbury, Mass., have voted unanimously to ratify a strong contract, securing wage increases and job protections. The highway workers, who are members of Teamsters Local 170 in Worcester, Mass., joined the union in December and quickly negotiated a solid agreement...
Baltimore City School Bus Workers Win $1.25 Million Wage Settlement teamster.org ...Baltimore school bus drivers and attendants have reached a $1.25 million wage settlement with their employer, Durham School Services, the transportation contractor for Baltimore City Public Schools...
Pleasanton-based Safeway in discussions to sell company San Jose Mercury News ...In a move poised to rattle the supermarket industry, one of the East Bay's largest employers, Safeway, announced Wednesday that it is in talks to sell the company...
Film tax credit bill goes live Sacramento Business Journal ...Democratic Assemblymembers Raul Bocanegra and Mike Gatto released a film tax credit bill Wednesday that supporters say will protect jobs by keeping film crews in California....
Why privatizing toll collection is a horrible idea teamsternation ...If the New Jersey Turnpike Commission privatizes toll collection, workers who have already taken enormous cuts to pay and benefits will suffer...
Eight lies ‘advocates’ told about carriage horses New York Post ...the carriage industry is well-regulated and safe. NYCLASS attacks us not with facts and well-reasoned arguments, but with emotional manipulation and outright lies...
Judge strikes down Nebraska law that allowed Keystone XL pipeline Dallas Morning News ...A Nebraska judge on Wednesday struck down a law that allowed the Keystone XL pipeline to proceed through the state, a victory for opponents who have tried to block the project that would carry oil from Canada to Texas refineries...
The War on Workers
GOP’s Social Security disaster: Conservatives just lost their chance to cut benefits Salon ...The president dropping Chained CPI from his budget is a reprieve for the left -- and a message to the right...
Federal Government Soon to Know Everywhere You've Driven American Prospect ...There are more license-plate cameras installed all the time. Now the government wants to put all the data together in one database...
Flu Deaths Rise Among Young and Middle-Aged U.S. Adults Bloomberg ...While influenza traditionally affects children and the elderly hardest, adults under age 65 accounted for 61 percent of hospitalizations so far this season, an increase from 35 percent last year, according to a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report...
New Report Exposes America's Highest Paid Government Workers truthout ...America’s highest paid "government" workers are not your local teachers, nurses, or sanitation workers. Rather, they are corporate executives who sign lucrative contracts to take over public services and then pay themselves and other executives eye-popping salaries...
Victoria's anti-protest laws pass lower house by one vote The Guardian ...Controversial new laws giving police unprecedented powers to disperse protests have passed Victoria’s lower house...
New Report: Port Trucking Companies Steal More Than $1 Billion in Wages From Drivers In These Times ...The port brings in close to $16 billion per year, but the drivers only see a tiny bit of that money. This is in large part because they're “misclassified” as independent contractors...
State Battles
Concerned Missourians Deliver More than 6,850 Letters Calling on Speaker To Drop ALEC's 'Right-To-Work' Legislation Attacks Progress Missouri ...“We need to be building an economy that works for everyone, not political attacks and favors to special interest donors...”
Employers could pay less in lawsuits over unpaid wages Indianapolis Star ...Long-sought changes limiting employers’ liability when being sued by workers for unpaid wages may come to pass under a House bill backed by the Indiana Chamber of Commerce. The bill also would set up a framework to allow employers to take money out of wages of employees — if they agree — to repay loans for work-related equipment and job training...
The Top Five Things You Need to Know about the John Doe Emails Center for Media and Democracy ... in 2010 while Walker was running for governor, he corresponded consistently with key campaign and county staff from a private account in the middle of the work day and apparently on the secret Wi-Fi system set up by top aide Tim Russell...
Scott Walker Ordered Doctor Fired Because She Was Once A Thong Model Huffington Post ... In April 2010, Scott Walker and his staff realized they had a potential problem on their hands that would require them to quietly fire a woman who appeared to be completely competent at her job. The issue was that she had what they perceived to be a "checkered" past: She used to be a thong model...
Chris Christie's Mansion Fund Collected Millions From Political Favor Seekers Huffington Post ...A review of IRS records and Drumthwacket donor lists, however, suggest that prospective donors saw the mansion as something more than just an altruistic investment. Contributions to Drumthwacket often coincided with the donors' attempts to win tax breaks, political appointments or other support from Christie and his appointees. In many cases, the donors, like the Strangfelds, got what they wanted...
SC guv says she wears heels to kick unions teamsternation ...South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley would rather let the people of her state go without jobs than let them get union jobs...
Trade
“Free Trade” Pacts Were Always About Weakening Nation-States to Promote Rule by Multinationals naked capitalism ...the idea behind getting rid of these barriers wasn’t about free trade, it was about reorganizing the world so that corporations could manage resources for “the benefit of mankind”...
Miscellaneous
Madoff said JPMorgan executives knew of his fraud: lawsuit Reuters ..."JPMorgan was uniquely positioned for 20 years to see Madoff's crimes and put a stop to them," the lawsuit said. "But faced with the prospect of shutting down Madoff's account and losing lucrative profits," it added, "JPMorgan - at its highest level - chose to turn a blind eye."...
Massachusetts Highway Workers Unanimously Ratify Contract teamster.org ...Workers with the Newbury Highway Department in Newbury, Mass., have voted unanimously to ratify a strong contract, securing wage increases and job protections. The highway workers, who are members of Teamsters Local 170 in Worcester, Mass., joined the union in December and quickly negotiated a solid agreement...
Baltimore City School Bus Workers Win $1.25 Million Wage Settlement teamster.org ...Baltimore school bus drivers and attendants have reached a $1.25 million wage settlement with their employer, Durham School Services, the transportation contractor for Baltimore City Public Schools...
Pleasanton-based Safeway in discussions to sell company San Jose Mercury News ...In a move poised to rattle the supermarket industry, one of the East Bay's largest employers, Safeway, announced Wednesday that it is in talks to sell the company...
Film tax credit bill goes live Sacramento Business Journal ...Democratic Assemblymembers Raul Bocanegra and Mike Gatto released a film tax credit bill Wednesday that supporters say will protect jobs by keeping film crews in California....
Why privatizing toll collection is a horrible idea teamsternation ...If the New Jersey Turnpike Commission privatizes toll collection, workers who have already taken enormous cuts to pay and benefits will suffer...
Eight lies ‘advocates’ told about carriage horses New York Post ...the carriage industry is well-regulated and safe. NYCLASS attacks us not with facts and well-reasoned arguments, but with emotional manipulation and outright lies...
Judge strikes down Nebraska law that allowed Keystone XL pipeline Dallas Morning News ...A Nebraska judge on Wednesday struck down a law that allowed the Keystone XL pipeline to proceed through the state, a victory for opponents who have tried to block the project that would carry oil from Canada to Texas refineries...
The War on Workers
GOP’s Social Security disaster: Conservatives just lost their chance to cut benefits Salon ...The president dropping Chained CPI from his budget is a reprieve for the left -- and a message to the right...
Federal Government Soon to Know Everywhere You've Driven American Prospect ...There are more license-plate cameras installed all the time. Now the government wants to put all the data together in one database...
Flu Deaths Rise Among Young and Middle-Aged U.S. Adults Bloomberg ...While influenza traditionally affects children and the elderly hardest, adults under age 65 accounted for 61 percent of hospitalizations so far this season, an increase from 35 percent last year, according to a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report...
New Report Exposes America's Highest Paid Government Workers truthout ...America’s highest paid "government" workers are not your local teachers, nurses, or sanitation workers. Rather, they are corporate executives who sign lucrative contracts to take over public services and then pay themselves and other executives eye-popping salaries...
Victoria's anti-protest laws pass lower house by one vote The Guardian ...Controversial new laws giving police unprecedented powers to disperse protests have passed Victoria’s lower house...
New Report: Port Trucking Companies Steal More Than $1 Billion in Wages From Drivers In These Times ...The port brings in close to $16 billion per year, but the drivers only see a tiny bit of that money. This is in large part because they're “misclassified” as independent contractors...
State Battles
Concerned Missourians Deliver More than 6,850 Letters Calling on Speaker To Drop ALEC's 'Right-To-Work' Legislation Attacks Progress Missouri ...“We need to be building an economy that works for everyone, not political attacks and favors to special interest donors...”
Employers could pay less in lawsuits over unpaid wages Indianapolis Star ...Long-sought changes limiting employers’ liability when being sued by workers for unpaid wages may come to pass under a House bill backed by the Indiana Chamber of Commerce. The bill also would set up a framework to allow employers to take money out of wages of employees — if they agree — to repay loans for work-related equipment and job training...
The Top Five Things You Need to Know about the John Doe Emails Center for Media and Democracy ... in 2010 while Walker was running for governor, he corresponded consistently with key campaign and county staff from a private account in the middle of the work day and apparently on the secret Wi-Fi system set up by top aide Tim Russell...
Scott Walker Ordered Doctor Fired Because She Was Once A Thong Model Huffington Post ... In April 2010, Scott Walker and his staff realized they had a potential problem on their hands that would require them to quietly fire a woman who appeared to be completely competent at her job. The issue was that she had what they perceived to be a "checkered" past: She used to be a thong model...
Chris Christie's Mansion Fund Collected Millions From Political Favor Seekers Huffington Post ...A review of IRS records and Drumthwacket donor lists, however, suggest that prospective donors saw the mansion as something more than just an altruistic investment. Contributions to Drumthwacket often coincided with the donors' attempts to win tax breaks, political appointments or other support from Christie and his appointees. In many cases, the donors, like the Strangfelds, got what they wanted...
SC guv says she wears heels to kick unions teamsternation ...South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley would rather let the people of her state go without jobs than let them get union jobs...
Trade
“Free Trade” Pacts Were Always About Weakening Nation-States to Promote Rule by Multinationals naked capitalism ...the idea behind getting rid of these barriers wasn’t about free trade, it was about reorganizing the world so that corporations could manage resources for “the benefit of mankind”...
Miscellaneous
Madoff said JPMorgan executives knew of his fraud: lawsuit Reuters ..."JPMorgan was uniquely positioned for 20 years to see Madoff's crimes and put a stop to them," the lawsuit said. "But faced with the prospect of shutting down Madoff's account and losing lucrative profits," it added, "JPMorgan - at its highest level - chose to turn a blind eye."...
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