Today's Teamster News 09.21.13

Striking railroad Teamsters ordered back to work, no single operators allowed  TeamsterNation   ...An Akron, Ohio, district court judge this afternoon ordered striking locomotive engineers and trainmen at the Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway back to work. He also ordered the railroad to refrain from allowing supervisors or management to operate trains...
Warehouse Workers At IKEA Vote To Join Teamsters  teamster.org   ...Warehouse workers, employed at the IKEA distribution center in Frederickson, Wash., have voted to join Teamsters Local 117. The 64 workers at the facility came together seeking job security, fair and equal treatment, strong representation, and respect...
Hoffa, Brune: Trade Is Good When It's Fair  teamster.org   ...It's been almost 20 years since the signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and families and communities are still reeling from its consequences...
Teamsters Picket Rochester Wegmans  teamster.org   ...Wegmans-picketing Teamsters from Local 118 are calling on their employer to protect good jobs in Rochester and stop retaliating against employees for standing up for their rights under Federal law. Today the union will file an unfair labor practice charge against Wegmans due to the company’s actions against employees...
Sullivan settles five-year contract with Teamsters  Mid-Hudson News   …Ratifying a new contract was a tossup among members Teamsters Local 445 who work for Sullivan County in New York. The union narrowly agreed to the new five-year deal by a 152 to 141 vote...
Teamster Women Get Fired Up  teamster.org  ...Teamsters General Secretary-Treasurer Ken Hall addressed the Women’s Conference on Friday, the second day of the annual event, in New Orleans. Get the full coverage of the conference here... |
Rural/Metro Files Two Critical Documents—Plan of Reorganization and Disclosure Statement  teamster.org   ...Rural Metro filed two critical documents outlining how the company plans to emerge from bankruptcy on Sunday, September 15. Those documents are the Plan of Reorganization and Disclosure Statement...
ABF Teamster Wins National Four-Axle Competition Championship  Teamsters Local 492   ...Teamster and Albuquerque ABF Line Driver Ralph Garcia won first place in the four-axle competition at the 2013 National Truck Driving Championships, which was held in Salt Lake City late August...
Labor Leaders React to Hotel Latest  Tristate   ...The Southwestern Indiana Building and Construction Trades Council said Thursday it stands in full support of the proposed downtown hotel. Chuck Whobrey, president of Teamsters Local 215, wasn't at the meeting, but said the hotel is necessary for downtown redevelopment...
Employers cut jobs in 20 US states in August  Associated Press   ...Unemployment rates rose in 18 states, fell in 17 and were unchanged in 15...
Target to Hire 18,000 Fewer Seasonal Workers This Holiday Season; Expect Other Retailers to Do the Same  Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis   ..."Target lowered their expectations for the rest of the year, citing a tougher-than-expected spending environment..."
L.A. homeless hired to buy latest iPhones  USA Today   ...Many driven from Skid Row to Pasadena say they were unpaid and stranded after Apple Store halted scheme...
GOP's misguided attack on food stamps (opinion)  Los Angeles Times   ...Unable to push a $20-billion cut in food stamps through the House in June, Republicans are now seeking to cut $40 billion over 10 years by tightening eligibility and cutting off able-bodied adults who don't find or train for jobs. ...But while it may motivate some idle adults to get to work, it would also punish those who simply can't find jobs at a time when there are three applicants for every opening...
Offshoring Linked to Declining U.S. Labor Share, Likely to Continue  Brookings   ...The decline in the U.S. labor share – now at its lowest level in the post-war period after the Great Recession – has been concentrated in sectors that face increased import competition in the wake of the overall rising role of imports in the U.S. economy, according to a new paper presented today at the Fall 2013 Conference on the Brookings Papers on Economic Activity (BPEA)...
LinkedIn Customers Allege Company Hacked E-Mail Addresses  Bloomberg   ...LinkedIn Corp. (LNKD), owner of the world’s most popular professional-networking website, was sued by customers who claim the company appropriated their identities for marketing purposes by hacking into their external e-mail accounts and downloading contacts’ addresses...
Unions launch offensive against potential government shutdown  Washington Post   ...Federal employee unions, having guided their members through government shutdown threats in 2011 and 2012, are arming for another possible shutdown in 11 days if Congress cannot resolve its partisan fiscal battle...
Contractor that vetted Snowden says it also ran background check for Navy Yard shooter  Washington Post   ...USIS, the Falls Church, VA government contractor that handled the background check for National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden, said Thursday that it also vetted Navy Yard shooter Aaron Alexis for his ­secret-level clearance in 2007...
Arkansas lawmakers back cuts to food stamp program  KATV ABC 7   ...Arkansas' four congressmen have voted to cut nearly $4 billion a year from the food stamp program, a 5 percent reduction to the nation's main feeding program used by more than 1 in 7 Americans...
Ex-Halliburton manager charged in Gulf of Mexico spill probe  Associated Press   ...A former Halliburton manager was charged Thursday with destroying evidence following BP’s 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, a case that coincides with a guilty plea to a related charge by the Houston-based oilfield services company...
Chase Bank, JPMorgan Chase to refund customers $309 million for unfair billing  Sacramento Bee   ...Federal regulators on Thursday ordered Chase Bank and JPMorgan Chase to refund $309 million to more than 2 million customers for illegally billing them for credit-monitoring services they never received...
Federal Reserve Program Is Socialism For The Rich  firedoglake   ...Why is there such a gap between the haves and the have-nots? Probably because the Federal Reserve is pumping up assets for the haves to the tune of $85 billion, a month...
Elites’ strange plot to take over the world  Salon   ...Western elites in America and Western Europe after World War II made a serious effort to get rid of nations altogether, and combine all “freedom-loving peoples” into one giant “Atlantic Union,” a federal state built on top of the NATO military alliance...
Don't take ax to public's right to know (opinion) The Cap Times   ...If Wisconsinites were looking for a measure of how far out of control things have gotten under Gov. Scott Walker’s hyperpartisan approach to governing, they need look no further than an incident involving a key confidante of the governor and a process server seeking to deliver paperwork related to the state’s open records law...

Today's Teamster News 09.20.13

Strike, lockout possibilities for Darigold workers  KIRO TV   ...Workers at Darigold, who have worked without a contract since June 1, staged an informational picket line a couple of weeks ago with signs that read "just practicing." Now the members of Teamster Local 117 believe their company has set the stage for a lockout or strike...
Middle-Class Decline Mirrors The Fall Of Unions In One Chart  Huffington Post   ...This week the Census Bureau reported the latest depressing decline in middle-class incomes during the so-called economic recovery. But it may have missed an important factor in this story. As union membership declines, middle-class incomes shrink...
Income, Poverty, and Healthcare 2012: The Patient Did Not Get Worse But Remains Seriously Ill  Corrente   ...A comparison of real household income over the past five years showed an 8.3 percent decline since 2007, the year before the nation entered an economic recession, and a 9.0 percent decrease from the 1999 peak of $56,080...
The Era of Cheap Gasoline is Over  OilPrice   ...The last time the average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline in the United States was below $3.00, however, was the day before Christmas Eve 2010. AAA said that, on average, prices may never be that low again...
As President’s Export Council Meets, No Chance to Meet Obama’s Export Doubling Goal; Exports Fall Under Free Trade Agreements  Public Citizen   ...recent government data show it will be virtually impossible to meet Obama’s stated goal of doubling exports by the end of 2014. The same data shows that in 16 out of 16 months since the Korea “free trade” agreement (FTA) took effect last year, U.S. goods exports to Korea have fallen below the average export level in the year before the deal...
Pope Says Church Is ‘Obsessed’ With Gays, Abortion and Birth Control  New York Times   ...Six months into his papacy, Pope Francis sent shock waves through the Roman Catholic church on Thursday with the publication of his remarks that the church had grown “obsessed” with abortion, gay marriage and contraception, and that he had chosen not to talk about those issues despite recriminations from critics...
Search for L.A. film czar drags on at City Hall  Los Angeles Times   ....L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti is still searching for a film czar to serve as an industry advocate in City Hall and to help stop runaway production...
AAR: Rail Traffic increased in August  Calculated Risk   ...The Association of American Railroads (AAR) ... reported increased total U.S. rail traffic for the month of August 2013, with intermodal setting a new record and carload volume increasing overall compared with August 2012...
Union rep: Cutbacks cost lives in Navy Yard shooting  USA TODAY   ...A top union official for Washington Navy Yard police says he believes fewer lives would have been lost had the department not been understaffed during the attack that left the shooter and 12 of his victims dead...
Tensions Between BART and Unions Escalate, Transit Strike Looming  SF Weekly   ...After another full day of negotiations Wednesday, it's fair to say things between BART and its unions are getting worse, not better...
Labor to “play heavily” in state elections next year  People’s World   ...Organized labor, with its community allies, will "play heavily" in state gubernatorial and legislative races next year, its top two political operatives say...
Watch the growth of U.S. income inequality with this animated map  Washington Post   ...Here's a fascinating visualization of how inequality in the United States has evolved over the years...
Postmaster says USPS may need emergency rate hike  Associated Press   ...The Postal Service may need an emergency rate increase to stay afloat, according to Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe who says the agency’s cash balance next month likely will cover only five days of its average daily expenses...
The Monsanto Protection Act Is Back!  Huffington Post   ...The agrichemical companies may have the best lobbyists in town. Last May, the agrichemical giants -- Monsanto, Dow, Syngenta, Bayer, DuPont, BASF -- pulled off a stunning maneuver to protect their massive profits. These companies could have legal protection to continue selling their products even if the courts pulled the products from the market...
In JPMorgan case, a rare admission: bank broke the law  Los Angeles Times   ...The $920-million settlement JPMorgan Chase and Co. struck with regulators in the "London Whale" fiasco contains something rare: an admission the bank broke the law...
More Amazon Warehouse Workers Sue Retailer Over Unpaid Security Waits  Huffington Post   ...A growing number of Amazon.com warehouse workers are suing the online retail giant and its contractors for requiring them to undergo time-consuming and unpaid security screenings in order to do their jobs...
Misplaced Idea to Private the Tennessee Valley Authority Brings Unions, GOP Together  The We Party   ...The budget proposed by President Barack Obama in April floated an idea to privatize the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), a crown jewel of the New Deal. Labor unions expressing deep opposition to the idea are being joined by unlikely allies in the fight...
Ohio unions keep watchful eye on Right to Work legal challenge in Indiana  PR News Channel   ...Ohio union supporters are anxiously watching the developments in Indiana on the heels of the state’s controversial Right to Work law being ruled unconstitutional by a Lake County judge last week…
Wisconsin's Anti-Voting Law Heads to Federal Court  Huffington Post   ...With deceptively little fanfare or attention, a federal judge in Wisconsin is poised to preside over the first trial challenging a photo ID law under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act...
Florida Gov. Rick Scott seeks Supreme Court review of worker drug test  Associated Press   ...Florida Gov. Rick Scott plans to seek U.S. Supreme Court review of his executive order requiring random drug tests for thousands of state employees...
Senator: 'Flawed' bidding process led to privatization of prison food service  Lansing State Journal   ...A Republican senator told the Civil Service Commission on Wednesday that a flawed bidding process led to the state’s decision to privatize food service for 45,000 Michigan prisoners and eliminate about 370 state jobs...