Today's Teamster News 02.28.14

Teamster News
Teamsters not happy with inmates filling potholes  WFMJ.com   ...The Teamsters union, representing employees with the Mahoning County engineer's office, is considering filing a grievance after seeing inmates filling potholes...

Teamster School Bus News  teamster.org   ...Baltimore school bus workers win $1.25 million wage settlement; Teamsters Local 445 drivers and monitors in New York win fight for fair contract at Durham; what to do when your bus equipment is defective – all these stories and more are in the latest issue of the Drive Up Standards newsletter...
Nashville Chapter of TNBC Honors Leaders  teamster.org   ...The Nashville Middle TN Valley Chapter of the Teamsters National Black Caucus (TNBC) held its second annual awards banquet titled “Education and Accountability” on February 22, 2014 in Nashville...
Liam Neeson: NYC Mayor Is a Horse Nazi  TMZ   ...Liam Neeson is PISSED OFF at New York City's new mayor for trying to kill the Central Park horse industry...
Will Academy Award nominees speak up for the workers who make the Oscars?  Pando Daily   ...The Teamsters Local 743 in Chicago has been unable to reach an agreement with R.S. Owens & Company, the local awards shop that has exclusively manufactured the familiar gold statuettes for the last three decades...
D.C. Taxi Drivers' Voices Are Being Heard  teamster.org   ...Over the past few months, Washington, D.C. taxi drivers have joined together with the Washington, D.C. Taxi Operators Association, affiliated with Teamsters Local 922, for one strong voice...
Teamster Tells Lawmakers How TPP Will Damage Workers  teamster.org   ..."this is about American families and these trade deals have brutalized the American economy,” he said. “A trade agreement is not an agreement. It is a gun to the head of the American worker...”
BLET tells House: Don’t extend deadline for Positive Train Control  BLET News   ...BLET Vice President & National Legislative Representative John P. Tolman made a strong case for the timely implementation of Positive Train Control (PTC) and other measures to boost rail safety and improve the quality of life for BLET members during testimony delivered at a House subcommittee hearing on February 26...
Trade
NPPC: Japan's Offer On TPP Unacceptable to U.S. Agriculture  National Hog Farmer   ...The National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) says U.S. acceptance of the recent Japanese offer, made as part of the ongoing Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade talks,  would be a radical departure from previous U.S. free trade agreements (FTAs) and could potentially set an unacceptable precedent for future trade deals...
Japanese activist: TPP will affect food security  FMT News   ...The TPP will not only widen the economic disparity between the rich and the poor, but also deny poor nations the power to secure food import, says a Japanese activist...
Ending currency manipulation would create jobs  ABC, Sioux Falls   ...Policy change could bring 20,000 jobs to South Dakota...
State Battles
Protestors gather as Republicans unveil Right to Work legislation  WAVE News   ...Protesters gathered in Frankfort on Thursday as Kentucky Republicans introduced right to work legislation, even though the legislation has dim chances of success this year...
Vermont Citizens Push to Form a State Bank, But Will Ratings Agencies Kill the Idea?  naked capitalism   ...The objective is not to set up a retail bank (say along the lines of a Post Office bank) but to save the fees that are now paid to large financial institutions and to fund public projects...
The War on Workers
Household wealth still down 14 percent since recession  EurekAlert   ...the mean net worth of American households in mid-2013 was still about 14 percent below the pre-recession peak in 2006. Their analysis suggested that middle-aged people took the biggest hit...
Wal-Mart Ad Celebrates American Workers With A Canadian Band's Song About A Guy Who Hates His Job  Business Insider   ...Wal-Mart has been running a high-profile advertising campaign to promote its recent pledge to purchase $250 billion of American-made products over the next 10 years...Rush was strange choice of soundtrack for an ad celebrating American manufacturing given that the band is not just Canadian, but famously Canadian...
Underemployment Piles On Problems For Low-Wage Workers  CBS   ...The state Labor Department says there are about 276,000 Pennsylvanians in the category “working part time for economic reasons.” They include 47,900 people who usually work full-time but are working part-time, and 228,000 people who usually work part-time but are working less than they normally would...
GOP blocks veterans bill  The Hill   ...Senate Republicans stopped Democrats from advancing a bill that would have expanded healthcare and education programs for veterans...
Miscellaneous
Federal Budget Deficit Falls to Smallest Level Since 2008  New York Times   ...Closing the books on a fiscal year in which the federal budget deficit fell more sharply than in any year since the end of World War II, the Treasury Department reported on Thursday that the deficit for 2013 dropped to $680 billion, from about $1.1 trillion the previous year...

Today's Teamster News 12.12.13

Teamsters Join Delegation Calling On IKEA To End Lockout  teamster.org   ...A representative from the International Brotherhood of Teamsters joined a delegation in Sweden this week to ask IKEA to end the abuse of its workers and stop the lockout...
Hoffa: Detroit Bankruptcy Doesn't Change Pension Obligations  Detroit News   ...Mayor-elect Mike Duggan and the City Council, elected by Detroit residents, should be put in charge of crafting a plan that will protect pensioners and give them both security and certainty going forward...
It's Time to End the Secrecy Surrounding TPP Huffington Post   ...The Teamsters, other unions and fair trade advocates have for years criticized a proposed Pacific Rim trade deal for its lack of transparency...
Study: Labor violations don't stop government contracts  Associated Press   ...The study from Democratic leaders on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee found that nearly 30 percent of companies hit with the highest penalties for federal labor law violations from 2007 to 2012 were also federal contractors...
Airline Deregulation: How Ideology Triumphed Over Evidence in the U.S. Airline Industry  Alternet   ...any rational cost-benefit analysis must conclude that deregulation has been a failed experiment...
Cellphone data spying: It's not just the NSA  USA Today   ...Local police are increasingly able to scoop up large amounts of cellphone data using new technologies, including cell tower dumps and secret mobile devices known as Stingrays...
Pensions Become Less Certain For Government Workers  Northeast Indiana Public Radio   ...The budget agreement announced Tuesday — if it passes — would raise revenue by making employees contribute more toward their pensions...
Americans Say Dream Fading as Income Gap Hurts Chances  Bloomberg   ...By almost two to one -- 64 percent to 33 percent -- Americans say the U.S. no longer offers everyone an equal chance to get ahead...
16-Year-Old Drunk Driver Who Killed Four Escapes Jail — Because He Is Rich  Alternet   ...Couch's attorney argued his parents were responsible for the teen’s actions because they had raised him to believe that wealth and privilege could shield him from consequences.  ... Apparently the judge bought that argument...
Billions of Tax Dollars Later, No New Jobs for New York  taxanalysts.com   ...Over nine years, the state of New York gave businesses roughly $10 billion, or almost $1,400 from each household, in a jobs program that eliminated 175,000 jobs at an average cost of $57,000. And that's just state-level subsidies, not those from industrial development agencies...
Pensions Aren't the Source of Detroit's Woes  Portside   ...Since 2008, Detroit has reduced its spending by more than $400 million. In the same period, city revenues have fallen by nearly $260 million, with a steep decline after 2011.  … And yet there is one expense that has, so far, been spared: service fees on derivatives that were sold to the city by banks backed by UBS and Bank of America. In fact, these fees are the only significant increase in spending over the past five years...
Far-Right Lobby Group ALEC Brags That All Politicians in Two State Legislatures Are Members  Alternet   ...Iowa has 150 in each column, and South Dakota has 105 in each column...

Today's Teamster News 05.21.13

Business groups step up push for fast-track authority The Hill   ...Business groups are stepping up their efforts in pushing for a renewal of fast-track authority to negotiate trade agreements. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Business Roundtable  ... teamed up on Monday to launch the Trade Benefits America Coalition...
Trans-Pacific Partnership deal unlikely this year  Stuff.co.nz   ...A heavyweight lineup of former United States trade representatives have delivered a gloomy prognosis on the likelihood of the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) deal being wrapped up this year...
Foreclosure Fraud Failures Come To A Head In Justice Department Protest   ThinkProgress   ...Frustration with the failed execution of various weakly-constructed legal settlements stemming from widespread foreclosure fraud bubbled over today into a protest at Justice Department headquarters that culminated in homeowners being arrested...
White-collar workers are turning to labor unions  Los Angeles Times   ...The next wave of union protesters isn't blue collar. It's lawyers, paralegals, secretaries, helicopter pilots, judges, insurance agents and podiatrists...
Employee Abuse Runs Rampant In America  Economic Populist   ...The Workplace Bullying Institute documents just how widespread employee abuse is in America. ... the WBI site describes who gets targeted for workplace abuse.... The people most targeted are the ones most capable....
Billionaires Now Own American Politics  TomDispatch   ...Billionaires with an axe to grind, now is your time. Not since the days before a bumbling crew of would-be break-in artists set into motion the fabled Watergate scandal, leading to the first far-reaching restrictions on money in American politics, have you been so free to meddle...
Former Sen. Judd Gregg Named CEO Of Top Wall Street Lobbying Group  Huffington Post   ...As the onetime ranking member of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, Gregg was a staunch defender of Wall Street and the financial sector throughout the 2008 financial crisis, helping to author the bill that bailed out the nation's largest banks. The finance, insurance and real estate sector was a top contributor to his campaigns...

Proposal gives Scott Walker administration more power to sell state property  Milwaukee Journal Sentinel   ...Gov. Scott Walker's administration would gain broad authority to sell state property - including prisons, highways, heating plants and university dormitories - under a plan legislators will take up Tuesday...Senator’s plan would make Washington a right-to-work state  Olympia Report   ...Sen. Michael Baumgartner (R-Spokane) on Wednesday announced a strategy  ... to make Washington a right-to-work state if worker’s compensation insurance rates continue to increase...
Pension vote puts some House Republicans in awkward position  Tampa Bay Times ...Florida House Republicans tried to close the state's pension system to new employees this year, saying it's a ticking time bomb that could cripple the state's budget for years to come. But many of those same GOP lawmakers are members of the state pension system themselves...
In Florida, Incentives Only the Beginning for Favored Companies  Florida Center for Investigative Reporting   ...Enterprise Florida is picking winners, and most small businesses cannot imagine being successful in securing these awards,” said Dan Krassner, executive director of the Tallahassee-based watchdog group Integrity Florida. “The whole incentives strategy needs further review to see if it is truly in the public interest.”...
State workers anxious as Illinois lawmakers debate pensions  Associated Press   ...An Illinois agency manager might have to delay retirement. A former university secretary wonders where she’ll have to cancel vacations. A state office assistant fears he won’t be able to afford the medical care his wife needs...
GUEST COMMENTARY: The hidden agenda in Jefferson City  Columbia Missourian   ...the real goal of Missouri's legislative leaders is to continue the shift of wealth and power upward to their friends at the American Legislative Exchange Council. Using ALEC's principles of free markets, limited government and federalism, Missouri's legislative leaders scored at the top of the list of states working to dismantle all public programs and services...
My Voice: No tax dollars for ALEC dues  Argus Leader   ...Do you want your tax dollars to support higher perks, out-of-state travel and membership dues for state legislators to a conservative organization funded by corporate special interests? That’s what is happening now in South Dakota under the leadership of Republican legislators...
ABF Local Leaders Unanimously Approve Tentative Agreement  IBT   ...Leaders from about 160 Teamster local unions that represent ABF members unanimously endorsed a tentative master agreement and supplements today that covers 7,500 workers. The vote to support the tentative agreement and supplements paves the way for a vote by the members...
Teamsters Help 'Stamp Out Hunger'  The Morning Call   ...On May 11, members of National Association of Letter Carriers Locals 389, 254 and 274; the National Rural Letter Carriers' Association; the AFL-CIO and Teamsters Local 778; AARP; the U.S. Postal Service ... collected, sorted and delivered food donated along postal routes, writes Ann B. McManus, director of the Second Harvest Food Bank, in her letter to the editor...

Bold Growth Plans at Hollywood Studios  New York Times   ...Film counts are down. Production is going elsewhere. And yet big Hollywood studios are planning to expand...

South Dakota lawmaker wants taxpayers to stop funding ALEC

America needs more legislators like South Dakota State Sen. Tom Jones (D-District 17). Sen. Jones recently penned a great op-ed in the Yankton Daily Press and Dakotan called “No Tax Dollars For ALEC Dues!”

“Do you want your tax dollars to support higher perks, out of state travel, and membership dues for state legislators to a conservative organization funded by corporate special interests?” the commentary starts, and it only gets going from there.

The whole thing is worth a read. It lays bare how taxpayer money goes toward supporting ALEC, a group hell-bent on destroying unions and giving more power to corporations and billionaires.

“On the last day of the legislative session, the Republican-controlled legislature hiked its own budget $5,000 per lawmaker and this month they began to spend the money by voting for more out-of-state travel, including trips to the controversial American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) conventions where conservative lawmakers are handed model legislation written by corporate special interests,” Sen. Jones writes.

“Why is this important for taxpayers like you to know? … For every dollar Republicans spend on ALEC, we are taking away not just one dollar from taxpayers, students, and veterans today but inviting model ALEC bills that reduce investments in our kids, seniors, and veterans for generations to come.”

Keep up the good work, Sen. Jones!

 

 

 

SD lawmakers ding taxpayers for ALEC travel?

South Dakota state lawmakers who use ALEC's corporate escort service voted to increase the Legislature's travel budget by a half-million dollars. We presume they did it so they can take more lavish vacations with ALEC members.

This is telling: They passed the hike in their travel budget on the last day of the regular Legislative session with little discussion.

Sen. Larry Lucas thinks that's disgraceful. He wrote a terrific op-ed in the Sioux Falls Argus Leader, arguing schools, not travel, deserve funding.

Now the executive board of the Legislature, which I serve on, is being asked to amend its out-of-state travel policy so some lawmakers can become frequent fliers. This comes at a time when the state is shifting the cost of education onto property taxpayers and hurting the quality of classrooms from border to border. 

Should we spend a half-million more dollars for legislators to travel to national meetings? Is not the current policy of one out-of-state paid trip per year for each legislator adequate? Expanding travel seems contrary to the conservative budgets we pass in South Dakota year after year. A colleague of mine figured that this travel and training money represents an increase of nearly $5,000 per legislator compared to an increase of only $180 per student in K-12 education funding. 

Legislators meeting with legislators from other states is not bad. We pay annual dues to the National Council of State Legislatures and the Council of State Governments to allow for this along with other services such as legislative research and state-to-state comparisons. This allows for each of the 50 states to be independent, strong units of government. But expanding legislator travel probably will allow legislators to also use tax dollars to attend meetings of organizations that are funded and backed by partisan advocacy groups such as the ultra-conservative American Legislative Exchange Council. Doing so will make it much easier for private corporations to influence our legislative agendas.

He makes a point that's all-too-overlooked these days:

An effective democracy must be free from corporate control and influence, not indebted to wealthy business interests.

We hope that boat hasn't sailed already.