TEAMSTERS
Parsippany School Bus Workers Choose Teamsters Union Teamster.org ...School bus drivers and aides at Student Transportation of America (STA) in Parsippany, N.J., overcame tough opposition from management Wednesday, voting decisively in favor of union representation by Teamsters Local 102 in Springfield Township, N.J. The 78 bus workers are calling for improved working conditions, respect on the job and assurances that they will be paid for all hours worked...
Orange County Employees Join Teamsters Teamster.org ...A majority of the more than 400 operations and service maintenance workers employed by Orange County, Calif., voted to join Local 952 yesterday. After years of being part of an association, the new members of the local, which include custodians, laborers, mechanics, public works maintenance, equipment operators and pest control workers, overwhelmingly chose Teamster representation...
Local 528 Welcomes Pepsi Workers Teamster.org ...Drivers, merchandisers and warehouse workers at the Pepsi facility in Macon, Ga., recently voted to become members of Local 528. A majority of the 45-person unit cast ballots in the Teamsters’ favor. “We are pretty excited that we won,” said Erick Barber, a warehouse worker at the Macon facility. “This is my first time being a union member and I encourage anyone considering joining the Teamsters to keep pushing forward”...
Talks Progress in Effort to Save Safeway Warehouse Jobs DC Labor ...Union leaders and political allies trying to save nearly 1,000 jobs at the Safeway warehouse in Upper Marlboroon Tuesday had their “most productive meeting yet” with top officials from Albertson’s, Safeway’s parent company. “We have a much clearer picture of what needs to happen, and it was a very productive meeting on all sides,” said Ritchie Brooks, president of Teamsters Local 730, which represents most of the workers...
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
Workers let go after strike for 6-peso raise Mexico News Daily ...Over 100 workers were laid off at a Lexmark plant in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, after going on strike for two days to press for a daily wage increase of 6 pesos, or US $0.35. They sought the increase, from 114 to 120 pesos, for more experienced workers, but the company rejected the demand in October. Discontent among workers had been brewing for months...
Cambodia garment factory owners ask government to help quash strike by workers Star Tribune ...Garment factory owners in Cambodia asked the government on Thursday to help stop a strike by workers for higher wages, saying the labor action is damaging the investment climate for the industry, the country's main source of exports. Wages are a volatile issue in Cambodia. Unions sought an increase in the minimum monthly wage to $160 in 2016, but most settled for $140...
EU Aims for Free Trade Deal With US by End of Obama's Presidency - Merkel Sputnik News ...The European Union aims to reach a free trade agreement with the United States by the end of current US President Barack Obama's term, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Friday. "We reiterated that we need a fast conclusion of talks on the Transatlantic Free Trade Area, and that it remains our goal to achieve such a political decision during Obama's presidency," Merkel told reporters...
TPP Ratification Process Grinding To A Halt As Canada Launches 'Widespread Consultations' On The Deal Tech Dirt ...The arrival of a new government in Canada has meant that the corporate sovereignty provisions in the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement between Canada and the EU might be re-examined. The other major trade deal involving Canada, TPP, is much more complex. Although that limits the Canadian government's scope for changing course, it appears that it is nonetheless taking a radically different approach compared to its predecessor...
Spanish Coalition Speaks Out Against Proposed EU-US Free Trade Deals Sputnik News ...The Spanish United Left-Popular Unity coalition does not support the free trade deals the Euorpean Union is negotiating with the United States, the party candidate for the country’s parliament said. The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is a proposed free-trade deal between the European Union and the United States. The agreement which has been criticized for its unusual secrecy, is opposed by many Europeans...
County Board voices its opposition to TPP Mesabi Daily News ...St. Louis County commissioners on Tuesday solidified their opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement. Commissioner Tom Rukavina of Pike Township brought the resolution forward after State Rep. Jason Metsa addressed the board earlier in the year on the TPP’s affect on local business and industry, which was unanimously approved...
Portugal's Anti-Austerity Govt Reverses Public Pay Cuts ABC ...Portugal's new Socialist government is restoring full pay to civil servants after four years of cuts, ticking off another item on its anti-austerity to-do list. Under legislation approved Friday, pay increases will be phased in over next year until previous pay levels are reached in October. Cuts of up to 10 percent for staff earning more than 1,500 euros ($1,620) a month came into force in 2011...
Albanians protest over government’s austerity measures Euro News ...Thousands of Albanians took to the streets to protest over the governments handling of the economy with rising levels of poverty and unemployment. The government has angered many by cracking down on non-payment of household electricity bills, increasing social security contributions and raising income tax...
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
2016 Ballot Effort to Privatize California Public Employee Pensions Faces Rocky Start, New Poll Finds Alternet ...The conservative obsession to cut public employee pensions is facing an uphill climb in California, according to a newly released poll that found ambivalent support for a pair of 2016 ballot measures pushed by former San Jose and San Diego officials. According to a Capital & Main-David Binder statewide poll of 500 likely voters, there’s roughly a 40-40 split, with the rest undecided, for both measures...
Missouri lawmaker proposes $15 minimum wage statewide Business Journal ...A Democratic state representative from St. Louis has pre-filed legislation that would raise the state’s minimum wage from $7.65 per hour to $15 per hour. State Rep. Michael Butler said in a statement that Missourians who work full-time jobs should not live in poverty...
Florida Senate redistricting trial ends as judge weighs options Miami Herald ...After eight rulings by the Florida Supreme Court and an admission of guilt by legislators, the Senate redistricting trial ended Thursday with a Tallahassee judge asking the parties to tell him their top choices for a new Senate map. Leon County Circuit Court Judge George Reynolds now must decide whether to accept one of four proposals offered by the challengers...
Federal judge dismisses voter ID challenge Post Crescent ...Wisconsin's requirement that voters show photo identification at the polls has survived another legal challenge after a federal judge Thursday dismissed portions of a wide-ranging lawsuit alleging the mandate burdens the right to vote. One Wisconsin Institute Inc., a liberal group; Citizen Action of Wisconsin Education Fund, a voting rights organization; and a half-dozen individual voters filed the lawsuit...
Will all N.J. workers get paid sick leave? NJ.com ...The state Senate on Thursday passed a bill entitling all employees to paid sick leave in New Jersey. The bill, which requires employers of all sizes to offer their workers paid sick time off, was opposed by business groups that called it a one-size-fits-all approach would hurt small businesses and drive up costs. Proponents say the measure is a pro-worker and pro-public health policy that will spare people from having to choose between their health and their jobs...
Labor advocates concerned about Tacoma minimum wage rules News Tribune ...Tacoma is wrapping up its rule-writing for the city’s new minimum wage law, and some labor advocates are concerned that the regulations water down what voters approved. Those advocates say several issues concern them, including what they describe as lax record-keeping requirements for employers and a fuzzy enforcement process...
City Wraps Up The Year By Giving Workers The Ability To Take A Paid Day Off When They Get Sick Think Progress ...New Brunswick, New Jersey passed a paid sick leave ordinance. That makes it the 27th place in the country to do so, as well as the eleventh city in the state. The news was received with mixed support by advocates. It marks another step forward in the wave of legislation that has swept the country and helps address the fact that 40 percent of workers in the city previously lacked paid leave for their own or a family member’s illness...
U.S. LABOR
23,000 NYC Janitors Could Walk Off Job NY AFLCIO ...With the contract deadline fast-approaching, commercial cleaners—members of 32BJ SEIU— voted to strike if no agreement is reached by the December 31st contract expiration. “We are not going to accept anything less than a fair deal that protects health care and retirement benefits and includes a raise that enables our members to continue to raise their families in New York City,” said 32BJ President Hector Figueroa...
SEIU 775 chalks up another victory as caregivers join union Business Journal ...SEIU 775 has scored another big victory. About 275 residential caregivers at ResCare Washington Inc. have joined the union, which represents 44,000 long-term care workers in Washington state and Montana. The caregivers join 953 home care workers from First Choice, a private home care agency, who joined the union in July...
This Is Why Chicago Teachers Are Fed Up With The Mayor Think Progress ...An overwhelming majority of the Chicago Teachers Union, 88 percent, voted on Monday to allow union leaders to call for a strike. It will be several months before the union decides whether to actually begin a strike. First, they’re going on a “fact-finding mission” in one last effort to resolve the negotiations. But if they do decide to walk out of their classrooms, it will be the second time the union has gone on strike...
The Nation Is Giving Workers 4 Months Of Paid Parental Leave Huffington Post ...The progressive magazine The Nation announced Wednesday that it would be offering workers four months of paid parental leave and 25 percent raises over the next six years. These kinds of benefits may be par for the course at tech companies like Google and Facebook and Netflix, but are pretty much unheard of in the media world -- or any other industry in the U.S., for that matter...
Dems call on Labor Dept. to investigate grocery chain The Hill ...House Democrats from Arizona, California and Nevada are calling on the Obama administration to investigate alleged labor law violations by one of North America’s largest retailers. A coalition of U.S. and Mexican labor and civil society groups have accused the company of prohibiting employees from joining labor unions, inquiring about pregnancies during job interviews to screen out pregnant women and hiring volunteer grocery packers who are paid only tips...
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
The Life-Saving Train Technology That Congress Isn’t Fully Funding The Atlantic ...The derailment of Amtrak train 188 in Philadelphia earlier this year, which killed eight people, introduced many Americans to a safety technology that could have prevented the crash in the first place: positive train control. Now, Congress has allocated $25 million in funding in the omnibus bill to help railroads implement the technology—but some of Washington’s most ardent supporters of PTC are still let down...
Not Just Oceans and Atmosphere, Rapid Warming Killing World's Lakes Common Dreams ...The world's lakes are warming at a faster rate than oceans and atmosphere, a trend that may already have triggered major changes in aquatic ecosystems, according to a new report published in Geophysical Research Letters on Wednesday. Globally, lakes have been heating up an average of 0.34°C (.61°F) per decade between 1985 and 2009, researchers found...
Hate Crimes Against Muslims Have Spiked in U.S. Since Paris Attack Slate ...A California State University research group that monitors suspected hate crimes against American Muslims says it's aware of 38 such incidents since the Nov. 13 terror attacks in Paris, triple the usual average of 12.6 per month. The New York Times spoke to Brian Levin of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism: The frequency of the recent attacks has not reached the levels seen in the immediate aftermath of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001...
Sanders is Right. The Childcare System in the US is a Disaster Common Dreams ...One presidential hopeful's assessment is that the child care system in the U.S. is disastrous. And based on the findings of a new survey, many working parents in the U.S. have reason to agree. The Pew Research Center report, which surveyed over 1,800 parents of kids under 18, showed that nearly half (48 percent) of working parents with at least one child under school age say their children attend day care or preschool...
New Orleans Votes to Remove Confederate Monuments to Robert E. Lee and Others Slate ...The New Orleans City Council voted Thursday to remove a handful of monuments to the Confederacy from prominent locations around the city. The 6-to-1 vote to remove the three Civil War-era inspired statues and one obelisk was the culmination of a contentious campaign that began over the summer when New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu called for their removal...
Showing posts with label Pepsi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pepsi. Show all posts
Friday, December 18, 2015
Wednesday, October 28, 2015
Today's Teamster News 10.28.15
TEAMSTERS
Teamster Pilots at Republic Airways Approve New Three-Year Contract Teamster.org ...The International Brotherhood of Teamsters Airline Division and Republic Airways Holdings Inc. announced today that pilots represented by Teamsters Local 357 voted to ratify a new three-year agreement. Results of the vote, which were tabulated today, were 1,363 votes in favor of the agreement to 421 votes against, with 1,784, or 90 percent of eligible pilots, participating in the vote...
Head of Teamsters, Jim Hoffa, stands with striking truckers in Long Beach Press-Telegram ...Teamster President Jim Hoffa joined striking port truck drivers Tuesday in Long Beach, saying the misclassification of these workers must end. “You have the support of the 1.4 million Teamster members,” Hoffa said. “We will bring justice to port truck drivers and warehouse workers nationwide.” The truck drivers who ferry goods to the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach walked off the job Monday...
Teamsters ramp up drayage, warehouse worker organizing effort in LA-Long Beach JOC ...The Teamsters union Tuesday stepped up its organizing efforts in Southern California, targeting another drayage company in Los Angeles-Long Beach, and announcing a partnership with a warehouse worker advocacy organization. The latter signals a move by the Teamsters to organize what could potentially be thousands of workers in the warehouse and distribution industry...
Labor friction escalates between California port truckers, shippers Reuters ...Long-simmering labor tensions between Southern California port truckers and shipping companies they accuse of wage theft escalated on Tuesday as a group of drivers demanded recognition as full-fledged employees and petitioned to join the Teamsters union. The action, according to the Teamsters, was taken by at least 50 drivers who work for New Jersey-based Intermodal Bridge Transport (IBT)...
New Third Shift Creates Jobs, Better Working Conditions for Pepsi Members Local 727 ...The addition of a third shift at the PepsiCo warehouse in Chicago’s Canaryville neighborhood means more union jobs and better working conditions for the location’s Teamsters Local 727 members. Starting Nov. 1, seven new third-shift production department machine operators and four additional workers will be on the job, along with the nearly 150 members already working at the warehouse...
Union, recycling advocates promote plan to revamp city’s sanitation setup City & State ...Teamsters Local 813, which represents commercial sanitation workers and is part of Transform Don’t Trash, would like to see labor peace agreements tied to licenses. Such accords typically prevent workers from striking or boycotting and give unions more leverage in attempting to organize. But Local 813’s support has raised questions about why it takes a push from organized labor to get the government to supervise the sector...
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
U.S. officials to work with Congress on Pacific trade pact timing Reuters ...U.S. officials said on Tuesday they will work with Congress to find a window for lawmakers to consider a sweeping Pacific trade pact and warned that rejecting the deal would raise questions about America's leadership in the region. U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman said he was confident of winning political support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) deal sealed with 11 trading partners earlier this month...
Bank Provisions in Pacific Trade Pact Draw Fire Wall Street Journal ...The sweeping Pacific trade agreement completed this month gives banks an added international legal protection that congressional critics warn could lead to more challenges to Wall Street regulations. U.S. officials play down the new protection for financial firms, saying the Trans-Pacific Partnership also contains several new legal provisions that limit the ability of banks to challenge American financial rules...
Indonesia 'not ready' to join TPP Nation Multimedia ...Indonesia President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's intention to push for membership of the US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal signals a reversal in Indonesia's protectionist traditions, and some experts have warned that the country had yet to carefully calculate the implications of this change, arguing that the decision might put Southeast Asia's largest economy in an inferior position in relation to other members of the TPP and the world more broadly...
Joseph Stiglitz: Under TPP, Polluters Could Sue U.S. for Setting Carbon Emissions Limits Democracy Now ...Nobel Prize-winning economist and Columbia University professor Joseph Stiglitz warns about the dangers of the TPP, the Trans-Pacific Partnership. "Under these provisions, corporations can sue the government, including the American government, by the way, so it’s all the governments in the TPP that can be sued for the loss of profits as a result of the regulations that restrict their ability to emit carbon emissions...
Canadians split on support of TPP deal, poll suggests Vancouver Sun ...Almost one month after Canada and 11 other nations reached the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement in Atlanta, Canadians remain sharply divided on whether such a deal is good or bad for the public at-large. That is the finding of a EKOS poll commissioned by the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, the results of which were released Today (Wednesday). The poll found almost an equal number of respondents supporting the TPP (41 per cent) and those who oppose the deal (38 per cent)...
Bundestag president calls TTIP undemocratic The Local ...The President (speaker) of the Bundestag, Norbert Lammert, has threatened to vote against the US-EU TTIP free trade agreement when it comes to a vote before the German parliament, saying that the deal lacks transparency and democratic legitimacy. ammert, who belongs to Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU), said that he considers it "out of the question"...
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Prevailing wage petition falls short with duplicate signatures WNEM ...petition to repeal Michigan's prevailing wage law is being challenged, after claims that thousands of signatures were duplicated. It's a new twist in the GOP-led effort to go around Gov. Rick Snyder, and repeal a law the governor supports. John Purich is an attorney for a group wanting keep the state's prevailing wage law intact. "This one is not going to make it," Purich said...
In Minneapolis, a Strong ‘Fair Scheduling’ Law for Workers Runs Into a Corporate Roadblock In These Times ...Less than a year after San Francisco passed a first-of-its-kind fair scheduling ordinance for retail employers, progressive activists in Minneapolis began pushing for an even stronger scheduling ordinance of their own—along with paid sick leave, wage theft protections, and the possibility of a $15 minimum wage. But the campaign, dubbed the Working Families Agenda, ran into a roadblock earlier this month...
Sacramento City Council passes minimum wage increase KCRA ...The Sacramento City Council approved increasing minimum wage to $12.50 per hour by 2020 during its meeting Tuesday night. The ordinance, based on recommendations by the 2015 Task Force on Income Inequality, passed 6 to 3. In California, the current minimum wage is $9 per hour and will increase to $10...
Jersey City set to expand paid sick leave mandate NJ.com ...More small businesses would have to adhere to the city's paid sick time mandate under a measure set for adoption by the City Council tomorrow. The changes would require employers with fewer than 10 employees to provide workers with up to 24 hours of paid sick time and up to 16 hours of unpaid sick time annually. Previously, those businesses only had to provide unpaid time...
U.S. LABOR
UAW voting on GM contract starts Friday Detroit Free Press ...As UAW leaders brief local officials from more than 40 General Motors locations Wednesday afternoon, at least one local has decided its members will vote Friday on the four-year agreement. Details of the proposed contract will be shared Wednesday afternoon by UAW President Dennis Williams, Cindy Estrada, vice president of the union's General Motors department, and members of the bargaining committee...
Verizon gets call from Bernie Sanders to reach agreement with CWA union Fierce Telecom ...Verizon is facing yet another call to come to an agreement with the Communications Workers of America (CWA) from Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. Sanders, a Democratic presidential candidate, met with Verizon union employees during a demonstration near at Verizon Wireless store in New York's Times Square...
Final Major Budget Deal Of The Obama-Boehner Era Forces GOP To Release Social Security Hostages Think Progress ...The budget deal struck between Republican congressional leaders and the White House on Monday night would negate a previous GOP ploy to stage a crisis in Social Security funding next year. The deal will prevent a benefits cut by transferring funds from the main Social Security trust to the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) trust, which would otherwise run short of funding next year and be forced to cut payments to beneficiaries by 20 percent...
Lacking Federal Protection, Rural LGBTQ Workers Falling Through the Cracks Common Dreams ...Despite having won federal recognition of the right to marry a partner of their choosing, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people continue to face the possibility of being fired or harassed at work because of their identity or sexual preference. As much as 70 percent of the United States, geographically speaking, lacks any employment protections for LGBT workers...
The Pay Gap Will Ensure That CEOs Enjoy Luxurious Retirement While Workers Keep Struggling Think Progress ...The pay gap between what CEOs make and what they pay their workers is pretty well known. A new report released on Wednesday illuminates a different gap: that between what CEOs have stashed away for retirement and what their workers have been able to amass. The report from the Center for Effective Government and the Institute for Policy Studies looks at the retirement accounts among CEOs...
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
Texas Sheriff Faces Lawsuit Over Federal Immigration Holds ABC ...A Texas sheriff who faced criticism from Gov. Greg Abbott for not complying with federal immigration holds is being sued by people who say they were detained for unconstitutionally long periods. The lawsuit was filed the same day Abbott made public a letter to Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez threatening to penalize the county over her revised policy to no longer honor all federal immigration detention holds...
'Codifying' Government Surveillance, Senate Passes CISA Common Dreams ...The U.S. Senate on Tuesday passed the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) without any of the proposed amendments that would have strengthened user protections. The bill passed 74-21. Rights groups immediately called for President Barack Obama to veto the bill and vowed to keep pressure up.
Tensions Rise as Climate Negotiations Resume in Bonn Truth-Out ...The last round of negotiations before the much-anticipated Paris Conference kicked off on Monday in Bonn. With only five official negotiating days left before Paris, those involved in the talks have plenty of work ahead of them before agreeing on what will hopefully be a legally-binding agreement next December...
Obama: Police Are 'Scapegoats' for Broader Failures of Society The Atlantic ...President Obama’s speech to the International Association of Chiefs of Police in Chicago was always going to require some careful political balancing. he conversation was fairly soft. It was classic Obama: Admitting that every side had something to offer, steering a moderate path, and calling on all sides to step up and compromise...
National Outrage as Videos of Brutal Police Assault on Black Student Go Viral Common Dreams ...A brutal attack by a male officer on a black, female high school student in Columbia, South Carolina on Monday has spurred widespread outrage after a number of cell phone videos of the incident went viral. In the videos, Spring Valley High School resource officer Ben Fields, who is white, is shown briefly reproaching the student, who refuses to get up from her desk, before he puts his arm around her neck...
Teamster Pilots at Republic Airways Approve New Three-Year Contract Teamster.org ...The International Brotherhood of Teamsters Airline Division and Republic Airways Holdings Inc. announced today that pilots represented by Teamsters Local 357 voted to ratify a new three-year agreement. Results of the vote, which were tabulated today, were 1,363 votes in favor of the agreement to 421 votes against, with 1,784, or 90 percent of eligible pilots, participating in the vote...
Head of Teamsters, Jim Hoffa, stands with striking truckers in Long Beach Press-Telegram ...Teamster President Jim Hoffa joined striking port truck drivers Tuesday in Long Beach, saying the misclassification of these workers must end. “You have the support of the 1.4 million Teamster members,” Hoffa said. “We will bring justice to port truck drivers and warehouse workers nationwide.” The truck drivers who ferry goods to the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach walked off the job Monday...
Teamsters ramp up drayage, warehouse worker organizing effort in LA-Long Beach JOC ...The Teamsters union Tuesday stepped up its organizing efforts in Southern California, targeting another drayage company in Los Angeles-Long Beach, and announcing a partnership with a warehouse worker advocacy organization. The latter signals a move by the Teamsters to organize what could potentially be thousands of workers in the warehouse and distribution industry...
Labor friction escalates between California port truckers, shippers Reuters ...Long-simmering labor tensions between Southern California port truckers and shipping companies they accuse of wage theft escalated on Tuesday as a group of drivers demanded recognition as full-fledged employees and petitioned to join the Teamsters union. The action, according to the Teamsters, was taken by at least 50 drivers who work for New Jersey-based Intermodal Bridge Transport (IBT)...
New Third Shift Creates Jobs, Better Working Conditions for Pepsi Members Local 727 ...The addition of a third shift at the PepsiCo warehouse in Chicago’s Canaryville neighborhood means more union jobs and better working conditions for the location’s Teamsters Local 727 members. Starting Nov. 1, seven new third-shift production department machine operators and four additional workers will be on the job, along with the nearly 150 members already working at the warehouse...
Union, recycling advocates promote plan to revamp city’s sanitation setup City & State ...Teamsters Local 813, which represents commercial sanitation workers and is part of Transform Don’t Trash, would like to see labor peace agreements tied to licenses. Such accords typically prevent workers from striking or boycotting and give unions more leverage in attempting to organize. But Local 813’s support has raised questions about why it takes a push from organized labor to get the government to supervise the sector...
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
U.S. officials to work with Congress on Pacific trade pact timing Reuters ...U.S. officials said on Tuesday they will work with Congress to find a window for lawmakers to consider a sweeping Pacific trade pact and warned that rejecting the deal would raise questions about America's leadership in the region. U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman said he was confident of winning political support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) deal sealed with 11 trading partners earlier this month...
Bank Provisions in Pacific Trade Pact Draw Fire Wall Street Journal ...The sweeping Pacific trade agreement completed this month gives banks an added international legal protection that congressional critics warn could lead to more challenges to Wall Street regulations. U.S. officials play down the new protection for financial firms, saying the Trans-Pacific Partnership also contains several new legal provisions that limit the ability of banks to challenge American financial rules...
Indonesia 'not ready' to join TPP Nation Multimedia ...Indonesia President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's intention to push for membership of the US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal signals a reversal in Indonesia's protectionist traditions, and some experts have warned that the country had yet to carefully calculate the implications of this change, arguing that the decision might put Southeast Asia's largest economy in an inferior position in relation to other members of the TPP and the world more broadly...
Joseph Stiglitz: Under TPP, Polluters Could Sue U.S. for Setting Carbon Emissions Limits Democracy Now ...Nobel Prize-winning economist and Columbia University professor Joseph Stiglitz warns about the dangers of the TPP, the Trans-Pacific Partnership. "Under these provisions, corporations can sue the government, including the American government, by the way, so it’s all the governments in the TPP that can be sued for the loss of profits as a result of the regulations that restrict their ability to emit carbon emissions...
Canadians split on support of TPP deal, poll suggests Vancouver Sun ...Almost one month after Canada and 11 other nations reached the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement in Atlanta, Canadians remain sharply divided on whether such a deal is good or bad for the public at-large. That is the finding of a EKOS poll commissioned by the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, the results of which were released Today (Wednesday). The poll found almost an equal number of respondents supporting the TPP (41 per cent) and those who oppose the deal (38 per cent)...
Bundestag president calls TTIP undemocratic The Local ...The President (speaker) of the Bundestag, Norbert Lammert, has threatened to vote against the US-EU TTIP free trade agreement when it comes to a vote before the German parliament, saying that the deal lacks transparency and democratic legitimacy. ammert, who belongs to Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU), said that he considers it "out of the question"...
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Prevailing wage petition falls short with duplicate signatures WNEM ...petition to repeal Michigan's prevailing wage law is being challenged, after claims that thousands of signatures were duplicated. It's a new twist in the GOP-led effort to go around Gov. Rick Snyder, and repeal a law the governor supports. John Purich is an attorney for a group wanting keep the state's prevailing wage law intact. "This one is not going to make it," Purich said...
In Minneapolis, a Strong ‘Fair Scheduling’ Law for Workers Runs Into a Corporate Roadblock In These Times ...Less than a year after San Francisco passed a first-of-its-kind fair scheduling ordinance for retail employers, progressive activists in Minneapolis began pushing for an even stronger scheduling ordinance of their own—along with paid sick leave, wage theft protections, and the possibility of a $15 minimum wage. But the campaign, dubbed the Working Families Agenda, ran into a roadblock earlier this month...
Sacramento City Council passes minimum wage increase KCRA ...The Sacramento City Council approved increasing minimum wage to $12.50 per hour by 2020 during its meeting Tuesday night. The ordinance, based on recommendations by the 2015 Task Force on Income Inequality, passed 6 to 3. In California, the current minimum wage is $9 per hour and will increase to $10...
Jersey City set to expand paid sick leave mandate NJ.com ...More small businesses would have to adhere to the city's paid sick time mandate under a measure set for adoption by the City Council tomorrow. The changes would require employers with fewer than 10 employees to provide workers with up to 24 hours of paid sick time and up to 16 hours of unpaid sick time annually. Previously, those businesses only had to provide unpaid time...
U.S. LABOR
UAW voting on GM contract starts Friday Detroit Free Press ...As UAW leaders brief local officials from more than 40 General Motors locations Wednesday afternoon, at least one local has decided its members will vote Friday on the four-year agreement. Details of the proposed contract will be shared Wednesday afternoon by UAW President Dennis Williams, Cindy Estrada, vice president of the union's General Motors department, and members of the bargaining committee...
Verizon gets call from Bernie Sanders to reach agreement with CWA union Fierce Telecom ...Verizon is facing yet another call to come to an agreement with the Communications Workers of America (CWA) from Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. Sanders, a Democratic presidential candidate, met with Verizon union employees during a demonstration near at Verizon Wireless store in New York's Times Square...
Final Major Budget Deal Of The Obama-Boehner Era Forces GOP To Release Social Security Hostages Think Progress ...The budget deal struck between Republican congressional leaders and the White House on Monday night would negate a previous GOP ploy to stage a crisis in Social Security funding next year. The deal will prevent a benefits cut by transferring funds from the main Social Security trust to the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) trust, which would otherwise run short of funding next year and be forced to cut payments to beneficiaries by 20 percent...
Lacking Federal Protection, Rural LGBTQ Workers Falling Through the Cracks Common Dreams ...Despite having won federal recognition of the right to marry a partner of their choosing, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people continue to face the possibility of being fired or harassed at work because of their identity or sexual preference. As much as 70 percent of the United States, geographically speaking, lacks any employment protections for LGBT workers...
The Pay Gap Will Ensure That CEOs Enjoy Luxurious Retirement While Workers Keep Struggling Think Progress ...The pay gap between what CEOs make and what they pay their workers is pretty well known. A new report released on Wednesday illuminates a different gap: that between what CEOs have stashed away for retirement and what their workers have been able to amass. The report from the Center for Effective Government and the Institute for Policy Studies looks at the retirement accounts among CEOs...
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
Texas Sheriff Faces Lawsuit Over Federal Immigration Holds ABC ...A Texas sheriff who faced criticism from Gov. Greg Abbott for not complying with federal immigration holds is being sued by people who say they were detained for unconstitutionally long periods. The lawsuit was filed the same day Abbott made public a letter to Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez threatening to penalize the county over her revised policy to no longer honor all federal immigration detention holds...
'Codifying' Government Surveillance, Senate Passes CISA Common Dreams ...The U.S. Senate on Tuesday passed the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) without any of the proposed amendments that would have strengthened user protections. The bill passed 74-21. Rights groups immediately called for President Barack Obama to veto the bill and vowed to keep pressure up.
Tensions Rise as Climate Negotiations Resume in Bonn Truth-Out ...The last round of negotiations before the much-anticipated Paris Conference kicked off on Monday in Bonn. With only five official negotiating days left before Paris, those involved in the talks have plenty of work ahead of them before agreeing on what will hopefully be a legally-binding agreement next December...
Obama: Police Are 'Scapegoats' for Broader Failures of Society The Atlantic ...President Obama’s speech to the International Association of Chiefs of Police in Chicago was always going to require some careful political balancing. he conversation was fairly soft. It was classic Obama: Admitting that every side had something to offer, steering a moderate path, and calling on all sides to step up and compromise...
National Outrage as Videos of Brutal Police Assault on Black Student Go Viral Common Dreams ...A brutal attack by a male officer on a black, female high school student in Columbia, South Carolina on Monday has spurred widespread outrage after a number of cell phone videos of the incident went viral. In the videos, Spring Valley High School resource officer Ben Fields, who is white, is shown briefly reproaching the student, who refuses to get up from her desk, before he puts his arm around her neck...
Saturday, May 3, 2014
Today's Teamster News 05.03.14
Teamster News
Pepsi Workers Hit Picket Line WIBC ...Teamsters Local 135 Spokesman Jeff Combs says they're officially on strike. They picketed outside the Pepsi distribution facility on (Indianapolis') far northwest side. He says their last contract expired Saturday...
Teamsters Win Executive Pay Reform At Gannett teamster.org ...Yesterday, a historic executive pay reform proposal from the International Brotherhood of Teamsters General Fund became the first of its kind to receive a majority of the shares cast at a publically-traded company's annual meeting of shareholders...
Trade
US Senators Voice Doubts On Obama Trade Agenda ABC News ...Lawmakers provided a reality check Thursday to the Obama administration's optimism over its trade agenda following some progress in key negotiations with Japan...
In Colombia, Free Trade Brings More Poverty and More Killings truthout ..."In 2013, 26 trade unionists were murdered, four more than in 2012," according to the AFL-CIO. "Attempted murders also increased, from seven to 13...
State Battles
Seattle Announces $15 Minimum Wage, Highest In The U.S. Think Progress ...Seattle will raise its minimum wage to $15 an hour over the coming years under a deal brokered by Mayor Ed Murray and blessed by labor and business groups alike...
California's Bid To Tax Companies Who Don't Share The Wealth Washington Post ...Last week, a committee of California's Senate ... recommended to the full Senate a bill that would cut the state’s taxes on companies with lower ratios between their chief executives’ pay and the pay of their median workers, and raise taxes on companies with the kind of insanely high gap between chief executive and median worker pay that has become the norm in American business...
Conservative ALEC Gathering In Kansas City Will Work On Policy And Power Kansas City Star ...When U.S. Senate Republicans blocked action this week on a bill to raise the federal minimum wage, they echoed a longstanding anti-worker, pro-business campaign by the American Legislative Exchange Council. The council, known widely as ALEC, promotes a free-market, limited-government agenda...
War On Workers
Look Who The Folks Who Took Down ACORN Are Targeting Now The Nation ...Right-wing operatives with links to big retailers going after worker centers like the Restaurant Opportunities Center....
Bankers Learn What Happens In Vegas, Can Land Back In D.C. Bloomberg Businessweek ...While the union’s ranks of maids, dishwashers, cooks and cocktail servers may not pay much attention to financial regulation, its researchers have dug deep into the 2010 Dodd-Frank law to pressure ...(Deutsche Bank AG) to the bargaining table....
Drone Operator Fined After Almost Hitting NYC Pedestrian Bloomberg ...Two weeks after a judge overturned the first U.S. fine for recklessly flying a drone, the government tested its authority again by citing the operator of an unmanned helicopter that crash-landed 20 feet from a pedestrian in New York City...
Everyone is under surveillance now, says whistleblower Edward Snowden The Guardiain ...the US government has programs in place to spy on hundreds of millions of people’s emails, social networking posts, online chat histories, browsing histories, telephone records, telephone calls and texts – “nearly everything a typical user does on the internet”, in the words of one leaked document...
Miscellaneous
U.S. Creates 288,000 Jobs In April, Unemployment Falls to 6.3% Huffington Post ...The U.S. Economy added 288,000 jobs in April as the unemployment rate fell to 6.3 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday...
The Jobs Report Isn’t as Good as It Looks New York Times ...The number of people in the labor force fell by a whopping 806,000, wiping out the February and March gains and a bit of January as well…. Both hours worked and wages were unchanged...
Buildings collapse on K Street in Northwest Washington Washington Post ...One building completely collapsed and two others, including an adult club, were damaged Friday afternoon near Mount Vernon Square, injuring one person and snarling rush-hour traffic as firefighters investigated and searched the debris...
Pepsi Workers Hit Picket Line WIBC ...Teamsters Local 135 Spokesman Jeff Combs says they're officially on strike. They picketed outside the Pepsi distribution facility on (Indianapolis') far northwest side. He says their last contract expired Saturday...
Teamsters Win Executive Pay Reform At Gannett teamster.org ...Yesterday, a historic executive pay reform proposal from the International Brotherhood of Teamsters General Fund became the first of its kind to receive a majority of the shares cast at a publically-traded company's annual meeting of shareholders...
Trade
US Senators Voice Doubts On Obama Trade Agenda ABC News ...Lawmakers provided a reality check Thursday to the Obama administration's optimism over its trade agenda following some progress in key negotiations with Japan...
In Colombia, Free Trade Brings More Poverty and More Killings truthout ..."In 2013, 26 trade unionists were murdered, four more than in 2012," according to the AFL-CIO. "Attempted murders also increased, from seven to 13...
State Battles
Seattle Announces $15 Minimum Wage, Highest In The U.S. Think Progress ...Seattle will raise its minimum wage to $15 an hour over the coming years under a deal brokered by Mayor Ed Murray and blessed by labor and business groups alike...
California's Bid To Tax Companies Who Don't Share The Wealth Washington Post ...Last week, a committee of California's Senate ... recommended to the full Senate a bill that would cut the state’s taxes on companies with lower ratios between their chief executives’ pay and the pay of their median workers, and raise taxes on companies with the kind of insanely high gap between chief executive and median worker pay that has become the norm in American business...
Conservative ALEC Gathering In Kansas City Will Work On Policy And Power Kansas City Star ...When U.S. Senate Republicans blocked action this week on a bill to raise the federal minimum wage, they echoed a longstanding anti-worker, pro-business campaign by the American Legislative Exchange Council. The council, known widely as ALEC, promotes a free-market, limited-government agenda...
War On Workers
Look Who The Folks Who Took Down ACORN Are Targeting Now The Nation ...Right-wing operatives with links to big retailers going after worker centers like the Restaurant Opportunities Center....
Bankers Learn What Happens In Vegas, Can Land Back In D.C. Bloomberg Businessweek ...While the union’s ranks of maids, dishwashers, cooks and cocktail servers may not pay much attention to financial regulation, its researchers have dug deep into the 2010 Dodd-Frank law to pressure ...(Deutsche Bank AG) to the bargaining table....
Drone Operator Fined After Almost Hitting NYC Pedestrian Bloomberg ...Two weeks after a judge overturned the first U.S. fine for recklessly flying a drone, the government tested its authority again by citing the operator of an unmanned helicopter that crash-landed 20 feet from a pedestrian in New York City...
Everyone is under surveillance now, says whistleblower Edward Snowden The Guardiain ...the US government has programs in place to spy on hundreds of millions of people’s emails, social networking posts, online chat histories, browsing histories, telephone records, telephone calls and texts – “nearly everything a typical user does on the internet”, in the words of one leaked document...
Miscellaneous
U.S. Creates 288,000 Jobs In April, Unemployment Falls to 6.3% Huffington Post ...The U.S. Economy added 288,000 jobs in April as the unemployment rate fell to 6.3 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday...
The Jobs Report Isn’t as Good as It Looks New York Times ...The number of people in the labor force fell by a whopping 806,000, wiping out the February and March gains and a bit of January as well…. Both hours worked and wages were unchanged...
Buildings collapse on K Street in Northwest Washington Washington Post ...One building completely collapsed and two others, including an adult club, were damaged Friday afternoon near Mount Vernon Square, injuring one person and snarling rush-hour traffic as firefighters investigated and searched the debris...
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
Today's Teamster News 03.19.14
Teamster News
Teamster bus drivers at CCTA will continue strike Associated Press ...About 70 bus drivers, represented by Teamsters Local 597, went on strike Monday leaving about 9,500 people who ride the buses every day in Burlington, Vermont scrambling...
Teamster Simulator Technicians at Southwest Approve New Contract Dallas Morning News ...Southwest Airlines and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters announced Friday that flight simulation technicians have approved a two-year contract...
Teamsters: Ask Congress to Fund High Speed Rail and Amtrak teamster.org ...The Republicans in the House have taken a whack at funding for Amtrak and eliminated funding for high speed rail. They want to cut federal spending on Amtrak by 29 percent and eliminate funding for High Speed Rail...
Pepsi Lays Off 60 Workers WREG-TV ...Meetings are underway between the PepsiCo company and Teamsters Local 984 after 60 employees were laid off unexpectedly Thursday. The company says it was a matter of efficiency, but the union says PepsiCo violated the law by not giving workers a 60 day notice...
Teamsters: Poverty Is Bad For Your Health teamster.org ...Covering the tab for life’s basic needs has always been tough for lower income people. But increasing reports make it clear that being a member of the working poor is also hazardous to your health and could drive you to an early grave...
Trade
New Study Shows Dangers of Trade Agreements that Help Corporations Sue Governments naked capitalism ...Pacific Rim/OceanaGold is ... one of 31 oil, gas, and mining corporations suing governments in Latin America in the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), based at the World Bank. ICSID is the most frequently used tribunal under existing pro-corporate, anti-democratic trade and investment rules...
Korea Trade Agreement – Exports Actually Decrease Trade Reform ...the USTR is embarrassed that our exports to Korea actually decreased since the Korea trade and global government agreement was passed. Yes. Exports (not net exports) decreased...
State Battles
New York Settles With McDonald's Restaurants In Wage Theft Investigation Huffington Post ...New York state has reached a settlement with the owner of seven McDonald's franchises that will give nearly $500,000 to fast-food workers who claimed they were shorted on pay, according to state Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman...
Calif. Gov. Brown takes swipes at GOP, praises labor unions Los Angeles Times ...Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown gave a rousing pro-worker speech to a ballroom filled with union representatives Monday night, thanking organized labor for helping pass his vote-approved tax hike in 2012 and worker's compensation reform and vowing to be “around for the next five years.’’...
How Auto Dealers Are Muscling State Legislatures Into Barring Tesla Motors AlterNet ...New Jersey is the latest state to ban the electric car company from selling directly to consumers, which threatens auto dealers' business model. Is New York next?...
RI pension settlement ballots mailed Associated Press ...Mail ballots have been sent to the retired and active public workers who will soon decide the fate of a proposed settlement in the litigation surrounding Rhode Island’s 2011 pension overhaul...
War on Workers
The rich strike back Politico ...“I hope it’s not working,” Ken Langone, the billionaire co-founder of Home Depot and major GOP donor, said of populist political appeals. “Because if you go back to 1933, with different words, this is what Hitler was saying in Germany. You don’t survive as a society if you encourage and thrive on envy or jealousy...”
Southern California Port Truck Drivers Allege Labor Exploitation New America Media ...A new report by a national labor rights group says that the port truck driving industry is rampant with examples of companies employing tactics to exploit drivers, from misclassification as an independent contractor, to depriving drivers of employee benefits, workplace standards and proper wages…
Fifth financial executive with ties to JPMorgan found dead Housing Wire ...Just over 11 weeks into 2014 comes tragic news that an 11th financial executive has apparently committed suicide...
The Plummeting Labor Market Fortunes of Teens and Young Adults Brookings ...Employment prospects for teens and young adults in the nation’s 100 largest metropolitan areas plummeted between 2000 and 2011. On a number of measures—employment rates, labor force underutilization, unemployment, and year-round joblessness—teens and young adults fared poorly, and sometimes disastrously...
Inside Low-wage Workers’ Plan to Sue McDonald’s — and Win Portside ...The wall that fast food workers hope to blast through with these class-action suits is the franchise system. All of the lawsuits name McDonald’s itself as a defendant, even though most of the targeted restaurants are owned not by McDonald’s but by McDonald’s franchisees...
Union chief accuses SEPTA of trying to provoke strike Philadelphia Inquirer ...With no bargaining talks scheduled between SEPTA and transit workers, the president of the agency's largest union accused it of trying to provoke a strike...
Amazon’s near sweatshops and awful conditions: It doesn’t have to be this way Salon ...Labor conditions at Amazon and Wal-Mart are like the pre-New Deal era. These reforms, working elsewhere, would help...
The Shocking Ways Debt Collectors Are Hounding U.S. Military Service Members AlterNet ...Companies use threats of rank reduction and courts-martial...
Miscellaneous
Coalition Files Lawsuit Against Idaho Ag-Gag Law That Targets Journalism, Whistleblowing & Speech Fire Dog Lake ...A coalition of groups and journalists are challenging a law passed in Idaho, which makes it possible for anyone who secretly films or records animal abuse to be jailed for up to a year...
2013 Was a Record Year For Oil-Train Accidents, and Insurers Are Wary Alternet ...All told, railcar accidents spilled more than 1.15 million gallons of crude oil in 2013, federal data shows, compared with an average of just 22,000 gallons a year from 1975 through 2012 — a fifty-fold spike...
24 States Pressure Walmart, Walgreens To Stop Selling Cigarettes Huffington Post ...Attorney Generals from 24 states, Washington D.C., and three U.S. territories sent letters to the country's biggest pharmaceutical retailers Monday, including Walmart and Walgreens, asking them to stop selling tobacco products...
9 Retailers Closing The Most Stores 24/7 Wall St. ...Brick-and-mortar retailers have been suffering from slow economic activity for years, as well as from increased competition from online retailers. The rise in store closings is a prominent sign of their struggles...
Teamster bus drivers at CCTA will continue strike Associated Press ...About 70 bus drivers, represented by Teamsters Local 597, went on strike Monday leaving about 9,500 people who ride the buses every day in Burlington, Vermont scrambling...
Teamster Simulator Technicians at Southwest Approve New Contract Dallas Morning News ...Southwest Airlines and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters announced Friday that flight simulation technicians have approved a two-year contract...
Teamsters: Ask Congress to Fund High Speed Rail and Amtrak teamster.org ...The Republicans in the House have taken a whack at funding for Amtrak and eliminated funding for high speed rail. They want to cut federal spending on Amtrak by 29 percent and eliminate funding for High Speed Rail...
Pepsi Lays Off 60 Workers WREG-TV ...Meetings are underway between the PepsiCo company and Teamsters Local 984 after 60 employees were laid off unexpectedly Thursday. The company says it was a matter of efficiency, but the union says PepsiCo violated the law by not giving workers a 60 day notice...
Teamsters: Poverty Is Bad For Your Health teamster.org ...Covering the tab for life’s basic needs has always been tough for lower income people. But increasing reports make it clear that being a member of the working poor is also hazardous to your health and could drive you to an early grave...
Trade
New Study Shows Dangers of Trade Agreements that Help Corporations Sue Governments naked capitalism ...Pacific Rim/OceanaGold is ... one of 31 oil, gas, and mining corporations suing governments in Latin America in the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), based at the World Bank. ICSID is the most frequently used tribunal under existing pro-corporate, anti-democratic trade and investment rules...
Korea Trade Agreement – Exports Actually Decrease Trade Reform ...the USTR is embarrassed that our exports to Korea actually decreased since the Korea trade and global government agreement was passed. Yes. Exports (not net exports) decreased...
State Battles
New York Settles With McDonald's Restaurants In Wage Theft Investigation Huffington Post ...New York state has reached a settlement with the owner of seven McDonald's franchises that will give nearly $500,000 to fast-food workers who claimed they were shorted on pay, according to state Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman...
Calif. Gov. Brown takes swipes at GOP, praises labor unions Los Angeles Times ...Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown gave a rousing pro-worker speech to a ballroom filled with union representatives Monday night, thanking organized labor for helping pass his vote-approved tax hike in 2012 and worker's compensation reform and vowing to be “around for the next five years.’’...
How Auto Dealers Are Muscling State Legislatures Into Barring Tesla Motors AlterNet ...New Jersey is the latest state to ban the electric car company from selling directly to consumers, which threatens auto dealers' business model. Is New York next?...
RI pension settlement ballots mailed Associated Press ...Mail ballots have been sent to the retired and active public workers who will soon decide the fate of a proposed settlement in the litigation surrounding Rhode Island’s 2011 pension overhaul...
War on Workers
The rich strike back Politico ...“I hope it’s not working,” Ken Langone, the billionaire co-founder of Home Depot and major GOP donor, said of populist political appeals. “Because if you go back to 1933, with different words, this is what Hitler was saying in Germany. You don’t survive as a society if you encourage and thrive on envy or jealousy...”
Southern California Port Truck Drivers Allege Labor Exploitation New America Media ...A new report by a national labor rights group says that the port truck driving industry is rampant with examples of companies employing tactics to exploit drivers, from misclassification as an independent contractor, to depriving drivers of employee benefits, workplace standards and proper wages…
Fifth financial executive with ties to JPMorgan found dead Housing Wire ...Just over 11 weeks into 2014 comes tragic news that an 11th financial executive has apparently committed suicide...
The Plummeting Labor Market Fortunes of Teens and Young Adults Brookings ...Employment prospects for teens and young adults in the nation’s 100 largest metropolitan areas plummeted between 2000 and 2011. On a number of measures—employment rates, labor force underutilization, unemployment, and year-round joblessness—teens and young adults fared poorly, and sometimes disastrously...
Inside Low-wage Workers’ Plan to Sue McDonald’s — and Win Portside ...The wall that fast food workers hope to blast through with these class-action suits is the franchise system. All of the lawsuits name McDonald’s itself as a defendant, even though most of the targeted restaurants are owned not by McDonald’s but by McDonald’s franchisees...
Union chief accuses SEPTA of trying to provoke strike Philadelphia Inquirer ...With no bargaining talks scheduled between SEPTA and transit workers, the president of the agency's largest union accused it of trying to provoke a strike...
Amazon’s near sweatshops and awful conditions: It doesn’t have to be this way Salon ...Labor conditions at Amazon and Wal-Mart are like the pre-New Deal era. These reforms, working elsewhere, would help...
The Shocking Ways Debt Collectors Are Hounding U.S. Military Service Members AlterNet ...Companies use threats of rank reduction and courts-martial...
Miscellaneous
Coalition Files Lawsuit Against Idaho Ag-Gag Law That Targets Journalism, Whistleblowing & Speech Fire Dog Lake ...A coalition of groups and journalists are challenging a law passed in Idaho, which makes it possible for anyone who secretly films or records animal abuse to be jailed for up to a year...
2013 Was a Record Year For Oil-Train Accidents, and Insurers Are Wary Alternet ...All told, railcar accidents spilled more than 1.15 million gallons of crude oil in 2013, federal data shows, compared with an average of just 22,000 gallons a year from 1975 through 2012 — a fifty-fold spike...
24 States Pressure Walmart, Walgreens To Stop Selling Cigarettes Huffington Post ...Attorney Generals from 24 states, Washington D.C., and three U.S. territories sent letters to the country's biggest pharmaceutical retailers Monday, including Walmart and Walgreens, asking them to stop selling tobacco products...
9 Retailers Closing The Most Stores 24/7 Wall St. ...Brick-and-mortar retailers have been suffering from slow economic activity for years, as well as from increased competition from online retailers. The rise in store closings is a prominent sign of their struggles...
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Today's Teamster News 06.25.13
American factory exec says he's being held hostage by scores of angry workers in Beijing Associated Press ...An American executive said Monday he has been held hostage for four days at his medical supply plant in Beijing by scores of workers demanding severance packages like those given to 30 co-workers in a phased-out department...
76% of Americans are living paycheck-to-paycheck CNN Money ...Fewer than one in four Americans have enough money in their savings account to cover at least six months of expenses, enough to help cushion the blow of a job loss, medical emergency or some other unexpected event, according to the survey of 1,000 adults. Meanwhile, 50% of those surveyed have less than a three-month cushion and 27% had no savings at all...
U.S. Surveillance Is Not Aimed at Terrorists Bloomberg ...monitoring phone calls is hardly the way to catch terrorists. They’re generally not dumb enough to use Verizon...
Court makes it harder to sue businesses Associated Press ...The court's conservatives, in two 5-4 decisions, ruled that a person must be able to hire and fire someone to be considered a supervisor in discrimination lawsuits, making it harder to blame a business for a co-worker's racism or sexism. The court then decided to limit how juries can decide retaliation lawsuits...
Supreme Court to decide whether union-business agreement valid The Republic ...The Supreme Court will decide whether a business and a union's agreement is valid after the business helped the union organize in return for help with a ballot initiative...
Lawmakers want to stop government from buying USA flags from China Daily Caller ...Lawmakers in the House of Representatives are renewing a push to stop the federal government from buying and flying American flags made outside the country...
They’re not telling us all of it Trade Reform ...I met with 22 Congressional offices last week. None of them had seen the TPP language...
Rising middle class fuels Brazil's protests Forbes ... in the protests that have gripped Brazil since last week, regional experts say economic growth is actually feeding discontent, as a rising middle class puts demands on social services such as education and transportation that the government has failed to meet...
7-Eleven convenience stores raided as part of US probe Associated Press ...Federal authorities say they’ve raided 7-Eleven convenience stores in two US states as part of a probe into human smuggling, identity theft and money laundering...
McDonald's pay practice scrutinized by federal authorities Citizens’ Voice ...As a lawsuit against a local McDonald's franchise gains national attention, federal authorities are investigating the company's practice of forcing employees to be paid only by debit cards that come with an assortment of fees...
Twinkies Set to Make 'Sweetest Comeback' in July ABC News ...Hostess is now owned by the private equity firms Apollo Global Management and Metropoulos & Co...
Wearing a mask at a riot is now a crime CBC News ...A bill that bans the wearing of masks during a riot or unlawful assembly and carries a maximum 10-year prison sentence with a conviction of the offence became law today (in Canada)...
Tennessee Ends $40 Million in Child Allowances for Unemployed Associated Press ...The state is notifying Tennesseans drawing unemployment benefits that they will soon lose a weekly $15-per-child allowance as part of a new law signed by Republican Gov. Bill Haslam...
State of Ohio skips union, picks private food service Columbus Dispatch ...A Philadelphia mega-company that provides food and beverage service at ballparks, national parks, hospitals and schools nationwide has been picked to provide private food service for Ohio prisons...
Alaska minimum wage hike plan gets go-ahead Associated Press ...The organizers of a ballot initiative to raise the minimum wage in Alaska have been given the go-ahead to begin collecting signature, Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell said Monday....
Montana will prosper with equal pay for equal work (opinion) Billings Gazette ...Fifty years after President Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act, American women earn, on average, 77 percent of what their male counterparts do. In Montana, women are earning only 67 percent for doing the same work, putting Montana in 39th place for pay equity...
Indiana gives BP a pass on mercury Chicago Tribune ...Under the terms of an earlier decision by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, the BP refinery can legally discharge an annual average of 23.1 parts per trillion of mercury — nearly 20 times the federal water quality standard...
Indiana grain elevator blast kills 1 worker Associated Press ...An explosion Monday inside a grain elevator killed a worker at a sprawling northwestern Indiana farm co-op, authorities said...
Teamster UPS Vote IBT ...National Master Contract 34037 (Y) 29576 (N)...
Teamster UPS Freight Returns IBT ...1897 (Y) 4244 (N)...
Pepsi Plant Employees Reject Contract Offer Associated Press ...Employees at the Pepsi Beverage plant in Huntington, who are members of Teamsters Local 175, have unanimously rejected a contract offer they claim would erode their current benefits...
Carteret firm's truckers to vote Friday on joining Teamsters union NJ.com ...Friday’s vote, which follows a contentious unionization campaign, involves 112 short and long-haul drivers and support workers for Toll Global Forwarding...
Listen To The Rick Smith Show’s Broadcasts From His People’s Tour Of America IBT ...The Teamsters are supporting Brother Rick Smith as he takes his labor radio show from his home in Harrisburg, Pa. on a cross-country tour from June 11 to July 5. On the way, he is meeting with union leaders and workers about the state of the American labor movement and the challenges facing the middle class. Come back to this page daily to hear the latest from his road travels...
76% of Americans are living paycheck-to-paycheck CNN Money ...Fewer than one in four Americans have enough money in their savings account to cover at least six months of expenses, enough to help cushion the blow of a job loss, medical emergency or some other unexpected event, according to the survey of 1,000 adults. Meanwhile, 50% of those surveyed have less than a three-month cushion and 27% had no savings at all...
U.S. Surveillance Is Not Aimed at Terrorists Bloomberg ...monitoring phone calls is hardly the way to catch terrorists. They’re generally not dumb enough to use Verizon...
Court makes it harder to sue businesses Associated Press ...The court's conservatives, in two 5-4 decisions, ruled that a person must be able to hire and fire someone to be considered a supervisor in discrimination lawsuits, making it harder to blame a business for a co-worker's racism or sexism. The court then decided to limit how juries can decide retaliation lawsuits...
Supreme Court to decide whether union-business agreement valid The Republic ...The Supreme Court will decide whether a business and a union's agreement is valid after the business helped the union organize in return for help with a ballot initiative...
Lawmakers want to stop government from buying USA flags from China Daily Caller ...Lawmakers in the House of Representatives are renewing a push to stop the federal government from buying and flying American flags made outside the country...
They’re not telling us all of it Trade Reform ...I met with 22 Congressional offices last week. None of them had seen the TPP language...
Rising middle class fuels Brazil's protests Forbes ... in the protests that have gripped Brazil since last week, regional experts say economic growth is actually feeding discontent, as a rising middle class puts demands on social services such as education and transportation that the government has failed to meet...
7-Eleven convenience stores raided as part of US probe Associated Press ...Federal authorities say they’ve raided 7-Eleven convenience stores in two US states as part of a probe into human smuggling, identity theft and money laundering...
McDonald's pay practice scrutinized by federal authorities Citizens’ Voice ...As a lawsuit against a local McDonald's franchise gains national attention, federal authorities are investigating the company's practice of forcing employees to be paid only by debit cards that come with an assortment of fees...
Twinkies Set to Make 'Sweetest Comeback' in July ABC News ...Hostess is now owned by the private equity firms Apollo Global Management and Metropoulos & Co...
Wearing a mask at a riot is now a crime CBC News ...A bill that bans the wearing of masks during a riot or unlawful assembly and carries a maximum 10-year prison sentence with a conviction of the offence became law today (in Canada)...
Tennessee Ends $40 Million in Child Allowances for Unemployed Associated Press ...The state is notifying Tennesseans drawing unemployment benefits that they will soon lose a weekly $15-per-child allowance as part of a new law signed by Republican Gov. Bill Haslam...
State of Ohio skips union, picks private food service Columbus Dispatch ...A Philadelphia mega-company that provides food and beverage service at ballparks, national parks, hospitals and schools nationwide has been picked to provide private food service for Ohio prisons...
Alaska minimum wage hike plan gets go-ahead Associated Press ...The organizers of a ballot initiative to raise the minimum wage in Alaska have been given the go-ahead to begin collecting signature, Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell said Monday....
Montana will prosper with equal pay for equal work (opinion) Billings Gazette ...Fifty years after President Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act, American women earn, on average, 77 percent of what their male counterparts do. In Montana, women are earning only 67 percent for doing the same work, putting Montana in 39th place for pay equity...
Indiana gives BP a pass on mercury Chicago Tribune ...Under the terms of an earlier decision by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, the BP refinery can legally discharge an annual average of 23.1 parts per trillion of mercury — nearly 20 times the federal water quality standard...
Indiana grain elevator blast kills 1 worker Associated Press ...An explosion Monday inside a grain elevator killed a worker at a sprawling northwestern Indiana farm co-op, authorities said...
Teamster UPS Vote IBT ...National Master Contract 34037 (Y) 29576 (N)...
Teamster UPS Freight Returns IBT ...1897 (Y) 4244 (N)...
Pepsi Plant Employees Reject Contract Offer Associated Press ...Employees at the Pepsi Beverage plant in Huntington, who are members of Teamsters Local 175, have unanimously rejected a contract offer they claim would erode their current benefits...
Carteret firm's truckers to vote Friday on joining Teamsters union NJ.com ...Friday’s vote, which follows a contentious unionization campaign, involves 112 short and long-haul drivers and support workers for Toll Global Forwarding...
Listen To The Rick Smith Show’s Broadcasts From His People’s Tour Of America IBT ...The Teamsters are supporting Brother Rick Smith as he takes his labor radio show from his home in Harrisburg, Pa. on a cross-country tour from June 11 to July 5. On the way, he is meeting with union leaders and workers about the state of the American labor movement and the challenges facing the middle class. Come back to this page daily to hear the latest from his road travels...
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
How Baltimore's beverage tax cost Baltimore jobs
The last cans and 2-liter bottles of Pepsi-Cola, Diet Pepsi, Mountain Dew and other sodas ran through the production line Monday morning. Executives at Pepsi Beverages Co. told workers in meetings later in the day that production would be halted for good. Pepsi officials said they would work out details regarding the layoffs, including potential severance, with the local Teamsters union.This is exactly what the Teamsters said would happen last spring. Local 570 secretary-treasurer Sean Cedenio issued a statement saying the tax would hurt beverage workers and their families. He said,
The company will continue most other functions at the plant on Union Avenue in Hampden. An additional 318 workers with positions in sales and in the warehouse will keep their jobs. Pepsi will continue making soda in other parts of the state and the Baltimore plant will get beverages from those facilities as well as others in the Mid-Atlantic region to distribute.
We are very concerned for our members who work for beverage distributors. We’re already seeing a shortage of work for our members. During these challenging economic times, the last thing we should be doing is causing jobs to be cut.
This time, there's no satisfaction in saying "I told you so."
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