Teamsters
Arbitration Looming In Oxford County Sheriff's Deputy Pay Dispute NPR ...The labor dispute between Oxford County and the Teamsters Union over deputy pay rates will likely go to interest arbitration, say union officials, after the county failed to agree to a pay increase...
FTC Gives Ground On Merger Challenges Wall Street Journal ...Amid growing pressure from congressional Republicans, the Federal Trade Commission is revising procedures for challenging mergers it believes are anticompetitive, a move that could factor into its pending case against the deal that would combine Sysco Corp. and US Foods Inc...
Trade
What Would A Worker-Friendly Trans-Pacific Partnership Look Like? (opinion) The Week ...The biggest potential problem with TPP is that past international trade deals have eroded middle-class jobs, particularly in manufacturing, while increasing incomes at the top, thus creating even more of an hourglass economy...
State Battles
Editorial: From 'right-to-work' to the 'servant economy' St. Louis Post-Dispatch ...The decline of America’s middle class in the past four decades is attributable to many factors, one of them being the decline in union membership; right-to-work depresses union membership further. It will decrease dues payments that unions tend to spend on candidates who support unions, most of whom are not Republicans...
Wisconsin 'dead last' in the Midwest in creating jobs? PolitiFact Wisconsin ...Among the 10 Midwestern states we’ve checked on previous "dead last" claims, Wisconsin is at the bottom, if not "dead last"...
A Tale Of Two States Huffington Post ...Those two governors took these two states -- Minnesota and Wisconsin -- down two very different paths. Today, Minnesota's unemployment rate is 3.6 percent -- far below the nationwide rate of 5.7 percent - while Wisconsin's job growth has been among the worst in the region and its income growth has been among the worst in the nation...
Nevada Bill Aims To Scrap Minimum Wage That Voters Passed By Ballot Initiative ThinkProgress ...In 2006, the state’s voters approved a constitutional amendment that sets a standard minimum wage, but Hardy’s resolution would repeal it and give the legislature the ability to control the wage...
Illinois Unions Ramp Up To Thwart 'Right To Work' Chicago Tribune ...Illinois is surrounded by states that have adopted right-to-work laws that allow some workers to refrain from paying union dues, including Indiana, Iowa and Michigan. And the anti-union momentum shows no signs of slowing down, though it's a bigger challenge in Illinois, which has a Democrat-controlled legislature less likely to approve such a change...
You Try Living On The Minimum Wage (opinion) New York Times ...Over half a million workers in New York State subsist on the minimum wage of $8.75 an hour. That’s about $18,000 a year for those working 40 hours a week. Anyone who thinks that is generous should try spending just $350 a week on food, housing, gas and heat...
Bills Coming Monday Would Raise Minimum Wage By City Or Statewide Vote Denver Post ...On Monday, state Rep. Dominick Moreno, D-Commerce City, will announce two new pieces of legislation that could give a pay raise to Colorado's minimum-wage earners. One bill would let voters in 2016 set the minimum wage as well as a formula to grant increases, with a goal of reaching $12.50 an hour by 2020. If that fails, another bill would let cities with a high cost of living — resort towns such as Aspen, and Telluride, and possibly Denver and Boulder — to set their own local minimum wages...
War on Workers
Worker Killed At Port Of Anchorage Alaska Public Media ...A worker was killed at the Port of Anchorage earlier today while handling military equipment. Lindsey Whitt is the head of the External Affairs for the Port, and says this morning’s incident involved cargo shipping to the 1st Stryker Brigade in Fairbanks...
McDonald’s Workers Complain Of Widespread Burns And Injuries BuzzFeed News ...Nearly 30 McDonald’s employees in stores across 19 cities have filed complaints with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration that allege the fast food giant creates a hazardous working environment that has led to widespread burns and other injuries to employees...
Faith V. Greed: The Battle Between Faith-Based Organizations And The Payday Loan Industry Consumerist ...“The Bible condemns gaining wealth through usury; and the writers of Scripture warn about gaining wealth through exploiting the poor… [but] The State of Alabama allows Payday lenders to charge an annual interest rate of 456%.” So reads a 2014 Alabama Baptist State Convention resolution condemning predatory payday loans and recommending a 36% cap on interest rates. This resolution is just one of many efforts by faith-based organizations all around the country to combat the payday loan industry and other questionable financial products they believe are hurting low-income Americans and eroding communities...
To fix inequality, Democrats are pushing unions The Washington Post ...At a time when GOP is gaining ground in very public attacks on labor, the left is coming to the defense of collective bargaining...
Miscellaneous
Oil Pipeline Boom Goes On Despite Keystone XL Setback USA Today ...While the Keystone project awaits a final decision, scenes like these are unfolding almost every week in lesser-known developments that have quietly added more than 11,600 miles of pipeline to the nation's domestic oil network. Overall, the network has increased by almost a quarter in the last decade. And the work dwarfs Keystone. About 3.3 million barrels per day of capacity have been added since 2012 alone — five times more oil than the Canada-to-Texas Keystone line could carry if it's ever built...
A Police Gadget Tracks Phones? Shhh! It’s Secret New York Times ...A powerful new surveillance tool being adopted by police departments across the country comes with an unusual requirement: To buy it, law enforcement officials must sign a nondisclosure agreement preventing them from saying almost anything about the technology...
Showing posts with label Keystone XL Pipeline. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Keystone XL Pipeline. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
Wednesday, March 11, 2015
Today's Teamster News 03.11.15
Teamsters
Teamsters Take Action To Protect Highway Safety, Stop Mexican Trucks MarketWatch ...Today, the Teamsters Union filed a legal challenge to the Department of Transportation's (DOT) recent decision to open the border to Mexican trucks. The union was joined by Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety and the Truck Safety Coalition...
Teamsters, Organic Consumers Protest UNFI and Whole Foods at Natural Products Expo West Financial Content ...Teamsters and organic food advocates educated attendees of the annual Natural Products Expo West conference this weekend about conference sponsor UNFI (NYSE: UNFI) and its abusive and unsustainable behavior toward its workers...
The New Silicon Valley Movement That Is Taking on the Tech Giants The Nation ... Less well known is that the drivers who shuttle tech workers to and fro are going union. Last fall, the drivers at Loop Transportation who drive for Facebook voted to join the Teamsters. Before, their wages averaged $17.93 an hour, and some paid $1200 a month for family health insurance. Under their new contract, wages increased by an average of $5.73 an hour and healthcare is entirely covered by the employer...
Thorpe reaches agreement with Teamsters union Times News ...A tentative agreement has been reached between Jim Thorpe School District and Teamsters Local 773. Members of the school board voted 7-1 in favor of accepting the tentative agreement, which covers custodial personnel and some of the district's cafeteria staff...
Trade
TPP Chief Negotiators Resume Talks In Hawaii Japan Times ...Chief negotiators from countries involved in a Pacific Rim free trade initiative resumed talks Monday in Hawaii, as the 12 negotiating members attempt to reach a deal by the end of spring...
New Zealand Targets Trade Partners, Hacks Computers in Spy Operations The Intercept ...New Zealand is conducting covert surveillance operations against some of its strongest trading partners and has obtained sophisticated malware to infect targeted computers and steal data, newly released documents reveal...
British MPs Say US-EU Free Trade Deal Must Not Leave Govts At Multinationals’ Mercy RT News ...British MPs are protesting the US-EU TTIP free trade deal that could enable multinational corporations to sue governments if newly introduced rules harm their businesses, thus weakening essential European health and food regulations...
State Battles
Missouri Senate panel considers right-to-work measure St. Louis Post-Dispatch ...Some St. Louis area business executives are breaking ranks with the state's largest business organizations and speaking out against a Missouri bill that would bar mandatory union fees...
Proposal Would Scrap Prevailing Wage Law Journal Times ...Before the city even goes out to bid on a project, the wages it must pay workers for most projects are predetermined by the state. Those wages, known as prevailing wages, are in the range of about $35 to $60 per hour for most skilled workers. Under a proposed bill co-sponsored by state Sen. Van Wanggaard, R-Racine, and Rep. Thomas Weatherston, R-Caledonia, the prevailing wage law setting those wages would be eliminated...
It's Not Just Right-To-Work: Bills Targeting Unions Multiply Raleigh News and Observer ...Republican lawmakers in statehouses nationwide are working to weaken organized labor, sometimes with efforts that directly shrink union membership. Walker's signing of right-to-work legislation in Wisconsin on Monday puts his defiance of organized labor even more at the center of his nascent presidential campaign. And the inability of unions to exact a price for the first round of legislation targeting them in 2011 is encouraging even more proposals to limit their power...
The Right-To-Work Fight You Aren't Hearing About National Journal ...there's also a high stakes showdown underway in New Mexico. Late last month, the state's House of Representatives passed a right-to-work bill, setting up a face-off with the Senate, which could raise the profile of Republican Gov. Susana Martinez, positioning her as a Walker-esque rising star for the GOP who is unafraid of challenging big labor...
War on Workers
Falling Behind On Your Student Loan Debt Will Get You Fired Main St. ...New research from Jobs With Justice has uncovered laws in at least 22 states that punish borrowers who fall too far behind by revoking their professional license; that's particularly grave given that some 30% of workers require professional licensure to do their job. It’s a novel approach to helping people get out of debt by taking away their ability to earn a living...
Recession’s Impact Lingers For Many States Wall Street Journal ...Government revenues have been slow to recover across the country as sales-tax collections fall prey to many of the same forces buffeting the broader economic expansion, from cautious consumers who have seen scant growth in wages to a downturn in home construction that has sapped sales of building materials and furnishings. At the same time, states are facing down a decades-long shift in the economy to services from goods, leaving them to collect taxes on a shrinking number of purchases...
Justices side with Labor Department in overtime pay dispute Associated Press ...The U.S. Supreme Court has sided with the Obama administration in upholding a rule making mortgage brokers eligible for overtime pay under federal labor law...
Ohio Man Killed, 2 Other Workers Hurt In W.Va. Mine Accident WTNH ...State officials are investigating a coal mine accident in Marshall County that killed one worker and injured two others. In a statement to media outlets, Murray Energy identified the miner who was killed as John M. “Mike” Garloch of Neffs, Ohio. The company says Garloch was a management employee. The injured miners haven’t been identified...
Worker Killed When Truck Rolls Down Embankment In Burbank MyNewsLA ...The driver of a rock mover truck was killed Monday when the vehicle rolled down an 80-foot embankment in Burbank’s landfill. Road Builders Inc., a private contractor, was performing roadway services about 2:45 p.m. when the accident occurred, according to Officer Cindy Guillen of the Burbank Police Department...
Miscellaneous
Don’t Kill Keystone XL. Regulate It. (opinion) New York Times ...Pipelines are the safest way to move oil. They’re an order of magnitude more reliable than trains, and trains are an order of magnitude more reliable than trucks. So the banners that say “If you build it, it will leak” should also be followed by “But if you don’t build it, you’ll have a lot more leaks.”...
Southbound I-95 Reopens Outside DC After Tanker Overturns Associated Press ...Two of Interstate 95's 4 southbound lanes just north of the Capital Beltway in Maryland have reopened after officials say a tanker truck overturned, spilling about 400 gallons of bio-diesel fuel...
Teamsters Take Action To Protect Highway Safety, Stop Mexican Trucks MarketWatch ...Today, the Teamsters Union filed a legal challenge to the Department of Transportation's (DOT) recent decision to open the border to Mexican trucks. The union was joined by Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety and the Truck Safety Coalition...
Teamsters, Organic Consumers Protest UNFI and Whole Foods at Natural Products Expo West Financial Content ...Teamsters and organic food advocates educated attendees of the annual Natural Products Expo West conference this weekend about conference sponsor UNFI (NYSE: UNFI) and its abusive and unsustainable behavior toward its workers...
The New Silicon Valley Movement That Is Taking on the Tech Giants The Nation ... Less well known is that the drivers who shuttle tech workers to and fro are going union. Last fall, the drivers at Loop Transportation who drive for Facebook voted to join the Teamsters. Before, their wages averaged $17.93 an hour, and some paid $1200 a month for family health insurance. Under their new contract, wages increased by an average of $5.73 an hour and healthcare is entirely covered by the employer...
Thorpe reaches agreement with Teamsters union Times News ...A tentative agreement has been reached between Jim Thorpe School District and Teamsters Local 773. Members of the school board voted 7-1 in favor of accepting the tentative agreement, which covers custodial personnel and some of the district's cafeteria staff...
Trade
TPP Chief Negotiators Resume Talks In Hawaii Japan Times ...Chief negotiators from countries involved in a Pacific Rim free trade initiative resumed talks Monday in Hawaii, as the 12 negotiating members attempt to reach a deal by the end of spring...
New Zealand Targets Trade Partners, Hacks Computers in Spy Operations The Intercept ...New Zealand is conducting covert surveillance operations against some of its strongest trading partners and has obtained sophisticated malware to infect targeted computers and steal data, newly released documents reveal...
British MPs Say US-EU Free Trade Deal Must Not Leave Govts At Multinationals’ Mercy RT News ...British MPs are protesting the US-EU TTIP free trade deal that could enable multinational corporations to sue governments if newly introduced rules harm their businesses, thus weakening essential European health and food regulations...
State Battles
Missouri Senate panel considers right-to-work measure St. Louis Post-Dispatch ...Some St. Louis area business executives are breaking ranks with the state's largest business organizations and speaking out against a Missouri bill that would bar mandatory union fees...
Proposal Would Scrap Prevailing Wage Law Journal Times ...Before the city even goes out to bid on a project, the wages it must pay workers for most projects are predetermined by the state. Those wages, known as prevailing wages, are in the range of about $35 to $60 per hour for most skilled workers. Under a proposed bill co-sponsored by state Sen. Van Wanggaard, R-Racine, and Rep. Thomas Weatherston, R-Caledonia, the prevailing wage law setting those wages would be eliminated...
It's Not Just Right-To-Work: Bills Targeting Unions Multiply Raleigh News and Observer ...Republican lawmakers in statehouses nationwide are working to weaken organized labor, sometimes with efforts that directly shrink union membership. Walker's signing of right-to-work legislation in Wisconsin on Monday puts his defiance of organized labor even more at the center of his nascent presidential campaign. And the inability of unions to exact a price for the first round of legislation targeting them in 2011 is encouraging even more proposals to limit their power...
The Right-To-Work Fight You Aren't Hearing About National Journal ...there's also a high stakes showdown underway in New Mexico. Late last month, the state's House of Representatives passed a right-to-work bill, setting up a face-off with the Senate, which could raise the profile of Republican Gov. Susana Martinez, positioning her as a Walker-esque rising star for the GOP who is unafraid of challenging big labor...
War on Workers
Falling Behind On Your Student Loan Debt Will Get You Fired Main St. ...New research from Jobs With Justice has uncovered laws in at least 22 states that punish borrowers who fall too far behind by revoking their professional license; that's particularly grave given that some 30% of workers require professional licensure to do their job. It’s a novel approach to helping people get out of debt by taking away their ability to earn a living...
Recession’s Impact Lingers For Many States Wall Street Journal ...Government revenues have been slow to recover across the country as sales-tax collections fall prey to many of the same forces buffeting the broader economic expansion, from cautious consumers who have seen scant growth in wages to a downturn in home construction that has sapped sales of building materials and furnishings. At the same time, states are facing down a decades-long shift in the economy to services from goods, leaving them to collect taxes on a shrinking number of purchases...
Justices side with Labor Department in overtime pay dispute Associated Press ...The U.S. Supreme Court has sided with the Obama administration in upholding a rule making mortgage brokers eligible for overtime pay under federal labor law...
Ohio Man Killed, 2 Other Workers Hurt In W.Va. Mine Accident WTNH ...State officials are investigating a coal mine accident in Marshall County that killed one worker and injured two others. In a statement to media outlets, Murray Energy identified the miner who was killed as John M. “Mike” Garloch of Neffs, Ohio. The company says Garloch was a management employee. The injured miners haven’t been identified...
Worker Killed When Truck Rolls Down Embankment In Burbank MyNewsLA ...The driver of a rock mover truck was killed Monday when the vehicle rolled down an 80-foot embankment in Burbank’s landfill. Road Builders Inc., a private contractor, was performing roadway services about 2:45 p.m. when the accident occurred, according to Officer Cindy Guillen of the Burbank Police Department...
Miscellaneous
Don’t Kill Keystone XL. Regulate It. (opinion) New York Times ...Pipelines are the safest way to move oil. They’re an order of magnitude more reliable than trains, and trains are an order of magnitude more reliable than trucks. So the banners that say “If you build it, it will leak” should also be followed by “But if you don’t build it, you’ll have a lot more leaks.”...
Southbound I-95 Reopens Outside DC After Tanker Overturns Associated Press ...Two of Interstate 95's 4 southbound lanes just north of the Capital Beltway in Maryland have reopened after officials say a tanker truck overturned, spilling about 400 gallons of bio-diesel fuel...
Saturday, February 28, 2015
Today's Teamster News 02.28.15
Teamsters
Drivers For Apple, Yahoo, EBay, Zynga, Genentech and Amtrak Join Teamsters teamster.org … Drivers who transport employees for six big Silicon Valley companies have voted overwhelmingly 104 to 38 in favor of representation by Teamsters Local 853 in San Leandro, Calif...
CDT Workers Ratify First Union Contract teamster.org ...Nine months after emphatically voting to join Teamsters Local 727, nearly 700 paratransit drivers, garage attendants, dispatchers and customer service representatives at Cook DuPage Transportation (CDT) in Chicago have ratified their first union contract...
Shaw’s fights Teamsters’ effort to unionize Maine pharmacists Bangor Daily News ...Shaw’s Supermarkets is fighting an effort by the Teamsters union to organize the chain’s pharmacists at 16 stores in Maine, arguing its pharmacy managers are supervisors and therefore are not able to join a labor union...
Trade
Trade critics take to Senate floor — Cutler: U.S., Japan close to deal — Anti-TPP group threatens Wyden with primary Politico ...A group of President Barack Obama’s fellow Democrats took to the Senate floor Thursday to oppose his flagship trade initiative, the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, which they said would lead to big job losses and give big corporations too much power over public health and safety laws...
Sen. Elizabeth Warren Kicks Off Assault Against Secret Trade Agreement Crooks and Liars ...Elizabeth Warren is going after the TPP (yay!) and the White House is saying, oh, you misunderstood. But we've already seen the kind of insane copyright protections this administration wants - the kind that makes it impossible for other countries to make generic copies of needed medication, for instance...
TTIP: Transatlantic Trade Deal Text Leaked To BBC BBC News ...The trade union Unite said "real risks" remained because of the dispute resolution mechanism TTIP is expected to include. The union's Scottish regional secretary, Pat Rafferty said: "Last week Lord Livingston tried to pull the wool over the eyes of the Scottish people...
Canada Won't Take 'No' For An Answer On Keystone XL Forbes ...Canada’s leadership, including its prime minister, Stephen Harper, has repeatedly made clear its annoyance with the Obama administration’s Hamlet-like deliberations over the pipeline, suggesting that American rejection of the proposed project — which requires a special permit from the White House to cross the border — was simply not an option...
State Battles
WV Senate Leader Says Right-To-Work Bill Dead This Session Associated Press …Senate Majority Leader Mitch Carmichael said a push to make West Virginia a right-to-work state is dead this session...
No One in Wisconsin Asked to Kill Unions Except Special Interests The Daily Beast ...This death warrant for unions wasn’t drafted in Wisconsin though. The fingerprints of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a right-wing special-interest group, were found all over the bill. Nevertheless, Governor Scott Walker is ready to sign it after dealing unions a mortal wound in 2011 by ending the right to collective bargaining for public employees...
Construction Workers Rally Against Eliminating Prevailing Wage Las Vegas Sun ...Union and nonunion workers overwhelmed hallways and committee rooms. They marched outside, waved banners and filled committee rooms to watch lawmakers vet SB119, one of the most controversial bills in this year's legislative session...
Maine Shows That Publicly Financed Elections Really Can Work Moyers and Company ...It worked well for several cycles. Hundreds of candidates were able to run and win office without prostrating themselves before big donors and lobbyists. Farmers, waitresses, and others who usually can’t make their voice heard in politics were able to go to Maine’s state capital Augusta and represent their constituents free from the influence of special interest cash...
War on Workers
How One Community Is Kicking The Koch Brothers' Harmful Black Dust Out Of Their Neighborhood Huffington Post ...It’s not easy to take on a wealthy, multi-national corporation and win. Especially for residents of Chicago’s struggling southeast side. But that’s exactly what's happening on the banks of the Calumet River, where the steel plants that used to give residents of a mostly Hispanic neighborhood access to a middle-class lifestyle were replaced, nearly two years ago, with black dust called petroleum coke (“petcoke”) piled five or six stories tall...
Oil Train Wrecks Increase Pressure For Tougher Safety Rules Philadelphia Inquirer ...Fiery wrecks of trains hauling crude oil have intensified pressure on the Obama administration to approve tougher standards for railroads and tank cars despite industry complaints that it could cost billions and slow freight deliveries...
Railroads Want One-Man Crews On Massive Freight Trains NBC News ...Railroads have proposed eliminating the job of on-board conductor on most trains, leaving just an engineer aboard. The workers argue that one-person crews will mean more out-of-control trains, like the runaway that caused the Lac-Mégantic disaster in 2013...
L&I Probing Death Of Mabton Dairy Worker Yakima Herald Republic ...State workplace safety officials are investigating the drowning in a manure lagoon Wednesday of a 27-year-old old dairy employee...
Miscellaneous
Gas’s Drop Drives U.S. Into Deflation Territory Wall Street Journal ...Driven by a tumble in oil prices since mid-2014, the consumer-price index fell 0.1% in January from a year earlier, the Labor Department said Thursday. It was the first year-over-year decrease since October 2009. Prices fell 0.7% from December...
Drivers For Apple, Yahoo, EBay, Zynga, Genentech and Amtrak Join Teamsters teamster.org … Drivers who transport employees for six big Silicon Valley companies have voted overwhelmingly 104 to 38 in favor of representation by Teamsters Local 853 in San Leandro, Calif...
CDT Workers Ratify First Union Contract teamster.org ...Nine months after emphatically voting to join Teamsters Local 727, nearly 700 paratransit drivers, garage attendants, dispatchers and customer service representatives at Cook DuPage Transportation (CDT) in Chicago have ratified their first union contract...
Shaw’s fights Teamsters’ effort to unionize Maine pharmacists Bangor Daily News ...Shaw’s Supermarkets is fighting an effort by the Teamsters union to organize the chain’s pharmacists at 16 stores in Maine, arguing its pharmacy managers are supervisors and therefore are not able to join a labor union...
Trade
Trade critics take to Senate floor — Cutler: U.S., Japan close to deal — Anti-TPP group threatens Wyden with primary Politico ...A group of President Barack Obama’s fellow Democrats took to the Senate floor Thursday to oppose his flagship trade initiative, the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, which they said would lead to big job losses and give big corporations too much power over public health and safety laws...
Sen. Elizabeth Warren Kicks Off Assault Against Secret Trade Agreement Crooks and Liars ...Elizabeth Warren is going after the TPP (yay!) and the White House is saying, oh, you misunderstood. But we've already seen the kind of insane copyright protections this administration wants - the kind that makes it impossible for other countries to make generic copies of needed medication, for instance...
TTIP: Transatlantic Trade Deal Text Leaked To BBC BBC News ...The trade union Unite said "real risks" remained because of the dispute resolution mechanism TTIP is expected to include. The union's Scottish regional secretary, Pat Rafferty said: "Last week Lord Livingston tried to pull the wool over the eyes of the Scottish people...
Canada Won't Take 'No' For An Answer On Keystone XL Forbes ...Canada’s leadership, including its prime minister, Stephen Harper, has repeatedly made clear its annoyance with the Obama administration’s Hamlet-like deliberations over the pipeline, suggesting that American rejection of the proposed project — which requires a special permit from the White House to cross the border — was simply not an option...
State Battles
WV Senate Leader Says Right-To-Work Bill Dead This Session Associated Press …Senate Majority Leader Mitch Carmichael said a push to make West Virginia a right-to-work state is dead this session...
No One in Wisconsin Asked to Kill Unions Except Special Interests The Daily Beast ...This death warrant for unions wasn’t drafted in Wisconsin though. The fingerprints of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a right-wing special-interest group, were found all over the bill. Nevertheless, Governor Scott Walker is ready to sign it after dealing unions a mortal wound in 2011 by ending the right to collective bargaining for public employees...
Construction Workers Rally Against Eliminating Prevailing Wage Las Vegas Sun ...Union and nonunion workers overwhelmed hallways and committee rooms. They marched outside, waved banners and filled committee rooms to watch lawmakers vet SB119, one of the most controversial bills in this year's legislative session...
Maine Shows That Publicly Financed Elections Really Can Work Moyers and Company ...It worked well for several cycles. Hundreds of candidates were able to run and win office without prostrating themselves before big donors and lobbyists. Farmers, waitresses, and others who usually can’t make their voice heard in politics were able to go to Maine’s state capital Augusta and represent their constituents free from the influence of special interest cash...
War on Workers
How One Community Is Kicking The Koch Brothers' Harmful Black Dust Out Of Their Neighborhood Huffington Post ...It’s not easy to take on a wealthy, multi-national corporation and win. Especially for residents of Chicago’s struggling southeast side. But that’s exactly what's happening on the banks of the Calumet River, where the steel plants that used to give residents of a mostly Hispanic neighborhood access to a middle-class lifestyle were replaced, nearly two years ago, with black dust called petroleum coke (“petcoke”) piled five or six stories tall...
Oil Train Wrecks Increase Pressure For Tougher Safety Rules Philadelphia Inquirer ...Fiery wrecks of trains hauling crude oil have intensified pressure on the Obama administration to approve tougher standards for railroads and tank cars despite industry complaints that it could cost billions and slow freight deliveries...
Railroads Want One-Man Crews On Massive Freight Trains NBC News ...Railroads have proposed eliminating the job of on-board conductor on most trains, leaving just an engineer aboard. The workers argue that one-person crews will mean more out-of-control trains, like the runaway that caused the Lac-Mégantic disaster in 2013...
L&I Probing Death Of Mabton Dairy Worker Yakima Herald Republic ...State workplace safety officials are investigating the drowning in a manure lagoon Wednesday of a 27-year-old old dairy employee...
Miscellaneous
Gas’s Drop Drives U.S. Into Deflation Territory Wall Street Journal ...Driven by a tumble in oil prices since mid-2014, the consumer-price index fell 0.1% in January from a year earlier, the Labor Department said Thursday. It was the first year-over-year decrease since October 2009. Prices fell 0.7% from December...
Friday, February 13, 2015
Today's Teamster News 02.13.15
Teamsters
Cross-Border Trucking Program Moving Forward Texas Tribune ...After two decades of political posturing, a cross-border trucking program will soon be ready to roll, opening up an avenue to expand trade between Texas and Mexico....
Teamsters Approve New Contracts at MillerCoors Breweries In N.C. And Texas teamster.org …Teamsters at MillerCoors breweries in Eden, N.C., and Fort Worth, Texas, have ratified new, three-year contracts. The agreements cover more than 900 employees at the two breweries and provide lifetime retiree health care benefits. Members of Local 391 and 997 at each location voted Saturday to ratify the contracts by 88 percent...
Teamster Unity Versus Heidelberg Family Feud teamster.org ... In a dramatic show of unity in the face of unreasonable demands on Heidelberg Distributing’s unionized workforce, Teamsters who represent approximately 500 workers at six of Heidelberg’s family-owned distributorships of beer, wine and spirits in Ohio declared their solidarity by marching together into negotiations with Teamsters Local 284 in Columbus for contract talks yesterday. Employees there voted to join the Teamsters two years ago, but are still without a contract...
Clark County School District Employees Win New Teamster Election teamster.org ...Today, in a major victory for workers, the Employee-Management Relations Board (EMRB) acknowledged that the supermajority election rule for Clark County School District (CCSD) support staff was not in the best interest of the employees and has ordered a new election take place requiring simple majority...
Hoffa To President Obama: Sign The Keystone Pipeline Act teamster.org ...With the passage of the Keystone Pipeline Act by the House of Representatives today, Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa is urging President Obama to sign the legislation when it reaches his desk...
GW Professor Becomes Inaugural James R. Hoffa Teamsters Professor In Modern American Labor History Newswise ...Eric Arnesen, a specialist in the history of race, labor, politics and civil rights was officially installed yesterday as the George Washington University’s James R. Hoffa Teamsters Professor in Modern American Labor History...
York County Prison Counselors Get New Contract York Dispatch ...The county and Teamsters Local 776, which represents the workers, couldn't reach a deal and were slated to go to arbitration, when the two sides revisited the contract and were able to reach an agreement...
Sysco Meets With FTC Commissioners In Effort To Allay Antitrust Concerns Wall Street Journal ...Sysco Corp. met with the five commissioners of the Federal Trade Commission in a last-ditch attempt to avert a possible antitrust lawsuit to block the food distributor’s planned $3.5 billion purchase of rival US Foods Inc...
Trade
Council Member Helen Rosenthal calls for NYC to be a "TPP-Free Zone" Helen Rosenthal ...On Thursday Council Member Helen Rosenthal introduced a new resolution that opposes the President’s “fast-track” authority over the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and declares New York City a “TPP-Free Zone.”...
Liberal Democrats align with Tea Party against Obama’s trade agenda Daily Times ...A coalition of liberal Democrats and Tea Party Republicans is fighting against US President Barack Obama’s
ambitious trade agenda that he hopes to secure before he leaves office...
The ‘Movement of Movements’ against Fast Tracking the TPP has the power to win Daily Kos …Since the President’s State of the Union message where he announced his plan to push corporate trade agreements and seek Fast Track trade promotion authority, the movement against Fast Track, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and globalized trade has grown. Instead of the bump in support that Obama expected after the State of the Union, opposition has increased inside Congress and in the grass roots...
Leaked : TTIP negotiations to constrain regulations that protect public interest unbalanced evolution …According to the proposal, as soon as a new regulation is in the pipeline, businesses should be informed through an annual report, and be involved. This is now called 'early information on planned acts', until recently called 'early warning'….This means businesses, for instance, at an early stage, can try to block rules intended to prevent the food industry from marketing foodstuffs with toxic substances, laws trying to keep energy companies from destroying the climate, or regulations to combat pollution and protect consumers.”...
A corporate coup d’etat Illinois Times ...You haven’t heard of the TPP? Dubbed “a corporate coup d’etat” by Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch, it’s a grandiose grab for power masked as a trade deal allowing an unprecedented level of global corporate rule over Americans. One reason we commoners don’t know about it is that the corporate and governmental elites of the 12 nations that have been negotiating this momentous deal in strict secrecy not only are keeping us in the dark, but also Congress. Another reason, however, is that the mass media has been shockingly silent, apparently even incurious, about what clearly is a huge story with historic consequences...
State Battles
Missouri House Approves Right-To-Work Bill, But Margin Not Veto-Proof St. Louis Public Radio ...For the first time ever, the Missouri House has approved a right-to-work bill that curbs union rights. But the House’s 92-66 vote Wednesday afternoon was far short of the number – 109 -- needed to withstand a likely veto by Gov. Jay Nixon, a Democrat with close union ties...
‘Paycheck Protection’ Bill Aims At Unions Lee's Summit Journal ...A [Missouri] House committee on Monday signed off on legislation supporters have christened “paycheck protection” — and detractors call “paycheck deception” — that would require public employees to give permission before union dues are taken from their paychecks...
Beer Battle Brewing In Frankfort Spills Into Commercials WHAS ...A-B InBev has stressed that House Bill 168 is backed by rival distributorships that want to take over businesses it would be forced to sell. The Belgium-based company has the backing of the Teamsters Union. About 200 Teamsters work at the Louisville facility...
House panel shoots down two Senate bills opposed by Kentucky unions Herald-Leader ... Union workers flooded the state Capitol on Thursday to express their disdain for bills that would allow people to work for unionized employers without joining the union and repeal the prevailing-wage requirement for school construction projects. They liked what they heard in the House Labor and Industry Committee. The panel overwhelmingly voted down Senate Bill 1, the so-called right-to-work bill sponsored by Senate President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, and SB 9, the prevailing-wage measure sponsored by Sen. Wil Schroder, R-Campbell County...
More Kentucky Counties Getting Behind the Right-to-Work Movement WKU ...Butler County is joining the growing list of Kentucky counties passing or considering right-to-work laws. ..
Right-Wing Media Discover A Lawless Executive Order They Support -- It's Anti-Union, Of Course Media Matters for America ...Right-wing media are celebrating Gov. Bruce Rauner's (R-IL) executive order blocking public-sector unions from collecting "fair share" fees from the state employees they represent, even though there is no precedent for such a move...
Education Is Newest Target Of Kansas Budget Cuts New York Times ...The cuts come amid a larger budget picture in which the governor has been forced to fill a $344 million budget gap for the fiscal year ending in June; a shortfall of nearly $600 million has been forecast for the fiscal year starting July 1....
States Dangle Water To Tempt California Dairy Farmers NBC News ...Mark Watte, a diversified row crop and dairy farmer in Tulare, said he's considered moving his 1,000-cow operation out of California due to water shortages and burdensome regulations, but his family obligations keep him here...
War on Workers
Are You Being Served - By A Drone Bloomberg News ...Timbre introduced tablets at its restaurants more than three years ago to enable customers to place orders faster; it resulted in a 25 percent increase in productivity, Chia said. It now plans to equip its five venues with eight drones each, four at the bar and four for the kitchen. After diners place their orders on the tablets, the drones will pick up the food and drinks from the kitchen or bar and deliver them to a service area, from where the staff will take them to the tables, he said. They will also be loaded with empties to take back to the kitchen...
OUTRAGE! Indiana Wants Workers To Repay Unemployment Cash Received Because State Messed Up! Praise Indy ...During the summer months school bus drivers, Head Start workers and others who work most of the year, but have a hiatus during the summer, used to be able to file for unemployment benefits. But the Legislature changed the law prohibiting it. But it seems none told employees at state unemployment offices who approved the benefits when workers applied. Now, after catching their mistake, the state wants the workers to payback the cash, even though it was the state that screwed up...
Oil Workers Are Striking Because They're Underpaid and Overworked—and It's Killing Them New Republic ...The union accuses oil companies like Shell and BP of keeping operations too lean while oil prices are low, hiring inexperienced non-union operators, and overworking staff. "We're concerned about the excessive overtime," said Lynne Hancock, a spokesperson for United Steelworkers. "In a lot of locations the workers have mandatory overtime. And when people are working non-stop, they get tired and fatigued. And when you are fatigued, you have a tendency to make some mistakes...
Study says 401(k)-style public pensions cost more than traditional plans Reuters ...Public worker unions and others who back traditional pensions over 401(k)-style plans got ammunition on Tuesday from a new study that shows U.S. state governments that made the switch did not achieve the predicted savings but rather lost money...
South Texas oil worker dies, fell from rig Associated Press …An oil field worker in South Texas has died after falling while near the top of a 50-foot rig...
Miscellaneous
Goldman: Here's Why Oil Crashed—and Why Lower Prices Are Here to Stay Bloomberg News ...The big take-away: “[T]he decline in oil has been driven by an oversupplied global oil market,” wrote Goldman economist Sven Jari Stehn. As a result, “the new equilibrium price of oil will likely be much lower than over the past decade.”...
Cross-Border Trucking Program Moving Forward Texas Tribune ...After two decades of political posturing, a cross-border trucking program will soon be ready to roll, opening up an avenue to expand trade between Texas and Mexico....
Teamsters Approve New Contracts at MillerCoors Breweries In N.C. And Texas teamster.org …Teamsters at MillerCoors breweries in Eden, N.C., and Fort Worth, Texas, have ratified new, three-year contracts. The agreements cover more than 900 employees at the two breweries and provide lifetime retiree health care benefits. Members of Local 391 and 997 at each location voted Saturday to ratify the contracts by 88 percent...
Teamster Unity Versus Heidelberg Family Feud teamster.org ... In a dramatic show of unity in the face of unreasonable demands on Heidelberg Distributing’s unionized workforce, Teamsters who represent approximately 500 workers at six of Heidelberg’s family-owned distributorships of beer, wine and spirits in Ohio declared their solidarity by marching together into negotiations with Teamsters Local 284 in Columbus for contract talks yesterday. Employees there voted to join the Teamsters two years ago, but are still without a contract...
Clark County School District Employees Win New Teamster Election teamster.org ...Today, in a major victory for workers, the Employee-Management Relations Board (EMRB) acknowledged that the supermajority election rule for Clark County School District (CCSD) support staff was not in the best interest of the employees and has ordered a new election take place requiring simple majority...
Hoffa To President Obama: Sign The Keystone Pipeline Act teamster.org ...With the passage of the Keystone Pipeline Act by the House of Representatives today, Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa is urging President Obama to sign the legislation when it reaches his desk...
GW Professor Becomes Inaugural James R. Hoffa Teamsters Professor In Modern American Labor History Newswise ...Eric Arnesen, a specialist in the history of race, labor, politics and civil rights was officially installed yesterday as the George Washington University’s James R. Hoffa Teamsters Professor in Modern American Labor History...
York County Prison Counselors Get New Contract York Dispatch ...The county and Teamsters Local 776, which represents the workers, couldn't reach a deal and were slated to go to arbitration, when the two sides revisited the contract and were able to reach an agreement...
Sysco Meets With FTC Commissioners In Effort To Allay Antitrust Concerns Wall Street Journal ...Sysco Corp. met with the five commissioners of the Federal Trade Commission in a last-ditch attempt to avert a possible antitrust lawsuit to block the food distributor’s planned $3.5 billion purchase of rival US Foods Inc...
Trade
Council Member Helen Rosenthal calls for NYC to be a "TPP-Free Zone" Helen Rosenthal ...On Thursday Council Member Helen Rosenthal introduced a new resolution that opposes the President’s “fast-track” authority over the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and declares New York City a “TPP-Free Zone.”...
Liberal Democrats align with Tea Party against Obama’s trade agenda Daily Times ...A coalition of liberal Democrats and Tea Party Republicans is fighting against US President Barack Obama’s
ambitious trade agenda that he hopes to secure before he leaves office...
The ‘Movement of Movements’ against Fast Tracking the TPP has the power to win Daily Kos …Since the President’s State of the Union message where he announced his plan to push corporate trade agreements and seek Fast Track trade promotion authority, the movement against Fast Track, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and globalized trade has grown. Instead of the bump in support that Obama expected after the State of the Union, opposition has increased inside Congress and in the grass roots...
Leaked : TTIP negotiations to constrain regulations that protect public interest unbalanced evolution …According to the proposal, as soon as a new regulation is in the pipeline, businesses should be informed through an annual report, and be involved. This is now called 'early information on planned acts', until recently called 'early warning'….This means businesses, for instance, at an early stage, can try to block rules intended to prevent the food industry from marketing foodstuffs with toxic substances, laws trying to keep energy companies from destroying the climate, or regulations to combat pollution and protect consumers.”...
A corporate coup d’etat Illinois Times ...You haven’t heard of the TPP? Dubbed “a corporate coup d’etat” by Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch, it’s a grandiose grab for power masked as a trade deal allowing an unprecedented level of global corporate rule over Americans. One reason we commoners don’t know about it is that the corporate and governmental elites of the 12 nations that have been negotiating this momentous deal in strict secrecy not only are keeping us in the dark, but also Congress. Another reason, however, is that the mass media has been shockingly silent, apparently even incurious, about what clearly is a huge story with historic consequences...
State Battles
Missouri House Approves Right-To-Work Bill, But Margin Not Veto-Proof St. Louis Public Radio ...For the first time ever, the Missouri House has approved a right-to-work bill that curbs union rights. But the House’s 92-66 vote Wednesday afternoon was far short of the number – 109 -- needed to withstand a likely veto by Gov. Jay Nixon, a Democrat with close union ties...
‘Paycheck Protection’ Bill Aims At Unions Lee's Summit Journal ...A [Missouri] House committee on Monday signed off on legislation supporters have christened “paycheck protection” — and detractors call “paycheck deception” — that would require public employees to give permission before union dues are taken from their paychecks...
Beer Battle Brewing In Frankfort Spills Into Commercials WHAS ...A-B InBev has stressed that House Bill 168 is backed by rival distributorships that want to take over businesses it would be forced to sell. The Belgium-based company has the backing of the Teamsters Union. About 200 Teamsters work at the Louisville facility...
House panel shoots down two Senate bills opposed by Kentucky unions Herald-Leader ... Union workers flooded the state Capitol on Thursday to express their disdain for bills that would allow people to work for unionized employers without joining the union and repeal the prevailing-wage requirement for school construction projects. They liked what they heard in the House Labor and Industry Committee. The panel overwhelmingly voted down Senate Bill 1, the so-called right-to-work bill sponsored by Senate President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, and SB 9, the prevailing-wage measure sponsored by Sen. Wil Schroder, R-Campbell County...
More Kentucky Counties Getting Behind the Right-to-Work Movement WKU ...Butler County is joining the growing list of Kentucky counties passing or considering right-to-work laws. ..
Right-Wing Media Discover A Lawless Executive Order They Support -- It's Anti-Union, Of Course Media Matters for America ...Right-wing media are celebrating Gov. Bruce Rauner's (R-IL) executive order blocking public-sector unions from collecting "fair share" fees from the state employees they represent, even though there is no precedent for such a move...
Education Is Newest Target Of Kansas Budget Cuts New York Times ...The cuts come amid a larger budget picture in which the governor has been forced to fill a $344 million budget gap for the fiscal year ending in June; a shortfall of nearly $600 million has been forecast for the fiscal year starting July 1....
States Dangle Water To Tempt California Dairy Farmers NBC News ...Mark Watte, a diversified row crop and dairy farmer in Tulare, said he's considered moving his 1,000-cow operation out of California due to water shortages and burdensome regulations, but his family obligations keep him here...
War on Workers
Are You Being Served - By A Drone Bloomberg News ...Timbre introduced tablets at its restaurants more than three years ago to enable customers to place orders faster; it resulted in a 25 percent increase in productivity, Chia said. It now plans to equip its five venues with eight drones each, four at the bar and four for the kitchen. After diners place their orders on the tablets, the drones will pick up the food and drinks from the kitchen or bar and deliver them to a service area, from where the staff will take them to the tables, he said. They will also be loaded with empties to take back to the kitchen...
OUTRAGE! Indiana Wants Workers To Repay Unemployment Cash Received Because State Messed Up! Praise Indy ...During the summer months school bus drivers, Head Start workers and others who work most of the year, but have a hiatus during the summer, used to be able to file for unemployment benefits. But the Legislature changed the law prohibiting it. But it seems none told employees at state unemployment offices who approved the benefits when workers applied. Now, after catching their mistake, the state wants the workers to payback the cash, even though it was the state that screwed up...
Oil Workers Are Striking Because They're Underpaid and Overworked—and It's Killing Them New Republic ...The union accuses oil companies like Shell and BP of keeping operations too lean while oil prices are low, hiring inexperienced non-union operators, and overworking staff. "We're concerned about the excessive overtime," said Lynne Hancock, a spokesperson for United Steelworkers. "In a lot of locations the workers have mandatory overtime. And when people are working non-stop, they get tired and fatigued. And when you are fatigued, you have a tendency to make some mistakes...
Study says 401(k)-style public pensions cost more than traditional plans Reuters ...Public worker unions and others who back traditional pensions over 401(k)-style plans got ammunition on Tuesday from a new study that shows U.S. state governments that made the switch did not achieve the predicted savings but rather lost money...
South Texas oil worker dies, fell from rig Associated Press …An oil field worker in South Texas has died after falling while near the top of a 50-foot rig...
Miscellaneous
Goldman: Here's Why Oil Crashed—and Why Lower Prices Are Here to Stay Bloomberg News ...The big take-away: “[T]he decline in oil has been driven by an oversupplied global oil market,” wrote Goldman economist Sven Jari Stehn. As a result, “the new equilibrium price of oil will likely be much lower than over the past decade.”...
Saturday, January 31, 2015
Today's Teamster News 01.31.15
Teamsters
Teamsters Urge Tech Giants To Support Workers, Hold Contractor Accountable teamster.org ...In a letter to the CEOs of six East Bay-area companies, Rome Aloise, International Vice President and President of Teamsters Local 853 in San Leandro, Calif., urged the executives to call on their transportation contractor, Compass Transportation, to cease its anti-worker, anti-union tactics and proceed with a representation election...
Unions urge president not to veto Keystone Washington Examiner ...Galen Munroe, spokesman for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, said the union was still backing the project though it hasn't issued a statement on the Senate vote...
Strike possible at Dutchess LOOP MidHudson News …The [Teamsters] union representing Dutchess County LOOP bus drivers, mechanics, office employees and bus washers said they could be walking the picket line within the next few days...
Rhode Island Hospital Workers Demonstrate Amid Negotiations On New Contract Providence Journal ...Workers seeking a new contract demonstrated outside Rhode Island Hospital on Thursday afternoon to demand job protection and improved pay and benefits. The union leading the demonstration — the Teamsters, Local 251 — represents about 2,300 employees at the hospital, which is part of the Lifespan health system. They include certified nursing assistants, maintenance staff and clerical help...
Trade
Trans-Pacific Partnership: Fast Track To Job Losses (opinion) Huffington Post ...Much like NAFTA, the TPP has more to do with big-business protectionism than with genuine free trade. Of TPP's 29 sections, only five relate to traditional trade issues like lowering tariffs. The rest of the chapters seek to limit the powers of governments to protect the safety of food, medicines, and the environment, as well as to forestall governments from implementing financial regulations of the sort that are needed to safeguard taxpayer money from bank bailouts. Most damaging of all, the TPP would create new incentives for corporations to ship jobs overseas and would forbid governments from using strategies like "Buy American" provisions that keep jobs in our country...
Big Business “Regulators” And The Transatlantic Trade And Investment Partnership (TTIP): Opening The Floodgates To Corporate Plunder Center for Research on Globalization ...there would be compulsory impact assessments for proposed regulation, which will be checked for their potential impact on trade. This would be ideal for big business lobbies: creating a firm brake on any new progressive regulation in the very first stage of decision-making...
The Obama Administration’s Illusionary Job Gains From The Trans-Pacific Partnership Washington Post ...imports would increase by virtually the same amount as exports, meaning the net number of new jobs is zero....
State Battles
Meet the next Scott Walker: Illinois’ new GOP governor declares war on labor Salon …Meet the next Scott Walker: Illinois’ new GOP governor declares war on labor...
Rauner Presents "Right-to-Work" Zone Preferences and Hopes for Improvement in Illinois' Business Competition Reboot Illinois ...In a speech in Champaign Jan. 29, Gov. Bruce Rauner talked business and state competition. He reiterated his position on unions–he’s not against them, but wants to encourage parts of Illinois to become “right-to-work zones.”
Rauner Wants Gov't Unions Banned From Political Campaign Contributions WNIJ ...Gov. Bruce Rauner lit a fire under labor unions this week when he suggested local governments should be able to implement their own right-to-work laws. Yesterday, Rauner went one step further, saying government unions should be banned from contributing to political campaigns...
Logan may soon join others in state to step up for ‘Right-to-Work’ newsdemocratleader.com ...The Logan County fiscal court unanimously voted on a first reading of an ordinance that will declare Logan a “Right-to-Work” county. Logan will become one of the handfull of counties in the state to historically set out into uncharted territory to send a loud and clear message to the legislators in Frankfort...
$12 Minimum-Wage Bill Advances After Fiery Debate Seattle Times ...A bill to boost the state minimum wage to $12-an-hour over four years passed out of a House committee Thursday, but not before an opposed GOP lawmaker ripped minimum-wage activists as entitled in a “kids-these-days” diatribe...
Right-to-work advocate visits Ruidoso Ruidoso News ...Paul Gessing, president of the [Koch-funded] Rio Grande Foundation, was in Ruidoso Monday raising awareness and support for passage of right-to-work legislation in New Mexico...
GOP in full sail at the Capitol West Virginia Metro News ... there are hints of possible storm clouds ahead. Senate Majority Leader Mitch Carmichael (R-Jackson) is adamant about pushing legislation making West Virginia a right-to-work state. Carmichael has long lobbied for limiting the power of unions in the workplace and he wants to take advantage of the new majority to see it through this year. Labor leaders will fight right-to-work to the last man...
Senate leader says he will have votes to pass right to work The Chippewa Herald ...Republican Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald said Friday there will be enough votes to pass a right-to-work bill in Wisconsin this session after the GOP majority grows to 19 following the April election to fill a vacant seat...
War on Workers
McConnell, Alexander Introduce Bill To Reform National Labor Relations Board The Chattanoogan ...Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senator Lamar Alexander, chairman of the Senate labor committee, on Wednesday introduced the NLRB Reform Act to turn the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) from an advocate to an umpire and keep the general counsel from operating as an activist for one side or the other...
Construction worker killed in Gold Coast crane accident WLS …the 45-year-old man was 60 feet up when part of the crane's equipment came crashing down on his chest around 3 p.m. Friday near State and Elm. He was pinned by part of the crane until workers were able free him...
Miscellaneous
U.S. Economy Slows To 2.6 Percent Growth In Fourth Quarter Politico ...The U.S. economy slowed in the final three months of 2014 as a big burst in consumer spending was offset by weakness in other areas. The Commerce Department said Thursday the overall economy grew at a 2.6 percent rate in the October-December period, down from sizzling gains of 4.6 percent in the second quarter and 5 percent in the third quarter...
Senate Approves Keystone XL Pipeline Bill, Testing Obama New York Times ...The Senate voted 62 to 36 in favor of building the pipeline. Nine Democrats joined 53 Republicans in passing the bill. The passage sends the measure back to the House, which passed a largely similar bill this month. House leaders are deciding whether to pass the Senate bill as is or to hold a conference merging the House and Senate versions into a new bill to be voted on by each chamber...
Drones Spotted, But Not Halted, Raise Concerns New York Times ...While drones have not been used in a terrorist attack on American soil, thwarting them is increasingly becoming a challenge for law enforcement and security officials who are charged with protecting large-scale events like the Super Bowl and high-profile public buildings like the White House. The officials have warned that the low-flying devices could be modified to carry explosives, chemicals, biological agents, guns or cameras...
Teamsters Urge Tech Giants To Support Workers, Hold Contractor Accountable teamster.org ...In a letter to the CEOs of six East Bay-area companies, Rome Aloise, International Vice President and President of Teamsters Local 853 in San Leandro, Calif., urged the executives to call on their transportation contractor, Compass Transportation, to cease its anti-worker, anti-union tactics and proceed with a representation election...
Unions urge president not to veto Keystone Washington Examiner ...Galen Munroe, spokesman for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, said the union was still backing the project though it hasn't issued a statement on the Senate vote...
Strike possible at Dutchess LOOP MidHudson News …The [Teamsters] union representing Dutchess County LOOP bus drivers, mechanics, office employees and bus washers said they could be walking the picket line within the next few days...
Rhode Island Hospital Workers Demonstrate Amid Negotiations On New Contract Providence Journal ...Workers seeking a new contract demonstrated outside Rhode Island Hospital on Thursday afternoon to demand job protection and improved pay and benefits. The union leading the demonstration — the Teamsters, Local 251 — represents about 2,300 employees at the hospital, which is part of the Lifespan health system. They include certified nursing assistants, maintenance staff and clerical help...
Trade
Trans-Pacific Partnership: Fast Track To Job Losses (opinion) Huffington Post ...Much like NAFTA, the TPP has more to do with big-business protectionism than with genuine free trade. Of TPP's 29 sections, only five relate to traditional trade issues like lowering tariffs. The rest of the chapters seek to limit the powers of governments to protect the safety of food, medicines, and the environment, as well as to forestall governments from implementing financial regulations of the sort that are needed to safeguard taxpayer money from bank bailouts. Most damaging of all, the TPP would create new incentives for corporations to ship jobs overseas and would forbid governments from using strategies like "Buy American" provisions that keep jobs in our country...
Big Business “Regulators” And The Transatlantic Trade And Investment Partnership (TTIP): Opening The Floodgates To Corporate Plunder Center for Research on Globalization ...there would be compulsory impact assessments for proposed regulation, which will be checked for their potential impact on trade. This would be ideal for big business lobbies: creating a firm brake on any new progressive regulation in the very first stage of decision-making...
The Obama Administration’s Illusionary Job Gains From The Trans-Pacific Partnership Washington Post ...imports would increase by virtually the same amount as exports, meaning the net number of new jobs is zero....
State Battles
Meet the next Scott Walker: Illinois’ new GOP governor declares war on labor Salon …Meet the next Scott Walker: Illinois’ new GOP governor declares war on labor...
Rauner Presents "Right-to-Work" Zone Preferences and Hopes for Improvement in Illinois' Business Competition Reboot Illinois ...In a speech in Champaign Jan. 29, Gov. Bruce Rauner talked business and state competition. He reiterated his position on unions–he’s not against them, but wants to encourage parts of Illinois to become “right-to-work zones.”
Rauner Wants Gov't Unions Banned From Political Campaign Contributions WNIJ ...Gov. Bruce Rauner lit a fire under labor unions this week when he suggested local governments should be able to implement their own right-to-work laws. Yesterday, Rauner went one step further, saying government unions should be banned from contributing to political campaigns...
Logan may soon join others in state to step up for ‘Right-to-Work’ newsdemocratleader.com ...The Logan County fiscal court unanimously voted on a first reading of an ordinance that will declare Logan a “Right-to-Work” county. Logan will become one of the handfull of counties in the state to historically set out into uncharted territory to send a loud and clear message to the legislators in Frankfort...
$12 Minimum-Wage Bill Advances After Fiery Debate Seattle Times ...A bill to boost the state minimum wage to $12-an-hour over four years passed out of a House committee Thursday, but not before an opposed GOP lawmaker ripped minimum-wage activists as entitled in a “kids-these-days” diatribe...
Right-to-work advocate visits Ruidoso Ruidoso News ...Paul Gessing, president of the [Koch-funded] Rio Grande Foundation, was in Ruidoso Monday raising awareness and support for passage of right-to-work legislation in New Mexico...
GOP in full sail at the Capitol West Virginia Metro News ... there are hints of possible storm clouds ahead. Senate Majority Leader Mitch Carmichael (R-Jackson) is adamant about pushing legislation making West Virginia a right-to-work state. Carmichael has long lobbied for limiting the power of unions in the workplace and he wants to take advantage of the new majority to see it through this year. Labor leaders will fight right-to-work to the last man...
Senate leader says he will have votes to pass right to work The Chippewa Herald ...Republican Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald said Friday there will be enough votes to pass a right-to-work bill in Wisconsin this session after the GOP majority grows to 19 following the April election to fill a vacant seat...
War on Workers
McConnell, Alexander Introduce Bill To Reform National Labor Relations Board The Chattanoogan ...Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senator Lamar Alexander, chairman of the Senate labor committee, on Wednesday introduced the NLRB Reform Act to turn the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) from an advocate to an umpire and keep the general counsel from operating as an activist for one side or the other...
Construction worker killed in Gold Coast crane accident WLS …the 45-year-old man was 60 feet up when part of the crane's equipment came crashing down on his chest around 3 p.m. Friday near State and Elm. He was pinned by part of the crane until workers were able free him...
Miscellaneous
U.S. Economy Slows To 2.6 Percent Growth In Fourth Quarter Politico ...The U.S. economy slowed in the final three months of 2014 as a big burst in consumer spending was offset by weakness in other areas. The Commerce Department said Thursday the overall economy grew at a 2.6 percent rate in the October-December period, down from sizzling gains of 4.6 percent in the second quarter and 5 percent in the third quarter...
Senate Approves Keystone XL Pipeline Bill, Testing Obama New York Times ...The Senate voted 62 to 36 in favor of building the pipeline. Nine Democrats joined 53 Republicans in passing the bill. The passage sends the measure back to the House, which passed a largely similar bill this month. House leaders are deciding whether to pass the Senate bill as is or to hold a conference merging the House and Senate versions into a new bill to be voted on by each chamber...
Drones Spotted, But Not Halted, Raise Concerns New York Times ...While drones have not been used in a terrorist attack on American soil, thwarting them is increasingly becoming a challenge for law enforcement and security officials who are charged with protecting large-scale events like the Super Bowl and high-profile public buildings like the White House. The officials have warned that the low-flying devices could be modified to carry explosives, chemicals, biological agents, guns or cameras...
Friday, January 23, 2015
Today's Teamster News 01.23.15
Teamsters
Teamsters' Hoffa urges Congress to back Keystone bill Fox News …Teamsters boss James Hoffa, in an interview with Fox News, urged Congress to pass a bill approving the Keystone XL pipeline and claimed the push is "gaining momentum."...
Michigan Steelworkers Vote to Join Teamsters teamster.org …Workers at TCT Stainless Steel in Sterling Heights, Mich. recently voted to join Teamsters Local 283 in Wyandotte, Mich. There are 17 workers in the new bargaining unit and the vote count was 12-5 for Teamster representation…
Key West, Workers Union To Ratify Contract Keynoter ...The Key West City Commission will consider a new collective bargaining agreement with Teamsters Local 769 at the commission's meeting at Old City Hall Wednesday evening. The union, which represents about 200 city employees, includes administrative assistants, bus drivers and maintenance workers...
Trade
U.S. senator says wants to introduce fast-track trade bill by end January Reuters ...He said the aim was to move the bill out of the committee stage by the end of February, which could suggest a vote in March...
Trans Pacific Partnership: Obama Ready To Defy Democrats To Push Secretive Trade Deal The Guardian ...The TPP is one of the largest international trade agreements the US will sign, yet most of it is mired in secrecy. Congress won’t have access to the TPP before it is signed, and the terms won’t be publicly disclosed – ironic since the negotiations include 600 corporate advisers, including representatives of Halliburton and Caterpillar...
Will Democrats Spoil Obama's Trade Initiatives? The Atlantic …"We will do what we can in the Senate to defeat this unfortunate proposal," declared Bernie Sanders, the Vermont liberal who is considering a long-shot bid for the presidency. American workers, he said, should not "have to compete against people in Vietnam who have a minimum wage of 56 cents an hour."…
State Battles
Right To Work Pro, Con Marshal Forces Albuquerque Journal ...Union leaders Jon Hendry of the New Mexico Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, and Carter Bundy of the AFSCME say passing right-to-work legislation would bring low-wage jobs. They say it’s a political argument and that supporters are trying to undermine the ability of unions to represent workers at all levels...
Minimum wage hike for NM now has bipartisan support Albuquerque Business First …Nate Gentry (R-Albuquerque), who is the Majority Floor Leader of the New Mexico House of Representatives, said Republicans support raising the statewide minimum wage — just not to the same level as Democrats...
Bill Would Raise Montana's Minimum Wage To $10.10 Helena Independent Record ...Minimum wage workers in Montana would receive about a 25 percent increase in hourly pay under legislation proposed in the Senate. Democratic Sen. Jonathan Windy Boy of Box Elder called Senate Bill 2 an economic development measure as he introduced it in the Business, Labor, and Economic Affairs Committee on Wednesday...
Newly-inaugurated Governor Tom Wolf pushes for increased minimum wage in PA The Daily Pennsylvanian …Wolf advocated for Pennsylvania’s minimum wage to increase from $7.25 an hour to $10 an hour. In addition, the minimum wage would be indexed to inflation...
Roads, Pensions, Oh My: Sam Brownback’s Kansas Endures Another Day Of Woeful Budget News (opinion) Kansas City Star ...Gov. Sam Brownback’s budget plan is just a few days old, but Kansas legislators on Tuesday already were hearing just how bad things could get in the next few years. In other words, it was just another normal day of money woes in the financially strapped Sunflower State...
Some N.D. Dairy Farmers Want To Follow S.D.'s Lead And Allow Corporate Operators Into State Grand Forks Herald ...Some producers say they would like to follow South Dakota’s lead to allow corporate farming in an effort to lure more dairy operators into the state...
S.C. Gov. Haley Lambastes Unions, Organizing Efforts At Boeing In State Address Seattle Times ...Gov. Nikki Haley used part of her State of the State address Wednesday to promote South Carolina’s anti-union reputation and try to kill efforts to unionize Boeing’s North Charleston plant...
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder: Repealing prevailing wage could hurt skilled trades Michigan Live …As for Republican legislative proposals to repeal prevailing wage, Snyder said repealing prevailing wage could have an adverse impact on the skilled trades...
War on Workers
Tracking Inequality in America Wall Street Journal …People in every age group under 65 have a net worth that’s significantly lower now than it was in 1989…. Households led by people age 35-44 saw the biggest drop, down 54%, with rising mortgage debt largely to blame. In 1989, these families had a median mortgage of $72,000 against a median home value of $145,000. By 2013, the home value for this age group was somewhat higher at $170,000, but the size of mortgages had nearly doubled to $140,000...
Unions Warn About One Man Per Train North Platte Bulletin ...Thanks to the joint opposition of the United Transportation Union and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, the National Carriers’ Conference Committee (a labor negotiating committee) has dropped its insistence on single person crews in current bargaining...
Senate Democrats Stand Up For Speedier Union Elections Huffington Post …Democratic support in the upper chamber could be critical in avoiding a future budget bill rider that would block the reforms, should Republicans try to go that route...
Worker killed in accident at White Meadows Farms Niagara This Week …Niagara Regional Police media officer Const. Rich Gadreau said the investigation revealed a 36-year-old man was fatally injured when he was struck by a moving concrete block...
Mine worker killed in Missouri accident KTVI …The worker was reportedly removing loose rock when some loose material fell and struck the cab of his equipment...
Power Worker Killed By Tree On GA 400 WSB ...Authorities tell Channel 2 Action News the tree fell on a Sawnee EMC employee along Georgia 400 on the south side of the county...
Miscellaneous
Keystone XL Pipeline Files For Eminent Domain In Nebraska KNOP ...This action was required within two years of TransCanada receiving its January 2013 approval in Nebraska. That time period expires on January 22, 2015. An agreement without Eminent Domain can still be reached if TransCanada and land owners can negotiate voluntary easement agreements...
The Only Problem With the Greatest Hoodie Ever Made Slate …American Giant designs and manufactures its clothes in the United States, yet the firm has found a way to keep its quality high and its prices comparable to those of other high-end retailers...
Teamsters' Hoffa urges Congress to back Keystone bill Fox News …Teamsters boss James Hoffa, in an interview with Fox News, urged Congress to pass a bill approving the Keystone XL pipeline and claimed the push is "gaining momentum."...
Michigan Steelworkers Vote to Join Teamsters teamster.org …Workers at TCT Stainless Steel in Sterling Heights, Mich. recently voted to join Teamsters Local 283 in Wyandotte, Mich. There are 17 workers in the new bargaining unit and the vote count was 12-5 for Teamster representation…
Key West, Workers Union To Ratify Contract Keynoter ...The Key West City Commission will consider a new collective bargaining agreement with Teamsters Local 769 at the commission's meeting at Old City Hall Wednesday evening. The union, which represents about 200 city employees, includes administrative assistants, bus drivers and maintenance workers...
Trade
U.S. senator says wants to introduce fast-track trade bill by end January Reuters ...He said the aim was to move the bill out of the committee stage by the end of February, which could suggest a vote in March...
Trans Pacific Partnership: Obama Ready To Defy Democrats To Push Secretive Trade Deal The Guardian ...The TPP is one of the largest international trade agreements the US will sign, yet most of it is mired in secrecy. Congress won’t have access to the TPP before it is signed, and the terms won’t be publicly disclosed – ironic since the negotiations include 600 corporate advisers, including representatives of Halliburton and Caterpillar...
Will Democrats Spoil Obama's Trade Initiatives? The Atlantic …"We will do what we can in the Senate to defeat this unfortunate proposal," declared Bernie Sanders, the Vermont liberal who is considering a long-shot bid for the presidency. American workers, he said, should not "have to compete against people in Vietnam who have a minimum wage of 56 cents an hour."…
State Battles
Right To Work Pro, Con Marshal Forces Albuquerque Journal ...Union leaders Jon Hendry of the New Mexico Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, and Carter Bundy of the AFSCME say passing right-to-work legislation would bring low-wage jobs. They say it’s a political argument and that supporters are trying to undermine the ability of unions to represent workers at all levels...
Minimum wage hike for NM now has bipartisan support Albuquerque Business First …Nate Gentry (R-Albuquerque), who is the Majority Floor Leader of the New Mexico House of Representatives, said Republicans support raising the statewide minimum wage — just not to the same level as Democrats...
Bill Would Raise Montana's Minimum Wage To $10.10 Helena Independent Record ...Minimum wage workers in Montana would receive about a 25 percent increase in hourly pay under legislation proposed in the Senate. Democratic Sen. Jonathan Windy Boy of Box Elder called Senate Bill 2 an economic development measure as he introduced it in the Business, Labor, and Economic Affairs Committee on Wednesday...
Newly-inaugurated Governor Tom Wolf pushes for increased minimum wage in PA The Daily Pennsylvanian …Wolf advocated for Pennsylvania’s minimum wage to increase from $7.25 an hour to $10 an hour. In addition, the minimum wage would be indexed to inflation...
Roads, Pensions, Oh My: Sam Brownback’s Kansas Endures Another Day Of Woeful Budget News (opinion) Kansas City Star ...Gov. Sam Brownback’s budget plan is just a few days old, but Kansas legislators on Tuesday already were hearing just how bad things could get in the next few years. In other words, it was just another normal day of money woes in the financially strapped Sunflower State...
Some N.D. Dairy Farmers Want To Follow S.D.'s Lead And Allow Corporate Operators Into State Grand Forks Herald ...Some producers say they would like to follow South Dakota’s lead to allow corporate farming in an effort to lure more dairy operators into the state...
S.C. Gov. Haley Lambastes Unions, Organizing Efforts At Boeing In State Address Seattle Times ...Gov. Nikki Haley used part of her State of the State address Wednesday to promote South Carolina’s anti-union reputation and try to kill efforts to unionize Boeing’s North Charleston plant...
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder: Repealing prevailing wage could hurt skilled trades Michigan Live …As for Republican legislative proposals to repeal prevailing wage, Snyder said repealing prevailing wage could have an adverse impact on the skilled trades...
War on Workers
Tracking Inequality in America Wall Street Journal …People in every age group under 65 have a net worth that’s significantly lower now than it was in 1989…. Households led by people age 35-44 saw the biggest drop, down 54%, with rising mortgage debt largely to blame. In 1989, these families had a median mortgage of $72,000 against a median home value of $145,000. By 2013, the home value for this age group was somewhat higher at $170,000, but the size of mortgages had nearly doubled to $140,000...
Unions Warn About One Man Per Train North Platte Bulletin ...Thanks to the joint opposition of the United Transportation Union and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, the National Carriers’ Conference Committee (a labor negotiating committee) has dropped its insistence on single person crews in current bargaining...
Senate Democrats Stand Up For Speedier Union Elections Huffington Post …Democratic support in the upper chamber could be critical in avoiding a future budget bill rider that would block the reforms, should Republicans try to go that route...
Worker killed in accident at White Meadows Farms Niagara This Week …Niagara Regional Police media officer Const. Rich Gadreau said the investigation revealed a 36-year-old man was fatally injured when he was struck by a moving concrete block...
Mine worker killed in Missouri accident KTVI …The worker was reportedly removing loose rock when some loose material fell and struck the cab of his equipment...
Power Worker Killed By Tree On GA 400 WSB ...Authorities tell Channel 2 Action News the tree fell on a Sawnee EMC employee along Georgia 400 on the south side of the county...
Miscellaneous
Keystone XL Pipeline Files For Eminent Domain In Nebraska KNOP ...This action was required within two years of TransCanada receiving its January 2013 approval in Nebraska. That time period expires on January 22, 2015. An agreement without Eminent Domain can still be reached if TransCanada and land owners can negotiate voluntary easement agreements...
The Only Problem With the Greatest Hoodie Ever Made Slate …American Giant designs and manufactures its clothes in the United States, yet the firm has found a way to keep its quality high and its prices comparable to those of other high-end retailers...
Thursday, January 15, 2015
Today's Teamster News 01.15.15
Teamsters
Hoffa To Members: A New Day For Our Great Union teamster.org ...Today, the United States of America represented by the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York entered into an agreement with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters whereby in consideration of its terms and conditions the United States of America upon order from the court will dismiss its action against the International Brotherhood of Teamsters sounding in provisions of the Racketeer Influence and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, 18 U.S.C. Section 1964 and will thereby extinguish the consent order of March 14, 1989...
Hoffa: Obama Should Bend On Keystone Pipeline Detroit News ...It is time for Obama to change his positions on trade and the pipeline. To do otherwise risks hobbling thousands of middle-class workers just trying to support their families and potentially taking the shine off his admirable job-growth legacy. No one wants that to happen...
Teamsters Seek To Organize More Tech-Shuttle Drivers Wall Street Journal ...The union hopes to make Facebook and Loop a model for the other companies. It is pressuring the brand-name companies, even though they don’t employ the bus drivers, in the hope that they will support unionization and agree to pay more to the bus operators, so that they in turn can raise wages. The union says the drivers now make $18 to $20 per hour, but typically are forced to work separate morning and evening shifts that extend their workday to 12 hours or more...
Trade
Japan and US Resume TPP Talks Today MarketPulse ...The fresh round of bilateral negotiations come after the Trans-Pacific Partnership countries failed to see major progress at their leaders’ summit held in November in Beijing, with Japan and the United States, the largest economies in the framework, struggling to fill gaps over the contentious issues...
Espey: US deserves better transparency from TPP (opinion) The Des Moines Register …The American people and those we elect to represent us deserve more than the thin promise of job creation and increased economic activity. If the TPP is so good for America and our economy, then its backers would have no need to hide behind a curtain like the Wizard of Oz, pulling whatever lever is within reach...
Idea For Tackling Inequality #27,653: Stop Subsidizing It (opinion) Huffington Post ...It isn't hard to identify these policies. A trade policy that is intended to put U.S. manufacturing workers in direct competition with low-paid workers in countries like Mexico and China has the predicted and actual effect of lowering their wages. It also lowers the wages of non-college educated workers more generally, as displaced manufacturing workers crowd into other sectors of the economy...
State Battles
Michigan Supreme Court Presses Both Sides On Right-To-Work Detroit Free Press ...Considering if the state's right-to-work law applies to state workers, Michigan Supreme Court justices this morning pressed attorneys for both sides to establish whether collective bargaining is a working condition or merely a process to establish those conditions...
Hardin Fiscal Court approves right-to-work ordinance The News-Enterprise …Hardin County became the fifth Kentucky county to join the right-to-work movement with adoption of a local ordinance Tuesday afternoon...
Legislative Preview Santa Fe Reporter …While we’re already bracing for important debates on spending for education, increasing the state’s minimum wage, economic development, hemp farming, right-to-work and other issues, New Mexicans can also expect some lightweight fare and doomed-to-failure ideas to surface...
Right-to-work booster Diane Hendricks gave $1 million to Wisconsin Republicans in 2014 The Cap Times …Now with some GOP legislators pushing a right-to-work bill in the upcoming session, a watchdog group is reporting that Hendricks donated $1 million to the Republican Party of Wisconsin in advance of the 2014 election...
Evenly Divided 7th Circuit Rejects En Banc Review of Indiana's Right to Work Act The National Law Review …The even split means the three-judge panel’s decision from September, 2014 upholding the statute under the United States Constitution stands...
War on Workers
Want To Be Happy? Join A Union (opinion) New York Times ...The study authors, Patrick Flavin, an assistant professor at Baylor University, and Gregory Shufeldt, an assistant professor at the University of Arkansas, Little Rock, used data from five different years between the early 1980s and mid-2000s, conducted in the United States, of the World Values Survey, a research project focusing on people’s beliefs. As they write in the report, they found that “union members are more satisfied with their lives than those who are not members and that the substantive effect of union membership on life satisfaction is large and rivals other common predictors of quality of life.”...
First Step in Republican Campaign Against Bank Reform: HR 37 Passed in House naked capitalism …Dodd-Frank supporters fear Republicans will try to tack Wednesday’s bill and others on to larger pieces of legislation that it will be harder for the president to reject...
How Expanding the 1964 Civil Rights Act Can Save America's Dying Labor Movement Alternet …In July 2014, U.S. Representatives Keith Ellison and John Lewis, stalwarts for civil rights and labor, introduced the Employee Empowerment Act to extend civil rights remedies to labor organizers, and reinforce the connection between civil rights and worker rights...
Rep. Chris Van Hollen's Bold Attack on Inequality Huffington Post …Another potential revenue raiser would disallow corporations from deducting bonuses above $1 million if they're cutting the jobs and pay of their workforce. Note that the plan doesn't restrict "performance pay" above $1 million. It just says you can't deduct it from your taxes unless you're also providing raises to employees (or more directly sharing profits)...
More Evidence That Public Beats Private in Education truthout …except for the debilitating effects of poverty, our public school system may be the best in the world. The most recent data from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) reveal that the U.S. ranked high, relative to other OECD countries, in reading, math, and science (especially in reading, and in all areas better in 4th grade than in 8th grade)…
Why Wages Won't Rise (opinion) Huffington Post ...The growing use of outsourcing abroad and of labor-replacing technologies, the large reserve of hidden unemployed, the mounting economic insecurities, and the demise of labor unions have been actively pursued by corporations and encouraged by Wall Street. Payrolls are the single biggest cost of business. Lower payrolls mean higher profits...
Worker Dies After Fall At Citgo Corpus Christi Refinery Yahoo News ...A worker has died from injuries sustained in a fall on Monday night at Citgo Petroleum Corp's Corpus Christi, Texas, refinery, said sources familiar with the plant's operations...
Miscellaneous
Yep, Gasoline Lead Explains the Crime Decline in Canada Too Mother Jones …Canada saw a substantial decrease in violent crime that started about 20 years after lead emissions began to drop, which is exactly what you'd expect...
U.S. Racks Up Smallest Deficit Since 2007 Wall Street Journal ...The U.S. last year racked up its smallest budget deficit since 2007, marking an economic shift of fortunes as President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans prepare to face off over legislative priorities this year...
Hoffa To Members: A New Day For Our Great Union teamster.org ...Today, the United States of America represented by the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York entered into an agreement with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters whereby in consideration of its terms and conditions the United States of America upon order from the court will dismiss its action against the International Brotherhood of Teamsters sounding in provisions of the Racketeer Influence and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, 18 U.S.C. Section 1964 and will thereby extinguish the consent order of March 14, 1989...
Hoffa: Obama Should Bend On Keystone Pipeline Detroit News ...It is time for Obama to change his positions on trade and the pipeline. To do otherwise risks hobbling thousands of middle-class workers just trying to support their families and potentially taking the shine off his admirable job-growth legacy. No one wants that to happen...
Teamsters Seek To Organize More Tech-Shuttle Drivers Wall Street Journal ...The union hopes to make Facebook and Loop a model for the other companies. It is pressuring the brand-name companies, even though they don’t employ the bus drivers, in the hope that they will support unionization and agree to pay more to the bus operators, so that they in turn can raise wages. The union says the drivers now make $18 to $20 per hour, but typically are forced to work separate morning and evening shifts that extend their workday to 12 hours or more...
Trade
Japan and US Resume TPP Talks Today MarketPulse ...The fresh round of bilateral negotiations come after the Trans-Pacific Partnership countries failed to see major progress at their leaders’ summit held in November in Beijing, with Japan and the United States, the largest economies in the framework, struggling to fill gaps over the contentious issues...
Espey: US deserves better transparency from TPP (opinion) The Des Moines Register …The American people and those we elect to represent us deserve more than the thin promise of job creation and increased economic activity. If the TPP is so good for America and our economy, then its backers would have no need to hide behind a curtain like the Wizard of Oz, pulling whatever lever is within reach...
Idea For Tackling Inequality #27,653: Stop Subsidizing It (opinion) Huffington Post ...It isn't hard to identify these policies. A trade policy that is intended to put U.S. manufacturing workers in direct competition with low-paid workers in countries like Mexico and China has the predicted and actual effect of lowering their wages. It also lowers the wages of non-college educated workers more generally, as displaced manufacturing workers crowd into other sectors of the economy...
State Battles
Michigan Supreme Court Presses Both Sides On Right-To-Work Detroit Free Press ...Considering if the state's right-to-work law applies to state workers, Michigan Supreme Court justices this morning pressed attorneys for both sides to establish whether collective bargaining is a working condition or merely a process to establish those conditions...
Hardin Fiscal Court approves right-to-work ordinance The News-Enterprise …Hardin County became the fifth Kentucky county to join the right-to-work movement with adoption of a local ordinance Tuesday afternoon...
Legislative Preview Santa Fe Reporter …While we’re already bracing for important debates on spending for education, increasing the state’s minimum wage, economic development, hemp farming, right-to-work and other issues, New Mexicans can also expect some lightweight fare and doomed-to-failure ideas to surface...
Right-to-work booster Diane Hendricks gave $1 million to Wisconsin Republicans in 2014 The Cap Times …Now with some GOP legislators pushing a right-to-work bill in the upcoming session, a watchdog group is reporting that Hendricks donated $1 million to the Republican Party of Wisconsin in advance of the 2014 election...
Evenly Divided 7th Circuit Rejects En Banc Review of Indiana's Right to Work Act The National Law Review …The even split means the three-judge panel’s decision from September, 2014 upholding the statute under the United States Constitution stands...
War on Workers
Want To Be Happy? Join A Union (opinion) New York Times ...The study authors, Patrick Flavin, an assistant professor at Baylor University, and Gregory Shufeldt, an assistant professor at the University of Arkansas, Little Rock, used data from five different years between the early 1980s and mid-2000s, conducted in the United States, of the World Values Survey, a research project focusing on people’s beliefs. As they write in the report, they found that “union members are more satisfied with their lives than those who are not members and that the substantive effect of union membership on life satisfaction is large and rivals other common predictors of quality of life.”...
First Step in Republican Campaign Against Bank Reform: HR 37 Passed in House naked capitalism …Dodd-Frank supporters fear Republicans will try to tack Wednesday’s bill and others on to larger pieces of legislation that it will be harder for the president to reject...
How Expanding the 1964 Civil Rights Act Can Save America's Dying Labor Movement Alternet …In July 2014, U.S. Representatives Keith Ellison and John Lewis, stalwarts for civil rights and labor, introduced the Employee Empowerment Act to extend civil rights remedies to labor organizers, and reinforce the connection between civil rights and worker rights...
Rep. Chris Van Hollen's Bold Attack on Inequality Huffington Post …Another potential revenue raiser would disallow corporations from deducting bonuses above $1 million if they're cutting the jobs and pay of their workforce. Note that the plan doesn't restrict "performance pay" above $1 million. It just says you can't deduct it from your taxes unless you're also providing raises to employees (or more directly sharing profits)...
More Evidence That Public Beats Private in Education truthout …except for the debilitating effects of poverty, our public school system may be the best in the world. The most recent data from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) reveal that the U.S. ranked high, relative to other OECD countries, in reading, math, and science (especially in reading, and in all areas better in 4th grade than in 8th grade)…
Why Wages Won't Rise (opinion) Huffington Post ...The growing use of outsourcing abroad and of labor-replacing technologies, the large reserve of hidden unemployed, the mounting economic insecurities, and the demise of labor unions have been actively pursued by corporations and encouraged by Wall Street. Payrolls are the single biggest cost of business. Lower payrolls mean higher profits...
Worker Dies After Fall At Citgo Corpus Christi Refinery Yahoo News ...A worker has died from injuries sustained in a fall on Monday night at Citgo Petroleum Corp's Corpus Christi, Texas, refinery, said sources familiar with the plant's operations...
Miscellaneous
Yep, Gasoline Lead Explains the Crime Decline in Canada Too Mother Jones …Canada saw a substantial decrease in violent crime that started about 20 years after lead emissions began to drop, which is exactly what you'd expect...
U.S. Racks Up Smallest Deficit Since 2007 Wall Street Journal ...The U.S. last year racked up its smallest budget deficit since 2007, marking an economic shift of fortunes as President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans prepare to face off over legislative priorities this year...
Wednesday, January 14, 2015
Today's Teamster News 01.14.15
Teamsters
Shippers Transport Drivers Join Teamsters At SoCal Ports Truckinginfo ...Prior to the start of the year the drivers for Shippers Transport Express, a wholly owned subsidiary of SSA Marine, were classified an independent contracts. In November, all drivers were notified that the company was transitioning to an employee-based business model on Jan. 1, and were invited to apply for employee jobs. Eighty-eight out of 111 employee drivers signed union authorization cards, with the union now beginning the process of negotiating a collective bargaining agreement with their employer...
Teamster Pilots With Allegiant Air Conduct Informational Pickets teamster.org ...Teamster pilots with Allegiant Air are conducting informational picketing today in an effort to bring awareness to their plight for investments into Allegiant Air’s operational systems, basic industry averages in salary and for other job protection measures that are standard in the airline industry...
Teamsters, city reach deal WGAL.com ...An agreement has been reached with public works employees and the city of York -- no furloughs in exchange for no pay raise...
Trade
Border Opens To Mexican Trucks San Diego Union Tribune ...The United States is preparing to open the border to Mexican long-haul truckers, allowing those who qualify for permits to make direct deliveries from Mexico to U.S. destinations — a measure stipulated more than two decades ago under the North American Free Trade Agreement...
TTIP: European commission faces huge scepticism towards free trade deal Guardian ...Officials are surprised after receiving 150,000 mainly negative responses to Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership...
State Battles
Michigan Justices To Weigh Right-To-Work Law Detroit News ...Michigan’s two-year-old right-to-work law will face the scrutiny of the Michigan Supreme Court during oral arguments Tuesday over a union lawsuit challenging whether the law applies to state workers...
Documents Show Notorious Union-Buster Backing Kentucky’s County Right-To-Work Laws In These Times ...Whereas a few months ago, there was a general understanding that the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act only permitted states and territories to pass these laws—which threaten unions’ solvency by allowing workers to receive the benefits of union representation without paying union dues—now five Kentucky counties are on track to pass local laws. And the coalition of conservative organizations promoting these questionable new measures has also morphed, as a new organization with hidden funding sources has formed to finance any possible litigation...
Democrats Propose Minimum Wage Increase, Mandatory Sick Leave For Coming Session The Oregonian ...Several bills — which include proposals to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour and to require employers to offer paid sick leave — signal an effort by the Democratic majority to follow with a core set of changes in the coming session promised to voters before last fall's election...
War on Workers
Democrat seeks U.S. middle-class tax breaks at expense of wealthy Reuters ...A senior U.S. House Democrat on Monday unveiled a more aggressive agenda to boost workers' paychecks by shifting significant tax breaks from the wealthiest Americans to the middle class...
Wage Gains Tepid in 2014 Despite Best Year of Job Creation Since 1999 Wall Street Journal ...Hourly earnings fell by five cents last month from November to $24.57—marking the largest monthly decrease since at least 2006, the year the government began tracking wages for all private employees...
Senator Warren and America Win in a Skirmish in a Long Struggle Against Wall Street’s Coup naked capitalism ...Treasury does not “win” when we appoint such people – Wall Street wins...
Coming soon to a workplace near you: 'wellness or else' Reuters ...For some companies, however, just signing up for a wellness program isn't enough. They're linking financial incentives to specific goals such as losing weight, reducing cholesterol, or keeping blood glucose under control. The number of businesses imposing such outcomes-based wellness plans is expected to double this year to 46 percent, the survey found...
Worker Dies After Becoming Entangled In Machine KSAZ ...A 31-year-old worker was killed after he became entangled in a metal fabrication machine killed on Monday at an industrial plant...
Construction Worker Killed In Crane Accident KSDK ...A construction worker was killed in an industrial accident Monday after being crushed by a crane, said Edwardsville police...
Contract Worker Killed At Northeast Nevada Gold Mine Las Vegas Sun ...State and federal officials are investigating the death of a contract worker in an accident at an underground gold mine in northeast Nevada...
Miscellaneous
Senate Advances Bill To Approve Keystone Pipeline Despite Obama's Veto Threat Huffington Post ...The Senate voted 63-32 to clear a procedural hurdle and begin debate on the bill. Ten Democrats and one independent, Angus King (Maine), voted with every Republican to move the bill forward. Those Democrats included Sens. Michael Bennet (Colo.), Tom Carper (Del.), Bob Casey (Pa.), Joe Donnelly (Ind.), Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.), Joe Manchin (W.Va.), Claire McCaskill (Mo.), Jon Tester (Mont.), Tom Udall (N.M.) and Mark Warner (Va.). A final vote is expected later this week...
Shippers Transport Drivers Join Teamsters At SoCal Ports Truckinginfo ...Prior to the start of the year the drivers for Shippers Transport Express, a wholly owned subsidiary of SSA Marine, were classified an independent contracts. In November, all drivers were notified that the company was transitioning to an employee-based business model on Jan. 1, and were invited to apply for employee jobs. Eighty-eight out of 111 employee drivers signed union authorization cards, with the union now beginning the process of negotiating a collective bargaining agreement with their employer...
Teamster Pilots With Allegiant Air Conduct Informational Pickets teamster.org ...Teamster pilots with Allegiant Air are conducting informational picketing today in an effort to bring awareness to their plight for investments into Allegiant Air’s operational systems, basic industry averages in salary and for other job protection measures that are standard in the airline industry...
Teamsters, city reach deal WGAL.com ...An agreement has been reached with public works employees and the city of York -- no furloughs in exchange for no pay raise...
Trade
Border Opens To Mexican Trucks San Diego Union Tribune ...The United States is preparing to open the border to Mexican long-haul truckers, allowing those who qualify for permits to make direct deliveries from Mexico to U.S. destinations — a measure stipulated more than two decades ago under the North American Free Trade Agreement...
TTIP: European commission faces huge scepticism towards free trade deal Guardian ...Officials are surprised after receiving 150,000 mainly negative responses to Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership...
State Battles
Michigan Justices To Weigh Right-To-Work Law Detroit News ...Michigan’s two-year-old right-to-work law will face the scrutiny of the Michigan Supreme Court during oral arguments Tuesday over a union lawsuit challenging whether the law applies to state workers...
Documents Show Notorious Union-Buster Backing Kentucky’s County Right-To-Work Laws In These Times ...Whereas a few months ago, there was a general understanding that the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act only permitted states and territories to pass these laws—which threaten unions’ solvency by allowing workers to receive the benefits of union representation without paying union dues—now five Kentucky counties are on track to pass local laws. And the coalition of conservative organizations promoting these questionable new measures has also morphed, as a new organization with hidden funding sources has formed to finance any possible litigation...
Democrats Propose Minimum Wage Increase, Mandatory Sick Leave For Coming Session The Oregonian ...Several bills — which include proposals to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour and to require employers to offer paid sick leave — signal an effort by the Democratic majority to follow with a core set of changes in the coming session promised to voters before last fall's election...
War on Workers
Democrat seeks U.S. middle-class tax breaks at expense of wealthy Reuters ...A senior U.S. House Democrat on Monday unveiled a more aggressive agenda to boost workers' paychecks by shifting significant tax breaks from the wealthiest Americans to the middle class...
Wage Gains Tepid in 2014 Despite Best Year of Job Creation Since 1999 Wall Street Journal ...Hourly earnings fell by five cents last month from November to $24.57—marking the largest monthly decrease since at least 2006, the year the government began tracking wages for all private employees...
Senator Warren and America Win in a Skirmish in a Long Struggle Against Wall Street’s Coup naked capitalism ...Treasury does not “win” when we appoint such people – Wall Street wins...
Coming soon to a workplace near you: 'wellness or else' Reuters ...For some companies, however, just signing up for a wellness program isn't enough. They're linking financial incentives to specific goals such as losing weight, reducing cholesterol, or keeping blood glucose under control. The number of businesses imposing such outcomes-based wellness plans is expected to double this year to 46 percent, the survey found...
Worker Dies After Becoming Entangled In Machine KSAZ ...A 31-year-old worker was killed after he became entangled in a metal fabrication machine killed on Monday at an industrial plant...
Construction Worker Killed In Crane Accident KSDK ...A construction worker was killed in an industrial accident Monday after being crushed by a crane, said Edwardsville police...
Contract Worker Killed At Northeast Nevada Gold Mine Las Vegas Sun ...State and federal officials are investigating the death of a contract worker in an accident at an underground gold mine in northeast Nevada...
Miscellaneous
Senate Advances Bill To Approve Keystone Pipeline Despite Obama's Veto Threat Huffington Post ...The Senate voted 63-32 to clear a procedural hurdle and begin debate on the bill. Ten Democrats and one independent, Angus King (Maine), voted with every Republican to move the bill forward. Those Democrats included Sens. Michael Bennet (Colo.), Tom Carper (Del.), Bob Casey (Pa.), Joe Donnelly (Ind.), Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.), Joe Manchin (W.Va.), Claire McCaskill (Mo.), Jon Tester (Mont.), Tom Udall (N.M.) and Mark Warner (Va.). A final vote is expected later this week...
Tuesday, January 13, 2015
Today's Teamster News 01.13.15
Teamsters
Teamsters Call On Apple, Yahoo, Ebay, Zynga, Genetech, Amtrak To Support Compass Trans. Drivers teamster.org ...Rome Aloise, International Vice President and President of Teamsters Local 853 in San Leandro, Calif., sent letters to the CEOs of six East Bay-area companies this week, asking them to support the unionization efforts of the drivers that transport their employees. The drivers, employees of Compass Transportation, are seeking union representation and a contract...
More Silicon Valley Shuttle Drivers Look To Unionize USA Today ...The Teamsters have contacted the CEOs of six Silicon Valley-area companies — Amtrak, Apple, eBay, Genentech, Yahoo and Zynga — to tell them that its drivers want to join a union...
Teamsters vote to authorize strike over commercials contract Los Angeles Times ...A contract dispute between commercial producers and Teamsters Local 399 has escalated, raising the prospect of the first Hollywood strike by the union in nearly two decades...
State, Owner Negotiate Next Steps Involving Landfill Fire St. Louis Public Radio ...Bridgeton Landfill owner Republic Services has agreed to install two temperature monitoring probes in the landfill's north quarry, near radioactive waste at the adjacent West Lake Landfill. The agreement came after Attorney General Chris Koster took more legal action against Republic Services this week, out of concern that the underground fire in the landfill's south quarry might be spreading north, closer to the area of radioactivity...
Trade
Voters Not Congress Should Decide TPP Trade Pact (opinion) truthout ...We need to slow the TPP (Trans Pacific Pact) approval process down until after the 2016 elections. After the final full terms are made public, the voters should decide this issue using our democratic electoral processes. We need this to be a campaign issue in the Senate, House and Presidential elections. It will increase voter turnout (which is good for American democracy) and give the decision real legitimacy...
State Battles
Contractors unite to fight right-to-work Milwaukee Business Times ...More than 300 private businesses and private-sector skilled trade representatives from across Wisconsin have joined forces to support the newly formed Wisconsin Contractor Coalition and oppose so-called right-to-work legislation...
Steven Walters: Right-to-work fight would "distract" from Walker presidential bid Gazette Xtra ...Controversy over any right-to-work bill wouldn't end in Wisconsin's Capitol but could undercut his all-but-announced candidacy for president...
As White House defends unions, states go on the attack alJazeera America ...In state legislatures around the country, newly strengthened Republican majorities are expected to push right-to-work legislation and other policy initiatives feared by the labor movemen. Wisconsin, long considered a union stronghold, will also consider right-to-work legislation this year. So might New Mexico, West Virginia and Missouri, among others...
From Awful To Calamitous: Sam Brownback’s Second Term Is Off To A Terrible Start Salon.com ...the anti-tax crusader has little choice but to contemplate revenue increases — and according to the Wichita Eagle, Brownback is considering a range of options, including increased taxes on cigarettes and alcohol, ending some exemptions for sales and income taxes, increasing sales taxes, delaying further income tax cuts, and altering his tax law’s requirement that tax rates go down further if revenue increases by more than two percent...
War on Workers
House Budget Chair Signals Big Social Security Reforms A-Coming Talking Points Memo ...[U.S. Rep. Tom] Price, whose predecessor Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) never put forward major reform proposals in his otherwise ambitious budgets, offered means-testing and increasing the eligibility age as possibilities. He also hinted at privatizing Social Security...
United Studies Outsourcing Up To 2,000 Airport Jobs Wall Street Journal ...United Continental Holdings Inc. on Monday said it may outsource up to 2,000 jobs at 28 U.S. airports, including Atlanta, Miami, St. Louis and West Palm Beach, Fla., to vendors who would perform the duties at lower cost...
The US 'manufacturing renaissance' doesn't exist, says new report The Guardian ...the United States may have added only about one new manufacturing job in the last few years for every five that were lost during the financial crisis and the recession that followed...
Buffett’s BNSF Railway Considering Safer Oil Tank Cars Insurance Journal ...BNSF Railway Co., the railroad owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., is reconsidering a plan to buy 5,000 oil-tank cars built to new safety standards after some customers voiced concern about the initiative...
DuPont Workers May Have Been Exposed to Toxic Gas for Years Associated Press ...Records show that employees at a Houston-area pesticide plant where a poisonous gas killed four workers in November may have been exposed to dangerous fumes for years...
Miscellaneous
U.S. bus lines added routes in 2014, airline flights fell: study Reuters ...Stagnating middle-class incomes and the widening income gap in America have boosted business at bus companies, which cost less than flying or driving. ...[and] a significant part of the boost in bus business comes from younger Americans, who are turned off by extra security at airports and "are used to traveling on a shoestring budget."...
Barney Frank: Unions key to income equality (opinion) Portland Press Herald ...for capitalism to thrive, society must not have more economic inequality than is necessary; at some point too much inequality becomes economically damaging – and potentially destabilizing as well. America has been in that latter situation for more than a decade…
Teamsters Call On Apple, Yahoo, Ebay, Zynga, Genetech, Amtrak To Support Compass Trans. Drivers teamster.org ...Rome Aloise, International Vice President and President of Teamsters Local 853 in San Leandro, Calif., sent letters to the CEOs of six East Bay-area companies this week, asking them to support the unionization efforts of the drivers that transport their employees. The drivers, employees of Compass Transportation, are seeking union representation and a contract...
More Silicon Valley Shuttle Drivers Look To Unionize USA Today ...The Teamsters have contacted the CEOs of six Silicon Valley-area companies — Amtrak, Apple, eBay, Genentech, Yahoo and Zynga — to tell them that its drivers want to join a union...
Teamsters vote to authorize strike over commercials contract Los Angeles Times ...A contract dispute between commercial producers and Teamsters Local 399 has escalated, raising the prospect of the first Hollywood strike by the union in nearly two decades...
State, Owner Negotiate Next Steps Involving Landfill Fire St. Louis Public Radio ...Bridgeton Landfill owner Republic Services has agreed to install two temperature monitoring probes in the landfill's north quarry, near radioactive waste at the adjacent West Lake Landfill. The agreement came after Attorney General Chris Koster took more legal action against Republic Services this week, out of concern that the underground fire in the landfill's south quarry might be spreading north, closer to the area of radioactivity...
Trade
Voters Not Congress Should Decide TPP Trade Pact (opinion) truthout ...We need to slow the TPP (Trans Pacific Pact) approval process down until after the 2016 elections. After the final full terms are made public, the voters should decide this issue using our democratic electoral processes. We need this to be a campaign issue in the Senate, House and Presidential elections. It will increase voter turnout (which is good for American democracy) and give the decision real legitimacy...
State Battles
Contractors unite to fight right-to-work Milwaukee Business Times ...More than 300 private businesses and private-sector skilled trade representatives from across Wisconsin have joined forces to support the newly formed Wisconsin Contractor Coalition and oppose so-called right-to-work legislation...
Steven Walters: Right-to-work fight would "distract" from Walker presidential bid Gazette Xtra ...Controversy over any right-to-work bill wouldn't end in Wisconsin's Capitol but could undercut his all-but-announced candidacy for president...
As White House defends unions, states go on the attack alJazeera America ...In state legislatures around the country, newly strengthened Republican majorities are expected to push right-to-work legislation and other policy initiatives feared by the labor movemen. Wisconsin, long considered a union stronghold, will also consider right-to-work legislation this year. So might New Mexico, West Virginia and Missouri, among others...
From Awful To Calamitous: Sam Brownback’s Second Term Is Off To A Terrible Start Salon.com ...the anti-tax crusader has little choice but to contemplate revenue increases — and according to the Wichita Eagle, Brownback is considering a range of options, including increased taxes on cigarettes and alcohol, ending some exemptions for sales and income taxes, increasing sales taxes, delaying further income tax cuts, and altering his tax law’s requirement that tax rates go down further if revenue increases by more than two percent...
War on Workers
House Budget Chair Signals Big Social Security Reforms A-Coming Talking Points Memo ...[U.S. Rep. Tom] Price, whose predecessor Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) never put forward major reform proposals in his otherwise ambitious budgets, offered means-testing and increasing the eligibility age as possibilities. He also hinted at privatizing Social Security...
United Studies Outsourcing Up To 2,000 Airport Jobs Wall Street Journal ...United Continental Holdings Inc. on Monday said it may outsource up to 2,000 jobs at 28 U.S. airports, including Atlanta, Miami, St. Louis and West Palm Beach, Fla., to vendors who would perform the duties at lower cost...
The US 'manufacturing renaissance' doesn't exist, says new report The Guardian ...the United States may have added only about one new manufacturing job in the last few years for every five that were lost during the financial crisis and the recession that followed...
Buffett’s BNSF Railway Considering Safer Oil Tank Cars Insurance Journal ...BNSF Railway Co., the railroad owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., is reconsidering a plan to buy 5,000 oil-tank cars built to new safety standards after some customers voiced concern about the initiative...
DuPont Workers May Have Been Exposed to Toxic Gas for Years Associated Press ...Records show that employees at a Houston-area pesticide plant where a poisonous gas killed four workers in November may have been exposed to dangerous fumes for years...
Miscellaneous
U.S. bus lines added routes in 2014, airline flights fell: study Reuters ...Stagnating middle-class incomes and the widening income gap in America have boosted business at bus companies, which cost less than flying or driving. ...[and] a significant part of the boost in bus business comes from younger Americans, who are turned off by extra security at airports and "are used to traveling on a shoestring budget."...
Barney Frank: Unions key to income equality (opinion) Portland Press Herald ...for capitalism to thrive, society must not have more economic inequality than is necessary; at some point too much inequality becomes economically damaging – and potentially destabilizing as well. America has been in that latter situation for more than a decade…
Saturday, January 10, 2015
Today's Teamster News 01.10.15
Teamsters
Teamsters Denounce DOT Decision To Open Border To Mexican Trucks teamster.org ...“I am outraged that the Department of Transportation has chosen to ignore the findings of the DOT Inspector General and is moving forward with a plan to open the border to Mexican trucks in the coming months....
Teamsters' Update About YRCW Executives' Employment Restructuring teamster.org ...On Friday, January 2, YRCW announced it was restructuring its employment relationships with its CEO James Welch and its CFO Jamie Pierson. The Teamsters National Freight Industry Negotiating Committee had no prior knowledge of the January 2 announcement although we were aware that both Welch and Pierson’s existing four-year contracts were expiring in 2015...
Port Truck Drivers With Shippers Transport Express Join Teamsters Local 848 teamster.org ... Port truck drivers from Shippers Transport Express, a wholly-owned subsidiary of SSA Marine, have designated Teamsters Local 848 as their exclusive bargaining representative and will now begin the process of negotiating a collective bargaining agreement with their employer...
POLB, POLA Truckers Agree To Neutral Unionization Process, Employee-Based Business Model Long Beach Post ...months of productive dialogue between Shippers Transport Express and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the union seeking to represent the employees, has produced a "historic agreement to modernize drayage operations that the parties predict will improve efficiency and stabilize the workforce while respecting drivers' rights to decide whether to form a union."...
Trade
Will Fast-Track/TPP Warnings Reach The Public? It’s Up To You. Campaign for America's Future ...There is a virtual media blackout of news that might inform the public about TPP and the “fast track” process that will be pushed through Congress. Fast track essentially pre-approves TPP before its contents are even revealed...
Sanders blasts leaders over trade negotiations Burlington Free Press ...Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont is blasting the Obama administration for a lack of transparency in negotiating a major trade deal that he says will be "disastrous" for workers...
Now Or Never: Fight Back Against Fast Track (opinion) Huffington Post ...Except for corporate management and their large shareholders, the rest of us will lose big if Fast Track is adopted, making TPP a certainty. Passing Fast Track means a guaranteed vote in the House and Senate on TPP within a short period of time and with no amendments allowed on a 2000 page Trade treaty that has been negotiated in almost total secrecy...
State Battles
Nebraska Court Clears Obstacle For Keystone Pipeline Politico ...Rejecting arguments from three anti-Keystone landowners, the Nebraska justices upheld a 2012 state law that allowed Republican Gov. Dave Heineman — rather than an independent commission — to approve Keystone’s route inside the state...
Senate Passes Heroin, Right-To-Work Bills Richmond Register ...The [Kentucky] Senate also passed a “right-to-work bill,” sponsored by Senate President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, easily – but no Democrat voted for it...
War on Workers
US to Allow Mexican Trucks in With Screening Associated Press ...The U.S. Department of Transportation says it will soon allow Mexican trucking firms to apply for authorization to make long-haul cross-border runs, potentially ending a longstanding dispute...
December Caps A Strong Year For Jobs, But Wages Dip New York Times ...the good news on job creation was tempered by a poor showing in average hourly earnings, which fell 0.2 percent in December after rising 0.4 percent in November...
The AFL-CIO Is On Sound Political Ground To Push For Wage Increases (opinion) Washington Post ...the AFL-CIO would launch projects this year in the four states that hold the first four presidential primaries and caucuses of 2016 — Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina — as a way to make presidential candidates spell out exactly what they would do to boost Americans’ increasingly anemic wages...
Keystone XL Moves Closer To Congressional Approval Wall Street Journal ...Congress moved closer to a likely approval of the Keystone XL pipeline Thursday, as a Senate panel advanced the legislation and the House prepared for a vote on Friday...
Local Worker Killed In Accident Harlingen Morning Valley Star ...A 30-year employee of the Harlingen Irrigation District was killed when he was pinned by a backhoe, officials said Thursday...
Miscellaneous
Uber, On A Collision Course With City Officials Around The World, Doubles Down On Politico Hires Fast Company ...Uber, with its operations facing suspension in cities around the world, is marshaling a small army of policy staffers to do battle with local authorities. India and Spain banned the on-demand taxi service last year, France followed suit, and today China announced that it would be cracking down on unauthorized private cars, less than a month after Uber inked a $600 million deal with Chinese search engine Baidu...
Minnesota Bill Would Ban NSA Activity Called The “Biggest Threat Since the Civil War” Tenth Amendment Center ...Introduced by Sen. Branden Petersen (R Dist. 35), SF33 stipulates that “a government entity may not obtain personal identifying information concerning an individual without a search warrant. A court order granting access to this information must be issued only if the government entity shows that there is probable cause for belief that the individual who is the subject of the personal identifying information is committing, has committed, or is about to commit a criminal offense.”...
Teamsters Denounce DOT Decision To Open Border To Mexican Trucks teamster.org ...“I am outraged that the Department of Transportation has chosen to ignore the findings of the DOT Inspector General and is moving forward with a plan to open the border to Mexican trucks in the coming months....
Teamsters' Update About YRCW Executives' Employment Restructuring teamster.org ...On Friday, January 2, YRCW announced it was restructuring its employment relationships with its CEO James Welch and its CFO Jamie Pierson. The Teamsters National Freight Industry Negotiating Committee had no prior knowledge of the January 2 announcement although we were aware that both Welch and Pierson’s existing four-year contracts were expiring in 2015...
Port Truck Drivers With Shippers Transport Express Join Teamsters Local 848 teamster.org ... Port truck drivers from Shippers Transport Express, a wholly-owned subsidiary of SSA Marine, have designated Teamsters Local 848 as their exclusive bargaining representative and will now begin the process of negotiating a collective bargaining agreement with their employer...
POLB, POLA Truckers Agree To Neutral Unionization Process, Employee-Based Business Model Long Beach Post ...months of productive dialogue between Shippers Transport Express and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the union seeking to represent the employees, has produced a "historic agreement to modernize drayage operations that the parties predict will improve efficiency and stabilize the workforce while respecting drivers' rights to decide whether to form a union."...
Trade
Will Fast-Track/TPP Warnings Reach The Public? It’s Up To You. Campaign for America's Future ...There is a virtual media blackout of news that might inform the public about TPP and the “fast track” process that will be pushed through Congress. Fast track essentially pre-approves TPP before its contents are even revealed...
Sanders blasts leaders over trade negotiations Burlington Free Press ...Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont is blasting the Obama administration for a lack of transparency in negotiating a major trade deal that he says will be "disastrous" for workers...
Now Or Never: Fight Back Against Fast Track (opinion) Huffington Post ...Except for corporate management and their large shareholders, the rest of us will lose big if Fast Track is adopted, making TPP a certainty. Passing Fast Track means a guaranteed vote in the House and Senate on TPP within a short period of time and with no amendments allowed on a 2000 page Trade treaty that has been negotiated in almost total secrecy...
State Battles
Nebraska Court Clears Obstacle For Keystone Pipeline Politico ...Rejecting arguments from three anti-Keystone landowners, the Nebraska justices upheld a 2012 state law that allowed Republican Gov. Dave Heineman — rather than an independent commission — to approve Keystone’s route inside the state...
Senate Passes Heroin, Right-To-Work Bills Richmond Register ...The [Kentucky] Senate also passed a “right-to-work bill,” sponsored by Senate President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, easily – but no Democrat voted for it...
War on Workers
US to Allow Mexican Trucks in With Screening Associated Press ...The U.S. Department of Transportation says it will soon allow Mexican trucking firms to apply for authorization to make long-haul cross-border runs, potentially ending a longstanding dispute...
December Caps A Strong Year For Jobs, But Wages Dip New York Times ...the good news on job creation was tempered by a poor showing in average hourly earnings, which fell 0.2 percent in December after rising 0.4 percent in November...
The AFL-CIO Is On Sound Political Ground To Push For Wage Increases (opinion) Washington Post ...the AFL-CIO would launch projects this year in the four states that hold the first four presidential primaries and caucuses of 2016 — Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina — as a way to make presidential candidates spell out exactly what they would do to boost Americans’ increasingly anemic wages...
Keystone XL Moves Closer To Congressional Approval Wall Street Journal ...Congress moved closer to a likely approval of the Keystone XL pipeline Thursday, as a Senate panel advanced the legislation and the House prepared for a vote on Friday...
Local Worker Killed In Accident Harlingen Morning Valley Star ...A 30-year employee of the Harlingen Irrigation District was killed when he was pinned by a backhoe, officials said Thursday...
Miscellaneous
Uber, On A Collision Course With City Officials Around The World, Doubles Down On Politico Hires Fast Company ...Uber, with its operations facing suspension in cities around the world, is marshaling a small army of policy staffers to do battle with local authorities. India and Spain banned the on-demand taxi service last year, France followed suit, and today China announced that it would be cracking down on unauthorized private cars, less than a month after Uber inked a $600 million deal with Chinese search engine Baidu...
Minnesota Bill Would Ban NSA Activity Called The “Biggest Threat Since the Civil War” Tenth Amendment Center ...Introduced by Sen. Branden Petersen (R Dist. 35), SF33 stipulates that “a government entity may not obtain personal identifying information concerning an individual without a search warrant. A court order granting access to this information must be issued only if the government entity shows that there is probable cause for belief that the individual who is the subject of the personal identifying information is committing, has committed, or is about to commit a criminal offense.”...
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