Global Labor & Trade
Unions, Progressives Pressure Democrats To Oppose Trade Deals Business Journals ...Labor unions and progressive organizations are sending a message to Democrats: If you support fast-tracking trade deals such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, don’t be surprised if we oppose you in your next Democratic primary...
U.S., Japan Seek Trade Deal in Advance of Abe Washington Visit Bloomberg Business ...U.S. and Japanese negotiators are rushing to complete a trade agreement they can unveil during Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s visit to Washington later this month, something they hope will pave the way for a broader Asia-Pacific pact involving 10 other countries...
Trade bill timeline could push Senate to act Politico ...Senate aides have circulated a tentative date of mid-April for advancing “fast-track” trade legislation in the recognition that Sens. Orrin Hatch and Ron Wyden have to move quickly to finalize a deal on the bill or risk losing their chance to get it passed by the end of the spring session...
Astroturf Warning: TPP Critics Call Out Fake 'Progressive' Group Pushing Corporate Trade Agenda Common Dreams ...Critics of the corporate-friendly Trans-Pacific Partnership are lining up against what they call an "astroturf" operation claiming to represent progressives in favor of Fast Tracking the sweeping and secretive trade deal. No such progressives exist, they say...
A Turning Point For Chinese Workers In These Times ...As unions have struggled and strikes have declined in the United States in recent years, labor militancy has surged in other parts of the world—and nowhere more so than China. Now the movement appears to be starting to achieve significant institutional reform...
State & Living Wage Battles
Rand Paul’s Favorite Union-Buster Bloomberg ...Yessin, who’s represented companies in more than 200 conflicts with unions, says the NLRA doesn’t block states from letting local officials regulate some union activities. Yessin’s ideas offer conservatives a path forward on anti-union legislation known as “right-to-work” laws...
Packed House As Oswego Discusses Rauner 'Right-To-Work' Proposal Chicago Tribune ...Rauner's office has asked cities and villages across the state to support his initiatives aimed to "get the house in order" by changing how Illinois does business. One of the changes Rauner wants involves letting local communities enact "right-to-work" zones, which would allow voters to decide whether or not employees should be forced to join a union as a condition of employment...
Indiana’s Highway To Hell: Welcome To The Sick New Corporate Order Salon.com ...It’s the “circle of life,” neoliberal style: Enter into “free trade” deals which benefit global investors, then watch as wages stagnate and jobs disappear. Cut taxes for the wealthy and corporations, depriving the nation of funds for infrastructure. Make under- and unemployed residents of cities like Gary, Indiana, pay tolls to make up the shortfall, and jeopardize the retirement security of middle-class Americans in sketchy privatization deals to replace lost infrastructure funding...
McDonald's Is Raising Wages For Some Workers Huffington Post ...McDonald's is finally giving some of its workers a raise. The fast-food giant on Wednesday announced plans to give employees a 10 percent pay bump and some extra benefits. The raise will affect about 90,000 workers at a small fraction of McDonald’s stores. Employees at franchises, which make up the majority of the burger chain's locations, won't be affected...
Seattle begins to phase in $15 minimum wage Union Bulletin ...Most workers in Seattle will see the minimum wage increase to $11 an hour this week. Some small businesses will get a $1 credit for employees who earn tips or get health insurance and will pay $10 an hour. It will take until 2017 for Seattle workers at large companies and chains to earn $15 an hour...
Fight “Right to Work” in Oregon Counterpunch ...There is justifiable dread that anti-union “Right to Work” laws will be purchased into existence by out-of-state billionaires championing the laws around the country. Fortunately, an antidote to Right to Work is also being publicly debated in Oregon, where there is pending legislation to push the state’s minimum wage to $15...
Candidates Who Mock The Law (opinion) Washington Post ...Mr. Bush seems to have adopted every dark-money trick in the book. Will others now follow? As it is, the presidential campaign will begin under a dark-money cloud. Americans want a president with the right stuff, and that does not mean bags of secret cash...
U.S. Labor
Philadelphia airport workers strike over wages and benefits Boston Globe ...A few dozen baggage handlers, airplane cleaners and other non-union workers went on strike at Philadelphia’s airport Thursday, demanding higher wages, benefits, and an end to what they say are unfair labor practices...
CSX Worker Struck, Killed By Train At Rail Yard WTRV ...An investigation is underway after a CSX worker was struck and killed by a train early Wednesday morning. Henrico police said the industrial accident happened around just before 3 a.m. at the ACCA train yard in the 2100 block of Westwood Avenue...
Miscellaneous
U.S. Factories Slow For Fifth Month In Row, But Economists See Rebound Wall Street Journal ...The Institute for Supply Management on Wednesday said its purchasing managers index fell for the fifth consecutive month in March, to 51.5 from 52.9 in February. The index is at its lowest reading since May 2013, though it’s still above the 50 level that reflects expansion...
When Will The NSA Stop Spying On Innocent Americans? The Atlantic ...Unless Congress acts, Americans will soon benefit from one of the Patriot Act's most important safeguards against abuse: Language in Section 215 of the law is scheduled to expire in June, depriving the FBI and NSA of a provision they've used to justify monitoring the phone calls of tens of millions of innocents...
Showing posts with label NSA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NSA. Show all posts
Friday, April 3, 2015
Saturday, March 28, 2015
Today's Teamster News 03.28.15
Teamsters
Hoffa: TPP Investor Language Will Leave Taxpayers On The Hook Huffington Post ...Language included in the Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) chapter of the TPP would grant new rights to companies to challenge limitations and exceptions to copyrights, patents and other intellectual property. That means corporations could sue the U.S. or other countries included in the deal if they didn't like their laws. Such challenges would be handled by an unaccountable international arbitration forum. And taxpayers would end up paying the tab if the private sector wins...
Hoffa Addresses First Graduates Of Military Job Training Program teamster.org ...Today, Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa took part in a ceremony recognizing the first graduates of a program that helps active military personnel transition to a career in transportation. The ceremony was held at the Army’s new Industrial Training Complex (ITC) in Fort Sill, Okla. A ribbon-cutting ceremony was also held to inaugurate the ITC...
Highway Chief Denies Any Wrongdoing In Legal Action Against Town Hudson Register Star ...It has been alleged the Hillsdale Highway Department has not fulfilled legal obligations to their local Teamsters union, a union official wrote in a letter to the town supervisor. The town board recently mediated the dispute at their March 17 board meeting...
Union organizers question wages at McKesson warehouse Des Moines Register ...Two Teamsters union organizers questioned Friday whether drug distributor McKesson Corp. would pay fair wages at a new warehouse in northern Iowa. "We as a local (union) and your brothers and sisters in Minnesota are concerned about the jobs being shipped down here at a discounted rate, to be honest with you," Troy Gustafson of Teamsters Local 120 told the Iowa Economic Development Authority Board Friday...
From the ranks of Microsoft’s permatemps Washington Post ...In Silicon Valley, contract workers are beginning to organize. Google and Facebook shuttle bus drivers have joined the Teamsters union...
Trade
Now We Know Why Huge TPP Trade Deal Is Kept Secret From the Public Huffington Post ...if corporations feel they have been denied "expected" profits by a government regulation, ISDS lets them circumvent a country's courts and go to an international corporate tribunal with their grievance. But if labor organizers are murdered, workers and their families have nowhere to go...
Trade Show: Today In What The Hell Is Going On With The TPP? Esquire ... It seems that in their desire to bless us all with the benefits of "free" trade, the negotiators have managed to outsource not only all the manufacturing jobs that are worth a damn, but also the job of domestic environmental spoilage...
State Battles
Plain Talk: Scott Walker a textbook case of why we don't trust politicians (opinion) The Cap Times ...Worse, though, is that Walker not only underhandedly cloaks his amibitions, he lies about them, too...
Mandatory Sick Leave Moves Forward In Capitol Statesman Journal ...Nearly every Oregon employee could have at least 40 hours of paid sick leave in the near future if the Oregon Legislature succeeds in passing one of two bills currently under discussion in the Capitol...
Minimum Wage, Equal Pay Bills Fail In House Subcommittee Memphis Business Journal ...A group of Democratic sponsored bills, including two to raise the state’s minimum wage and another to allow female employees recourse to sue over pay discrimination, failed in a Tennessee House subcommittee Wednesday. Votes on each piece of legislation were divided on party lines...
Buffalo Lawmaker Seeking Further Minimum Wage Hike Buffalo Business First ...The proposal would increase the state’s minimum wage to $10.50 now with staggered incremental increases leading to $15 in 2018. After three years of increases, the state’s minimum wage is set to reach $9 on Dec. 31, 2015. The current minimum wage in New York is set at $8.75. Panepinto said that number translates to $18,000 per year...
War on Workers
Metro workers say safety culture doesn’t exist Washington Post ...Metro train and bus operators, mechanics and other employees have lined up to criticize the agency’s safety culture nearly three months after a deadly smoke incident left one person dead and spurred new questions about the system’s management and training...
Amazon demands employees sign 18-month non-compete agreement to get a three-month-long job Pando ...The agreements last for up to 18 months. Seasonal workers can be employed by Amazon for as few as three. That’s a hell of a trade-off, especially considering that the non-compete agreements prevent Amazon’s employees from working “at any company where they ‘directly or indirectly’ support any good or service that competes with those they helped support at Amazon”...
Exclusive: Upset by Warren, U.S. banks debate halting some campaign donations Reuters ...Big Wall Street banks are so upset with U.S. Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren's call for them to be broken up that some have discussed withholding campaign donations to Senate Democrats in symbolic protest, sources familiar with the discussions said...
Wall Street isn’t happy with us ElizabethWarren.com ... They want a showy way to tell Democrats across the country to be scared of speaking out, to be timid about standing up, and to stay away from fighting for what’s right. Ok, they have taken their shot, but it will not work...
Middle Class Jobs Are Still Lagging FiveThirtyEight ...This U-shaped recovery – faster growth at the top and bottom, slower in the middle – isn’t a new phenomenon. What’s unclear is how long it will last. Mid-tier jobs are often the last to rebound in a recovery. It’s possible that with job growth now picking up, the pattern will begin to reverse, or perhaps has even begun to do so already...
Raleigh Scaffolding Collapse Kills 3 Construction Workers Raleigh News and Observer ...Three construction workers were killed and another seriously injured late Monday morning when an exterior lift system tore from the side of an office building under construction in downtown Raleigh...
Oil Trains Put US On Target For More Derailments, Warn Experts Fox News ...Activists call them “bomb trains,” and they’re likely rolling through a town near you. The oil boom in North Dakota and Alberta, Canada, has put a record number of train cars on tracks carrying hundreds of thousands of barrels of crude oil each day all across the U.S. Several accidents have already happened, and local leaders say it is a matter of time until more occur...
Miscellaneous
NSA Doesn’t Need To Spy On Your Calls To Learn Your Secrets Wired ...Collecting metadata on people means putting them under surveillance...
The Shut-In Economy Medium ...the on-demand world isn’t about sharing at all. It’s about being served. This is an economy of shut-ins...
Hoffa: TPP Investor Language Will Leave Taxpayers On The Hook Huffington Post ...Language included in the Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) chapter of the TPP would grant new rights to companies to challenge limitations and exceptions to copyrights, patents and other intellectual property. That means corporations could sue the U.S. or other countries included in the deal if they didn't like their laws. Such challenges would be handled by an unaccountable international arbitration forum. And taxpayers would end up paying the tab if the private sector wins...
Hoffa Addresses First Graduates Of Military Job Training Program teamster.org ...Today, Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa took part in a ceremony recognizing the first graduates of a program that helps active military personnel transition to a career in transportation. The ceremony was held at the Army’s new Industrial Training Complex (ITC) in Fort Sill, Okla. A ribbon-cutting ceremony was also held to inaugurate the ITC...
Highway Chief Denies Any Wrongdoing In Legal Action Against Town Hudson Register Star ...It has been alleged the Hillsdale Highway Department has not fulfilled legal obligations to their local Teamsters union, a union official wrote in a letter to the town supervisor. The town board recently mediated the dispute at their March 17 board meeting...
Union organizers question wages at McKesson warehouse Des Moines Register ...Two Teamsters union organizers questioned Friday whether drug distributor McKesson Corp. would pay fair wages at a new warehouse in northern Iowa. "We as a local (union) and your brothers and sisters in Minnesota are concerned about the jobs being shipped down here at a discounted rate, to be honest with you," Troy Gustafson of Teamsters Local 120 told the Iowa Economic Development Authority Board Friday...
From the ranks of Microsoft’s permatemps Washington Post ...In Silicon Valley, contract workers are beginning to organize. Google and Facebook shuttle bus drivers have joined the Teamsters union...
Trade
Now We Know Why Huge TPP Trade Deal Is Kept Secret From the Public Huffington Post ...if corporations feel they have been denied "expected" profits by a government regulation, ISDS lets them circumvent a country's courts and go to an international corporate tribunal with their grievance. But if labor organizers are murdered, workers and their families have nowhere to go...
Trade Show: Today In What The Hell Is Going On With The TPP? Esquire ... It seems that in their desire to bless us all with the benefits of "free" trade, the negotiators have managed to outsource not only all the manufacturing jobs that are worth a damn, but also the job of domestic environmental spoilage...
State Battles
Plain Talk: Scott Walker a textbook case of why we don't trust politicians (opinion) The Cap Times ...Worse, though, is that Walker not only underhandedly cloaks his amibitions, he lies about them, too...
Mandatory Sick Leave Moves Forward In Capitol Statesman Journal ...Nearly every Oregon employee could have at least 40 hours of paid sick leave in the near future if the Oregon Legislature succeeds in passing one of two bills currently under discussion in the Capitol...
Minimum Wage, Equal Pay Bills Fail In House Subcommittee Memphis Business Journal ...A group of Democratic sponsored bills, including two to raise the state’s minimum wage and another to allow female employees recourse to sue over pay discrimination, failed in a Tennessee House subcommittee Wednesday. Votes on each piece of legislation were divided on party lines...
Buffalo Lawmaker Seeking Further Minimum Wage Hike Buffalo Business First ...The proposal would increase the state’s minimum wage to $10.50 now with staggered incremental increases leading to $15 in 2018. After three years of increases, the state’s minimum wage is set to reach $9 on Dec. 31, 2015. The current minimum wage in New York is set at $8.75. Panepinto said that number translates to $18,000 per year...
War on Workers
Metro workers say safety culture doesn’t exist Washington Post ...Metro train and bus operators, mechanics and other employees have lined up to criticize the agency’s safety culture nearly three months after a deadly smoke incident left one person dead and spurred new questions about the system’s management and training...
Amazon demands employees sign 18-month non-compete agreement to get a three-month-long job Pando ...The agreements last for up to 18 months. Seasonal workers can be employed by Amazon for as few as three. That’s a hell of a trade-off, especially considering that the non-compete agreements prevent Amazon’s employees from working “at any company where they ‘directly or indirectly’ support any good or service that competes with those they helped support at Amazon”...
Exclusive: Upset by Warren, U.S. banks debate halting some campaign donations Reuters ...Big Wall Street banks are so upset with U.S. Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren's call for them to be broken up that some have discussed withholding campaign donations to Senate Democrats in symbolic protest, sources familiar with the discussions said...
Wall Street isn’t happy with us ElizabethWarren.com ... They want a showy way to tell Democrats across the country to be scared of speaking out, to be timid about standing up, and to stay away from fighting for what’s right. Ok, they have taken their shot, but it will not work...
Middle Class Jobs Are Still Lagging FiveThirtyEight ...This U-shaped recovery – faster growth at the top and bottom, slower in the middle – isn’t a new phenomenon. What’s unclear is how long it will last. Mid-tier jobs are often the last to rebound in a recovery. It’s possible that with job growth now picking up, the pattern will begin to reverse, or perhaps has even begun to do so already...
Raleigh Scaffolding Collapse Kills 3 Construction Workers Raleigh News and Observer ...Three construction workers were killed and another seriously injured late Monday morning when an exterior lift system tore from the side of an office building under construction in downtown Raleigh...
Oil Trains Put US On Target For More Derailments, Warn Experts Fox News ...Activists call them “bomb trains,” and they’re likely rolling through a town near you. The oil boom in North Dakota and Alberta, Canada, has put a record number of train cars on tracks carrying hundreds of thousands of barrels of crude oil each day all across the U.S. Several accidents have already happened, and local leaders say it is a matter of time until more occur...
Miscellaneous
NSA Doesn’t Need To Spy On Your Calls To Learn Your Secrets Wired ...Collecting metadata on people means putting them under surveillance...
The Shut-In Economy Medium ...the on-demand world isn’t about sharing at all. It’s about being served. This is an economy of shut-ins...
Tuesday, March 24, 2015
Today's Teamster News 03.24.15
Teamsters
BMWED/Teamsters: Improving Track Safety Is Key To Oil Train Safety teamster.org ...“The key to reducing the frequency of oil train derailments plaguing North America is improved track maintenance,” says Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division President Freddie N. Simpson...
Teamsters, Rhode Island Hospital Forge Tentative Agreement NPR ...The Teamsters Union Local 251 and Rhode Island Hospital management have reached a tentative agreement on a four-year contract that the union says will bring $19 million in improved wages and benefits to workers at the Lifespan hospital network...
Sysco, US Foods To Reveal FTC Informants The Packer ...Defense attorneys representing Sysco Corp. and US Foods Inc. plan to reveal the names and employers of 92 people who provided information to the Federal Trade Commission for its anti-trust investigation into the foodservice suppliers’ merger...
Teamsters And Technology: Developing Labor Issues For Technology Industry Employers National Law Review ...Unions have been using this discontent to increase their influence in the TMT industry. Facebook’s shuttle bus drivers voted to unionize this past November and ratified a first contract on February 21 of this year. On February 27th shuttle bus drivers employed by a contractor that provides shuttle services for Apple, eBay, Yahoo, and Zynga employees voted to be represented by the Teamsters...
Trade
TPP Facing Stiff Opposition In Congress (opinion) Denver Post ...Keen to reach a trade deal with 11 other countries along the Pacific Rim, the Obama administration is actively engaged in intense negotiations. But the proposed deal, the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal (TPP) — the largest such accord since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) — is facing stiff opposition in Congress, primarily from Democrats...
State Battles
Labor groups fear `union Armageddon' in Nevada Legislature Associated Press ...Despite union protests, a bevy of bills to weaken collective bargaining and restructure public employee pensions remain on the legislative agenda, including one scheduled for a hearing Wednesday that labor groups call the "Union Armageddon Bill."...
Oil Giant BP Drops Membership With ALEC National Journal ... Major oil-and-gas corporation BP announced Monday it is parting ways with the American Legislative Exchange Council, marking just the latest—and likely most significant—departure of a blue-chip company from the conservative group in recent months, National Journal has learned. Major oil-and-gas corporation BP announced Monday it is parting ways with the American Legislative Exchange Council, marking just the latest—and likely most significant—departure of a blue-chip company from the conservative group in recent months, National Journal has learned...
Minimum Wage Increase Killing Seattle Restaurants? Anatomy Of A Lie From Inside The Bubble Forbes ...Never mind that not so much as one of the restaurant closings discussed in the original piece referenced the coming rise in minimum wage as a reason for their decision to shutter their business. And never mind that the owner of one of the four eateries discussed is currently opening two new restaurants in Seattle. It was a headline that opponents of the citywide minimum wage increase could not resist—and the facts could not be allowed to stand in the way...
'It's a disgrace': civil liberties groups in frantic bid to stop Wisconsin voter ID law Guardian ...Civil liberties campaigners filed an emergency motion on Monday to stop Wisconsin’s “disenfranchising” new voter identification requirements from going into effect, setting up an instant showdown after the US supreme court turned away an appeal to throw out Wisconsin’s controversial law that forces people already registered to vote to show photo ID...
New St. Louis County Health Chief Promises To Study Bridgeton Landfill Effects St. Louis Post Dispatch ...St. Louis County’s new health director made it clear that his department would be more involved in the issues stemming from the smoldering landfill here, promising first a new survey of residents’ health conditions...
War on Workers
If We Don't Overturn Citizens United, the Congress Will Become Paid Employees Of The Billionaire Class (opinion) Huffington Post ...Who are those members of Congress elected with the help of billionaires going to be representing? Do you think they're going to be representing the middle class and working families? The answers seem clear to me. Unless the campaign financing system is reformed, the U.S. Congress will become paid employees of the people who pay for their campaigns -- the billionaire class. Needless to say, not everyone on the Committee agreed. It was an interesting and informative debate. Not one Republican supported the amendment and it lost by a 12-10 vote...
Miscellaneous
Congress Won’t Tackle NSA Reform Before Cybersecurity National Journal ...Congress likely needs to pass cybersecurity legislation before it can pave the way to addressing the National Security Agency bulk collection of American phone records, despite the looming June expiration of a key surveillance authority, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee says...
BMWED/Teamsters: Improving Track Safety Is Key To Oil Train Safety teamster.org ...“The key to reducing the frequency of oil train derailments plaguing North America is improved track maintenance,” says Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division President Freddie N. Simpson...
Teamsters, Rhode Island Hospital Forge Tentative Agreement NPR ...The Teamsters Union Local 251 and Rhode Island Hospital management have reached a tentative agreement on a four-year contract that the union says will bring $19 million in improved wages and benefits to workers at the Lifespan hospital network...
Sysco, US Foods To Reveal FTC Informants The Packer ...Defense attorneys representing Sysco Corp. and US Foods Inc. plan to reveal the names and employers of 92 people who provided information to the Federal Trade Commission for its anti-trust investigation into the foodservice suppliers’ merger...
Teamsters And Technology: Developing Labor Issues For Technology Industry Employers National Law Review ...Unions have been using this discontent to increase their influence in the TMT industry. Facebook’s shuttle bus drivers voted to unionize this past November and ratified a first contract on February 21 of this year. On February 27th shuttle bus drivers employed by a contractor that provides shuttle services for Apple, eBay, Yahoo, and Zynga employees voted to be represented by the Teamsters...
Trade
TPP Facing Stiff Opposition In Congress (opinion) Denver Post ...Keen to reach a trade deal with 11 other countries along the Pacific Rim, the Obama administration is actively engaged in intense negotiations. But the proposed deal, the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal (TPP) — the largest such accord since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) — is facing stiff opposition in Congress, primarily from Democrats...
State Battles
Labor groups fear `union Armageddon' in Nevada Legislature Associated Press ...Despite union protests, a bevy of bills to weaken collective bargaining and restructure public employee pensions remain on the legislative agenda, including one scheduled for a hearing Wednesday that labor groups call the "Union Armageddon Bill."...
Oil Giant BP Drops Membership With ALEC National Journal ... Major oil-and-gas corporation BP announced Monday it is parting ways with the American Legislative Exchange Council, marking just the latest—and likely most significant—departure of a blue-chip company from the conservative group in recent months, National Journal has learned. Major oil-and-gas corporation BP announced Monday it is parting ways with the American Legislative Exchange Council, marking just the latest—and likely most significant—departure of a blue-chip company from the conservative group in recent months, National Journal has learned...
Minimum Wage Increase Killing Seattle Restaurants? Anatomy Of A Lie From Inside The Bubble Forbes ...Never mind that not so much as one of the restaurant closings discussed in the original piece referenced the coming rise in minimum wage as a reason for their decision to shutter their business. And never mind that the owner of one of the four eateries discussed is currently opening two new restaurants in Seattle. It was a headline that opponents of the citywide minimum wage increase could not resist—and the facts could not be allowed to stand in the way...
'It's a disgrace': civil liberties groups in frantic bid to stop Wisconsin voter ID law Guardian ...Civil liberties campaigners filed an emergency motion on Monday to stop Wisconsin’s “disenfranchising” new voter identification requirements from going into effect, setting up an instant showdown after the US supreme court turned away an appeal to throw out Wisconsin’s controversial law that forces people already registered to vote to show photo ID...
New St. Louis County Health Chief Promises To Study Bridgeton Landfill Effects St. Louis Post Dispatch ...St. Louis County’s new health director made it clear that his department would be more involved in the issues stemming from the smoldering landfill here, promising first a new survey of residents’ health conditions...
War on Workers
If We Don't Overturn Citizens United, the Congress Will Become Paid Employees Of The Billionaire Class (opinion) Huffington Post ...Who are those members of Congress elected with the help of billionaires going to be representing? Do you think they're going to be representing the middle class and working families? The answers seem clear to me. Unless the campaign financing system is reformed, the U.S. Congress will become paid employees of the people who pay for their campaigns -- the billionaire class. Needless to say, not everyone on the Committee agreed. It was an interesting and informative debate. Not one Republican supported the amendment and it lost by a 12-10 vote...
Miscellaneous
Congress Won’t Tackle NSA Reform Before Cybersecurity National Journal ...Congress likely needs to pass cybersecurity legislation before it can pave the way to addressing the National Security Agency bulk collection of American phone records, despite the looming June expiration of a key surveillance authority, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee says...
Wednesday, March 18, 2015
Today's Teamster News 03.18.15
Teamsters
NEW: Teamsters Organize Workers at Daniele Foods in RI GoLocalProv ...The Teamsters Local 251 have announced that they have organized the shipping and receiving departments, as well as drivers, at Daniel Foods in Pascoag, RI...
Trade
House Republican Bloc Poses a Threat to Pacific Trade Deal Wall Street Journal ...A diverse bloc of House Republicans is threatening to join Democrats in opposition to the White House’s trade push, imperiling an effort long seen as one of the few prospects this year for bipartisan cooperation...
Lawmakers Say TPP Meetings Classified To Keep Americans in the Dark eNewsParkForest ...Lawmakers in Congress who remain wary of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement are raising further objections this week to the degree of secrecy surrounding briefings on the deal, with some arguing that the main reason at least one meeting has been registered "classified" is to help keep the American public ignorant about giveaways to corporate interests and its long-term implications...
Obama trade agenda becomes problem for Hillary Clinton The Hill ...President Obama's pro-trade agenda is a problem for Hillary Clinton, who is under pressure from liberals to oppose her former boss’s push for fast-track authority as she prepares to run for the White House...
Rep. Tim Ryan hopes President Obama sees trade agreement consequences during Cleveland visit Cleveland.com ... Rep. Tim Ryan hopes President Barack Obama takes a good look around Northeast Ohio on Wednesday as visits Cleveland to deliver a speech to the City Club on middle-class economics. Ryan believes such an examination would show Obama that trade agreements harmed the region's economy...
TPP Is Only Secret From You – But Trust Us, It’s Good For You Campaign for America's Future ...“We have to see TPP. It may not be the final agreement, but we have to see what it is,” Pelosi told reporters after the first of several House Democratic Caucus meetings to dig into details about the proposed pact with Japan and 10 other countries in the Asia-Pacific region...
Intellectual Property Issues Hinder TPP Talks In Hawaii Japan News ...Chief negotiators from Japan, the United States and 10 other countries in Trans-Pacific Partnership multilateral free trade talks failed to iron out differences in their one-week meeting that ended Sunday...
State Battles
'Right to work' means right to leave Wisconsin KY3 ...The owner of a Wisconsin construction company is taking his business to Minnesota because of the passage of ‘right-to-work’ legislation in Wisconsin. His company employs 200 union workers...
Oregon is first state to adopt automatic voter registration Associated Press ...Seventeen years after Oregon decided to become the first state to hold all elections with mail-in ballots, it took another pioneering step on Monday to broaden participation by automatically registering people to vote...
Tampa Bay Democrats ramping up wage-theft laws Tampa Bay Times ...Local Tampa Bay Democrats, supported by unions, are pushing ordinances to intervene when employees say an employer has shorted their pay. The proposals are the exact kind of local "wage theft" ordinances that Republicans and retail groups have sought unsuccessfully to outlaw in Tallahassee saying they place an unfair burden on business...
Legislation Would Require Private Student Loans Be Forgiven If Borrower Dies Consumerist ...New York Senator Chuck Schumer announced today that he would push for legislation – called “Andrew’s Law” – that would require private student loan companies to forgive outstanding debt if a borrower dies...
War on Workers
Obama Likely To Veto Resolution To Overturn NLRB Rule Wall Street Journal ...If Mr. Obama were to veto the resolution, there wouldn’t be enough votes in the Senate to override his opposition, said a Democratic aide. Senate Republicans control 54 of the chamber’s seats, short of the 67 needed to override a veto...
Fixed Fortunes: Biggest corporate political interests spend billions, get trillions Sunlight Foundation ...Between 2007 and 2012, 200 of America’s most politically active corporations spent a combined $5.8 billion on federal lobbying and campaign contributions. A year-long analysis by the Sunlight Foundation suggests, however, that what they gave pales compared to what those same corporations got: $4.4 trillion in federal business and support...
Middle-Class Betrayal? Why Working Hard Is No Longer Enough in America NBC News ...even with more education, working 18-to-34 year old adults are earning less than they did 15 years ago...
Worker Killed At Plastics Plant In Cartersville Atlanta Journal Constitution ...A 40-year-old man was cleaning a plastics mixing machine at Syncot Plastics on South Erwin Street around 7 a.m. when he got caught in a roller bar and was dragged through the machine, said Cartersville police spokesman Maj. Mark Camp...
Va. Mine Worker Killed By Falling Rock Richmond Times Dispatch ...Alpha Natural Resources Inc. says a worker at one of its affiliate mines in southwest Virginia has died after being struck by falling rock. According to the Bristol, Virginia-based company, the incident occurred Monday morning at Deep Mine 41 near McClure. The mine is run by Paramont Coal Co...
Miscellaneous
U.S. Oil Prices Fall To Six-Year Low New York Times ...Oil prices fell to six-year lows on Monday in the face of concerns that a glut in the United States was outpacing already-brimming storage facilities. Additionally, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries published a report suggesting that the cartel remained reluctant to intervene to prop up prices...
Drop In Manufacturing Takes Shine Off Small Gain In Industrial Production Wall Street Journal ...Industrial production, which measures the output of manufacturers, utilities and mines, rose a seasonally adjusted 0.1% from the prior month, the Federal Reserve said Monday. Utility output surged during unusually cold weather, but factory and mining production declined, reflecting weaker demand and cuts in the oil and gas sector...
Texas Bill Would Turn Off Power To Massive NSA Surveillance Facility Tenth Amendment Center ...Rep. Jonathan Stickland (R) introduced House Bill 3916 (HB3916) on March 13. The legislation would prohibit any political subdivision in Texas from providing water or electricity to any federal agency “involved in the routine surveillance or collection and storage of bulk telephone or e-mail records or related metadata concerning any citizen of the United States and that claims the legal authority to collect and store the bulk telephone or e-mail records or metadata concerning any citizen of the United States without the citizen’s consent or a search warrant that describes the person, place, or thing to be searched or seized.”...
NEW: Teamsters Organize Workers at Daniele Foods in RI GoLocalProv ...The Teamsters Local 251 have announced that they have organized the shipping and receiving departments, as well as drivers, at Daniel Foods in Pascoag, RI...
Trade
House Republican Bloc Poses a Threat to Pacific Trade Deal Wall Street Journal ...A diverse bloc of House Republicans is threatening to join Democrats in opposition to the White House’s trade push, imperiling an effort long seen as one of the few prospects this year for bipartisan cooperation...
Lawmakers Say TPP Meetings Classified To Keep Americans in the Dark eNewsParkForest ...Lawmakers in Congress who remain wary of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement are raising further objections this week to the degree of secrecy surrounding briefings on the deal, with some arguing that the main reason at least one meeting has been registered "classified" is to help keep the American public ignorant about giveaways to corporate interests and its long-term implications...
Obama trade agenda becomes problem for Hillary Clinton The Hill ...President Obama's pro-trade agenda is a problem for Hillary Clinton, who is under pressure from liberals to oppose her former boss’s push for fast-track authority as she prepares to run for the White House...
Rep. Tim Ryan hopes President Obama sees trade agreement consequences during Cleveland visit Cleveland.com ... Rep. Tim Ryan hopes President Barack Obama takes a good look around Northeast Ohio on Wednesday as visits Cleveland to deliver a speech to the City Club on middle-class economics. Ryan believes such an examination would show Obama that trade agreements harmed the region's economy...
TPP Is Only Secret From You – But Trust Us, It’s Good For You Campaign for America's Future ...“We have to see TPP. It may not be the final agreement, but we have to see what it is,” Pelosi told reporters after the first of several House Democratic Caucus meetings to dig into details about the proposed pact with Japan and 10 other countries in the Asia-Pacific region...
Intellectual Property Issues Hinder TPP Talks In Hawaii Japan News ...Chief negotiators from Japan, the United States and 10 other countries in Trans-Pacific Partnership multilateral free trade talks failed to iron out differences in their one-week meeting that ended Sunday...
State Battles
'Right to work' means right to leave Wisconsin KY3 ...The owner of a Wisconsin construction company is taking his business to Minnesota because of the passage of ‘right-to-work’ legislation in Wisconsin. His company employs 200 union workers...
Oregon is first state to adopt automatic voter registration Associated Press ...Seventeen years after Oregon decided to become the first state to hold all elections with mail-in ballots, it took another pioneering step on Monday to broaden participation by automatically registering people to vote...
Tampa Bay Democrats ramping up wage-theft laws Tampa Bay Times ...Local Tampa Bay Democrats, supported by unions, are pushing ordinances to intervene when employees say an employer has shorted their pay. The proposals are the exact kind of local "wage theft" ordinances that Republicans and retail groups have sought unsuccessfully to outlaw in Tallahassee saying they place an unfair burden on business...
Legislation Would Require Private Student Loans Be Forgiven If Borrower Dies Consumerist ...New York Senator Chuck Schumer announced today that he would push for legislation – called “Andrew’s Law” – that would require private student loan companies to forgive outstanding debt if a borrower dies...
War on Workers
Obama Likely To Veto Resolution To Overturn NLRB Rule Wall Street Journal ...If Mr. Obama were to veto the resolution, there wouldn’t be enough votes in the Senate to override his opposition, said a Democratic aide. Senate Republicans control 54 of the chamber’s seats, short of the 67 needed to override a veto...
Fixed Fortunes: Biggest corporate political interests spend billions, get trillions Sunlight Foundation ...Between 2007 and 2012, 200 of America’s most politically active corporations spent a combined $5.8 billion on federal lobbying and campaign contributions. A year-long analysis by the Sunlight Foundation suggests, however, that what they gave pales compared to what those same corporations got: $4.4 trillion in federal business and support...
Middle-Class Betrayal? Why Working Hard Is No Longer Enough in America NBC News ...even with more education, working 18-to-34 year old adults are earning less than they did 15 years ago...
Worker Killed At Plastics Plant In Cartersville Atlanta Journal Constitution ...A 40-year-old man was cleaning a plastics mixing machine at Syncot Plastics on South Erwin Street around 7 a.m. when he got caught in a roller bar and was dragged through the machine, said Cartersville police spokesman Maj. Mark Camp...
Va. Mine Worker Killed By Falling Rock Richmond Times Dispatch ...Alpha Natural Resources Inc. says a worker at one of its affiliate mines in southwest Virginia has died after being struck by falling rock. According to the Bristol, Virginia-based company, the incident occurred Monday morning at Deep Mine 41 near McClure. The mine is run by Paramont Coal Co...
Miscellaneous
U.S. Oil Prices Fall To Six-Year Low New York Times ...Oil prices fell to six-year lows on Monday in the face of concerns that a glut in the United States was outpacing already-brimming storage facilities. Additionally, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries published a report suggesting that the cartel remained reluctant to intervene to prop up prices...
Drop In Manufacturing Takes Shine Off Small Gain In Industrial Production Wall Street Journal ...Industrial production, which measures the output of manufacturers, utilities and mines, rose a seasonally adjusted 0.1% from the prior month, the Federal Reserve said Monday. Utility output surged during unusually cold weather, but factory and mining production declined, reflecting weaker demand and cuts in the oil and gas sector...
Texas Bill Would Turn Off Power To Massive NSA Surveillance Facility Tenth Amendment Center ...Rep. Jonathan Stickland (R) introduced House Bill 3916 (HB3916) on March 13. The legislation would prohibit any political subdivision in Texas from providing water or electricity to any federal agency “involved in the routine surveillance or collection and storage of bulk telephone or e-mail records or related metadata concerning any citizen of the United States and that claims the legal authority to collect and store the bulk telephone or e-mail records or metadata concerning any citizen of the United States without the citizen’s consent or a search warrant that describes the person, place, or thing to be searched or seized.”...
Saturday, March 14, 2015
Today's Teamster News 03.14.15
Teamsters
FedEx Freight Workers In California Vote To Join Teamsters Local 439 teamster.org ...A group of 50 drivers at FedEx Freight’s Stockton, Calif., terminal have voted to join Teamsters Local 439. The vote took place Thursday, March 12 and today, and the workers voted 33 to 12 to become Teamsters...
Teamsters Testify About UNFI At Supply Chain Commission Hearing teamster.org ...Former Workers Tell Commission Members About UNFI’s Abuses...
Drivers For Facebook Contractor Loop Transp. Gain Strong Agreement, Wage Increases teamster.org ...Drivers for Facebook contractor Loop Transportation are now covered under a Teamsters Local 853 contract, providing for wage increases, health care benefits and a number of improvements to their working conditions. The contract, which workers overwhelmingly voted to ratify on Feb. 21, went to Facebook for its agreement as Loop’s paying client before implementation...
San Bernardino County Public Employees To Vote In Teamster Election teamster.org ... Ballots were mailed out this week to more than 15,000 San Bernardino, Calif., county, city and agency employees to vote in an election for Teamsters representation...
Teamsters Continue Fight To Unionize More Bay Area Drivers KGO ...The Teamsters hit the streets of San Francisco for a rally. They're handing out union cards to the drivers of Bauer Transportation, a company contracted to drive workers to some Bay Area tech companies, including Cisco and Google...
Woodbridge Winery Workers Join Teamsters Local 601 In California teamster.org ...Nearly 50 workers at Woodbridge Winery in Acampo, Calif. joined Teamsters Local 601 in Stockton, voting 32-13 in favor of representation. The new bargaining unit of cellar operation employees includes 46 workers who are seeking improved pay, benefits and the protection of a union contract...
Trade
Unhappy Third Birthday for Korea FTA Drags Down Obama Push for Fast Track Public Citizen Global Trade Watch ...U.S. Exports Down, Imports from Korea Up and Job-Killing Trade Deficit With Korea Balloons 84 Percent on Third Anniversary of Korea Pact, Which Is TPP Template...
Progressives: We’ve Never Heard Of This “Progressive” Group Backing Obama’s Trade Deal BuzzFeed News ...The “Progressive Coalition For American Jobs,” run by former Obama campaign staffers, purports to represent the progressive left on the trade deal that the progressive left hates...
Major Unions Stepping up Battle against Free-Trade Pact Associated Press ...the Teamsters union called for U.S. negotiators on the trade pact to press for a crackdown on Mexican cross-border trucking as part of the emerging agreement...
‘Exploitation’: Clothing Labels Accused Of Cambodia Worker Discrimination, Child Labor RT ...HRW [Human Rights Watch] says workers in Cambodia’s garment factories, producing name-brand clothing sold in the US, Canada and Europe, often come to grips with "discriminatory and exploitative labor conditions." According to HRW, the combination of short-term contracts which make it easier to get rid of workers at any moment, poor government labor inspection and enforcement, as well as aggressive tactics against independent unions make it extremely difficult for workers to assert their rights...
State Battles
Push to rewrite Kansas collective bargaining laws stalls Kansas City Star ...The committee was set to vote Friday on both measures, but Chairwoman and Olathe Republican Julia Lynn canceled the meeting. Lynn said she’s not sure when the votes will occur and said House GOP leaders have signaled that they’re reluctant to tackle such issues...
Chumbley: Right to work all wrong for Missouri Springfield News-Leader ...Missouri's General Assembly is preparing to pass the deceptively titled Right to Work and Paycheck Protection bills. These bills are an attack on workers and an offense to the God of justice...
Union members rally against GOP labor bills outside Legislature Las Vegas Review-Journal ... Hundreds of union members rallied in front of the Nevada Legislature on Thursday to protest Republican efforts to curb collective bargaining and push public employee retirement reforms...
Union workers to protest Walker in NH New Hampshire Union Leader ...Union members and organizers plan to protest outside when Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker speaks to a state Republican Party event Saturday at Concord High School...
WV Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin signs prevailing wage change, Coal Jobs and Safety Act WOWK TV ...Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin signed three bills into law March 12, including one that changes West Virginia's prevailing wage law...
Maine Republicans Try Again To Push Through 'Right-to-Work' Legislation NPR ...Republicans are once again trying to move a so-called "right-to-work" bill through the Legislature. Their goal is to put an end to a long-standing requirement that public and private sector workers in a unionized shops must either join the union or pay representation fees as a condition of employment...
Senate Kills Bill To Restore State Minimum Wage New Hampshire Union Leader ...The Republican-dominated state Senate has rejected a bill to restore a state minimum wage in New Hampshire. The legislation would have set the hourly rate at $8.25 in 2016, $9 in 2017 and $10 in 2018...
War on Workers
The Retirement Savings Gap Between Haves and Have-Nots Is Getting Bigger Bloomberg ...The median retirement account balance when you look across all households? $2,500...
Dangerous Trains, Aging Rails (opinion) New York Times ...To protect communities and the environment, the Transportation Department needs to act quickly to require more resilient rail cars, improve the safety of rail infrastructure and operations, and reduce the volatility of oil at the wellhead, before it is loaded onto trains...
Miscellaneous
U.S. Retail Sales Fall Amid Rough Weather Wall Street Journal ...U.S. retail sales fell for the third consecutive month in February as a mix of bad weather and consumer caution outweighed an improving labor market and cheap gasoline prices...
FedEx Freight Workers In California Vote To Join Teamsters Local 439 teamster.org ...A group of 50 drivers at FedEx Freight’s Stockton, Calif., terminal have voted to join Teamsters Local 439. The vote took place Thursday, March 12 and today, and the workers voted 33 to 12 to become Teamsters...
Teamsters Testify About UNFI At Supply Chain Commission Hearing teamster.org ...Former Workers Tell Commission Members About UNFI’s Abuses...
Drivers For Facebook Contractor Loop Transp. Gain Strong Agreement, Wage Increases teamster.org ...Drivers for Facebook contractor Loop Transportation are now covered under a Teamsters Local 853 contract, providing for wage increases, health care benefits and a number of improvements to their working conditions. The contract, which workers overwhelmingly voted to ratify on Feb. 21, went to Facebook for its agreement as Loop’s paying client before implementation...
San Bernardino County Public Employees To Vote In Teamster Election teamster.org ... Ballots were mailed out this week to more than 15,000 San Bernardino, Calif., county, city and agency employees to vote in an election for Teamsters representation...
Teamsters Continue Fight To Unionize More Bay Area Drivers KGO ...The Teamsters hit the streets of San Francisco for a rally. They're handing out union cards to the drivers of Bauer Transportation, a company contracted to drive workers to some Bay Area tech companies, including Cisco and Google...
Woodbridge Winery Workers Join Teamsters Local 601 In California teamster.org ...Nearly 50 workers at Woodbridge Winery in Acampo, Calif. joined Teamsters Local 601 in Stockton, voting 32-13 in favor of representation. The new bargaining unit of cellar operation employees includes 46 workers who are seeking improved pay, benefits and the protection of a union contract...
Trade
Unhappy Third Birthday for Korea FTA Drags Down Obama Push for Fast Track Public Citizen Global Trade Watch ...U.S. Exports Down, Imports from Korea Up and Job-Killing Trade Deficit With Korea Balloons 84 Percent on Third Anniversary of Korea Pact, Which Is TPP Template...
Progressives: We’ve Never Heard Of This “Progressive” Group Backing Obama’s Trade Deal BuzzFeed News ...The “Progressive Coalition For American Jobs,” run by former Obama campaign staffers, purports to represent the progressive left on the trade deal that the progressive left hates...
Major Unions Stepping up Battle against Free-Trade Pact Associated Press ...the Teamsters union called for U.S. negotiators on the trade pact to press for a crackdown on Mexican cross-border trucking as part of the emerging agreement...
‘Exploitation’: Clothing Labels Accused Of Cambodia Worker Discrimination, Child Labor RT ...HRW [Human Rights Watch] says workers in Cambodia’s garment factories, producing name-brand clothing sold in the US, Canada and Europe, often come to grips with "discriminatory and exploitative labor conditions." According to HRW, the combination of short-term contracts which make it easier to get rid of workers at any moment, poor government labor inspection and enforcement, as well as aggressive tactics against independent unions make it extremely difficult for workers to assert their rights...
State Battles
Push to rewrite Kansas collective bargaining laws stalls Kansas City Star ...The committee was set to vote Friday on both measures, but Chairwoman and Olathe Republican Julia Lynn canceled the meeting. Lynn said she’s not sure when the votes will occur and said House GOP leaders have signaled that they’re reluctant to tackle such issues...
Chumbley: Right to work all wrong for Missouri Springfield News-Leader ...Missouri's General Assembly is preparing to pass the deceptively titled Right to Work and Paycheck Protection bills. These bills are an attack on workers and an offense to the God of justice...
Union members rally against GOP labor bills outside Legislature Las Vegas Review-Journal ... Hundreds of union members rallied in front of the Nevada Legislature on Thursday to protest Republican efforts to curb collective bargaining and push public employee retirement reforms...
Union workers to protest Walker in NH New Hampshire Union Leader ...Union members and organizers plan to protest outside when Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker speaks to a state Republican Party event Saturday at Concord High School...
WV Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin signs prevailing wage change, Coal Jobs and Safety Act WOWK TV ...Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin signed three bills into law March 12, including one that changes West Virginia's prevailing wage law...
Maine Republicans Try Again To Push Through 'Right-to-Work' Legislation NPR ...Republicans are once again trying to move a so-called "right-to-work" bill through the Legislature. Their goal is to put an end to a long-standing requirement that public and private sector workers in a unionized shops must either join the union or pay representation fees as a condition of employment...
Senate Kills Bill To Restore State Minimum Wage New Hampshire Union Leader ...The Republican-dominated state Senate has rejected a bill to restore a state minimum wage in New Hampshire. The legislation would have set the hourly rate at $8.25 in 2016, $9 in 2017 and $10 in 2018...
War on Workers
The Retirement Savings Gap Between Haves and Have-Nots Is Getting Bigger Bloomberg ...The median retirement account balance when you look across all households? $2,500...
Dangerous Trains, Aging Rails (opinion) New York Times ...To protect communities and the environment, the Transportation Department needs to act quickly to require more resilient rail cars, improve the safety of rail infrastructure and operations, and reduce the volatility of oil at the wellhead, before it is loaded onto trains...
Miscellaneous
U.S. Retail Sales Fall Amid Rough Weather Wall Street Journal ...U.S. retail sales fell for the third consecutive month in February as a mix of bad weather and consumer caution outweighed an improving labor market and cheap gasoline prices...
Thursday, February 19, 2015
Today's Teamster News 02.19.15
Teamsters
Teamsters to help L.A., Long Beach truckers seek unemployment benefits if ports shut down Press-Telegram …The International Brotherhood of Teamsters announced a plan Wednesday to aid thousands of nonunion truckers who may lose out on pay if labor strife at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach results in a work stoppage at the harbor...
Truckers To Speak About Effects Of Potential Long Beach, Los Angeles Port Shutdown Long Beach Press Telegram ...Officials with the Teamsters Local 848 said in a statement that 10,000 truck drivers — who are not classified as employees, but independent contractors — would be idled without pay nor benefits if the port complex shutters...
Teamsters vote to authorize a strike at Rhode Island Hospital turnto10.com …Hundreds of teamsters who work at Rhode Island Hospital voted Wednesday to authorize a strike. The vote by Teamsters Local 251 gives Rhode Island Hospital 10 days warning…
Cass County Board: Contract settled with Teamsters union Brainerd Dispatch …Cass County Board approved a two-year contract Tuesday with Teamsters General Local Union 346 representing dispatch and records personnel in the sheriff's department...
CP, Teamsters Turn To Binding Arbitration To End Strike; CN, Teamsters Reach Tentative Pact Progressive Railroading ...Over the three-day holiday weekend, the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) launched and ended a brief strike against Canadian Pacific, while CP reached a tentative labor agreement with Unifor and CN negotiated a tentative pact with the TCRC...
Queens Councilman Eric Ulrich Says No To NYC Horse-Carriage Ban New York Daily News ...Councilman Eric Ulrich (R-Queens) has come off the fence on Mayor de Blasio's mission to get rid of the iconic conveyances, writing in his constituent newsletter that "after listening to all sides, and taking into account the views of my constituents, I have decided to oppose the ban." Ulrich says he "cannot, in good conscience, vote for any legislation that would deny hardworking people a chance to earn a decent living."...
Sysco Wants To Control More Than A Quarter Of Our Food Supply KCET ...They brought in a revenue of $44 billion in 2013. (To compare, McDonald's brought in $28 billion.) They're huge, in other words. And they don't want to stop there. They're trying to merge with their number one competitor, US Foods, which would make them even more dominant in the food industry...
Providence School Bus Strike Averted Providence Journal ...A potential strike by Providence school bus drivers on Monday has been averted. Patrick MacDonald, legislative director for Teamsters union Local 251, said First Student invoked a clause in its contract with the national Teamsters that calls for a 21-day cooling-off period...
Charleston County School Bus Drivers Raise Issues Of Bus Safety Charleston Post and Courier ...Bus driver Kathy Richardson said there are ongoing problems with buses with broken windows, broken heaters and mechanical issues....Richardson was among several bus drivers who spoke out Monday at a community forum sponsored by Rep. Wendell Gilliard and the Teamsters Local 509 of West Columbia. Many of the issues raised were regarding Durham School Services, which provides school bus transportation for Charleston County schools...
Rory D. Potter Asbury Park Press ...Rory was born in Pt Pleasant and was a lifelong resident. He was a Teamster Driver working out of Teamsters Local 469 as the Track Foreman at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, NJ. Rory loved his family and his friends and was a friend to anyone he met...
Trade
OR-Sen: DFA Goes After Ron Wyden (D) On The TPP Daily Kos …Oregon Senator Ron Wyden is reportedly working with Republicans like Paul Ryan and Orrin Hatch to pass the TPP. Their goal: to grease the wheels to get the TPP through Congress without proper review or a chance to make any changes to the deal itself...
US lawmakers tell Japan key deal on trade promotion authority likely this spring U.S. News … A delegation of U.S. lawmakers say a bipartisan congressional agreement on granting President Barack Obama trade promotion authority for a pan-Pacific trade deal is likely this spring...
Trade Group Accelerates Push for a ‘Fast Track’ Deal New York Times …The Trade Benefits America Coalition has started a digital advertising campaign that argues in favor of a more ambitious trade agenda and pushes for legislation granting President Obama “fast track” trade negotiating authority...
Trade deal would hurt Indiana (opinion) Indianapolis Star …If you think those manufacturing jobs were zapped by robots or simply the victims of a globalized world, I have some magic beans for sale. There's a big reason these jobs were lost, and it's called unfair trade policies...
Press Release: Interfaith Coalition Sends Letter to All Members of Congress Opposing Trade Injustice / Fast Track Network Lobby …Major religious groups including Quaker, Jewish, Protestant and Catholic organizations, Catholic sisters, and clergy, today sent a letter to all Members of Congress to express strong opposition to fast track trade promotion authority for trade agreements being negotiated…
State Battles
Missouri Senate leader on the fence about 'right to work' St. Louis Public Radio ...Missouri Senate President Pro Tem Tom Dempsey, R-St. Charles, says he has yet to take a position on the “right-to-work’’ bill that is headed to his chamber after passing the House last week...
Senate Dems unveil jobs package; vow to block right-to-work legislation Albuquerque Journal …With the New Mexico House poised to act soon on a high-profile right-to-work bill, Senate Democrats said today the measure could be in for a crash landing if it reaches their chamber...
Koch brothers' group allowed to keep California donors' names secret Bloomberg News …A Koch brothers advocacy group can keep its donor list secret for now, with a federal judge ruling that revealing the identities would chill free speech. The ruling comes as billionaires Charles and David Koch seek to raise almost $1 billion in the run-up to the 2016 U.S. presidential election…
War on Workers
US ports shutdown: millions of dollars in lost exports as labor secretary flies in The Guardian ...Tom Perez heads to San Francisco to meet with shipping companies and dock workers to help settle dispute that has led to a partial shutdown of ports...
Safety tops strike demands for oil workers at BP refinery People's World …With the 1,100 members at the Whiting refinery and 340 at Toledo's, the total number of striking workers rose to more than 4,900, who process 13 percent of the country's oil. A full strike could stop 64 percent of oil production. The workers' demands center on health and safety issues, contracting jobs out to non-union workers and health care…
The Cost of a Decline in Unions New York Times … A study in the American Sociological Review, using the broadest methodology, estimates that the decline of unions may account for one-third of the rise of inequality among men...
Did the GOP Just Give Away $130 Billion of Public Property? The Nation …In December, two Republican senators, John McCain and Jeff Flake, pushed Congress and the president into giving away what could amount to over $130 billion in public property. That’s enough to provide every single unemployed American a minimum-wage job for an entire year. That’s enough to pay for a year of tuition at a public institution for every college student in the US…
Construction Worker Killed In Portland KOIN ...Shortly after 5:30 p.m., an Axis Crane contractor died after a steel high beam collapsed and fell onto the cab of a piece of equipment being used in Portland, officials said...
Illinois Worker Dies Cleaning Rail Car Law Firm News … An industrial cleaning company has been fined after a worker collapsed while working to clean a rail car and later died due to the untreated cardiac arrhythmia he suffered...
Miscellaneous
NSA Has Ability To Hide Spying Software Deep Within Hard Drives: Cyber Researchers Huffington Post ...The U.S. National Security Agency has figured out how to hide spying software deep within hard drives made by Western Digital, Seagate, Toshiba and other top manufacturers, giving the agency the means to eavesdrop on the majority of the world's computers, according to cyber researchers and former operatives...
Teamsters to help L.A., Long Beach truckers seek unemployment benefits if ports shut down Press-Telegram …The International Brotherhood of Teamsters announced a plan Wednesday to aid thousands of nonunion truckers who may lose out on pay if labor strife at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach results in a work stoppage at the harbor...
Truckers To Speak About Effects Of Potential Long Beach, Los Angeles Port Shutdown Long Beach Press Telegram ...Officials with the Teamsters Local 848 said in a statement that 10,000 truck drivers — who are not classified as employees, but independent contractors — would be idled without pay nor benefits if the port complex shutters...
Teamsters vote to authorize a strike at Rhode Island Hospital turnto10.com …Hundreds of teamsters who work at Rhode Island Hospital voted Wednesday to authorize a strike. The vote by Teamsters Local 251 gives Rhode Island Hospital 10 days warning…
Cass County Board: Contract settled with Teamsters union Brainerd Dispatch …Cass County Board approved a two-year contract Tuesday with Teamsters General Local Union 346 representing dispatch and records personnel in the sheriff's department...
CP, Teamsters Turn To Binding Arbitration To End Strike; CN, Teamsters Reach Tentative Pact Progressive Railroading ...Over the three-day holiday weekend, the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) launched and ended a brief strike against Canadian Pacific, while CP reached a tentative labor agreement with Unifor and CN negotiated a tentative pact with the TCRC...
Queens Councilman Eric Ulrich Says No To NYC Horse-Carriage Ban New York Daily News ...Councilman Eric Ulrich (R-Queens) has come off the fence on Mayor de Blasio's mission to get rid of the iconic conveyances, writing in his constituent newsletter that "after listening to all sides, and taking into account the views of my constituents, I have decided to oppose the ban." Ulrich says he "cannot, in good conscience, vote for any legislation that would deny hardworking people a chance to earn a decent living."...
Sysco Wants To Control More Than A Quarter Of Our Food Supply KCET ...They brought in a revenue of $44 billion in 2013. (To compare, McDonald's brought in $28 billion.) They're huge, in other words. And they don't want to stop there. They're trying to merge with their number one competitor, US Foods, which would make them even more dominant in the food industry...
Providence School Bus Strike Averted Providence Journal ...A potential strike by Providence school bus drivers on Monday has been averted. Patrick MacDonald, legislative director for Teamsters union Local 251, said First Student invoked a clause in its contract with the national Teamsters that calls for a 21-day cooling-off period...
Charleston County School Bus Drivers Raise Issues Of Bus Safety Charleston Post and Courier ...Bus driver Kathy Richardson said there are ongoing problems with buses with broken windows, broken heaters and mechanical issues....Richardson was among several bus drivers who spoke out Monday at a community forum sponsored by Rep. Wendell Gilliard and the Teamsters Local 509 of West Columbia. Many of the issues raised were regarding Durham School Services, which provides school bus transportation for Charleston County schools...
Rory D. Potter Asbury Park Press ...Rory was born in Pt Pleasant and was a lifelong resident. He was a Teamster Driver working out of Teamsters Local 469 as the Track Foreman at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, NJ. Rory loved his family and his friends and was a friend to anyone he met...
Trade
OR-Sen: DFA Goes After Ron Wyden (D) On The TPP Daily Kos …Oregon Senator Ron Wyden is reportedly working with Republicans like Paul Ryan and Orrin Hatch to pass the TPP. Their goal: to grease the wheels to get the TPP through Congress without proper review or a chance to make any changes to the deal itself...
US lawmakers tell Japan key deal on trade promotion authority likely this spring U.S. News … A delegation of U.S. lawmakers say a bipartisan congressional agreement on granting President Barack Obama trade promotion authority for a pan-Pacific trade deal is likely this spring...
Trade Group Accelerates Push for a ‘Fast Track’ Deal New York Times …The Trade Benefits America Coalition has started a digital advertising campaign that argues in favor of a more ambitious trade agenda and pushes for legislation granting President Obama “fast track” trade negotiating authority...
Trade deal would hurt Indiana (opinion) Indianapolis Star …If you think those manufacturing jobs were zapped by robots or simply the victims of a globalized world, I have some magic beans for sale. There's a big reason these jobs were lost, and it's called unfair trade policies...
Press Release: Interfaith Coalition Sends Letter to All Members of Congress Opposing Trade Injustice / Fast Track Network Lobby …Major religious groups including Quaker, Jewish, Protestant and Catholic organizations, Catholic sisters, and clergy, today sent a letter to all Members of Congress to express strong opposition to fast track trade promotion authority for trade agreements being negotiated…
State Battles
Missouri Senate leader on the fence about 'right to work' St. Louis Public Radio ...Missouri Senate President Pro Tem Tom Dempsey, R-St. Charles, says he has yet to take a position on the “right-to-work’’ bill that is headed to his chamber after passing the House last week...
Senate Dems unveil jobs package; vow to block right-to-work legislation Albuquerque Journal …With the New Mexico House poised to act soon on a high-profile right-to-work bill, Senate Democrats said today the measure could be in for a crash landing if it reaches their chamber...
Koch brothers' group allowed to keep California donors' names secret Bloomberg News …A Koch brothers advocacy group can keep its donor list secret for now, with a federal judge ruling that revealing the identities would chill free speech. The ruling comes as billionaires Charles and David Koch seek to raise almost $1 billion in the run-up to the 2016 U.S. presidential election…
War on Workers
US ports shutdown: millions of dollars in lost exports as labor secretary flies in The Guardian ...Tom Perez heads to San Francisco to meet with shipping companies and dock workers to help settle dispute that has led to a partial shutdown of ports...
Safety tops strike demands for oil workers at BP refinery People's World …With the 1,100 members at the Whiting refinery and 340 at Toledo's, the total number of striking workers rose to more than 4,900, who process 13 percent of the country's oil. A full strike could stop 64 percent of oil production. The workers' demands center on health and safety issues, contracting jobs out to non-union workers and health care…
The Cost of a Decline in Unions New York Times … A study in the American Sociological Review, using the broadest methodology, estimates that the decline of unions may account for one-third of the rise of inequality among men...
Did the GOP Just Give Away $130 Billion of Public Property? The Nation …In December, two Republican senators, John McCain and Jeff Flake, pushed Congress and the president into giving away what could amount to over $130 billion in public property. That’s enough to provide every single unemployed American a minimum-wage job for an entire year. That’s enough to pay for a year of tuition at a public institution for every college student in the US…
Construction Worker Killed In Portland KOIN ...Shortly after 5:30 p.m., an Axis Crane contractor died after a steel high beam collapsed and fell onto the cab of a piece of equipment being used in Portland, officials said...
Illinois Worker Dies Cleaning Rail Car Law Firm News … An industrial cleaning company has been fined after a worker collapsed while working to clean a rail car and later died due to the untreated cardiac arrhythmia he suffered...
Miscellaneous
NSA Has Ability To Hide Spying Software Deep Within Hard Drives: Cyber Researchers Huffington Post ...The U.S. National Security Agency has figured out how to hide spying software deep within hard drives made by Western Digital, Seagate, Toshiba and other top manufacturers, giving the agency the means to eavesdrop on the majority of the world's computers, according to cyber researchers and former operatives...
Thursday, February 12, 2015
Today's Teamster News 02.12.15
Teamsters
Ken Hall: Right to work is wrong for West Virginia Charleston Gazette ...West Virginia citizens are correct to be skeptical of politicians proposing a right-to-work law...
Outcome of Teamsters’ bid to represent CCSD workers pending Las Vegas Review-Journal …Dozens of Clark County School District’s bus drivers, janitors, cooks and other support staff hoped to learn late Wednesday what union would be representing the 11,263 workers at the bargaining table. But that decision was postponed until Thursday morning when the Nevada Local Government Employee-Management Relations Board will rule on the validity of Teamsters Local 14’s bid to take over as the workers’ union...
San Bernardino County labor union to vote on joining Teamsters The Sun …San Bernardino County’s largest labor union announced Wednesday that its board will vote this month on whether to become a chartered, independent local of the Teamsters...
CP faces weekend strike deadline The Sun …Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. is bracing for a possible strike this weekend by the Teamsters union that threatens to damp profit at the country’s second-biggest carrier...
Study Finds UC Workers Are Underpaid Daily Nexus ...According to initial reports from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) released two weeks ago, sponsored by Teamsters Local 2010, a majority of University of California union workers receive wages less than the basic one-adult, one-child family’s yearly budget...
Hoffa: Walking Man’ Not Alone In His Struggles Detroit News ...Sometimes real life can seem like a movie. Such is the case with James Robertson, the 56-year-old Detroit man who walked 21 miles round trip to his factory job in Rochester Hills each day after his car died and his job moved further into the suburbs...
US Regulators Skeptical Of Huge Food Merger Ahead Of Vote New York Post ...Regulators are set to vote in the afternoon on the controversial $3.5 billion merger of the top two distributors of food to schools, restaurants and hospitals that critics charge will lead to higher foods costs across the country, The Post has learned...
Trade
NAFTA shadows Obama's efforts to seek clout for trade deals Ledger-Enquirer …A 21-year-old ghost haunts President Barack Obama and his allies as he presses Congress for enhanced powers to make trade deals with Japan and other nations. Obama says new trade deals will avoid the shortcomings of NAFTA, the 1994 North America Free Trade Agreement with Mexico and Canada, which many Americans blame for big job losses, especially in manufacturing...
Currency Warriors Get Boost At G-20 Meeting Wall Street Journal ...The world’s top finance leaders on Tuesday in effect backed currency depreciation as a tool for promoting growth by signaling strong support for aggressive easy-money policies aimed at boosting the fragile global economy...
Agricultural Reforms in Japan Pave the Way for TPP The Diplomat ...Last October, Japan’s powerful farm lobby, the Japan Agriculture Cooperative (JA), still had the clout to stall Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) ministerial negotiations between Japan and the U.S. over tariffs on sensitive farm products. However, recent reforms tip the balance of power firmly in favor of the government, accelerating JA’s slow demise and paving the way for greater market liberalization and deregulation in Japanese agriculture...
State Battles
Missouri takes a step toward becoming ‘right-to-work’ state Associated Press …Missouri took a step toward joining 24 other states with right-to-work laws when its House voted Wednesday to bar the collection of fees from workers who choose not to join a union...
New Mexico House Judiciary Postpones Vote On 'Right-To-Work' Bill Santa Fe Daily Times ...Opponents and backers of a highly divisive "right-to-work" bill that would prohibit union membership as a condition for employment in New Mexico testified for five hours before the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday evening. After hearing public comments on the legislation, the committee decided to hold off on a vote until Friday afternoon...
Butler County OKs Right-To-Work Ordinance Bowling Green Daily News ...Butler County Fiscal Court Monday approved the first reading of a right-to-work ordinance. The ordinance was approved with a vote of 4-1, Deputy Judge-Executive Kim West said. District 4 Magistrate David Whittinghill voted against the measure...
Special Election, Right-To-Work Discussed At Fiscal Court Maysville Ledger Independent ...During the meeting, Judge-Executive Larry Foxworthy told the court he would like to wait until the right-to-work law is sorted out in the court system before it is discussed any further in Fleming County...
Minimum Wage Bill Passes Ky. House Louisville Courier Journal ...A bill to raise Kentucky's minimum wage to $10.10 an hour by 2017 passed the House in a largely party-line vote on Tuesday, but the bill again faces an uphill battle in the Senate...
Compromise Crafted On Prevailing Wage MetroNews ...Under the compromise reached Wednesday, the task of determining the prevailing wage would be turned over to the state’s Workforce Development office, which would consult with economists at WVU and Marshall to determine the formula for what the pay should be. That formula would still need to be approved by the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Government and Finance...
War on Workers
Congress and President Obama Cannot Sit Idly By While Companies Use H-1B Guestworkers to Replace American Workers Economic Policy Institute …A recent investigation by Computerworld revealed that hundreds of information technology (IT) workers were laid off by Southern California Edison (SCE) and replaced with temporary foreign workers through the H-1B guestworker visa program, which allows employers to hire temporary foreign workers for up to six years if they have at least a college degree (most work in IT)…it doesn’t look like any action will be taken to reverse it…
Bernie Sanders: Keeping US From Becoming Oligarchy 'A Struggle We Must Win' Common Dreams ...senator says growing wealth gap, high poverty rates, health care crisis signs of country slipping into control of small billionaire class...
Judge Rules For NSA In Warrantless Search Case Reuters ...A U.S. judge on Tuesday ruled in favor of the National Security Agency in a lawsuit challenging the interception of Internet communications without a warrant, according to a court filing...
Justice Department Is Seeking Felony Pleas By Big Banks In Foreign Currency Inquiry New York Times ...The Justice Department is pushing some of the biggest banks on Wall Street — including, for the first time in decades, American institutions — to plead guilty to criminal charges that they manipulated the prices of foreign currencies...
Ken Hall: Right to work is wrong for West Virginia Charleston Gazette ...West Virginia citizens are correct to be skeptical of politicians proposing a right-to-work law...
Outcome of Teamsters’ bid to represent CCSD workers pending Las Vegas Review-Journal …Dozens of Clark County School District’s bus drivers, janitors, cooks and other support staff hoped to learn late Wednesday what union would be representing the 11,263 workers at the bargaining table. But that decision was postponed until Thursday morning when the Nevada Local Government Employee-Management Relations Board will rule on the validity of Teamsters Local 14’s bid to take over as the workers’ union...
San Bernardino County labor union to vote on joining Teamsters The Sun …San Bernardino County’s largest labor union announced Wednesday that its board will vote this month on whether to become a chartered, independent local of the Teamsters...
CP faces weekend strike deadline The Sun …Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. is bracing for a possible strike this weekend by the Teamsters union that threatens to damp profit at the country’s second-biggest carrier...
Study Finds UC Workers Are Underpaid Daily Nexus ...According to initial reports from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) released two weeks ago, sponsored by Teamsters Local 2010, a majority of University of California union workers receive wages less than the basic one-adult, one-child family’s yearly budget...
Hoffa: Walking Man’ Not Alone In His Struggles Detroit News ...Sometimes real life can seem like a movie. Such is the case with James Robertson, the 56-year-old Detroit man who walked 21 miles round trip to his factory job in Rochester Hills each day after his car died and his job moved further into the suburbs...
US Regulators Skeptical Of Huge Food Merger Ahead Of Vote New York Post ...Regulators are set to vote in the afternoon on the controversial $3.5 billion merger of the top two distributors of food to schools, restaurants and hospitals that critics charge will lead to higher foods costs across the country, The Post has learned...
Trade
NAFTA shadows Obama's efforts to seek clout for trade deals Ledger-Enquirer …A 21-year-old ghost haunts President Barack Obama and his allies as he presses Congress for enhanced powers to make trade deals with Japan and other nations. Obama says new trade deals will avoid the shortcomings of NAFTA, the 1994 North America Free Trade Agreement with Mexico and Canada, which many Americans blame for big job losses, especially in manufacturing...
Currency Warriors Get Boost At G-20 Meeting Wall Street Journal ...The world’s top finance leaders on Tuesday in effect backed currency depreciation as a tool for promoting growth by signaling strong support for aggressive easy-money policies aimed at boosting the fragile global economy...
Agricultural Reforms in Japan Pave the Way for TPP The Diplomat ...Last October, Japan’s powerful farm lobby, the Japan Agriculture Cooperative (JA), still had the clout to stall Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) ministerial negotiations between Japan and the U.S. over tariffs on sensitive farm products. However, recent reforms tip the balance of power firmly in favor of the government, accelerating JA’s slow demise and paving the way for greater market liberalization and deregulation in Japanese agriculture...
State Battles
Missouri takes a step toward becoming ‘right-to-work’ state Associated Press …Missouri took a step toward joining 24 other states with right-to-work laws when its House voted Wednesday to bar the collection of fees from workers who choose not to join a union...
New Mexico House Judiciary Postpones Vote On 'Right-To-Work' Bill Santa Fe Daily Times ...Opponents and backers of a highly divisive "right-to-work" bill that would prohibit union membership as a condition for employment in New Mexico testified for five hours before the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday evening. After hearing public comments on the legislation, the committee decided to hold off on a vote until Friday afternoon...
Butler County OKs Right-To-Work Ordinance Bowling Green Daily News ...Butler County Fiscal Court Monday approved the first reading of a right-to-work ordinance. The ordinance was approved with a vote of 4-1, Deputy Judge-Executive Kim West said. District 4 Magistrate David Whittinghill voted against the measure...
Special Election, Right-To-Work Discussed At Fiscal Court Maysville Ledger Independent ...During the meeting, Judge-Executive Larry Foxworthy told the court he would like to wait until the right-to-work law is sorted out in the court system before it is discussed any further in Fleming County...
Minimum Wage Bill Passes Ky. House Louisville Courier Journal ...A bill to raise Kentucky's minimum wage to $10.10 an hour by 2017 passed the House in a largely party-line vote on Tuesday, but the bill again faces an uphill battle in the Senate...
Compromise Crafted On Prevailing Wage MetroNews ...Under the compromise reached Wednesday, the task of determining the prevailing wage would be turned over to the state’s Workforce Development office, which would consult with economists at WVU and Marshall to determine the formula for what the pay should be. That formula would still need to be approved by the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Government and Finance...
War on Workers
Congress and President Obama Cannot Sit Idly By While Companies Use H-1B Guestworkers to Replace American Workers Economic Policy Institute …A recent investigation by Computerworld revealed that hundreds of information technology (IT) workers were laid off by Southern California Edison (SCE) and replaced with temporary foreign workers through the H-1B guestworker visa program, which allows employers to hire temporary foreign workers for up to six years if they have at least a college degree (most work in IT)…it doesn’t look like any action will be taken to reverse it…
Bernie Sanders: Keeping US From Becoming Oligarchy 'A Struggle We Must Win' Common Dreams ...senator says growing wealth gap, high poverty rates, health care crisis signs of country slipping into control of small billionaire class...
Judge Rules For NSA In Warrantless Search Case Reuters ...A U.S. judge on Tuesday ruled in favor of the National Security Agency in a lawsuit challenging the interception of Internet communications without a warrant, according to a court filing...
Justice Department Is Seeking Felony Pleas By Big Banks In Foreign Currency Inquiry New York Times ...The Justice Department is pushing some of the biggest banks on Wall Street — including, for the first time in decades, American institutions — to plead guilty to criminal charges that they manipulated the prices of foreign currencies...
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.”...
Saturday, December 13, 2014
Today's Teamster News 12.13.14
Teamster News
While Cromnibus Waits, Teamsters Object to Pension Plan Roll Call ...the Senate might not be able to hold its final vote on the measure until Monday...Teamsters Object. With the fiscal 2015 spending bill on track for action, the Teamsters union is weighing in with a last-ditch effort to get lawmakers to reject the measure. A statement from Teamsters President Jim Hoffa pointed to pension changes in the measure, which the union said would result “in an untold number of retirees losing a substantial percentage of their fixed income should reductions be required.” The Teamsters are also objecting to the controversial hours of service rules in the bill...
34-Hour Restart Changes: House Passes Spending Bill; Eyes On Senate Commercial Carrier Journal ...First, it removes the requirement that drivers’ 34-hour restarts include two 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. periods. Second, it removes the one-per-week limit of the restart’s use. It also requires FMCSA to produce a study to show how the restart provisions improve safety. The stay of enforcement of the rules will end after Sept. 30, 2015, and after FMCSA provides its report justifying the rules...
Reid Announces Weekend Votes After Blockade (Updated) Roll Call ...Reid also said that absent an agreement, the Senate would vote at 1 a.m. Sunday to limit debate on the cromnibus spending package...
CRomnibus Disaster Signals a Sad New Normal in D.C. The Fiscal Times ...Under the bill, trustees would be enabled to cut pension benefits to current retirees, reversing a 40-year bond with workers who earned their retirement packages...
Sysco Poised To Complete $8.2B Merger With US Foods New York Post ...Sysco is poised to complete the $8.2 billion merger with its closest rival, US Foods, but at a much stiffer price than expected, The Post has learned. America’s biggest food-service provider, Sysco is selling assets worth $5 billion to Performance Food Group (owned by Steve Schwarzman-led Blackstone Group) to win regulatory approval, two sources said. That is equal to roughly one-quarter of US Foods’ revenue...
Congressman Urges Cooperation Between Teamsters And Giant Eagle Distributor WFMJ ...Representative Ryan as sent letters pleading with the Tamarkin Company and Teamsters Local 377 to “quickly and efficiently negotiate a fair resolution to the ongoing labor dispute. The result of an impasse is simply not in the best interests of the workers, the company or this community,” writes Ryan...
State AFL-CIO opposes Bill de Blasio's horse carriage ban New York Daily News ... A resolution passed Friday by the state AFL-CIO says New York City's carriage industry provides 300 good middle-class jobs. The major statewide labor coalition is the latest of several union groups to vow to fight the mayor's proposal...
Trade
Growing U.S. trade deficit with China cost 3.2 million jobs between 2001 and 2013, with job losses in every state Economic Policy Institute ...a growing U.S. goods trade deficit with China has the United States piling up foreign debt, losing export capacity, and losing jobs, especially in the vital but under-siege manufacturing sector...
Obama 'more optimistic' about Pacific trade deal The Hill ...President Obama said Thursday he believes the odds for striking a Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement are "significantly higher than 50-50" in a meeting Thursday with his export council...
State Battles
Warren County Votes To Become Right To Work County WBKO ...Fiscal Court approved a right to work ordinance on the first reading Thursday morning with a vote of 5-1, democrat Tommy Hunt was the lone magistrate against it...
Jury still out on Michigan's growth, lack of since becoming right-to-work state WNEM.com …Woods said right-to-work isn't creating jobs in Michigan. "Michigan still ranks in the top 10 states in unemployment rate at 7.1 percent," she said...
Rex Sinquefield’s million-dollar donation heralds new craziness in Missouri Kansas City Star ...many Missouri Republicans are very nervous about Sinquefield’s ostentatious bankrolling of his personal slate of candidates for the 2016 statewide ticket...
NJ AFL-CIO supports ‘Buy America’ bills PolitickerNJ ...Urgently needed legislation that will give American-made products and U.S. workers a fair shake in the domestic marketplace cleared another legislative hurdle on Thursday, December 11, when it was released by the Assembly Budget Committee...
GOP may seek last push for Pa. action TribLive ...[Pennsylvania] Lawmakers could make a final push to privatize state liquor stores, reform the public pension system and end government collection of union dues from paychecks — proposals Wolf opposes...
The Koch Wall Street Crusade To Rob Pensions Is Underway PoliticusUSA ...despite sending his state into an economic tailspin after squandering a budget surplus and cutting services to provide unimaginable tax cuts for the rich, Kansas governor Sam Brownback is robbing employee pensions to cover the state’s devastating budget shortfalls...
Koch brothers group files suit against Calif. AG, refuses to disclose donors Legal Newsline ...nonprofit group founded by the Koch brothers is challenging California Attorney General Kamala Harris’ threat to take its state tax-exempt status unless it discloses the identities of its donors...
War on Workers
Ruling Lets Work Email Be Used To Organize Unions New York Times ...Calling that ruling “clearly incorrect,” the current majority noted how technology had transformed daily habits. “The workplace is ‘uniquely appropriate’ and ‘the natural gathering place’ for such communications,” the board wrote, “and the use of email as a common form of workplace communication has expanded dramatically in recent years.”...
The Vanishing Male Worker: How America Fell Behind New York Times ...Working, in America, is in decline. The share of prime-age men — those 25 to 54 years old — who are not working has more than tripled since the late 1960s, to 16 percent. More recently, since the turn of the century, the share of women without paying jobs has been rising, too. The United States, which had one of the highest employment rates among developed nations as recently as 2000, has fallen toward the bottom of the list...
Wage Theft Costing Workers Millions of Dollars RH Reality Check ...The lost wages in those two states represent $20 million in lost income per week in New York and $29 million in lost income per week in California...
Construction Worker Killed After Roof Collapsed WGTU ...A 51-year-old West Branch man was killed after falling through the roof of a building...
Miscellaneous
Verizon's New, Encrypted Calling App Comes Pre-Hacked For The NSA Bloomberg Businessweek ...Verizon is the latest big company to enter the post-Snowden market for secure communication, and it's doing so with an encryption standard that comes with a way for law enforcement to access ostensibly secure phone conversations...
While Cromnibus Waits, Teamsters Object to Pension Plan Roll Call ...the Senate might not be able to hold its final vote on the measure until Monday...Teamsters Object. With the fiscal 2015 spending bill on track for action, the Teamsters union is weighing in with a last-ditch effort to get lawmakers to reject the measure. A statement from Teamsters President Jim Hoffa pointed to pension changes in the measure, which the union said would result “in an untold number of retirees losing a substantial percentage of their fixed income should reductions be required.” The Teamsters are also objecting to the controversial hours of service rules in the bill...
34-Hour Restart Changes: House Passes Spending Bill; Eyes On Senate Commercial Carrier Journal ...First, it removes the requirement that drivers’ 34-hour restarts include two 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. periods. Second, it removes the one-per-week limit of the restart’s use. It also requires FMCSA to produce a study to show how the restart provisions improve safety. The stay of enforcement of the rules will end after Sept. 30, 2015, and after FMCSA provides its report justifying the rules...
Reid Announces Weekend Votes After Blockade (Updated) Roll Call ...Reid also said that absent an agreement, the Senate would vote at 1 a.m. Sunday to limit debate on the cromnibus spending package...
CRomnibus Disaster Signals a Sad New Normal in D.C. The Fiscal Times ...Under the bill, trustees would be enabled to cut pension benefits to current retirees, reversing a 40-year bond with workers who earned their retirement packages...
Sysco Poised To Complete $8.2B Merger With US Foods New York Post ...Sysco is poised to complete the $8.2 billion merger with its closest rival, US Foods, but at a much stiffer price than expected, The Post has learned. America’s biggest food-service provider, Sysco is selling assets worth $5 billion to Performance Food Group (owned by Steve Schwarzman-led Blackstone Group) to win regulatory approval, two sources said. That is equal to roughly one-quarter of US Foods’ revenue...
Congressman Urges Cooperation Between Teamsters And Giant Eagle Distributor WFMJ ...Representative Ryan as sent letters pleading with the Tamarkin Company and Teamsters Local 377 to “quickly and efficiently negotiate a fair resolution to the ongoing labor dispute. The result of an impasse is simply not in the best interests of the workers, the company or this community,” writes Ryan...
State AFL-CIO opposes Bill de Blasio's horse carriage ban New York Daily News ... A resolution passed Friday by the state AFL-CIO says New York City's carriage industry provides 300 good middle-class jobs. The major statewide labor coalition is the latest of several union groups to vow to fight the mayor's proposal...
Trade
Growing U.S. trade deficit with China cost 3.2 million jobs between 2001 and 2013, with job losses in every state Economic Policy Institute ...a growing U.S. goods trade deficit with China has the United States piling up foreign debt, losing export capacity, and losing jobs, especially in the vital but under-siege manufacturing sector...
Obama 'more optimistic' about Pacific trade deal The Hill ...President Obama said Thursday he believes the odds for striking a Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement are "significantly higher than 50-50" in a meeting Thursday with his export council...
State Battles
Warren County Votes To Become Right To Work County WBKO ...Fiscal Court approved a right to work ordinance on the first reading Thursday morning with a vote of 5-1, democrat Tommy Hunt was the lone magistrate against it...
Jury still out on Michigan's growth, lack of since becoming right-to-work state WNEM.com …Woods said right-to-work isn't creating jobs in Michigan. "Michigan still ranks in the top 10 states in unemployment rate at 7.1 percent," she said...
Rex Sinquefield’s million-dollar donation heralds new craziness in Missouri Kansas City Star ...many Missouri Republicans are very nervous about Sinquefield’s ostentatious bankrolling of his personal slate of candidates for the 2016 statewide ticket...
NJ AFL-CIO supports ‘Buy America’ bills PolitickerNJ ...Urgently needed legislation that will give American-made products and U.S. workers a fair shake in the domestic marketplace cleared another legislative hurdle on Thursday, December 11, when it was released by the Assembly Budget Committee...
GOP may seek last push for Pa. action TribLive ...[Pennsylvania] Lawmakers could make a final push to privatize state liquor stores, reform the public pension system and end government collection of union dues from paychecks — proposals Wolf opposes...
The Koch Wall Street Crusade To Rob Pensions Is Underway PoliticusUSA ...despite sending his state into an economic tailspin after squandering a budget surplus and cutting services to provide unimaginable tax cuts for the rich, Kansas governor Sam Brownback is robbing employee pensions to cover the state’s devastating budget shortfalls...
Koch brothers group files suit against Calif. AG, refuses to disclose donors Legal Newsline ...nonprofit group founded by the Koch brothers is challenging California Attorney General Kamala Harris’ threat to take its state tax-exempt status unless it discloses the identities of its donors...
War on Workers
Ruling Lets Work Email Be Used To Organize Unions New York Times ...Calling that ruling “clearly incorrect,” the current majority noted how technology had transformed daily habits. “The workplace is ‘uniquely appropriate’ and ‘the natural gathering place’ for such communications,” the board wrote, “and the use of email as a common form of workplace communication has expanded dramatically in recent years.”...
The Vanishing Male Worker: How America Fell Behind New York Times ...Working, in America, is in decline. The share of prime-age men — those 25 to 54 years old — who are not working has more than tripled since the late 1960s, to 16 percent. More recently, since the turn of the century, the share of women without paying jobs has been rising, too. The United States, which had one of the highest employment rates among developed nations as recently as 2000, has fallen toward the bottom of the list...
Wage Theft Costing Workers Millions of Dollars RH Reality Check ...The lost wages in those two states represent $20 million in lost income per week in New York and $29 million in lost income per week in California...
Construction Worker Killed After Roof Collapsed WGTU ...A 51-year-old West Branch man was killed after falling through the roof of a building...
Miscellaneous
Verizon's New, Encrypted Calling App Comes Pre-Hacked For The NSA Bloomberg Businessweek ...Verizon is the latest big company to enter the post-Snowden market for secure communication, and it's doing so with an encryption standard that comes with a way for law enforcement to access ostensibly secure phone conversations...
Friday, December 12, 2014
Today's Teamster News 12.12.14
Teamster News
Workers At Con-Way Freight In Miami Vote To Join Teamsters Local 769 teamster.org … A group of 74 drivers and dockworkers at Con-way Freight in Miami Lakes, Fla., voted today to join Teamsters Local 769 in North Miami, Fla...
Teamsters Mourn Death Of Illinois Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka teamster.org ...Teamsters Local 727 joins the State of Illinois in mourning the death of State Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka, who died Dec. 10 of complications from a stroke...
New Orleans Ready Mix Drivers Vote For Teamsters teamster.org ...Ready Mix cement workers at Lafarge Concrete have voted to become members of Teamsters Local 270, New Orleans. Lafarge Concrete is one of the largest cement suppliers in the area and handles all types of projects: highways, commercial buildings, schools and residences...
Teamsters Make Public Cry For Better Contracts Insurance News ..."While emergency communication is important, so are the daily needs of the nursing home residents and your employees who care for them," said Herb Garber, a representative of Teamsters Local 776, a union representing nursing home workers, during a speech at the meeting...
Bill de Blasio’s Horse-Carriage Ban Gains Little Support From Congress Members From New York New York Daily News ...Members of Congress from New York don't get to vote on Mayor de Blasio's bid to ban horse-drawn carriages — but that isn't stopping them from weighing in against the proposal...
Anti-horse carriage group NYCLASS will make 'substantial payment' for campaign finance violations New York Daily News ...The group trying to ban horse-drawn carriages in the city will make a “substantial payment” to settle charges that it broke campaign finance rules in last year’s city elections, its lawyer said Wednesday...
Gene Laughlin Champaign News-Gazette ...Gene was a World War II Army veteran, serving in the Philippines and Australia. Upon discharge, he worked as a Teamsters truck driver and was a member of Teamsters Local 26. Gene was also a lifetime member of the VFW Post 630, American Legion Post 24, Moose and Eagles Lodges...
Teamsters Reject Contract Proposed By Giant Eagle Subsidiary WFMJ ...Local Teamsters employed by Tamarkin, a subsidiary of Giant Eagle, tonight narrowly defeated a contract extension which employees say was the company's "final offer. Union Leaders won't comment, but rank and file employees told 21 News that the company is trying to build a new warehouse, at their expense...
Trade
Labor warns Obama on trade policy The Hill ...Labor unions and environmental groups warned President Obama Wednesday that getting too cozy with congressional Republicans on trade issues could imperil other parts of his policy agenda...
Germany calls for transparency on US-EU trade deal Economic Times ...Germany has called for more transparency in negotiations for a sweeping trade pact between the European Union and the United States after complaints that the controversial talks are too secretive. "The trust of the citizens is essential to make this important agreement happen," German agriculture minister Christian Schmidt said yesterday after discussing the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) pact with officials in Washington...
State Battles
Wisconsin lawmaker, right-to-work champion leads push on U.S. Constitution Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ...The state Legislature's most vocal advocate for right-to-work legislation inside Wisconsin is working outside the state to hold a convention to amend the U.S. Constitution...
Board of Port Authority Proposes a Wage Increase for Airport Workers New York Times ...The board meeting held by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey on Wednesday may turn out to be the last one held somewhere other than the World Trade Center and the last one attended by redshirted airport workers demanding higher wages...
Ohio's charter school performance is "grim" and needs state attention, Stanford researcher tells the City Club Plain Dealer ...Ohio's longstanding and "grim" problem with underperforming charter schools is improving, a Stanford researcher said at the City Club today, but the state needs to increase its quality control efforts...
War on Workers
Congress poised to allow cuts to private pension payouts Los Angeles Times ...More than 1 million Americans who were promised secure, predictable retirement income probably will see part of their monthly benefit checks evaporate as Congress moves to stabilize some private pension systems veering toward insolvency...
Congressional spending bill would suspend some hours-of-service provisions, require FMCSA to further study rules’ impacts CCJ ...Congress likely will send a bill to the White House in the coming days that includes a provision that will put a stay on enforcement of two key elements of the 2013 rule: The requirement that a driver’s 34-hour restart include two 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. periods and the provision limiting the use of the restart to one time per week. The suspension of enforcement will last at least until Sept. 30, 2015...
House narrowly averts government shutdown, Senate up next Chicago Tribune …The House of Representatives averted a government shutdown on Thursday, narrowly passing a $1.1 trillion spending bill despite strenuous Democratic objections to controversial financial provisions.
Employees Shouldn’t Be Treated Like Products (opinion) Washington Post ...Hail the lowly bar code. By enabling retailers to track sales and inventory, it allows them to order goods from warehouses and manufacturers only when needed, reducing overhead and costs. Just-in-time production is a signal achievement of our digitized age. Just-in-time labor is not. Millions of retail workers are routinely summoned to their workplaces with little more advance warning than their employers accord the truckloads of goods or food those workers sell...
Walmart Illegally Punished Workers, Judge Rules New York Times ...In a decision made public on Wednesday, Geoffrey Carter, an N.L.R.B. administrative law judge, also found that a Walmart manager had illegally intimidated workers by saying, “If it were up to me, I’d shoot the union.” In addition, the judge said it was unlawful for Walmart managers to tell employees that co-workers returning from a one-day strike would be looking for a new job...
Guest: For better or worse, the labor movement is reinventing itself (opinion) Los Angeles Times ...Haltingly, with understandable ambivalence, the American labor movement is morphing into something new. Its most prominent organizing campaigns of recent years — of fast-food workers, domestics, taxi drivers and Wal-Mart employees — have prompted states and cities to raise their minimum wage and create more worker-friendly regulations...
Miscellaneous
Backroom Move Strips 'Backdoor' NSA Spying Ban From Spending Bill Huffington Post ...In place of the backdoor surveillance ban is language that states the NSA must not "target" American citizens' content for surveillance. But the agency's highly specific definition of targeting would still allow it to collect and search Americans' emails as long as they are sent abroad...
Fed Sets Tough New Capital Rule For Big Banks Wall Street Journal ...The proposal, which will be phased in starting in 2016 and take full effect in 2019, is aimed squarely at pushing big banks to shrink, an outcome regulators were explicit in saying they hope to encourage to reduce the likelihood a firm’s failure could require bailouts or damage the broader economy...
Workers At Con-Way Freight In Miami Vote To Join Teamsters Local 769 teamster.org … A group of 74 drivers and dockworkers at Con-way Freight in Miami Lakes, Fla., voted today to join Teamsters Local 769 in North Miami, Fla...
Teamsters Mourn Death Of Illinois Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka teamster.org ...Teamsters Local 727 joins the State of Illinois in mourning the death of State Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka, who died Dec. 10 of complications from a stroke...
New Orleans Ready Mix Drivers Vote For Teamsters teamster.org ...Ready Mix cement workers at Lafarge Concrete have voted to become members of Teamsters Local 270, New Orleans. Lafarge Concrete is one of the largest cement suppliers in the area and handles all types of projects: highways, commercial buildings, schools and residences...
Teamsters Make Public Cry For Better Contracts Insurance News ..."While emergency communication is important, so are the daily needs of the nursing home residents and your employees who care for them," said Herb Garber, a representative of Teamsters Local 776, a union representing nursing home workers, during a speech at the meeting...
Bill de Blasio’s Horse-Carriage Ban Gains Little Support From Congress Members From New York New York Daily News ...Members of Congress from New York don't get to vote on Mayor de Blasio's bid to ban horse-drawn carriages — but that isn't stopping them from weighing in against the proposal...
Anti-horse carriage group NYCLASS will make 'substantial payment' for campaign finance violations New York Daily News ...The group trying to ban horse-drawn carriages in the city will make a “substantial payment” to settle charges that it broke campaign finance rules in last year’s city elections, its lawyer said Wednesday...
Gene Laughlin Champaign News-Gazette ...Gene was a World War II Army veteran, serving in the Philippines and Australia. Upon discharge, he worked as a Teamsters truck driver and was a member of Teamsters Local 26. Gene was also a lifetime member of the VFW Post 630, American Legion Post 24, Moose and Eagles Lodges...
Teamsters Reject Contract Proposed By Giant Eagle Subsidiary WFMJ ...Local Teamsters employed by Tamarkin, a subsidiary of Giant Eagle, tonight narrowly defeated a contract extension which employees say was the company's "final offer. Union Leaders won't comment, but rank and file employees told 21 News that the company is trying to build a new warehouse, at their expense...
Trade
Labor warns Obama on trade policy The Hill ...Labor unions and environmental groups warned President Obama Wednesday that getting too cozy with congressional Republicans on trade issues could imperil other parts of his policy agenda...
Germany calls for transparency on US-EU trade deal Economic Times ...Germany has called for more transparency in negotiations for a sweeping trade pact between the European Union and the United States after complaints that the controversial talks are too secretive. "The trust of the citizens is essential to make this important agreement happen," German agriculture minister Christian Schmidt said yesterday after discussing the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) pact with officials in Washington...
State Battles
Wisconsin lawmaker, right-to-work champion leads push on U.S. Constitution Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ...The state Legislature's most vocal advocate for right-to-work legislation inside Wisconsin is working outside the state to hold a convention to amend the U.S. Constitution...
Board of Port Authority Proposes a Wage Increase for Airport Workers New York Times ...The board meeting held by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey on Wednesday may turn out to be the last one held somewhere other than the World Trade Center and the last one attended by redshirted airport workers demanding higher wages...
Ohio's charter school performance is "grim" and needs state attention, Stanford researcher tells the City Club Plain Dealer ...Ohio's longstanding and "grim" problem with underperforming charter schools is improving, a Stanford researcher said at the City Club today, but the state needs to increase its quality control efforts...
War on Workers
Congress poised to allow cuts to private pension payouts Los Angeles Times ...More than 1 million Americans who were promised secure, predictable retirement income probably will see part of their monthly benefit checks evaporate as Congress moves to stabilize some private pension systems veering toward insolvency...
Congressional spending bill would suspend some hours-of-service provisions, require FMCSA to further study rules’ impacts CCJ ...Congress likely will send a bill to the White House in the coming days that includes a provision that will put a stay on enforcement of two key elements of the 2013 rule: The requirement that a driver’s 34-hour restart include two 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. periods and the provision limiting the use of the restart to one time per week. The suspension of enforcement will last at least until Sept. 30, 2015...
House narrowly averts government shutdown, Senate up next Chicago Tribune …The House of Representatives averted a government shutdown on Thursday, narrowly passing a $1.1 trillion spending bill despite strenuous Democratic objections to controversial financial provisions.
Employees Shouldn’t Be Treated Like Products (opinion) Washington Post ...Hail the lowly bar code. By enabling retailers to track sales and inventory, it allows them to order goods from warehouses and manufacturers only when needed, reducing overhead and costs. Just-in-time production is a signal achievement of our digitized age. Just-in-time labor is not. Millions of retail workers are routinely summoned to their workplaces with little more advance warning than their employers accord the truckloads of goods or food those workers sell...
Walmart Illegally Punished Workers, Judge Rules New York Times ...In a decision made public on Wednesday, Geoffrey Carter, an N.L.R.B. administrative law judge, also found that a Walmart manager had illegally intimidated workers by saying, “If it were up to me, I’d shoot the union.” In addition, the judge said it was unlawful for Walmart managers to tell employees that co-workers returning from a one-day strike would be looking for a new job...
Guest: For better or worse, the labor movement is reinventing itself (opinion) Los Angeles Times ...Haltingly, with understandable ambivalence, the American labor movement is morphing into something new. Its most prominent organizing campaigns of recent years — of fast-food workers, domestics, taxi drivers and Wal-Mart employees — have prompted states and cities to raise their minimum wage and create more worker-friendly regulations...
Miscellaneous
Backroom Move Strips 'Backdoor' NSA Spying Ban From Spending Bill Huffington Post ...In place of the backdoor surveillance ban is language that states the NSA must not "target" American citizens' content for surveillance. But the agency's highly specific definition of targeting would still allow it to collect and search Americans' emails as long as they are sent abroad...
Fed Sets Tough New Capital Rule For Big Banks Wall Street Journal ...The proposal, which will be phased in starting in 2016 and take full effect in 2019, is aimed squarely at pushing big banks to shrink, an outcome regulators were explicit in saying they hope to encourage to reduce the likelihood a firm’s failure could require bailouts or damage the broader economy...
Thursday, December 11, 2014
Today's Teamster News 12.11.14
Teamster News
Call Congress NOW! teamster.org ...The legislation would: Threaten the retirement security of thousands of retirees; Increase the number of hours that truck drivers can spend on the road every week...
That awful congressional plan to allow pension cuts heads for enactment (opinion) Los Angeles Times ...The congressional proposal to deal with a supposed crisis in worker pensions by allowing trustees to slash the benefits of already retired workers to shreds is heading toward enactment...
Lame-Duck Congress Nears Last-Minute Vote On Sweeping Pension Reform In These Times ...Congress is nearing a vote on arguably the biggest change to private pension law in decades. The proposed reforms would grant sweeping new authority to the trustees of some “deeply troubled” multi-employer pension plans to slash benefits promised to current retirees—something that’s illegal under existing law...
Keystone Pipeline Would Boost Middle Class (opinion) Detroit News ...Jobs might not be in such short supply like they once were in Michigan and elsewhere. But good-paying jobs still are. That’s why the Teamsters support the Keystone XL pipeline project that would allow North America to produce more of the world’s oil supply. And that’s why Michigan’s elected officials should too...
Horse-carriage ban prompts Queens Dem backlash Capital New York ...DenDekker wrote, “How progressive is it to VOTE union workers out of a job ? Maybe WE should VOTE them out of a job in the next election ! UNION workers UNITE and take a stand.
Clallam Reaches Agreement On Labor Contract With Largest Union Peninsula Daily News ...Clallam County and its largest union have apparently reached an agreement on a new labor contract after more than 20 months of good-faith bargaining. Commissioners Jim McEntire and Mike Doherty voted Tuesday to approve a four-year contract with Teamsters Local 589...
Canfield Township, Teamsters agree to deal Youngstown Vindicator ...Greg Shadle, vice president of Teamsters 377, said the three-year contract is effective May 1, 2013, and runs to April 30, 2016. “There were no real big changes,” Shadle said. “We’re happy to get it over with.”
Trade
TPP Negotiators Hit With Protests That Media Don't Cover Huffington Post ...The secret Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations resumed this week, this time in D.C. TPP is a massive agreement that sets up new rules for over 40 percent of the global economy. It will have profound effects on our jobs, our standard of living now and in the future and our ability to make a living as a country. Oddly, though, as of Monday morning you have to read about it in Japan Times because few-to-no US media outlets are covering it...
USTR Protests Demand: Stop The Secrecy, Release The Texts CounterCurrents ...On Monday morning members of Popular Resistance held a ‘Sit-in to End the Secrecy’ on the front steps of the USTR office . As Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiators and USTR staff arrived for their first day of meetings this week, demonstrators demanded that they stop hiding the text of the trade agreement and instead make it available to the public telling them “secret negotiations are anti-democratic...
“No TTIP” Christmas card submitted by singing Santas on behalf of one million World Development Movement ...As the Santa Clauses sang Christmas carols re-written with lyrics referring to the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), the giant Christmas card depicting Santa carrying a sack with the #noTTIP hashtag, was presented to the BIS offices...
State Battles
Gov. Rick Scott names new chief to run Florida’s troubled prison system Miami Herald ...Gov. Rick Scott announced the appointment of Julie Jones to run the prison system, the nation’s third largest, effective Jan. 5...
Michigan bill would prevent local governments from negotiating wages, community benefits with developers MLive ...A bill that would prevent local units of government from executing community benefits agreements with developers seeking incentives narrowly made it out of the House Competitiveness Committee on Tuesday with strong opposition from some Detroiters...
Michigan: Detroit Manager Ends Work New York Times ...Gov. Rick Snyder on Tuesday agreed to end Detroit’s status as a city in financial emergency and to send home the emergency manager he appointed in March 2013 to oversee the city through its crisis...
Bill Would Raise SC’s Minimum Wage To $1 Over Federal WSPA ...A bill pre-filed in the South Carolina Senate would raise the minimum wage in the state to $1 an hour higher than the federal minimum wage, which is currently $7.25 an hour. Sen. John Scott, D-Columbia, is the sponsor of the bill...
Uber’s System For Screening Drivers Draws Scrutiny New York Times ...Uber has fought against legislation requiring background checks as strong as those demanded of traditional taxis. Other ride-sharing companies like Lyft and Sidecar, Uber’s chief rivals, have also pushed against the laws, but supporters of stronger background checks say Uber has been by far the most aggressive...
War on Workers
Why is Jimmy John's making low-wage workers sign non-compete agreements? AlJazeera America ...For two years, it forbids former employees from working for “any business which delivers more than 10 percent of its revenue” from sandwiches if that business is “within three miles” of a Jimmy John’s store...
Justice Clarence Thomas Suggests Amazon Warehouse Workers Should Unionize Huffington Post ...Addressing the workers' arguments, the court's opinion, delivered by conservative Justice Clarence Thomas, included this curious line: "These arguments are properly presented to the employer at the bargaining table … not to a court in an FLSA claim." It's not clear whether the irony was intended. Amazon's U.S. warehouses, of course, are entirely non-union...
You're Likely to Be a Lot Poorer Than You Were a Few Years Ago—And It's All By Design Alternet ...The typical American is even poorer than his or her equivalent in Greece. The median Australian is four times wealthier. The Canadians are twice as wealthy. The U.S. continues to lead the world in billionaires (571 in 2014, with China a distant second at 190). But after decades of financial deregulation and attacks on employee rights, Americans rank 26th in median wealth...
When Charter Schools Are Nonprofit in Name Only Pro Publica ... charter schools sometimes cede control of public dollars to private companies that have no legal obligation to act in the best interests of the schools or taxpayers. When the agreement is with a for-profit firm like National Heritage Academies, it's also a chance for such firms to turn taxpayer money into tidy profits...
Desperate Workers On A Mexican Mega-Farm: 'They Treated Us Like Slaves' Los Angeles Times ...At the labor camp for Bioparques de Occidente, they and other farmworkers slept sprawled head to toe on concrete floors. Their rooms crawled with scorpions and bedbugs. Meals were skimpy, hunger a constant. Camp bosses kept people in line with threats and, when that failed, with their fists...
Latino Worker Dies Following Exposure to Nitrogen in Tanker Truck Occupational Health and Safety ... The 23-year-old worker was found unresponsive in a tanker truck at Michael Foods Inc.'s Big Red Farms facility in Wakefield, Neb. He was conducting sampling of the tank, which contained egg products and nitrogen. OSHA has cited the company for five serious safety violations, including exposing employees to nitrogen hazards...
Miscellaneous
Report: Significant technical trials remain before drones can safely access national airspace Network World ...the GAO said the main issues continue to include the ability for drones to avoid other aircraft in the sky; what backup network is available and how should the system behave if it loses its communications link...
70 Percent Of Global Mobile Networks Monitored By NSA Daily Sabah ...The National Security Agency (NSA) has monitored about 70 percent of global mobile phone networks and 75 percent of the mobile phone networks in Turkey under the scope of an operation named AURORAGOLD according to recent reports obtained from documents supplied by whistle blower Edward Snowden...
Call Congress NOW! teamster.org ...The legislation would: Threaten the retirement security of thousands of retirees; Increase the number of hours that truck drivers can spend on the road every week...
That awful congressional plan to allow pension cuts heads for enactment (opinion) Los Angeles Times ...The congressional proposal to deal with a supposed crisis in worker pensions by allowing trustees to slash the benefits of already retired workers to shreds is heading toward enactment...
Lame-Duck Congress Nears Last-Minute Vote On Sweeping Pension Reform In These Times ...Congress is nearing a vote on arguably the biggest change to private pension law in decades. The proposed reforms would grant sweeping new authority to the trustees of some “deeply troubled” multi-employer pension plans to slash benefits promised to current retirees—something that’s illegal under existing law...
Keystone Pipeline Would Boost Middle Class (opinion) Detroit News ...Jobs might not be in such short supply like they once were in Michigan and elsewhere. But good-paying jobs still are. That’s why the Teamsters support the Keystone XL pipeline project that would allow North America to produce more of the world’s oil supply. And that’s why Michigan’s elected officials should too...
Horse-carriage ban prompts Queens Dem backlash Capital New York ...DenDekker wrote, “How progressive is it to VOTE union workers out of a job ? Maybe WE should VOTE them out of a job in the next election ! UNION workers UNITE and take a stand.
Clallam Reaches Agreement On Labor Contract With Largest Union Peninsula Daily News ...Clallam County and its largest union have apparently reached an agreement on a new labor contract after more than 20 months of good-faith bargaining. Commissioners Jim McEntire and Mike Doherty voted Tuesday to approve a four-year contract with Teamsters Local 589...
Canfield Township, Teamsters agree to deal Youngstown Vindicator ...Greg Shadle, vice president of Teamsters 377, said the three-year contract is effective May 1, 2013, and runs to April 30, 2016. “There were no real big changes,” Shadle said. “We’re happy to get it over with.”
Trade
TPP Negotiators Hit With Protests That Media Don't Cover Huffington Post ...The secret Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations resumed this week, this time in D.C. TPP is a massive agreement that sets up new rules for over 40 percent of the global economy. It will have profound effects on our jobs, our standard of living now and in the future and our ability to make a living as a country. Oddly, though, as of Monday morning you have to read about it in Japan Times because few-to-no US media outlets are covering it...
USTR Protests Demand: Stop The Secrecy, Release The Texts CounterCurrents ...On Monday morning members of Popular Resistance held a ‘Sit-in to End the Secrecy’ on the front steps of the USTR office . As Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiators and USTR staff arrived for their first day of meetings this week, demonstrators demanded that they stop hiding the text of the trade agreement and instead make it available to the public telling them “secret negotiations are anti-democratic...
“No TTIP” Christmas card submitted by singing Santas on behalf of one million World Development Movement ...As the Santa Clauses sang Christmas carols re-written with lyrics referring to the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), the giant Christmas card depicting Santa carrying a sack with the #noTTIP hashtag, was presented to the BIS offices...
State Battles
Gov. Rick Scott names new chief to run Florida’s troubled prison system Miami Herald ...Gov. Rick Scott announced the appointment of Julie Jones to run the prison system, the nation’s third largest, effective Jan. 5...
Michigan bill would prevent local governments from negotiating wages, community benefits with developers MLive ...A bill that would prevent local units of government from executing community benefits agreements with developers seeking incentives narrowly made it out of the House Competitiveness Committee on Tuesday with strong opposition from some Detroiters...
Michigan: Detroit Manager Ends Work New York Times ...Gov. Rick Snyder on Tuesday agreed to end Detroit’s status as a city in financial emergency and to send home the emergency manager he appointed in March 2013 to oversee the city through its crisis...
Bill Would Raise SC’s Minimum Wage To $1 Over Federal WSPA ...A bill pre-filed in the South Carolina Senate would raise the minimum wage in the state to $1 an hour higher than the federal minimum wage, which is currently $7.25 an hour. Sen. John Scott, D-Columbia, is the sponsor of the bill...
Uber’s System For Screening Drivers Draws Scrutiny New York Times ...Uber has fought against legislation requiring background checks as strong as those demanded of traditional taxis. Other ride-sharing companies like Lyft and Sidecar, Uber’s chief rivals, have also pushed against the laws, but supporters of stronger background checks say Uber has been by far the most aggressive...
War on Workers
Why is Jimmy John's making low-wage workers sign non-compete agreements? AlJazeera America ...For two years, it forbids former employees from working for “any business which delivers more than 10 percent of its revenue” from sandwiches if that business is “within three miles” of a Jimmy John’s store...
Justice Clarence Thomas Suggests Amazon Warehouse Workers Should Unionize Huffington Post ...Addressing the workers' arguments, the court's opinion, delivered by conservative Justice Clarence Thomas, included this curious line: "These arguments are properly presented to the employer at the bargaining table … not to a court in an FLSA claim." It's not clear whether the irony was intended. Amazon's U.S. warehouses, of course, are entirely non-union...
You're Likely to Be a Lot Poorer Than You Were a Few Years Ago—And It's All By Design Alternet ...The typical American is even poorer than his or her equivalent in Greece. The median Australian is four times wealthier. The Canadians are twice as wealthy. The U.S. continues to lead the world in billionaires (571 in 2014, with China a distant second at 190). But after decades of financial deregulation and attacks on employee rights, Americans rank 26th in median wealth...
When Charter Schools Are Nonprofit in Name Only Pro Publica ... charter schools sometimes cede control of public dollars to private companies that have no legal obligation to act in the best interests of the schools or taxpayers. When the agreement is with a for-profit firm like National Heritage Academies, it's also a chance for such firms to turn taxpayer money into tidy profits...
Desperate Workers On A Mexican Mega-Farm: 'They Treated Us Like Slaves' Los Angeles Times ...At the labor camp for Bioparques de Occidente, they and other farmworkers slept sprawled head to toe on concrete floors. Their rooms crawled with scorpions and bedbugs. Meals were skimpy, hunger a constant. Camp bosses kept people in line with threats and, when that failed, with their fists...
Latino Worker Dies Following Exposure to Nitrogen in Tanker Truck Occupational Health and Safety ... The 23-year-old worker was found unresponsive in a tanker truck at Michael Foods Inc.'s Big Red Farms facility in Wakefield, Neb. He was conducting sampling of the tank, which contained egg products and nitrogen. OSHA has cited the company for five serious safety violations, including exposing employees to nitrogen hazards...
Miscellaneous
Report: Significant technical trials remain before drones can safely access national airspace Network World ...the GAO said the main issues continue to include the ability for drones to avoid other aircraft in the sky; what backup network is available and how should the system behave if it loses its communications link...
70 Percent Of Global Mobile Networks Monitored By NSA Daily Sabah ...The National Security Agency (NSA) has monitored about 70 percent of global mobile phone networks and 75 percent of the mobile phone networks in Turkey under the scope of an operation named AURORAGOLD according to recent reports obtained from documents supplied by whistle blower Edward Snowden...
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