Today's Teamster News 05.20.13

Bangladesh Factory Safety Accord: At Least 14 Major North American Retailers Decline To Sign Huffington Post   ...The deadline to sign onto the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh passed on Tuesday, and at least 14 major North American retailers declined to participate...
The great tax charade: Amazon plays the system while businesses like ours suffer  The Independent   ...We own a pair of independent book shops in Warwickshire. All around us the high street is, essentially, collapsing.... It’s simply not fair that Amazon starts at a an advantage on every sale because it’s not paying its fair share of tax...
Robert Reich: The Hollowing-Out of Government  Moyers & Company   ...The deadly explosion at a West, Texas, fertilizer plant was absolutely preventable. The plant was had not been inspected since 1985, and heavily violated safety standards. Why did this happen? The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is the government agency set to ensure workplace safety, but it’s been steadily hollowed out by Republicans…
Koch Brothers Dump Three-Story Pile of Toxic Byproduct on Detroit  The Gawker   ...There's a new addition to the scenic view along the Detroit River: a three-story pile of petroleum coke, a byproduct of the tar sands drilling in northern Canada over 2,000 miles away...
Class-Action Lawsuit Aimed at Walmart  Hispanic Business   ...Walmart can be sued for being negligent in hiring contractors that employ workers at their distribution centers, according to a federal ruling this week...
Michael Kinsley Feels Your Austerity Pain, Middle Class, But Pain Makes You Beautiful  Huffington Post   ...The austerity policies that gripped the world in the face of the global economic downturn have not worked. Unless the intent was to make a bad situation almost intractably worse...
Say no to Chained CPI scheme (opinion)  Times-Standard   ...Recipients of Social Security benefits and those about to retire should be aware that President Obama's proposed switch to the so-called Chained Consumer Price Index is, if adopted, will result in reduced benefits to all recipients...
Corporations Are Stealing From Hard Working Americans  New Hampshire Labor News   ...If you do not agree that corporations are stealing from Americans then you do not understand our current tax structure...
How Trade Pacts Threaten Public Health and Freedom  U.S. News & World Report   ...Let's face it: trade agreements bore most people. But modern trade pacts reach deep into our lives in ways that have nothing to do with trade. Deals now under discussion undermine the freedom of people everywhere to decide how to live, and they restrict the ability of democratically-elected governments to promote public health. It's time for the rest of us to pay attention…
Winners and losers from the 2013 session of the Missouri General Assembly  Kansas City Star   ...More importantly for the labor movement, the GOP largely abandoned the bill that unions most despised — a ban on unions requiring workers to pay dues, better known as “right to work.”...
Wisconsin Gov. Walker signs work-share bill  Green Bay Press Gazette   ...Gov. Scott Walker has signed into law a bill creating a program that gives employers an alternative to laying off employees when work slows...
Minimum Wage Hike Would Give Women A Needed Boost  Hartford Courant   ...Recently, the Appropriations Committee of the Connecticut General Assembly took a strong step toward growing and strengthening the wages of Connecticut's lowest-wage earners by voting to increase the state's minimum wage. In doing so, the committee also took a stand for women, as women are disproportionately impacted by a low minimum wage...
Texas sues BP, Halliburton, others over oil spill  CNN News   ...Texas on Friday became the latest state to sue BP, Halliburton and others tied to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, alleging the parties "engaged in willful and wanton misconduct" and seeking penalties and damages "to the fullest extent allowed by law."...
Indiana Halts Support of Fertilizer Plant on U.S. Bomb Concerns  Bloomberg News   ...Indiana Governor Mike Pence pulled his support of a plan by a Pakistani company to build a fertilizer plant after the Pentagon raised concerns that its products were being used to make bombs...
Georgia depends heavily on federal money  Atlanta Journal-Constitution   ...With Congress promising more federal spending cuts, some Georgia officials are facing up to a politically unpopular fact: the state has become more reliant on billions of dollars from Washington since the start of the Great Recession...

Today's Teamster News 05.18.13

In Peru, Talks Resume for New Asia, Americas, Oceania Trade Pact  Wall Street Journal   ...Another round of talks aimed at reaching an agreement on an enormous new trading bloc linking nations from Asia, the Americas and Oceania officially kicked off Wednesday in Lima...
LIVE FROM LIMA: Our Health, Environment, and Rights are Not Negotiable!  Public Citizen   ...Several Peruvian organizations have joined together to launch the No Negociable! (Not Negotiable!) campaign to highlight the grave threats that the TPP poses to Internet freedom, the environment, workers' rights, and public health...
Probe begins in commuter train collision  USA Today   ...60 people were transported to hospitals and five people were hurt critically, one very critically, Friday night near Bridgeport, Conn., after a commuter train derailed and was hit by another train...
Malaria and HIV Spike as Greece Cuts Healthcare Spending  The Atlantic   ..."Greece is an example of perhaps the worst case of austerity leading to public health disasters...
Senator wants U.S. in oil price-fixing probe  USA Today   ...The request from Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., came after European Union investigators this week raided the offices of global energy giants BP, Royal Dutch Shell and Statoil. The anti-trust probe is examining whether the companies manipulated oil prices by making false reports to Platts, an energy industry data service owned by McGraw Hill Financial...
Elizabeth Warren Slams ‘Dangerous’ Legislation That Would Weaken Wall Street Reform  ThinkProgress   ...A week after a bipartisan group of lawmakers on the House Financial Services Committee overwhelmingly approved a rollback of certain financial reforms contained in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act, one of the Senate’s biggest consumer advocates is pushing back...
Protesters decry possible sale of Orlando Sentinel to Koch brothers  Orlando Sentinel   ...About 40 people gathered in front of the Orlando Sentinel building Thursday evening to protest a rumored sale of the newspaper to billionaire businessmen Charles and David Koch...
Payrolls Increased in 30 U.S. States in April, Led by Texas  Bloomberg   ...Texas led the gains in payrolls, adding 33,100 jobs last month, followed by New York andFlorida, according to figures released today in Washington by the Labor Department. California, New York and South Carolina were among states with the biggest decreases in joblessness...
Wisconsin sees biggest monthly job loss since 2009  The Cap Times   ...the Department of Workforce Development on Thursday quietly released the latest federal figures showing the state losing 22,000 jobs in April...
What You Should Know About the Philly Student Walkout  The Nation   ...Running a massive deficit of hundreds of millions of dollars, Philadelphia’s school system is planning to eliminate all sports, extracurricular activities, counselors and libraries—beyond which, for schools eviscerated by austerity politics, there’s not much left to lose...
Oklahoma workers' compensation measure signed into law  The Oklahoman   ... It also allows businesses to opt out of the workers' compensation system as long as they provide equivalent benefits to injured workers...
Ohio Republicans Push Law To Penalize Colleges For Helping Students Vote  Talking Points Memo   ...Republicans in the Ohio Legislature are pushing a plan that could cost the state’s public universities millions of dollars if they provide students with documents to help them register to vote...
Democrats Demand Revenues Go To Schools, Families, Cities  Michigan House Democrats   ...House Democratic Leader Tim Greimel (D-Auburn Hills) and state Representative Rashida H Tlaib(D-Detroit), Democratic vice chairwoman of the House Appropriations Committee, said today the House Republicans and Gov. Rick Snyder should be using the increased revenues the state will take in this year to increase funding for schools, help Michigan’s middle-class families and help cash-strapped cities provide services such as police and fire protection...
EDITORIAL: Buy American steel for federal projects  NWI Times   ...U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky's legistion requiring the federal government to use U.S.-made steel for public projects makes sense...
Teamsters Applaud Senate Labor Committee Vote To Approve Perez Nomination  IBT   ...Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa expressed his hope that the Senate would move quickly to confirm Perez’s nomination...

Teamsters urge Senate to approve Labor Secretary nomination

The U.S. needs a strong advocate for working families like Thomas Perez in the Labor Department if we are to restore the middle class, Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa said today.

Hoffa applauded Perez's approval by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee yesterday.

The Teamsters issued a press statement today about Perez's nomination:

In his post as the assistant attorney general for civil rights, Perez settled the three largest fair lending cases on behalf of working families targeted by unfair mortgage practices. He fought to protect the rights of students to achieve a quality education, increased the enforcement of human trafficking laws and stepped up efforts to protect the civilian jobs of military personnel who are serving our country. He also has been a champion for voting rights. Perez previously served as Maryland’s Labor Secretary. 

Perez is the son of immigrants from the Dominican Republic. When he was 12, his father died of a heart attack and a Teamster became a surrogate father to him. That bond helped create his lifelong support for labor unions. 

“We have watched the middle class get the short end of the stick for too long,” Hoffa said.

The Washington Post reported Perez's nomination could be held up by the usual partisan gridlock:

At stake is the role of a Cabinet member who would enforce labor laws and potentially write certain immigration rules, depending on what happens with the ongoing negotiations over immigration reform. 

Perez has turned out to be Obama’s most controversial second-term Cabinet pick since the president tapped former Republican senator Chuck Hagel to run the Pentagon.... 

As for Perez, his nomination has drawn vastly different reactions from Democrats and Republicans. Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), who chairs the Senate committee that oversees Labor, described Perez last week as “eminently qualified” for a Cabinet post, while Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell described him as a “committed ideologue” who ignores the law and misstates facts to push a progressive agenda. 

Latino groups have cautioned Republicans against opposing Perez’s nomination, suggesting it could have grave consequences for the party trying to gain favor with a growing electorate that overwhelmingly supported Obama in the last election.

Stay tuned.

Today's Teamster News 03.19.13

"Everyone But China" Agreement Prevents Regulation of Hot Money and Speculation  The Real News   ...The Trans-Pacific Partnership ... will weaken the sovereignty of many of the countries that sign on to that agreement...
Commentary: Little knives and cellphones on planes? This won't end well  McClatchy   ...At the same time the FCC is requesting that airlines ease up on restricting the use of cell phones, the TSA is fixing to relax rules so we can carry knives onto planes...
Rush to ATMs in Cyprus on EU bailout tax  CNN Money   ...A planned tax on Cyprus bank depositors as part of a European Union bailout is sending people rushing to ATMs to withdraw cash...
There are winners in Detroit’s financial crisis: the banks – and they are shielded from any risk by the new Emergency Manager law  eclectablog   ...not only have the big banks reaped hundreds of millions of dollars in fees and avoided taxes by walking away from foreclosed properties, they are first in line to get paid when Detroit’s debt problem is resolved...
Bill to limit referendum process could pass this week  Plunderbund   ...(Ohio) Republicans, safely in the majority in both chambers of the legislature, are fast-tracking legislation that would dramatically weaken efforts to overturn the laws that they pass...
House set to debate privatizing Pennsylvania stores  Pittsburgh Post-Gazette   ...A liquor privatization plan that would allow wine in groceries and make liquor licenses first available to beer distributors -- while closing state stores by county -- is headed to the House floor after a Republican-driven committee vote Monday...
Legislation moving ahead to revamp Florida worker retirement system  Naples Daily News   ...The proposal — House Bill 7011 — would close the traditional pension plan to future employees and require them to join an investment plan similar to a 401(k)...
Getting rich off of schoolchildren  Salon   ...Stop pretending wealthy CEOs pushing for charter schools are altruistic "reformers." They're raking in billions...
Teamsters, ABF labor talks continue  Kansas City Business Journal   ...Negotiations between the union and ABF Freight System Inc. and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters continue as the two parties creep closer to the March 31 expiration date of their current labor agreement...
Hoffa Lauds Nomination Of Thomas Perez As Labor Secretary  IBT   ..."Thomas Perez is the right choice for Labor Secretary because he has shown throughout his career that he is a strong advocate for working families," Hoffa said...
Hoffa denounces TSA decision to allow knives in aircraft cabin  IBT  ..."This proposal is pure lunacy and flies in the face of common sense."