Teamsters
Teamsters Support Alaska Airlines Contract Workers Fight for $15, Union Teamster.org ...The Teamsters Airline Division has pledged its support of contract workers at Alaska Airlines who are fighting for fair wages and union representation. The contract workers picketed outside airports across country today in an effort to raise public awareness of their fight...
Fired Workers Win Back Their Jobs Times News Weekly ...Allan Henry, an organizer for the Teamsters, said that after speaking out against Five Star Carting and their working conditions, Bush and Darden were told to sign papers deeming them terminated before they could receive their paychecks. “Now they both have their jobs back, but this is the type of working conditions and the type of retaliation these workers are dealing in this industry,” Henry said...
Strike At McMahon Distributeur Pharmaceutique Inc’s Montreal DC Materials Management & Distribution ...Unionized employees, represented by the Teamsters Québec, local 1999, are on strike at McMahon Distributeur pharmaceutique inc’s Montreal DC. The union rejected the company’s offer after several months of bargaining...
De Blasio Administration To Begin Horse-Carriage Outreach Capital New York ...The de Blasio administration began its outreach on Monday to horse-carriage drivers and others who would be affected by legislation to abolish the industry...
Global Labor & Trade
Costa Rica Announces Plan To Eradicate Child Labor By 2020 Tico Times ...During an event Monday morning, Costa Rica announced an initiative to get more than 40,000 children out of the workforce. The multi-pronged approach builds off previous efforts to reduce child labor and aims to eliminate the practice altogether by 2020...
TTIP Talks Dubbed Secretive And Undemocratic Sputnik ...As the EU Foreign Affairs Council re-starts discussions on Thursday on the trade and investment partnership with the United States (TTIP), a senior UN official has dubbed the talks undemocratic and secretive. The controversial TTIP agreement has been pushed through by US President Barack Obama, who has called for the negotiations for the world's biggest trade agreement to be speeded up. As the talks get underway in Brussels on May 7, the Independent Expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order, Alfred de Zayas, expressed deep concerns over the talks...
TPP, TTIP And TISA: How The Media Misrepresent Obama’s “Fast Track” “Secret” International Trade Deals Centre for Research on Globalization ...Both conservative and liberal ‘news’ media misrepresent U.S. President Barack Obama’s proposed international trade-deals as if they were about only such things as lowering tariffs and reducing national trade-protectionism — which are relatively minor surface-features of these huge proposed treaties: TTIP with Europe, TPP with Asia, and TISA (Trade in Services Agreement)...
Obama's Scheduled Visit To Nike Has Trade Deal Skeptics Scratching Their Heads Huffington Post ...Nike, which is regarded as a pioneer in overseas outsourcing, has a long and checkered labor history in Vietnam. The footwear and apparel giant was pilloried for alleged sweatshop conditions in its contracted factories in Vietnam back in the 1990s, bruising its public image. By most accounts, Nike has helped make significant safety improvements in factories through its own monitoring programs since then, but wages in Vietnam are still extremely low, and the government has a poor track record of enforcing labor laws there...
State & Living Wage Battles
Pennsylvania Senate OKs Public Employee Collective Bargaining Bills Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ...Republicans on Wednesday gave Senate approval to two bills that they said would increase transparency in collective bargaining for public employees, but which Democrats equated to union-busting...
Wisconsin GOP’s Latest Attack On Food Stamp Recipients Would Cost The State Millions Think Progress ...Wisconsin would have to spend millions of dollars to realize a Republican scheme to restrict how poor people shop for food, state fiscal analysts revealed Wednesday...
For Women In This State, Getting Pregnant Will No Longer Mean Losing A Job Think Progress ...On Tuesday, the New York State legislature passed a bill aimed at shielding pregnant women from workplace discrimination, which the governor has said he will sign...
Racist History Of ‘Right To Work’ Shows Threat To Black, Latino Workers Chicago Reporter ...Rauner may be a true believer in trickle-down ideology, but for major right-to-work supporters like the corporate-sponsored American Legislative Exchange Council (which pioneered the county-level approach Rauner is now taking), it’s all about removing unions as a political check on the power of corporations. But that will have real costs for working families in Illinois. And the costs will be highest for blacks and Latinos...
Why The FEC Won’t Crack Down On Campaign Finance Violations In 2016 Think Progress ...Though the election is more than a year away, several candidates and soon-to-be candidates have already been accused of campaign finance violations. But the head of the government’s main agency for investigating the claims and enforcing the laws on the books has publicly admitted that few violators will be brought to justice this election cycle...
Effort To Repeal Prevailing Wage Law Fails In Committee Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ...A bill to repeal the state's (Wisconsin) prevailing wage failed in committee Thursday, when Republican Sen. Howard Marklein joined the panel's two Democrats to block the measure...
Pence Signs Bill Repealing Indiana Construction Wage Law Indianapolis Business Journal ...Local boards will no longer set minimum wages for public construction projects in Indiana under a law signed Wednesday by Gov. Mike Pence. The bill will eliminate the boards that set what is known as the common construction wage that workers must be paid on most state or local government projects...
Senate Votes To Block Union Dues Deduction For Some Public Employees Houston Chronicle ...Senate Bill 1968 would allow the payroll deductions to continue for police, fire and emergency-services employees -- groups that generally vote Republican in most parts of Texas -- but would not allow them for other unions, such as those for teachers, construction trades and other unions...
U.S. Labor
The 40-Hour Work Week Is A Thing Of The Past Wall Street Journal ...The phrase “nine to five” is becoming an anachronism. About half of all managers work more than 40 hours a week, according to a new survey from tax and consulting firm EY, and 39% report that their hours have increased in the past five years. Little wonder, then, that one-third of workers say it’s getting more difficult to balance work and life...
U.S. Productivity Falls 1.9% In First Quarter Wall Street Journal ...U.S. worker productivity fell in the opening months of 2015, extending a poor track record since the recession and underscoring longer-term risks to American workers’ wages...
Making The Economy Work For The Many, Not The Few -- Step 1: Raise The Minimum Wage (opinion) Huffington Post ...If the minimum wage in 1968 had simply kept up with inflation it would be more than $10 today. If it also kept up with the added productivity of American workers since then, it would be more than $21 an hour. Some opponents say minimum wage workers are teenagers seeking some extra pocket money. Wrong. Half are 35 or older, and many are key breadwinners for their families. And don't believe scaremongers who say a $15 minimum will cause employers to cut employment. More money in people's pockets means more demand for goods and services, which means more jobs not fewer jobs...
U.S. Employers Add Solid 223,000 Jobs, Unemployment Rate Falls To 7-Year Low Huffington Post ...U.S. employers added 223,000 jobs in April, a solid gain that suggests that the economy may be recovering after stumbling at the start of the year. The Labor Department said Friday that the unemployment rate dipped to 5.4 percent from 5.5 percent in March. That is the lowest rate since May 2008, six months into the Great Recession...
Miscellaneous
Oil Train Erupts In Flames In North Dakota Wall Street Journal ...A BNSF Railway Co. train carrying crude oil derailed Wednesday morning in rural North Dakota, erupting into flames and sending billows of black smoke into the air...
What Will Happen To American Jobs, Incomes, And Wealth A Decade From Now? (opinion) Huffington Post ...We are now faced not just with labor-replacing technologies but with knowledge-replacing technologies. The combination of advanced sensors, voice recognition, artificial intelligence, big data, text-mining, and pattern-recognition algorithms, is generating smart robots capable of quickly learning human actions, and even learning from one another. A revolution in life sciences is also underway, allowing drugs to be tailored to a patient's particular condition and genome...
Break Up Big Banks (opinion) Huffington Post ...We don't hear it discussed much in the media, but the reality is that the middle class of this country, once the envy of the world, is collapsing, 45 million Americans are living in poverty, and the gap between the rich and everyone else is growing wider and wider...
Wall Street Had Five Years To Prove They Can Control Their Computers. They Failed. Think Progress ...Regulators have struggled to explain the 2010 flash crash, first blaming it on legitimate trades made by a Kansas-based firm and then charging one individual trader with intentionally creating the crash from his parents’ basement. It’s not clear that either explanation is correct, though, and that very inability to convincingly diagnose what happened that day underscores how loose human control over digitized trading strategies has become...
Trucking Company Shows Facebook Road To Future New York Times ...Frustrated by Swift Transportation’s co-founder and chief executive, Jerry Moyes, the company’s shareholders will be voting at Friday’s annual meeting whether to eliminate a dual-share structure that grants him control. Owners of Facebook and other similarly feudalistic frameworks one day may find themselves similarly frustrated...
Showing posts with label Swift Transportation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Swift Transportation. Show all posts
Friday, May 8, 2015
Monday, April 27, 2015
Today's Teamster News 04.27.15
Teamsters
New York Mayor’s Office, Teamsters Team Up For Community Grants Variety ...The Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment and the Theatrical Teamsters Local 817 have partnered to award three “Made in NY” grants to support community-based organizations with media, film or arts programs in high-need communities...
Teamsters Swift Transportaion Shareholder Proposal Recommended By Leading Proxy Voting Advisors Teamster.org ...The country’s two leading proxy voting advisors, ISS and Glass Lewis, recommend that shareholders of Swift Transportation vote for a shareholder proposal sponsored by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters that calls on the company to pursue a plan to recapitalize the company and replace the current dual class stock structure with one that ensures equal voting rights for all shareholders...
Global Labor & Trade
Liberals furious with Obama’s trade comments MSNBC ...The already bitter fight between the White House and the progressive base over trade policy has turned ugly after President Obama said his critics on the left “don’t know what they’re talking about” and compared their arguments to conspiracy theories about “death panels.” Progressives trade critics are up in arms over the comments, made Thursday night to a gathering of Organizing for Action...
Obama Hits the Warpath Over TPP The Nation ...Many of Obama’s claims, however, don’t match up to what we know about the deal so far. Others are impossible to fact-check, as the final language of the deal remains a secret to the public and even many congressional staffers. The members of Congress who have seen the deal can’t disclose what’s in it, but their public statements reveal a deep unease about the text...
New York Mayor’s Office, Teamsters Team Up For Community Grants Variety ...The Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment and the Theatrical Teamsters Local 817 have partnered to award three “Made in NY” grants to support community-based organizations with media, film or arts programs in high-need communities...
Teamsters Swift Transportaion Shareholder Proposal Recommended By Leading Proxy Voting Advisors Teamster.org ...The country’s two leading proxy voting advisors, ISS and Glass Lewis, recommend that shareholders of Swift Transportation vote for a shareholder proposal sponsored by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters that calls on the company to pursue a plan to recapitalize the company and replace the current dual class stock structure with one that ensures equal voting rights for all shareholders...
Global Labor & Trade
Liberals furious with Obama’s trade comments MSNBC ...The already bitter fight between the White House and the progressive base over trade policy has turned ugly after President Obama said his critics on the left “don’t know what they’re talking about” and compared their arguments to conspiracy theories about “death panels.” Progressives trade critics are up in arms over the comments, made Thursday night to a gathering of Organizing for Action...
Obama Hits the Warpath Over TPP The Nation ...Many of Obama’s claims, however, don’t match up to what we know about the deal so far. Others are impossible to fact-check, as the final language of the deal remains a secret to the public and even many congressional staffers. The members of Congress who have seen the deal can’t disclose what’s in it, but their public statements reveal a deep unease about the text...
Obama escalates push-back against Elizabeth Warren and other trade deal critics Washington Post ...The push-back, directed largely at fellow Democrats, shows just how sharply the trade deal is dividing the party — a schism that could only intensify in the days ahead. On the call, Obama ran through a number of Democratic and liberal objections to the deal...
U.S. mulling trade rules change dubbed 'poison pill' for pact Reuters ...The amendment, approved by the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday, would disqualify trade deals with countries deemed soft on human trafficking from special procedures designed to speed their passage through Congress. The problem arises because the 2014 list of human-trafficking offenders includes Malaysia, a partner in the TPP...
TTIP Negotiators Get An Earful From American Critics EurActiv ...In the margins of talks for a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) on Thursday (23 April), US opponents to the deal vocally criticised the emerging agreement, saying it was a bad deal for consumers and the environment...
Congressional Panels Approve Fast Track For Trade Deal, With Conditions New York Times ...House and Senate committees this week easily agreed to give President Obama fast-track authority to negotiate a sweeping trade accord with Pacific nations, but the package of bills intended to speed completion of the deal also imposes difficult burdens on its negotiators...
Obama, Hillary Clinton don't get trade (opinion) CNN ...Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton is trying to walk a fine line somewhere in the middle. Clinton has recently courted Warren's support while forcefully repeating the rhetoric of populism. But according to a report by The New York Times, Clinton's staff is at pains to suggest that Clinton has always been a populist as opposed to merely trying to now co-opt a current trend...
Women Around The World Rise Up To Remember Rana Plaza Common Dreams ...Marking two years since the Rana Plaza factory collapse in Bangladesh, protesters are converging on the country's capital and feminist actions are sweeping the globe on Friday, to honor the lives of the 1,138 people—most of them women—who perished in the tragedy and to demand justice for those they left behind...
Labour reforms trigger strike in S. Korea AFP ...Thousands of South Korean workers and civil servants rallied in Seoul on Friday in response to a nationwide general strike call against government labour reforms. The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) said more than 260,000 people across the country participated in the one-day strike, including health workers, teachers and factory employees...
State & Living Wage Battles
Suburbs Not Exactly Embracing Rauner's Turnaround Plan Chicago Daily Herald ...Gov. Bruce Rauner's controversial effort to convince local governments to back his reform agenda is getting only a so-so response in the suburbs as union supporters flood meeting rooms to oppose the plan they say will limit workers' rights...
Four Years Later, Texas Is Still Defending Its Voter ID Law Huffington Post ...The issue at hand -- Texas' contentious photo ID law -- is expected to ultimately make its way to the Supreme Court. Voting rights advocates will argue that a federal judge's ruling from October -- which called the law an unconstitutional "poll tax," intentionally discriminatory and an unconstitutional burden on the right to vote -- should be upheld...
Right to work amendment unlikely to advance far Springfield News Sun ...A legislative panel will consider adding "right to work" to the Ohio constitution, although it seems unlikely the proposal will be approved. The Ohio Constitutional Modernization Commission is reviewing the state constitution to make recommendations to the Ohio Legislature on subjects ranging from term limits to school funding...
Debate Over Raising Pennsylvania’s Minimum Wage Continues In State Capitol CBS Philly ...Supporters of an increase in the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour held an event at the state Capitol at which time they released a study on the impact it would have on Pennsylvania by The Keystone Research Center...
Debate swirls around whether increase in minimum wage would hurt business News Tribune ...This year, Missouri legislators filed five bills proposing raises to the state’s minimum wage, with rates ranging from $9.50 to $10.25 per hour. Similar bills have been filed in the past several years, but most never make it past the committee stage...
Meet The People Going Without Food For 15 Days To Demand A $15 Wage Think Progress ...Fast food workers like Farfan have staged nationwide strikes and protests to demand a $15 wage and the right to form a union. That pay floor has caught on in some places like Seattle and San Francisco, which both raised their wages to that level. Los Angeles lawmakers are considering joining them by raising the city’s wage to $15.25 by 2019...
U.S. Labor
SEIU, county talks frozen as Legislature considers bargaining reform Las Vegas Review-Journal ...Clark County government and its largest union remain locked in a standoff, unable to bargain a contract. The county and Service Employees International Union Local 1107 cannot even agree enough to take their dispute to an arbitrator for a final decision. Both sides started negotiating in June 2013. By February 2014, the SEIU had declared an impasse that continues to this day...
Assembly bill could give farmworkers a greater voice during mediation Fresno Bee ...As a protracted legal fight over who will represent about 3,000 Gerawan Company workers simmers, state Assembly Member Jim Patterson, R-Fresno, is stepping in the fray with a bill that could prevent future conflicts between labor unions, farmworkers and their employer...
Battling A Damaging Workplace Trend (opinion) Huffington Post ...One of the most pervasive and damaging trends we are seeing in the 21st-century workplace is the deliberate misclassification of workers by employers looking to shift responsibility and cut costs. Two judgments announced this week in Utah and Arizona demonstrate our commitment to cracking down on this practice, whereby companies claim that their workers are not employees but independent contractors...
Miscellaneous
In Battle Between Strong Dollar And Cheap Gas, The Strong Dollar Is Winning New York Times ...Oil prices plummeted last year, leading to cheaper gasoline — good news for American consumers and companies like airlines and shipping firms that are heavy fuel users. Meanwhile, the dollar soared on global currency markets, making life more difficult for exporters who faced higher costs relative to global competitors. The giant question for the economy in 2015 was which of these forces would prove more powerful. The bad news is that so far, the strong dollar is winning...
The Dirty Secret Of College Athletics Is That Students Pay Exorbitant Fees To Subsidize It Cleveland Plain Dealer ...But here's the dirty little secret about athletics at places like CSU and hundreds of others of colleges and universities: All these costly athletic programs are funded, in large part, by fees assessed on students -- fees that, in many cases, students don't ever realize they're paying...
A Drone Program That Has Killed Hundreds Of Civilians Finally Killed Some That The White House Regrets Huffington Post ...Watching the coverage of these tragic deaths, a viewer would be left with the impression of a drone program that has had a stellar record of accuracy up until it unfortunately killed two innocent people. But, in fact, killing innocent people has been a central part of the drone program from the very beginning, and is in many ways an inescapable consequence...
U.S. mulling trade rules change dubbed 'poison pill' for pact Reuters ...The amendment, approved by the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday, would disqualify trade deals with countries deemed soft on human trafficking from special procedures designed to speed their passage through Congress. The problem arises because the 2014 list of human-trafficking offenders includes Malaysia, a partner in the TPP...
TTIP Negotiators Get An Earful From American Critics EurActiv ...In the margins of talks for a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) on Thursday (23 April), US opponents to the deal vocally criticised the emerging agreement, saying it was a bad deal for consumers and the environment...
Congressional Panels Approve Fast Track For Trade Deal, With Conditions New York Times ...House and Senate committees this week easily agreed to give President Obama fast-track authority to negotiate a sweeping trade accord with Pacific nations, but the package of bills intended to speed completion of the deal also imposes difficult burdens on its negotiators...
Obama, Hillary Clinton don't get trade (opinion) CNN ...Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton is trying to walk a fine line somewhere in the middle. Clinton has recently courted Warren's support while forcefully repeating the rhetoric of populism. But according to a report by The New York Times, Clinton's staff is at pains to suggest that Clinton has always been a populist as opposed to merely trying to now co-opt a current trend...
Women Around The World Rise Up To Remember Rana Plaza Common Dreams ...Marking two years since the Rana Plaza factory collapse in Bangladesh, protesters are converging on the country's capital and feminist actions are sweeping the globe on Friday, to honor the lives of the 1,138 people—most of them women—who perished in the tragedy and to demand justice for those they left behind...
Labour reforms trigger strike in S. Korea AFP ...Thousands of South Korean workers and civil servants rallied in Seoul on Friday in response to a nationwide general strike call against government labour reforms. The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) said more than 260,000 people across the country participated in the one-day strike, including health workers, teachers and factory employees...
State & Living Wage Battles
Suburbs Not Exactly Embracing Rauner's Turnaround Plan Chicago Daily Herald ...Gov. Bruce Rauner's controversial effort to convince local governments to back his reform agenda is getting only a so-so response in the suburbs as union supporters flood meeting rooms to oppose the plan they say will limit workers' rights...
Four Years Later, Texas Is Still Defending Its Voter ID Law Huffington Post ...The issue at hand -- Texas' contentious photo ID law -- is expected to ultimately make its way to the Supreme Court. Voting rights advocates will argue that a federal judge's ruling from October -- which called the law an unconstitutional "poll tax," intentionally discriminatory and an unconstitutional burden on the right to vote -- should be upheld...
Right to work amendment unlikely to advance far Springfield News Sun ...A legislative panel will consider adding "right to work" to the Ohio constitution, although it seems unlikely the proposal will be approved. The Ohio Constitutional Modernization Commission is reviewing the state constitution to make recommendations to the Ohio Legislature on subjects ranging from term limits to school funding...
Debate Over Raising Pennsylvania’s Minimum Wage Continues In State Capitol CBS Philly ...Supporters of an increase in the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour held an event at the state Capitol at which time they released a study on the impact it would have on Pennsylvania by The Keystone Research Center...
Debate swirls around whether increase in minimum wage would hurt business News Tribune ...This year, Missouri legislators filed five bills proposing raises to the state’s minimum wage, with rates ranging from $9.50 to $10.25 per hour. Similar bills have been filed in the past several years, but most never make it past the committee stage...
Meet The People Going Without Food For 15 Days To Demand A $15 Wage Think Progress ...Fast food workers like Farfan have staged nationwide strikes and protests to demand a $15 wage and the right to form a union. That pay floor has caught on in some places like Seattle and San Francisco, which both raised their wages to that level. Los Angeles lawmakers are considering joining them by raising the city’s wage to $15.25 by 2019...
U.S. Labor
SEIU, county talks frozen as Legislature considers bargaining reform Las Vegas Review-Journal ...Clark County government and its largest union remain locked in a standoff, unable to bargain a contract. The county and Service Employees International Union Local 1107 cannot even agree enough to take their dispute to an arbitrator for a final decision. Both sides started negotiating in June 2013. By February 2014, the SEIU had declared an impasse that continues to this day...
Assembly bill could give farmworkers a greater voice during mediation Fresno Bee ...As a protracted legal fight over who will represent about 3,000 Gerawan Company workers simmers, state Assembly Member Jim Patterson, R-Fresno, is stepping in the fray with a bill that could prevent future conflicts between labor unions, farmworkers and their employer...
Battling A Damaging Workplace Trend (opinion) Huffington Post ...One of the most pervasive and damaging trends we are seeing in the 21st-century workplace is the deliberate misclassification of workers by employers looking to shift responsibility and cut costs. Two judgments announced this week in Utah and Arizona demonstrate our commitment to cracking down on this practice, whereby companies claim that their workers are not employees but independent contractors...
Miscellaneous
In Battle Between Strong Dollar And Cheap Gas, The Strong Dollar Is Winning New York Times ...Oil prices plummeted last year, leading to cheaper gasoline — good news for American consumers and companies like airlines and shipping firms that are heavy fuel users. Meanwhile, the dollar soared on global currency markets, making life more difficult for exporters who faced higher costs relative to global competitors. The giant question for the economy in 2015 was which of these forces would prove more powerful. The bad news is that so far, the strong dollar is winning...
The Dirty Secret Of College Athletics Is That Students Pay Exorbitant Fees To Subsidize It Cleveland Plain Dealer ...But here's the dirty little secret about athletics at places like CSU and hundreds of others of colleges and universities: All these costly athletic programs are funded, in large part, by fees assessed on students -- fees that, in many cases, students don't ever realize they're paying...
A Drone Program That Has Killed Hundreds Of Civilians Finally Killed Some That The White House Regrets Huffington Post ...Watching the coverage of these tragic deaths, a viewer would be left with the impression of a drone program that has had a stellar record of accuracy up until it unfortunately killed two innocent people. But, in fact, killing innocent people has been a central part of the drone program from the very beginning, and is in many ways an inescapable consequence...
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
Teamsters to shareholders: Swift should not be CEO's piggy bank
Teamsters want Swift Transportation shareholders to clamp down on CEO Jerry Moyes, who has been using the company as his own personal piggy bank.
The country's largest proxy voting adviser, ISS, agrees.
In a press statement released today, the Teamsters said:
Investors are concerned about company founders pledging stock in light of the events at Chesapeake Energy and Green Mountain Coffee. In both cases, margin calls forced the founders to sell significant amounts of stock they'd pledged, causing their share prices to fall dramatically.
Last year, The Teamsters warned investors that Swift’s board of directors allowed Moyes to pledge nearly 25 percent of all outstanding shares as collateral for personal loans—putting shareholders at serious risk. ISS, said Moyes' gamble with company stock was a material risk to the company and presented potential conflicts of interest. ISS recommended shareholders withhold votes from the five directors who serve on Swift's Audit Committee, including the chairman of the board.
Teamsters General Secretary-Treasurer Ken Hall said,
In 2004, the U.S. Department of Justice and SEC investigated suspected insider trading by Moyes at Swift. In 2005, Moyes paid $1.5 million in disgorgement, prejudgment interest and penalties to settle the SEC insider trading investigation at Swift. He resigned from all of his leadership positions, but then took the company private in 2007 and public again in 2010. He created a dual class stock structure, giving himself 54.5 percent of the voting power for his 40.4 percent holdings of common stock.
“Until there can be meaningful board oversight of management and true accountability at Swift Transportation, Jerry Moyes will continue use the corporate coffers as his own personal piggy bank,” Hall said.
The country's largest proxy voting adviser, ISS, agrees.
In a press statement released today, the Teamsters said:
...ISS recommends that shareholders of Swift Transportation [NYSE: SWFT] vote ‘FOR’ Item #4 on the company’s proxy – a Teamster proposal that seeks to address the company’s dual class stock structure which currently provides CEO Jerry Moyes with majority voting control of the company despite owning a minority of the outstanding shares. The company’s annual meeting of shareholders is scheduled for May 8, 2014.ISS also recommends that shareholders withhold votes from members of the Audit Committee -- Richard Dozer, David Vander Ploeg, and Glenn Brown. It is the Audit Committee's responsibility to guard against excessive financial risks and potential conflicts of interest.
Investors are concerned about company founders pledging stock in light of the events at Chesapeake Energy and Green Mountain Coffee. In both cases, margin calls forced the founders to sell significant amounts of stock they'd pledged, causing their share prices to fall dramatically.
Last year, The Teamsters warned investors that Swift’s board of directors allowed Moyes to pledge nearly 25 percent of all outstanding shares as collateral for personal loans—putting shareholders at serious risk. ISS, said Moyes' gamble with company stock was a material risk to the company and presented potential conflicts of interest. ISS recommended shareholders withhold votes from the five directors who serve on Swift's Audit Committee, including the chairman of the board.
Teamsters General Secretary-Treasurer Ken Hall said,
Allowing the company’s CEO and controlling shareholder Jerry Moyes to gamble nearly 25 percent of Swift’s total outstanding shares as collateral for his personal loans is indefensible.Moyes has a history of skirting the rules.
In 2004, the U.S. Department of Justice and SEC investigated suspected insider trading by Moyes at Swift. In 2005, Moyes paid $1.5 million in disgorgement, prejudgment interest and penalties to settle the SEC insider trading investigation at Swift. He resigned from all of his leadership positions, but then took the company private in 2007 and public again in 2010. He created a dual class stock structure, giving himself 54.5 percent of the voting power for his 40.4 percent holdings of common stock.
“Until there can be meaningful board oversight of management and true accountability at Swift Transportation, Jerry Moyes will continue use the corporate coffers as his own personal piggy bank,” Hall said.
Friday, April 18, 2014
Today's Teamster News 04.18.14
Teamster News
Teamsters Urge Investor Support For Changes At Swift Transportation teamster.org ...“The inability of Swift’s board to rein in CEO Moyes from pledging tens of millions of shares of Swift Transportation stock as collateral for personal loans or hundreds of millions of dollars in related-party transactions between Swift and Moyes-controlled businesses has put investors at risk and raises serious questions about the true independence and effectiveness of the company’s directors,” said Ken Hall, General Secretary-Treasurer of the Teamsters Union...
Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan is up to union-busting teamster.org ...The pension plan, which is funded by contributions by and on behalf of Ontario’s unionized teachers, is waging a ruthless, vindictive campaign of harassment, intimidation and threats against U.S. workers of a company it owns: Exal...
Animal activism is great. Why can't we get as loud on (human) workers' rights? Guardian ...Save the horses? How about save the horse carriage drivers? It's time to focus on the everyday abuse endured by actual people...
In Defense of New York’s Carriage Horse Industry Brooklyn Magazine ...It’s the carriage drivers who are concerned, first and foremost with the welfare of the horses...
Wabasha County Board Spars Over Social Media, Union Ad Rochester Post Bulletin ...What began as a review by Wabasha County board members Tuesday of a policy on use of social media drifted into a far ranging disagreement over who has been attacking whom, and whether the board chairman condoned a recent Teamsters ad...
Port Drivers File Complaint Over Working Conditions The Times Herald ...Port truck drivers who ferry goods from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach for Total Transportation Services, Inc. today will urge the Port of Los Angeles to address what they contend are "serious hazards" in working conditions at the Carson company...
Trade
Malaysia stands firm on TPP ahead of Obama visit Nikkei Asian Review ...The Obama visit will not serve as pressure to sign the pact, Malaysian International Trade and Industry Minister Mustapa Mohamed said last month. The country's opposition to reforms setting conditions for competition between state-owned and private businesses is one reason for the stalemate in negotiations...
Workers Strike at Shoe Factory Over Benefits Dispute New York Times ...Tens of thousands of workers at one of the world’s largest shoe manufacturers are continuing a strike in the southern Chinese city of Dongguan in a dispute over benefits...
U.S. Agrees To Let Japanese Tariffs Stand On Rice, Wheat The Japan Times ...The United States has agreed to allow Japan to retain tariffs on rice and wheat, government sources said Thursday during bilateral talks related to the wider Pacific free trade negotiations...
State Battles
Mississippi Governor Signs 3 Bills Placing Limits On Labor Union Activities The Republic ...Republican Gov. Phil Bryant signed three bills to limit union activities in Mississippi, saying he hopes they strengthen the state's reputation as a place where organized labor has little influence...
War On Workers
Sallie Mae Cheated Soldiers On Federal Student Loans, Government Investigators Find Huffington Post ...Federal investigators have uncovered evidence that Sallie Mae cheated active-duty soldiers on federal student loans, according to people familiar with the matter...
NYS Attorney General Issues Subpoenas to Least Lawyered-Up High Frequency Traders Wall Street on Parade ...Why not ask the three big stock exchanges, the New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq and BATS to hand over the names of all high frequency traders to whom they have sold expensive perks that have the effect of rigging the stock market against the average investor.
...
Koch Brothers Net Worth Soars Past $100 Billion Huffington Post ...Charles and David Koch hit a milestone on Wednesday, as a $1.3 billion boost to their collective fortune sent their net worth above $100 billion, according to Bloomberg News...
Postal Union Fights Staples Partnership 'A Big Step Toward Privatization' Huffington Post ...On a recent Saturday morning, 500 protesters poured out of a parade of school buses, signs and megaphones in hand, and tried their best to shame a single Staples store just outside Chicago...
Some Exempted From Minimum Wage, Increased Or Not Philly.com ...Some low-paid workers won't benefit even if a long-shot Democratic proposal to raise the federal minimum wage becomes law. More than a dozen categories of jobs are exempt from the minimum, currently $7.25 an hour...
About 400 Chicago Concrete Truck Drivers Go On Strike Chicago Tribune ...About 400 concrete truck drivers walked off their jobs on Tuesday and Wednesday after rejecting a proposed labor contract with the Northern Illinois Ready Mix and Materials Association...
Teamsters Urge Investor Support For Changes At Swift Transportation teamster.org ...“The inability of Swift’s board to rein in CEO Moyes from pledging tens of millions of shares of Swift Transportation stock as collateral for personal loans or hundreds of millions of dollars in related-party transactions between Swift and Moyes-controlled businesses has put investors at risk and raises serious questions about the true independence and effectiveness of the company’s directors,” said Ken Hall, General Secretary-Treasurer of the Teamsters Union...
Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan is up to union-busting teamster.org ...The pension plan, which is funded by contributions by and on behalf of Ontario’s unionized teachers, is waging a ruthless, vindictive campaign of harassment, intimidation and threats against U.S. workers of a company it owns: Exal...
Animal activism is great. Why can't we get as loud on (human) workers' rights? Guardian ...Save the horses? How about save the horse carriage drivers? It's time to focus on the everyday abuse endured by actual people...
In Defense of New York’s Carriage Horse Industry Brooklyn Magazine ...It’s the carriage drivers who are concerned, first and foremost with the welfare of the horses...
Wabasha County Board Spars Over Social Media, Union Ad Rochester Post Bulletin ...What began as a review by Wabasha County board members Tuesday of a policy on use of social media drifted into a far ranging disagreement over who has been attacking whom, and whether the board chairman condoned a recent Teamsters ad...
Port Drivers File Complaint Over Working Conditions The Times Herald ...Port truck drivers who ferry goods from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach for Total Transportation Services, Inc. today will urge the Port of Los Angeles to address what they contend are "serious hazards" in working conditions at the Carson company...
Trade
Malaysia stands firm on TPP ahead of Obama visit Nikkei Asian Review ...The Obama visit will not serve as pressure to sign the pact, Malaysian International Trade and Industry Minister Mustapa Mohamed said last month. The country's opposition to reforms setting conditions for competition between state-owned and private businesses is one reason for the stalemate in negotiations...
Workers Strike at Shoe Factory Over Benefits Dispute New York Times ...Tens of thousands of workers at one of the world’s largest shoe manufacturers are continuing a strike in the southern Chinese city of Dongguan in a dispute over benefits...
U.S. Agrees To Let Japanese Tariffs Stand On Rice, Wheat The Japan Times ...The United States has agreed to allow Japan to retain tariffs on rice and wheat, government sources said Thursday during bilateral talks related to the wider Pacific free trade negotiations...
State Battles
Mississippi Governor Signs 3 Bills Placing Limits On Labor Union Activities The Republic ...Republican Gov. Phil Bryant signed three bills to limit union activities in Mississippi, saying he hopes they strengthen the state's reputation as a place where organized labor has little influence...
War On Workers
Sallie Mae Cheated Soldiers On Federal Student Loans, Government Investigators Find Huffington Post ...Federal investigators have uncovered evidence that Sallie Mae cheated active-duty soldiers on federal student loans, according to people familiar with the matter...
NYS Attorney General Issues Subpoenas to Least Lawyered-Up High Frequency Traders Wall Street on Parade ...Why not ask the three big stock exchanges, the New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq and BATS to hand over the names of all high frequency traders to whom they have sold expensive perks that have the effect of rigging the stock market against the average investor.
...
Koch Brothers Net Worth Soars Past $100 Billion Huffington Post ...Charles and David Koch hit a milestone on Wednesday, as a $1.3 billion boost to their collective fortune sent their net worth above $100 billion, according to Bloomberg News...
Postal Union Fights Staples Partnership 'A Big Step Toward Privatization' Huffington Post ...On a recent Saturday morning, 500 protesters poured out of a parade of school buses, signs and megaphones in hand, and tried their best to shame a single Staples store just outside Chicago...
Some Exempted From Minimum Wage, Increased Or Not Philly.com ...Some low-paid workers won't benefit even if a long-shot Democratic proposal to raise the federal minimum wage becomes law. More than a dozen categories of jobs are exempt from the minimum, currently $7.25 an hour...
About 400 Chicago Concrete Truck Drivers Go On Strike Chicago Tribune ...About 400 concrete truck drivers walked off their jobs on Tuesday and Wednesday after rejecting a proposed labor contract with the Northern Illinois Ready Mix and Materials Association...
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
Today's Teamster News 05.01.13
CEO Pay 1,795-to-1 Multiple of Wages Skirts U.S. Law Bloomberg News ...Former fashion jewelry saleswoman Rebecca Gonzales and former Chief Executive Officer Ron Johnson have one thing in common: J.C. Penney Co. (JCP) no longer employs either. The similarity ends there...
Is the TPP a threat to U.S. auto makers? Michigan Radio ...On the surface, it sounds like easing trade restrictions with foreign nations could present new opportunities and more business for American companies like the Detroit Three automakers. But, is there a deeper danger to American jobs in these overseas trade agreements?...
Poll: 42 Percent Unaware That ‘Obamacare’ Is Law Of The Land Talking Points Memo ...While a majority is cognizant of the law's current status, a startling percentage of Americans is unaware that the Affordable Care Act — the sweeping new federal health care law widely known as "Obamacare" — remains the law of the land, according to findings in a poll released Tuesday...
Why American Airlines Employees Loathe Management Forbes …The mistrust that labor harbors for American Airlines management is a feud with a history filled with a powerful vitriol that only duplicitous behavior engenders…
Colbert Busch aggressively challenges Sanford in only debate Washington Post ...It was a tale of two debate strategies Monday night in South Carolina. A lively Elizabeth Colbert Busch struck early and often against Mark Sanford’s record in Congress and as governor while Sanford hit back with consistent attempts to tie his opponent to Democratic congressional leaders in the only debate in South Carolina’s special election campaign.
California may go forward without a financial reserve Los Angeles Times ...Arnold Schwarzenegger persuaded voters nine years ago that if they let him borrow money to cover the budget deficit, California's financial woes would end for good. A key part of his plan was a new rainy-day fund to insulate the state from further crisis. Today, the reserve is empty...
Prison food privatization would eliminate 370 state jobs Detroit Free Press ...In a reversal, officials said today they will privatize food service for Michigan's 45,000 state prisoners by awarding a nearly $50 million a year contract to catering giant Aramark...
California Fracking Moratorium Clears Key Committee in Assembly Bloomberg News ...A California Assembly panel approved a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing by oil and natural-gas producers until the most populous U.S. state assesses health and environmental concerns...
Scarnati frustrated by the fixation on liquor privatization instead of the Pennsylvania state budget The Patriot-News ...It’s a couple of months away from the June 30 deadline for getting an on-time state budget as so many lawmakers and Gov. Tom Corbett pledged to do. But all people seem to want to talk about is liquor privatization, said a frustrated Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati at the Pennsylvania Press Club...
Democrats, Republicans join forces to advocate for Florida ports Sun Sentinel ...A bipartisan team from the Florida congressional delegation is banding together to form a "ports caucus" to push the interests of the state's seaports in the nation's capital...
US school bus concerns loom for National Express AGM International Transport Workers' Federation ...Concerns over labour practices at its US school bus business subsidiary, Durham School Services, threaten to affect National Express’ Annual General Meeting on May 9 in London...
Interview: Tom Morello Talks to Teamsters, May Day 2013 IBT ...Every year on May 1, workers around the world celebrate the trials and triumphs of working people. This year, May Day comes with a bold soundtrack thanks to Tom Morello, the Nightwatchman...
Teamsters Warn: Swift Transportation Board Lets CEO Pledge nearly 25 Percent of Outstanding Shares as Collateral for Personal Loans IBT ...ISS, the country’s largest proxy voting advisory firm, issued a report Monday recommending that shareholders withhold votes from all members of the Swift Transportation Company Board of Directors’ Audit Committee over concerns about the CEO’s extensive pledging of stock...
Casey Jones, Iconic Locomotive Engineer and American Hero IBT ...Next week, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen will celebrate its 150th anniversary at a May 8 event in Detroit. We've been counting down great moments in the history of North America’s oldest union, but April 30 marks a different kind of event—the anniversary of the death of John Luther "Casey" Jones...
Teamsters Local 320 sues Wadena County Wadena (Minnesota) Pioneer Journal ...Teamsters Union Local 320, which represents a substantial portion of Wadena County’s workforce, filed a civil lawsuit against the county in the Seventh Judicial District Court in Wadena...
Is the TPP a threat to U.S. auto makers? Michigan Radio ...On the surface, it sounds like easing trade restrictions with foreign nations could present new opportunities and more business for American companies like the Detroit Three automakers. But, is there a deeper danger to American jobs in these overseas trade agreements?...
Poll: 42 Percent Unaware That ‘Obamacare’ Is Law Of The Land Talking Points Memo ...While a majority is cognizant of the law's current status, a startling percentage of Americans is unaware that the Affordable Care Act — the sweeping new federal health care law widely known as "Obamacare" — remains the law of the land, according to findings in a poll released Tuesday...
Why American Airlines Employees Loathe Management Forbes …The mistrust that labor harbors for American Airlines management is a feud with a history filled with a powerful vitriol that only duplicitous behavior engenders…
Colbert Busch aggressively challenges Sanford in only debate Washington Post ...It was a tale of two debate strategies Monday night in South Carolina. A lively Elizabeth Colbert Busch struck early and often against Mark Sanford’s record in Congress and as governor while Sanford hit back with consistent attempts to tie his opponent to Democratic congressional leaders in the only debate in South Carolina’s special election campaign.
California may go forward without a financial reserve Los Angeles Times ...Arnold Schwarzenegger persuaded voters nine years ago that if they let him borrow money to cover the budget deficit, California's financial woes would end for good. A key part of his plan was a new rainy-day fund to insulate the state from further crisis. Today, the reserve is empty...
Prison food privatization would eliminate 370 state jobs Detroit Free Press ...In a reversal, officials said today they will privatize food service for Michigan's 45,000 state prisoners by awarding a nearly $50 million a year contract to catering giant Aramark...
California Fracking Moratorium Clears Key Committee in Assembly Bloomberg News ...A California Assembly panel approved a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing by oil and natural-gas producers until the most populous U.S. state assesses health and environmental concerns...
Scarnati frustrated by the fixation on liquor privatization instead of the Pennsylvania state budget The Patriot-News ...It’s a couple of months away from the June 30 deadline for getting an on-time state budget as so many lawmakers and Gov. Tom Corbett pledged to do. But all people seem to want to talk about is liquor privatization, said a frustrated Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati at the Pennsylvania Press Club...
Democrats, Republicans join forces to advocate for Florida ports Sun Sentinel ...A bipartisan team from the Florida congressional delegation is banding together to form a "ports caucus" to push the interests of the state's seaports in the nation's capital...
US school bus concerns loom for National Express AGM International Transport Workers' Federation ...Concerns over labour practices at its US school bus business subsidiary, Durham School Services, threaten to affect National Express’ Annual General Meeting on May 9 in London...
Interview: Tom Morello Talks to Teamsters, May Day 2013 IBT ...Every year on May 1, workers around the world celebrate the trials and triumphs of working people. This year, May Day comes with a bold soundtrack thanks to Tom Morello, the Nightwatchman...
Teamsters Warn: Swift Transportation Board Lets CEO Pledge nearly 25 Percent of Outstanding Shares as Collateral for Personal Loans IBT ...ISS, the country’s largest proxy voting advisory firm, issued a report Monday recommending that shareholders withhold votes from all members of the Swift Transportation Company Board of Directors’ Audit Committee over concerns about the CEO’s extensive pledging of stock...
Casey Jones, Iconic Locomotive Engineer and American Hero IBT ...Next week, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen will celebrate its 150th anniversary at a May 8 event in Detroit. We've been counting down great moments in the history of North America’s oldest union, but April 30 marks a different kind of event—the anniversary of the death of John Luther "Casey" Jones...
Teamsters Local 320 sues Wadena County Wadena (Minnesota) Pioneer Journal ...Teamsters Union Local 320, which represents a substantial portion of Wadena County’s workforce, filed a civil lawsuit against the county in the Seventh Judicial District Court in Wadena...
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Teamsters demand action at Swift
“Allowing the company’s CEO and controlling shareholder Jerry Moyes to gamble nearly 25 percent of Swift’s total outstanding shares as collateral for his personal loans is indefensible,” said Ken Hall, Teamsters General Secretary-Treasurer, who called on the board to take immediate action. “It is vital that this board exercise its independence and authority to protect the interests of public shareholders.”
Swift Transportation will hold its annual shareholders' meeting on May 8 in Phoenix, Ariz. The Teamsters Union will be there to demand that the board put a stop to Moyes' risky behavior.
In 2003, a Teamster proposal calling for an independent chairman of the board at Swift received majority support by outside investors after the Teamsters highlighted the massive web of interlocking financial dealings between Swift and other Moyes-owned businesses. At the time, founder Jerry Moyes served as Swift’s Chairman of the Board, President and CEO.
In 2005, Moyes paid $1.5 million to settle an SEC insider-trading investigation at Swift and resigned from all of his leadership positions. He took the company private in 2007 and then public again in 2010—this time with a dual-class stock structure, providing himself 54.5 percent of the voting power for his 40.4 percent holdings of common stock.
“There needs to be meaningful board oversight and management accountability at Swift,” Hall said. “Someone needs to tell Jerry Moyes to stop using Swift’s corporate coffers as his own personal piggy bank.”
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)