Teamsters
Teamster Pilots With Allegiant Air Authorize Strike teamster.org ...Pilots at Allegiant Air, represented by the Airline Professionals Association (APA) Teamsters Local 1224, voted overwhelmingly, 465-8, today to authorize a strike against Allegiant Air. The 10-day voting period closed at 12:00 p.m. EST today, with 98 percent of voting Allegiant Air pilots voting “Yes” to authorize the union to call a strike if necessary...
At Hunts Point Market, Awaiting Word on Strike as Talks Continue New York Times ...Many of the workers said they were prepared to carry out the first strike at the market in nearly 30 years if contract talks between their union, Teamsters Local 202, and management failed to resolve differences between the two sides over proposed wage increases and health care contributions...
Teamsters Leader Daniel Grace Lauds Governor-Elect Wolf for Barring Yuengling teamster.org ...The leader of Philadelphia-based Teamsters Local 830 today lauded the decision of Governor-Elect Tom Wolf to exclude Yuengling Beer products from his inaugural ball in Harrisburg next Tuesday, Jan. 20...
Teamsters Support Administration’s Push For Paid Leave teamster.org ...The Teamsters encourage a workplace that grants dignity and respect to all workers and the union applauds the Obama administration for pushing forward with an agenda that calls for hardworking Americans to receive paid sick time. We also support an executive order that would give federal employees six weeks paid time off after giving birth...
Labor Agreements Inked With City Unions Daily Sun News ...The Sunnyside City Council, at its first meeting in 2015 this past Monday, authorized agreements with the city’s office/clerical and public works collective bargaining units. Both agreements include a change to the health insurance premiums, from a 70 percent employer/30 percent employee cost to a 75/25 split. Both agreements also include additional longevity pay based on years of service...
CN Reaches Tentative Labour Agreement With Teamsters Union Representing Rail Traffic Controllers American Journal Of Transportation ...The four-year agreement would provide wage increases and benefit improvements to approximately 180 employees. Details of the agreement are being withheld pending ratification by union members. The union is expected to announce the results of the ratification vote before the end of February 2015...
North Versailles Township Police Get Raises, To Pay For Health Insurance Pittsburgh Tribune Review ...North Versailles Township police will get annual raises for the next four years under a new contract township commissioners approved Thursday...
Trade
What You Need To Know When Obama Talks Trade Campaign for America's Future ...President Obama is likely to use the State of the Union to push for passage of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the rigged “fast track” trade promotion authority...
Dana Milbank: Cracks in the GOP foundation (opinion) Washington Post ...On Tuesday morning, a group of tea-party conservatives met in the Capitol complex to complain about Republican plans to pass “trade promotion authority,” giving Obama greater ability to negotiate trade deals with less congressional say-so...
‘Corporate Wolves’ Will Exploit TTIP Trade Deal, MPs Warned The Guardian ...The controversial TTIP trade deal between Europe and the US could depress workers’ wages by £3,000 a year and allow “corporate wolves” to sue the government for loss of profit, MPs have heard...
EU Consultation On Corporate Sovereignty In TAFTA/TTIP Shows 145,000 Against It; European Commission Carries On Anyway Techdirt ...As well as the unanimity of the rejection, what is striking is the fact that 145,000 citizens replied to a consultation on an obscure aspect of trade agreements that most people had never heard of a year ago. That alone bespeaks an unprecedented engagement by the public -- something rare enough at a time when people are generally disenchanted with politicians and their grand projects...
Say No To Dangerous Trade Pacts (opinion) The New American ...Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders ... rightly insists that TPP “is much more than a free trade agreement.” If he understands this, other senators and congressmen can see it as well...
EPA Wants To Map Radioactive Waste In Bridgeton Landfill St. Louis Post Dispatch ...The Environmental Protection Agency wants tests of the Bridgeton Landfill to map radioactive contamination. The decision takes a step back from past pronouncements by the EPA, which had said the waste was contained within fenced areas of the adjacent West Lake Landfill...
State Battles
To Pay For His Failed Experiment With Trickle-Down Economics, Kansas Governor Could Raid The School Budget Think Progress ...Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback (R) is reportedly getting ready to propose some form of revenue increases as part of a plan to fix the nearly $900 million budget hole his tax cuts created for the state. But whatever cracks are emerging in his anti-tax facade, the conservative governor’s response to the budget crisis is more likely to focus on spending for the state’s already flailing schools...
Opting Out Of Unions Gets Boost In States Wall Street Journal ...A new wave of bills that would allow workers to opt out of joining unions is expected from Maine to New Mexico as Republicans look to capitalize on statehouse gains to put new limits on organized labor...
War on Workers
Obama expands parental leave for federal workers Washington Post ...President Obama signed a presidential memorandum Thursday directing agencies to allow federal workers to take six weeks of advanced paid sick leave to care for a new child or ill family members...
Majority of U.S. public school students are in poverty Washington Post ...For the first time in at least 50 years, a majority of U.S. public school students come from low-income families, according to a new analysis of 2013 federal data, a statistic that has profound implications for the nation...
Holder limits seized-asset sharing process that split billions with local, state police Washington Post ...Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. on Friday barred local and state police from using federal law to seize cash, cars and other property without warrants or criminal charges...
United Airlines Moves To Outsource Labor At 28 Airports Denver Post ...The jobs that have the potential to be affected in this latest move fall into the category of "airport operations," which includes baggage-handing ramp workers and inside customer service agents, among others, depending on the airport...
Worker Killed Near Rocks State Park, Officials Say Havre de Grace Patch ...At 1:30 p.m., two workers were at the base of a ravine on MD Route 24 at Saint Clair Bridge Road when a jersey wall fell on one and debris injured another...
Miscellaneous
'All Labor Has Dignity': King's Other Legacy (opinion) Huffington Post ...As we mark Dr. King's 86th birthday, it is my hope that Americans will remember another less-celebrated element of his dream -- a belief in the importance of unions, labor rights and robust worker voice...
Showing posts with label TAFTA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label TAFTA. Show all posts
Saturday, January 17, 2015
Tuesday, January 6, 2015
Today's Teamster News 01.06.15
Teamsters
Trade issues are focus of Wyden town hall in Salem Statesman Journal ...Local union leaders and others asked Oregon's senior senator to oppose "fast-track" authority for the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, a proposed free trade treaty with 12 Pacific-rim countries. "I want to know why he feels this is a good idea," Chris Muhs, secretary of Teamsters Local 324, said while holding a sign reading "Fast Track: Wrong Track."...
Trade
Senator Wyden Ends Portland Town Hall After Protesters Take Over Oregon Public Radio ...Protesters with the group Don’t Shoot Portland forced Oregon Senator Ron Wyden to cancel a town hall meeting on Saturday after the first 30 minutes. About 200 people had gathered in an auditorium at the Southeast Portland campus of Portland Community College to speak with the senator, who is holding six town halls across Western Oregon this weekend. Many in the audience held signs opposing the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade agreement the U.S. is negotiating with 11 countries in Asia...
Bernie Sanders' Brutal Letter On Obama's Trade Pact Foreshadows 2016 Democratic Clash Huffington Post ...Progressive unrest over free trade policies is shaping up to be a major issue in the contest for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, if a strongly worded letter from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) to the top Obama administration trade official is any sign...
The Growth Projections for the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Pact Are a Joke Center for Economic and Policy Research ... The deal is likely to strengthen patent and copyright protections, leading to higher prices for drugs, software, and other products, all of which will be a drain on consumers and a drag on growth...
State Battles
Delegate Tim Armstead about to make history Charleston Gazette ...[Incoming West Virginia House Speaker Tim] Armstead offered no firm commitments but said a number of longtime Republican proposals would be in play. Making West Virginia a “right to work” state, where employees cannot be required to pay union dues? “That’s certainly being discussed,” Armstead said. A law requiring voters to show some sort of ID at the polls? “That’s another area,” Armstead said. “We don’t want to make it harder to vote, at the same time we want to make sure that each person’s vote counts.”...
Unions see right-to-work bill as political attack Albuquerque Journal ... labor views so-called right-to-work legislation in New Mexico as a political attack from the right, saying the bill would curtail its ability to raise and spend money to influence public policy...
Right-to-work legislation draws buzz, not necessarily votes Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ...The leader of the state Senate has called for a quick debate on so-called right-to-work legislation, but it's unclear whether there are enough Republican votes to pass it...
Scott Walker, Starting Second Term as Wisconsin Governor, Resists New Union Battle New York Times ...Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, who rose to national prominence in the Republican Party by cutting the collective bargaining rights of most public sector unions, strongly indicated in the final days of his re-election campaign that he had no plans to expand the battle with labor unions that defined his first term...
War on Workers
Even with Recent Low Inflation, Real Wages Continue to Stagnate Economic Policy Institute ... real wage growth has been about zero on average for the last five years, and there is no sign of acceleration...
The Real Winners Of The Recovery: The Superrich firedoglake ...new research shows that the top .1% has broken away from their uber-wealthy peers and amassed more than 22% of the wealth . In other words, the top one-thousandth of the country controls one-fifth of the wealth...
Railroads seek one-person crews for freight trains Associated Press ..."These trains are 7,000 tons going 50 mph. You have to have two people," said J.P. Wright, an engineer for CSX railroad in Louisville, Ky. "It's mind-boggling to me that the railroads would go this far with it."...
CEO Who Said He’d Probably Have To Fire Employees If Obama Won Is Now Giving Them Raises ThinkProgress ...Siegel informed Westgate employees that instead of layoffs, he would boost their minimum wage to $10 per hour beginning in 2015...
Nobel Laureate Stiglitz Blocked From SEC Panel After Faulting High-Speed Traders Bloomberg ...Joseph Stiglitz, the Nobel laureate economist who called for a tax on high-frequency trading, has been blocked from a government panel that will advise regulators on issues facing U.S. equity markets, according to people familiar with the matter. Stiglitz’s rejection shows the partisan infighting that has bogged down Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Mary Jo White’s plan to set up a panel of experts to advise the agency on topics ranging from rapid-fire stock trading to dark pools...
The protesters who are trying to upend the ‘fantasy world’ of economics Washington Post ...Harrington now runs a campaign called Kick it Over, which aims to combat what it describes as “the fantasy world of neoclassical economics — a faith-based religion of perfect markets, enlightened consumers and infinite growth that shapes the fates of billions.”...
Let the Fed Lend Directly to Cities and States to Save Taxpayers Billions (opinion) Next New Deal ...The Federal Reserve should be allowed to make long-term loans directly to cities, states, school districts, and other public agencies so taxpayers can get low interest rates and avoid predatory Wall Street fees...
Miscellaneous
After two-year delay, construction on California's bullet train is set to start Los Angeles Times ...California's bullet-train agency will officially start construction in Fresno this week on the first 29-mile segment of the system, a symbol of the significant progress the $68-billion project has made against persistent political and legal opposition...
Global stocks fall for second day amid oil, Greece worries Associated Press ...Global stocks sank Tuesday for a second day as slumping oil prices and concern Greece might leave the European currency union fueled unease about the global growth outlook...
Trade issues are focus of Wyden town hall in Salem Statesman Journal ...Local union leaders and others asked Oregon's senior senator to oppose "fast-track" authority for the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, a proposed free trade treaty with 12 Pacific-rim countries. "I want to know why he feels this is a good idea," Chris Muhs, secretary of Teamsters Local 324, said while holding a sign reading "Fast Track: Wrong Track."...
Trade
Senator Wyden Ends Portland Town Hall After Protesters Take Over Oregon Public Radio ...Protesters with the group Don’t Shoot Portland forced Oregon Senator Ron Wyden to cancel a town hall meeting on Saturday after the first 30 minutes. About 200 people had gathered in an auditorium at the Southeast Portland campus of Portland Community College to speak with the senator, who is holding six town halls across Western Oregon this weekend. Many in the audience held signs opposing the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade agreement the U.S. is negotiating with 11 countries in Asia...
Bernie Sanders' Brutal Letter On Obama's Trade Pact Foreshadows 2016 Democratic Clash Huffington Post ...Progressive unrest over free trade policies is shaping up to be a major issue in the contest for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, if a strongly worded letter from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) to the top Obama administration trade official is any sign...
The Growth Projections for the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Pact Are a Joke Center for Economic and Policy Research ... The deal is likely to strengthen patent and copyright protections, leading to higher prices for drugs, software, and other products, all of which will be a drain on consumers and a drag on growth...
State Battles
Delegate Tim Armstead about to make history Charleston Gazette ...[Incoming West Virginia House Speaker Tim] Armstead offered no firm commitments but said a number of longtime Republican proposals would be in play. Making West Virginia a “right to work” state, where employees cannot be required to pay union dues? “That’s certainly being discussed,” Armstead said. A law requiring voters to show some sort of ID at the polls? “That’s another area,” Armstead said. “We don’t want to make it harder to vote, at the same time we want to make sure that each person’s vote counts.”...
Unions see right-to-work bill as political attack Albuquerque Journal ... labor views so-called right-to-work legislation in New Mexico as a political attack from the right, saying the bill would curtail its ability to raise and spend money to influence public policy...
Right-to-work legislation draws buzz, not necessarily votes Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ...The leader of the state Senate has called for a quick debate on so-called right-to-work legislation, but it's unclear whether there are enough Republican votes to pass it...
Scott Walker, Starting Second Term as Wisconsin Governor, Resists New Union Battle New York Times ...Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, who rose to national prominence in the Republican Party by cutting the collective bargaining rights of most public sector unions, strongly indicated in the final days of his re-election campaign that he had no plans to expand the battle with labor unions that defined his first term...
War on Workers
Even with Recent Low Inflation, Real Wages Continue to Stagnate Economic Policy Institute ... real wage growth has been about zero on average for the last five years, and there is no sign of acceleration...
The Real Winners Of The Recovery: The Superrich firedoglake ...new research shows that the top .1% has broken away from their uber-wealthy peers and amassed more than 22% of the wealth . In other words, the top one-thousandth of the country controls one-fifth of the wealth...
Railroads seek one-person crews for freight trains Associated Press ..."These trains are 7,000 tons going 50 mph. You have to have two people," said J.P. Wright, an engineer for CSX railroad in Louisville, Ky. "It's mind-boggling to me that the railroads would go this far with it."...
CEO Who Said He’d Probably Have To Fire Employees If Obama Won Is Now Giving Them Raises ThinkProgress ...Siegel informed Westgate employees that instead of layoffs, he would boost their minimum wage to $10 per hour beginning in 2015...
Nobel Laureate Stiglitz Blocked From SEC Panel After Faulting High-Speed Traders Bloomberg ...Joseph Stiglitz, the Nobel laureate economist who called for a tax on high-frequency trading, has been blocked from a government panel that will advise regulators on issues facing U.S. equity markets, according to people familiar with the matter. Stiglitz’s rejection shows the partisan infighting that has bogged down Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Mary Jo White’s plan to set up a panel of experts to advise the agency on topics ranging from rapid-fire stock trading to dark pools...
The protesters who are trying to upend the ‘fantasy world’ of economics Washington Post ...Harrington now runs a campaign called Kick it Over, which aims to combat what it describes as “the fantasy world of neoclassical economics — a faith-based religion of perfect markets, enlightened consumers and infinite growth that shapes the fates of billions.”...
Let the Fed Lend Directly to Cities and States to Save Taxpayers Billions (opinion) Next New Deal ...The Federal Reserve should be allowed to make long-term loans directly to cities, states, school districts, and other public agencies so taxpayers can get low interest rates and avoid predatory Wall Street fees...
Miscellaneous
After two-year delay, construction on California's bullet train is set to start Los Angeles Times ...California's bullet-train agency will officially start construction in Fresno this week on the first 29-mile segment of the system, a symbol of the significant progress the $68-billion project has made against persistent political and legal opposition...
Global stocks fall for second day amid oil, Greece worries Associated Press ...Global stocks sank Tuesday for a second day as slumping oil prices and concern Greece might leave the European currency union fueled unease about the global growth outlook...
Tuesday, July 15, 2014
Today's Teamster News 07.15.14
Teamster News
Avalon Teamsters stage 6-hour demonstration over wages, benefits CantonRep.com ...About 20 members of Teamsters Local 92 employed by Avalon Foodservice walked off the job for about six hours Monday in what a union official called a “pre-strike” demonstration over wages and health insurance...
A federal agency is about to answer the question: Who do you actually work for? Washington Post ...the NLRB has granted an appeal from the Teamsters, which attempted to hold an election for all employees of a recycling plant in Milpitas, Calif. -- not just the staffing agency that controls the bulk of the payroll -- after a regional panel found in favor of Browning-Ferris Industries...
Trade
Carmakers Are Central Voice in U.S.-Europe Trade Talks New York Times ...European and American automakers are some of the biggest corporate proponents of a new trans-Atlantic trade pact, even as some other industries oppose disrupting the status quo. Negotiations for that pact, which have struggled to gain momentum for more than a year, resumed Monday in Brussels...
Manufacturing groups press for broad tariff elimination The Hill ...More than a dozen manufacturing groups on Friday urged the Obama administration to press for the elimination of all tariffs as part of the Asia-Pacific trade deal negotiations...
What's next in the OCTG trade case? manufacture this ...It's not over yet. Those tariffs that Commerce announced? Now they go over to the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), which will have to confirm them. That means the petitioners in the Commerce case (U.S. Steel and other domestic OCTG makers) will have to prove injury or the threat of injury to their industry...
State Battles
Prison food supplier has Michigan officials at wit's end Detroit Free Press ...Maggots in the kitchen and on the chow line. Workers caught smuggling contraband or engaging in sex acts with inmates. Food shortages and angry prisoners. Those are among the problems that have plagued Michigan prisons since December when the state — in a move aimed at saving more than $12 million a year — switched from using state workers to feed prisoners to a private contractor, Aramark Correctional Services of Philadelphia...
Kansas’ Ruinous Tax Cuts (opinion) New York Times ...The 2012 cuts were among the largest ever enacted by a state, reducing the top tax bracket by 25 percent and eliminating all taxes on business profits that are reported on individual income returns…Kansas, in fact, was one of only five states to lose employment over the last six months, while the rest of the country was improving. It has been below the national average in job gains for the three and half years Mr. Brownback has been in office. Average earnings in the state are down since 2012, and so is net growth in the number of registered businesses...
War On Workers
U.S. Drug Firms Seek Inversion Deals to Evade Taxes New York Times ...By buying a smaller overseas competitor and reincorporating abroad — a maneuver called inversion — health care companies are extricating themselves from the American tax regimen...
Workers Struggle In Hamptons Playground For Rich USA Today ...Southampton, with its privet hedges, pristine beaches and some estates costing tens of millions, also is where 40% of children get free or reduced school lunches, where a food pantry serves up to 400 clients a month and where some doctors and nurses share homes owned by the local hospital because they can't afford to buy or rent...
United Airlines Opens Door For Raises For Low-Wage Airport Workers Newark Star-Ledger ...With raises at stake for 3,700 low-paid cabin cleaners, baggage handlers and other airport workers in Newark, United Airlines acknowledged that its contractors are typically bound to follow local laws or rules governing the airports where they work...
Avalon Teamsters stage 6-hour demonstration over wages, benefits CantonRep.com ...About 20 members of Teamsters Local 92 employed by Avalon Foodservice walked off the job for about six hours Monday in what a union official called a “pre-strike” demonstration over wages and health insurance...
A federal agency is about to answer the question: Who do you actually work for? Washington Post ...the NLRB has granted an appeal from the Teamsters, which attempted to hold an election for all employees of a recycling plant in Milpitas, Calif. -- not just the staffing agency that controls the bulk of the payroll -- after a regional panel found in favor of Browning-Ferris Industries...
Trade
Carmakers Are Central Voice in U.S.-Europe Trade Talks New York Times ...European and American automakers are some of the biggest corporate proponents of a new trans-Atlantic trade pact, even as some other industries oppose disrupting the status quo. Negotiations for that pact, which have struggled to gain momentum for more than a year, resumed Monday in Brussels...
Manufacturing groups press for broad tariff elimination The Hill ...More than a dozen manufacturing groups on Friday urged the Obama administration to press for the elimination of all tariffs as part of the Asia-Pacific trade deal negotiations...
What's next in the OCTG trade case? manufacture this ...It's not over yet. Those tariffs that Commerce announced? Now they go over to the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), which will have to confirm them. That means the petitioners in the Commerce case (U.S. Steel and other domestic OCTG makers) will have to prove injury or the threat of injury to their industry...
State Battles
Prison food supplier has Michigan officials at wit's end Detroit Free Press ...Maggots in the kitchen and on the chow line. Workers caught smuggling contraband or engaging in sex acts with inmates. Food shortages and angry prisoners. Those are among the problems that have plagued Michigan prisons since December when the state — in a move aimed at saving more than $12 million a year — switched from using state workers to feed prisoners to a private contractor, Aramark Correctional Services of Philadelphia...
Kansas’ Ruinous Tax Cuts (opinion) New York Times ...The 2012 cuts were among the largest ever enacted by a state, reducing the top tax bracket by 25 percent and eliminating all taxes on business profits that are reported on individual income returns…Kansas, in fact, was one of only five states to lose employment over the last six months, while the rest of the country was improving. It has been below the national average in job gains for the three and half years Mr. Brownback has been in office. Average earnings in the state are down since 2012, and so is net growth in the number of registered businesses...
War On Workers
U.S. Drug Firms Seek Inversion Deals to Evade Taxes New York Times ...By buying a smaller overseas competitor and reincorporating abroad — a maneuver called inversion — health care companies are extricating themselves from the American tax regimen...
Workers Struggle In Hamptons Playground For Rich USA Today ...Southampton, with its privet hedges, pristine beaches and some estates costing tens of millions, also is where 40% of children get free or reduced school lunches, where a food pantry serves up to 400 clients a month and where some doctors and nurses share homes owned by the local hospital because they can't afford to buy or rent...
United Airlines Opens Door For Raises For Low-Wage Airport Workers Newark Star-Ledger ...With raises at stake for 3,700 low-paid cabin cleaners, baggage handlers and other airport workers in Newark, United Airlines acknowledged that its contractors are typically bound to follow local laws or rules governing the airports where they work...
Thursday, July 10, 2014
TAFTA 'trade' deal would weaken chemical safety
Chemical safety would be undermined by a proposed 'trade' deal with Europe, according to leaked documents about the secret talks.
TAFTA, also known as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, or TTIP, would include the United States, Canada, Mexico and the countries in the European Free Trade Association. It's been called the 'latest venue to attack consumer and environmental safeguards.'
A letter was sent by 111 organizations from both Europe and the United States to U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman and EU Commissioner for Trade Karel de Gucht. They will be holding more secret talks on TAFTA next week. Draft text will be presented that could directly undermine strong chemical safety rules.
Teamster ally Public Citizen issued a press statement:
Read the whole letter here.
TAFTA, also known as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, or TTIP, would include the United States, Canada, Mexico and the countries in the European Free Trade Association. It's been called the 'latest venue to attack consumer and environmental safeguards.'
A letter was sent by 111 organizations from both Europe and the United States to U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman and EU Commissioner for Trade Karel de Gucht. They will be holding more secret talks on TAFTA next week. Draft text will be presented that could directly undermine strong chemical safety rules.
Teamster ally Public Citizen issued a press statement:
“EU and U.S. trade policy should not be geared toward advancing the chemical industry’sLori Wallach, director of Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch, said the chemical industry has apparently persuaded trade negotiators that chemical safety regulations are a 'barrier to trade.' Wallach said the so-called trade deal,
agenda at the expense of public health and the environment – but that appears to be exactly what is currently underway with TTIP,” the letter states. “The presence of toxic chemicals in our food, our homes, our workplaces, and our bodies is a threat to present and future generations, with staggering cost for society and individuals.”
...could continue public exposure to hazardous substances in unsafe workplaces, toxic lakes and rivers, and tainted food and toys. If the U.S. and EU governments want to have any hope of stemming the controversy surrounding this proposed pact, they must reverse course and keep our chemical safety protections out of their closed-door “trade” negotiations.”The letter concludes by pointing out secret talks are 'inexcusable and inconsistent with the principles of a modern democracy.'
Read the whole letter here.
Monday, June 16, 2014
Today's Teamster News 06.16.14
Teamsters
With strike over, SEPTA riders exude relief Philly.com ...SEPTA's 13 Regional Rail lines returned to normal after the one-day strike by rail engineers and electrical workers, the first in 31 years. President Obama intervened Saturday, signing an executive order to appoint an emergency board to mediate the dispute between SEPTA and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen plus the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers...
Court blocks Teamsters’ bid to thwart company sale Business Management Daily ...A court has ruled that the Teamsters union can’t scuttle the sale of Will Poultry, a Buffalo food distributor. The company had been looking for a buyer for three years when it finally found one. The sale agreement called for terminating all employees and allowing the new owner to determine which ones it would bring back. The new owner would not be obligated to honor the existing collective bargaining agreement or recognize the Teamsters union, which represented workers...
Trade
Financial services off the table at next round of TTIP talks EurActive.com ... The inclusion or otherwise of financial services in the free trade agreement negotiations is a major point of disagreement between the US and the EU. While the EU insists financial services should be included in any deal, the US Treasury has argued firmly against working with the Europeans to regulate their financial sector...
State Battles
Trade groups sue VT over GMO labeling law Burlington Free Press ...Four national organizations whose members would be affected by Vermont's new labeling law for genetically engineered foods filed a lawsuit Thursday in federal court challenging the measure's constitutionality...
North Carolina Treasurer, Accused of Malfeasance , Defends Secrecy of Private Equity Investments naked capitalism ...the current Treasurer, Janet Cowell, in her role as sole trustee for the state pension (is accused of) ... of supporting a “pay to play” system as well as failing to curb abuses and promoting a secrecy system essential to hiding them. He also estimates that her oversight failures have cost North Carolina $6.8 billion during her term in office...
War on Workers
This Is What Barely Making Ends Meet In America Sounds Like Huffington Post ...According to U.S. Census data, more than 7 percent of workers live below the federal poverty line, with many more above the cutoff but still struggling...
The Question on People Leaving the Labor Force is 41-Year-Olds, Not 61-Year-Olds Center for Economic Policy and Research ... the unemployment rate is considerably lower than would otherwise be the case because so many people have simply given up looking for work and are therefore not counted as being unemployed...
Amazon Is Planning A Way To Let You Hire Babysitters And Plumbers Reuters ...The move takes direct aim at consumer review sites Yelp Inc and Angie's List Inc as well as U.S. home improvement chains Home Depot Inc and Lowe's Companies Inc, which have both invested in ways to connect customers with local plumbers, painters and other service providers...
Miscellaneous
Starbucks to Provide Free College Education to Thousands of Workers New York Times ...Starbucks will provide a free online college education to thousands of its workers, without requiring that they remain with the company, through an unusual arrangement with Arizona State University...
With strike over, SEPTA riders exude relief Philly.com ...SEPTA's 13 Regional Rail lines returned to normal after the one-day strike by rail engineers and electrical workers, the first in 31 years. President Obama intervened Saturday, signing an executive order to appoint an emergency board to mediate the dispute between SEPTA and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen plus the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers...
Court blocks Teamsters’ bid to thwart company sale Business Management Daily ...A court has ruled that the Teamsters union can’t scuttle the sale of Will Poultry, a Buffalo food distributor. The company had been looking for a buyer for three years when it finally found one. The sale agreement called for terminating all employees and allowing the new owner to determine which ones it would bring back. The new owner would not be obligated to honor the existing collective bargaining agreement or recognize the Teamsters union, which represented workers...
Trade
Financial services off the table at next round of TTIP talks EurActive.com ... The inclusion or otherwise of financial services in the free trade agreement negotiations is a major point of disagreement between the US and the EU. While the EU insists financial services should be included in any deal, the US Treasury has argued firmly against working with the Europeans to regulate their financial sector...
State Battles
Trade groups sue VT over GMO labeling law Burlington Free Press ...Four national organizations whose members would be affected by Vermont's new labeling law for genetically engineered foods filed a lawsuit Thursday in federal court challenging the measure's constitutionality...
North Carolina Treasurer, Accused of Malfeasance , Defends Secrecy of Private Equity Investments naked capitalism ...the current Treasurer, Janet Cowell, in her role as sole trustee for the state pension (is accused of) ... of supporting a “pay to play” system as well as failing to curb abuses and promoting a secrecy system essential to hiding them. He also estimates that her oversight failures have cost North Carolina $6.8 billion during her term in office...
War on Workers
This Is What Barely Making Ends Meet In America Sounds Like Huffington Post ...According to U.S. Census data, more than 7 percent of workers live below the federal poverty line, with many more above the cutoff but still struggling...
The Question on People Leaving the Labor Force is 41-Year-Olds, Not 61-Year-Olds Center for Economic Policy and Research ... the unemployment rate is considerably lower than would otherwise be the case because so many people have simply given up looking for work and are therefore not counted as being unemployed...
Amazon Is Planning A Way To Let You Hire Babysitters And Plumbers Reuters ...The move takes direct aim at consumer review sites Yelp Inc and Angie's List Inc as well as U.S. home improvement chains Home Depot Inc and Lowe's Companies Inc, which have both invested in ways to connect customers with local plumbers, painters and other service providers...
Miscellaneous
Starbucks to Provide Free College Education to Thousands of Workers New York Times ...Starbucks will provide a free online college education to thousands of its workers, without requiring that they remain with the company, through an unusual arrangement with Arizona State University...
Monday, June 9, 2014
Today's Teamster News 06.09.14
Teamsters
Teamsters Fear ABF Freight's Plans to Move Arkansas Business ...ArcBest Corp. of Fort Smith is leaning toward moving ABF Freight, its largest subsidiary, to Memphis, which would result in a major reduction of its operations in North Little Rock....
Trade
TPP would hurt farmers, America (opinion) Springfield News-Leader ...these trade deals take power away from local and state elected representatives and make us subject to a virtual undemocratic corporate, global constitution that could undermine the U.S. Constitution, state constitutions, federal and state laws and local control laws. Laws such as Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) would be in jeopardy — COOL is supported by the majority of farmers and consumers, but opposed by corporate agribusiness...
TTIP: EU Commissioner Defends Controversial Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership International Business Times ...Politicians have also been labelled "undemocratic" for the perceived secrecy of negotiations. In May, a group of 120 European NGOs attacked TTIP's "lack of transparency and democratic procedures"...
War on Workers
Starting Out Behind New York Times ...The result has been an economy where young people starting out are at risk of prolonged underachievement...
Trafficked Teachers: Neoliberalism’s Latest Labor Source In These Times ...Between 2007 and 2009, 350 Filipino teachers arrived in Louisiana, excited for the opportunity to teach math and science in public schools throughout the state. They’d been recruited through a company called Universal Placement International Inc., which professes on its website to “successfully place teachers in different schools thru out [sic] the United States.” As a lawsuit later revealed, however, their journey through the American public school system was fraught with abuse...
The Great Deleveraging: Six and a Half Lost Years New Yorker ...The bad news is that for the American economy, whose leitmotif is expansion, to go for six and a half years without any net job growth is something we haven’t seen in eighty years. The only comparable period on record is the Great Depression...
Dark Money, Dirty War: The Corporate Crusade Against Low-Wage Workers Portside ...The U.S. Chamber is using its reports–plus attack ads, articles from right-wing think tanks such as the Manhattan Institute, and op-eds in major newspapers echoing similar refrains—to persuade the public and the government that all low-wage and immigrant worker organizing groups should be subjected to the same financial reporting and internal structuring requirements that unions face...
Teamsters Fear ABF Freight's Plans to Move Arkansas Business ...ArcBest Corp. of Fort Smith is leaning toward moving ABF Freight, its largest subsidiary, to Memphis, which would result in a major reduction of its operations in North Little Rock....
Trade
TPP would hurt farmers, America (opinion) Springfield News-Leader ...these trade deals take power away from local and state elected representatives and make us subject to a virtual undemocratic corporate, global constitution that could undermine the U.S. Constitution, state constitutions, federal and state laws and local control laws. Laws such as Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) would be in jeopardy — COOL is supported by the majority of farmers and consumers, but opposed by corporate agribusiness...
TTIP: EU Commissioner Defends Controversial Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership International Business Times ...Politicians have also been labelled "undemocratic" for the perceived secrecy of negotiations. In May, a group of 120 European NGOs attacked TTIP's "lack of transparency and democratic procedures"...
War on Workers
Starting Out Behind New York Times ...The result has been an economy where young people starting out are at risk of prolonged underachievement...
Trafficked Teachers: Neoliberalism’s Latest Labor Source In These Times ...Between 2007 and 2009, 350 Filipino teachers arrived in Louisiana, excited for the opportunity to teach math and science in public schools throughout the state. They’d been recruited through a company called Universal Placement International Inc., which professes on its website to “successfully place teachers in different schools thru out [sic] the United States.” As a lawsuit later revealed, however, their journey through the American public school system was fraught with abuse...
The Great Deleveraging: Six and a Half Lost Years New Yorker ...The bad news is that for the American economy, whose leitmotif is expansion, to go for six and a half years without any net job growth is something we haven’t seen in eighty years. The only comparable period on record is the Great Depression...
Dark Money, Dirty War: The Corporate Crusade Against Low-Wage Workers Portside ...The U.S. Chamber is using its reports–plus attack ads, articles from right-wing think tanks such as the Manhattan Institute, and op-eds in major newspapers echoing similar refrains—to persuade the public and the government that all low-wage and immigrant worker organizing groups should be subjected to the same financial reporting and internal structuring requirements that unions face...
Wednesday, June 4, 2014
S. Korea trade deal continues to hurt U.S. workers
The U.S. trade deal with South Korea is still doing what we warned it would do ever since it took effect in March 2012: Destroying U.S. jobs, increasing imports from South Korea and widening the trade gap.
On the two-year anniversary of the deal, the Teamsters' friends at Public Citizen explained how it resulted in
We weren't fooled then, and we're not fooled now.
On the two-year anniversary of the deal, the Teamsters' friends at Public Citizen explained how it resulted in
- U.S. exports fell 11 percent;
- Imports from South Korea rose;
- Trade deficit with South Korea ballooned 47 percent.
... the estimated drop in net U.S. exports to Korea in the FTA’s first two years represents the loss of more than 46,600 U.S. jobs.Among those being hurt: U.S. steelworkers. The International Business Times explains:
Ahead of a July 10 decision by the Department of Commerce, the United Steelworkers union and the Alliance for American Manufacturing are pushing the federal government to impose punitive tariffs on nine countries that produce oil country tubular goods, or OCTG, a particularly sturdy type of pipe made to withstand high pressures and corrosive chemicals.
The U.S. producers have accused these exporting countries, led by South Korean manufacturers, of exporting the tubes at prices below fair value. Domestic demand for the tubes has increased because they’re used in hydraulic fracturing, which extracts natural gas by injecting a high-pressure water-mixture with explosive force into shale rock layers to release the fuel.
“There’s not a problem in this country where we can’t produce enough,” said Dan Voorhees, president of USW Local 1104, at a rally at a steel plant in Lorain, Ohio. Workers at the Monday rally called for measures to prevent what they call a shift from dependence on foreign oil to dependence on foreign-made steel tubing for drilling.Since March, the South Korea trade deal is continuing to hurt U.S. workers. According to Public Citizen, April marked the highest monthly level of U.S. goods imports from Korea ever on record.
...a fall in imports in the latest month reinforces a worrying erosion of domestic consumption...The sluggish imports underscored depressed domestic consumption and investment, and continued weakness in global prices of energy and raw materials.The same arguments used to push the South Korea trade deal -- it would create jobs -- are being used to promote TAFTA and the TPP.
We weren't fooled then, and we're not fooled now.
Tuesday, June 3, 2014
Today's Teamster News 06.03.14
Teamsters
Teamsters Mourn Passing Of Troy Stapleton teamster.org ...The Teamsters Union lost a true friend and brother in the labor movement with the passing of retired Local 100 president Troy Stapleton on May 29 after succumbing to injuries suffered in an automobile accident...
Accelerated-Vesting Bans Win Shareholder Votes Agenda ...In landmark votes, shareholders of Valero Energy and Gannett separately approved shareholder proposals that would ban accelerated vesting of performance-based executive equity awards if the companies change hands… The Gannett measure was sponsored by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters General Fund...
Teamsters in Windsor: A look at the 1910 federal census The Coloradan ...In 1904, the teamsters conducted a sympathy strike in support of 18,000 Chicago meat cutters. In 1905, they supported tailors in the well-known Montgomery Ward strike of the same city...
Trade
Whoa! U.S. House passes bill banning 'Buy American' waivers for TPP, TTIP TeamsterNation ...The U.S. House of Representatives voted last week to block talks for trade agreements that void Buy American rules...
53 Democratic lawmakers push U.S. to toughen up Trans-Pacific Partnership rules Reuters ...U.S. trade negotiators must insist on tough standards on human and workers’ rights in a Pacific trade deal spanning 12 countries, more than 150 Democratic lawmakers said in a letter to the Obama administration on Thursday...
5 takeaways from #SOSJobs Lone Star Rally manufacture this ...the Alliance for American Manufacturing 9AAM) joined citizens, workers, and state and federal legislators in Texas to rally in support of steel jobs at U.S. Steel’s Lone Star Tubular Operations facility. The products produced there –- called oil country tubular goods (OCTG) –- are used for energy exploration...But America’s domestic producers of OCTG are in danger of being swamped by illegal competition...
State Battles
Seattle OKs $15 minimum wage Associated Press ...The Seattle City Council unanimously passed an ordinance Monday that gradually increases the minimum wage in the city to $15, which would make it the highest in the nation...
War on Workers
'Walmart Moms' Target Annual Shareholder Meeting Women's eNews ...When Walmart, holds its annual shareholder meeting on June 6, many of its female workers are planning to crash the event at the mega retailer's Bentonville, Ark., headquarters...
Quelle Surprise, Labor Productivity is Up while Labor Wages are Still Down! Angry Bear ...Labor worked the exact same number of hours in 1998 as they did in 2013 or ~194 billion hours. While there was no growth in the number of hours worked, the Non-Institutional Civilian Population grew by 40 million people, and new businesses were created by the thousands which should have needed more Labor...
Study: Privacy is gone, but that’s OK because we get stuff for free Pando ...A new study out from Accenture debuting at the end of last week, surveying 2,012 adults between the ages of 20 and 40 from across the United States and the United Kingdom, found that in today’s digital world 80 percent of us don’t believe that total privacy exists anymore. Worse, however, is that we seem to be accepting of with this new reality...
Miscellaneous
Latest EPA rules signal a bleaker future for coal Arizona Republic ...The Environmental Protection Agency proposed new restrictions on power plants Monday to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, a move that is likely to accelerate a shift away from coal...
Teamsters Mourn Passing Of Troy Stapleton teamster.org ...The Teamsters Union lost a true friend and brother in the labor movement with the passing of retired Local 100 president Troy Stapleton on May 29 after succumbing to injuries suffered in an automobile accident...
Accelerated-Vesting Bans Win Shareholder Votes Agenda ...In landmark votes, shareholders of Valero Energy and Gannett separately approved shareholder proposals that would ban accelerated vesting of performance-based executive equity awards if the companies change hands… The Gannett measure was sponsored by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters General Fund...
Teamsters in Windsor: A look at the 1910 federal census The Coloradan ...In 1904, the teamsters conducted a sympathy strike in support of 18,000 Chicago meat cutters. In 1905, they supported tailors in the well-known Montgomery Ward strike of the same city...
Trade
Whoa! U.S. House passes bill banning 'Buy American' waivers for TPP, TTIP TeamsterNation ...The U.S. House of Representatives voted last week to block talks for trade agreements that void Buy American rules...
53 Democratic lawmakers push U.S. to toughen up Trans-Pacific Partnership rules Reuters ...U.S. trade negotiators must insist on tough standards on human and workers’ rights in a Pacific trade deal spanning 12 countries, more than 150 Democratic lawmakers said in a letter to the Obama administration on Thursday...
5 takeaways from #SOSJobs Lone Star Rally manufacture this ...the Alliance for American Manufacturing 9AAM) joined citizens, workers, and state and federal legislators in Texas to rally in support of steel jobs at U.S. Steel’s Lone Star Tubular Operations facility. The products produced there –- called oil country tubular goods (OCTG) –- are used for energy exploration...But America’s domestic producers of OCTG are in danger of being swamped by illegal competition...
State Battles
Seattle OKs $15 minimum wage Associated Press ...The Seattle City Council unanimously passed an ordinance Monday that gradually increases the minimum wage in the city to $15, which would make it the highest in the nation...
War on Workers
'Walmart Moms' Target Annual Shareholder Meeting Women's eNews ...When Walmart, holds its annual shareholder meeting on June 6, many of its female workers are planning to crash the event at the mega retailer's Bentonville, Ark., headquarters...
Quelle Surprise, Labor Productivity is Up while Labor Wages are Still Down! Angry Bear ...Labor worked the exact same number of hours in 1998 as they did in 2013 or ~194 billion hours. While there was no growth in the number of hours worked, the Non-Institutional Civilian Population grew by 40 million people, and new businesses were created by the thousands which should have needed more Labor...
Study: Privacy is gone, but that’s OK because we get stuff for free Pando ...A new study out from Accenture debuting at the end of last week, surveying 2,012 adults between the ages of 20 and 40 from across the United States and the United Kingdom, found that in today’s digital world 80 percent of us don’t believe that total privacy exists anymore. Worse, however, is that we seem to be accepting of with this new reality...
Miscellaneous
Latest EPA rules signal a bleaker future for coal Arizona Republic ...The Environmental Protection Agency proposed new restrictions on power plants Monday to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, a move that is likely to accelerate a shift away from coal...
Monday, June 2, 2014
Whoa! U.S. House passes bill banning 'Buy American' waivers for TPP, TTIP
Now the U.S. Senate has a chance to do something good for the American people and pass that bill, too.
Rep. Alan Grayson, a Florida Democrat, proposed the ban as an amendment to a funding bill. The amendment was approved by a voice vote, and the underlying bill was passed 321-87.
According to Inside U.S. Trade,
Grayson's amendment, H. Amdt. 761, consists of one sentence stating that "[n]one of the funds made available by this Act may be used to negotiate an agreement that includes a waiver of the 'Buy American Act.'"
...A congressional aide supportive of the language said it is intended to block USTR from negotiating agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) that would provide foreign suppliers the same treatment as domestic companies when it comes to procurement of goods by the U.S. federal government.Inside U.S. Trade also quoted the aide saying the vote sends a signal that there is serious congressional opposition to trade agreements. Typically, Buy American requirements are waived as a result of trade deals.
(TTIP, by the way, is also known as TAFTA. For obvious reasons, supporters prefer not to call it TAFTA.)
Today's Teamster News 06.02.14
Trade
US food safety association flags up potential negatives of TTIP Global Meat News ...Food safety in the meat industry could be negatively affected by the result of the current Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) talks between the US and the European Union, according to the Center for Food Safety (CFS) in the US...
EU-US clash over financial services in TTIP EurActiv ... The US Ambassador to the EU told the European Commissioner for Trade today (15 May) that there is hardly any chance that financial services will be included in a future Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP)...
State Battles
How Local Governments Are Using Their Purchasing Power to End Sweatshop Labor The Nation ...Last month, to commemorate the anniversary of the deadly Rana Plaza factory collapse in Bangladesh, the city of Madison, Wisconsin, launched a contracting policy that commits the city’s vendors to promote fair labor standards...
A New Teacher Union Movement is Rising Portside ...A revitalized teacher union movement is bubbling up in the midst of relentless attacks on public schools and the teaching profession...
The War on Workers
QE, Bailouts, And Families Struggling To Buy Food Testosterone Pit ...In 2013, as the S&P 500 index, including dividends, shot up 32.4% – after an already blistering 16% in 2012 – and as the Fed’s trillions inflated just about every asset class, from modernist paintings to farmland, well just then, 23% of the families with kids and 19% of the families without kids in America reported difficulties buying food...
Walmart Associates From All Over The World Arrive In Northwest Arkansas Sunday 5News ...The Walmart shareholders and associates stay at the University of Arkansas in the dorms. All of the events and meals take place on campus, with the biggest event being the 7 a.m. Friday shareholders meeting at Bud Walton Arena...
A New Rallying Cry for Retail Workers: $25,000 a Year Bloomberg ...Walmart Moms head to the headquarters of Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) for the retailer’s annual shareholder meeting on June 6. The union-supported group is asking for $25,000 a year for full-time work...
N.S.A. Collecting Millions of Faces From Web Images New York Times ...The National Security Agency is harvesting huge numbers of images of people from communications that it intercepts through its global surveillance operations for use in sophisticated facial recognition programs, according to top-secret documents...
Miscellaneous
U.S. to unveil sweeping rules to cut power plant pollution Reuters ...The U.S. power sector will need to emit 30 percent less carbon dioxide by 2030 than it did in 2005, according to new federal regulations - the centerpiece of the Obama administration's climate change strategy - to be unveiled on Monday...
Study Examines Efficacy of Taxes on Sugary Drinks New York Times ...A new study of how taxes might be used to curb consumption of sugary drinks suggests that applying a tax based on the amount of calories contained in a serving rather than its size would be more effective...
US food safety association flags up potential negatives of TTIP Global Meat News ...Food safety in the meat industry could be negatively affected by the result of the current Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) talks between the US and the European Union, according to the Center for Food Safety (CFS) in the US...
EU-US clash over financial services in TTIP EurActiv ... The US Ambassador to the EU told the European Commissioner for Trade today (15 May) that there is hardly any chance that financial services will be included in a future Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP)...
State Battles
How Local Governments Are Using Their Purchasing Power to End Sweatshop Labor The Nation ...Last month, to commemorate the anniversary of the deadly Rana Plaza factory collapse in Bangladesh, the city of Madison, Wisconsin, launched a contracting policy that commits the city’s vendors to promote fair labor standards...
A New Teacher Union Movement is Rising Portside ...A revitalized teacher union movement is bubbling up in the midst of relentless attacks on public schools and the teaching profession...
The War on Workers
QE, Bailouts, And Families Struggling To Buy Food Testosterone Pit ...In 2013, as the S&P 500 index, including dividends, shot up 32.4% – after an already blistering 16% in 2012 – and as the Fed’s trillions inflated just about every asset class, from modernist paintings to farmland, well just then, 23% of the families with kids and 19% of the families without kids in America reported difficulties buying food...
Walmart Associates From All Over The World Arrive In Northwest Arkansas Sunday 5News ...The Walmart shareholders and associates stay at the University of Arkansas in the dorms. All of the events and meals take place on campus, with the biggest event being the 7 a.m. Friday shareholders meeting at Bud Walton Arena...
A New Rallying Cry for Retail Workers: $25,000 a Year Bloomberg ...Walmart Moms head to the headquarters of Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) for the retailer’s annual shareholder meeting on June 6. The union-supported group is asking for $25,000 a year for full-time work...
N.S.A. Collecting Millions of Faces From Web Images New York Times ...The National Security Agency is harvesting huge numbers of images of people from communications that it intercepts through its global surveillance operations for use in sophisticated facial recognition programs, according to top-secret documents...
Miscellaneous
U.S. to unveil sweeping rules to cut power plant pollution Reuters ...The U.S. power sector will need to emit 30 percent less carbon dioxide by 2030 than it did in 2005, according to new federal regulations - the centerpiece of the Obama administration's climate change strategy - to be unveiled on Monday...
Study Examines Efficacy of Taxes on Sugary Drinks New York Times ...A new study of how taxes might be used to curb consumption of sugary drinks suggests that applying a tax based on the amount of calories contained in a serving rather than its size would be more effective...
Sunday, June 1, 2014
Today's Teamster News 06.01.14
Trade
Ford moves jobs, production from Mexico to America PowerNation ...Ford Motor Co. plans to announce details of a manufacturing shift of medium-duty trucks from Mexico to the United States. Its F-650s and F-750s will be moved to the Ohio Assembly Plant, and the switch is planned to take place in early 2015…
Success Of Fringe Parties In European Parliament Raises New Obstacle To TAFTA/TTIP's Progress TechDirt ...following last week's elections for the European Parliament, a new obstacle to concluding the agreement has been added: an increased number of European politicians (MEPs) that are skeptical about pan-European projects in general, and TAFTA/TTIP...
State Battles
Wall Street Journal hits Scott Walker again on Doe deal-making Milwauke Journal Sentinel ...The Wall Street Journal editorial page has once again spanked Gov. Scott Walker for allegedly contemplating a settlement deal with John Doe prosecutors...
The War on Workers
How the NSA Can Get Onto Your Computer PBS Frontline ...there is a suite of programs, codenamed QUANTUM, which allows the NSA access to a much wider variety of computers...
New Law ‘Facilitates Privatization’ of US Water Systems Mint Press News ...Much of America’s drinking water and wastewater infrastructure needs attention, but critics worry that a new funding bill could be a pipeline to government-subsidized privatization...
Fast Food Workers' Movement: Union 2.0? Real News Network ...With the support of America's second largest union SEIU, the fast food workers' $15 wage movement has grown, but is this unorganized workforce of the past shaping up to be the future face of the American organized labor force?...
The problems isn't the VA or Eric Shinseki (opinion) GQ ...thus ends the honorable career of a soldier who was correct about the lies behind the greatest policy disaster of our times, about the essential criminality of the people who launched the invasion of Iraq, but whose primary failures as an administrator were his inability to oversee the people in his department who were directly trying to cope with the flood of casualties that resulted from all of those soldiers that most of official Washington told Eric Shinseki they would never need to create a democratic paradise in Iraq...
SEC Chair Mary Jo White Earns the Wrath of the Media for Refusing to Acknowledge High Frequency Trading Perks as a Crime Wall Street on Parade ...there has been a slow, but steady, realization that the woman President Obama sold to the American people as the white knight who would rein in abuses on Wall Street has failed miserably in that role...
Miscellaneous
It's simple. If we can't change our economic system, our number's up (opinion) Guardian ...It was neither capitalism nor communism that made possible the progress and pathologies (total war, the unprecedented concentration of global wealth, planetary destruction) of the modern age. It was coal, followed by oil and gas...
Not Walking the Walk on Board Diversity New York Times ...is there a penalty if a company reneges on its promise of change? The answer, if you are Skechers USA, the footwear manufacturer, is apparently not…
Ford moves jobs, production from Mexico to America PowerNation ...Ford Motor Co. plans to announce details of a manufacturing shift of medium-duty trucks from Mexico to the United States. Its F-650s and F-750s will be moved to the Ohio Assembly Plant, and the switch is planned to take place in early 2015…
Success Of Fringe Parties In European Parliament Raises New Obstacle To TAFTA/TTIP's Progress TechDirt ...following last week's elections for the European Parliament, a new obstacle to concluding the agreement has been added: an increased number of European politicians (MEPs) that are skeptical about pan-European projects in general, and TAFTA/TTIP...
State Battles
Wall Street Journal hits Scott Walker again on Doe deal-making Milwauke Journal Sentinel ...The Wall Street Journal editorial page has once again spanked Gov. Scott Walker for allegedly contemplating a settlement deal with John Doe prosecutors...
The War on Workers
How the NSA Can Get Onto Your Computer PBS Frontline ...there is a suite of programs, codenamed QUANTUM, which allows the NSA access to a much wider variety of computers...
New Law ‘Facilitates Privatization’ of US Water Systems Mint Press News ...Much of America’s drinking water and wastewater infrastructure needs attention, but critics worry that a new funding bill could be a pipeline to government-subsidized privatization...
Fast Food Workers' Movement: Union 2.0? Real News Network ...With the support of America's second largest union SEIU, the fast food workers' $15 wage movement has grown, but is this unorganized workforce of the past shaping up to be the future face of the American organized labor force?...
The problems isn't the VA or Eric Shinseki (opinion) GQ ...thus ends the honorable career of a soldier who was correct about the lies behind the greatest policy disaster of our times, about the essential criminality of the people who launched the invasion of Iraq, but whose primary failures as an administrator were his inability to oversee the people in his department who were directly trying to cope with the flood of casualties that resulted from all of those soldiers that most of official Washington told Eric Shinseki they would never need to create a democratic paradise in Iraq...
SEC Chair Mary Jo White Earns the Wrath of the Media for Refusing to Acknowledge High Frequency Trading Perks as a Crime Wall Street on Parade ...there has been a slow, but steady, realization that the woman President Obama sold to the American people as the white knight who would rein in abuses on Wall Street has failed miserably in that role...
Miscellaneous
It's simple. If we can't change our economic system, our number's up (opinion) Guardian ...It was neither capitalism nor communism that made possible the progress and pathologies (total war, the unprecedented concentration of global wealth, planetary destruction) of the modern age. It was coal, followed by oil and gas...
Not Walking the Walk on Board Diversity New York Times ...is there a penalty if a company reneges on its promise of change? The answer, if you are Skechers USA, the footwear manufacturer, is apparently not…
Thursday, May 22, 2014
TAFTA trade deal sparks protests, arrests, European press actually reports on it
Hundreds of Europeans were arrested last week in a protest against TAFTA, the latest power grab for corporations and the 1% masquerading as a trade deal between the U.S. and Europe.
The European news media actually reported on the protest, the arrest and the aftermath of TAFTA, also known as TTIP. (We think TAFTA, which stands for Trans-Atlantic Free Trade Agreement, is a more accurate term.)
We have little hope that the U.S. mainstream media would ever deign to cover TAFTA, protests against TAFTA or concerns about TAFTA. That's because ABC, Fox News, NBC and CNN have all hired lobbyists to lobby for trade deals. They know the best way to get trade deals passed is to keep Americans in the dark about them.
Here's how the European media covers the TAFTA protests. From EurActive.com:
And read the whole EurActive.com story here.
The European news media actually reported on the protest, the arrest and the aftermath of TAFTA, also known as TTIP. (We think TAFTA, which stands for Trans-Atlantic Free Trade Agreement, is a more accurate term.)
We have little hope that the U.S. mainstream media would ever deign to cover TAFTA, protests against TAFTA or concerns about TAFTA. That's because ABC, Fox News, NBC and CNN have all hired lobbyists to lobby for trade deals. They know the best way to get trade deals passed is to keep Americans in the dark about them.
Here's how the European media covers the TAFTA protests. From EurActive.com:
NGOs and trade unions today (19 May) hit back at accusations they were spreading lies on social media about the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), as it emerged that Brussels Police used controversial “kettling” techniques and water cannon on protestors outside the European Business Summit.
Hundreds of anti-TTIP protestors, including a Green member of the Belgian Parliament, were encircled for several hours by riot gear-clad cops before being arrested en masse outside the Egmont Palace in Brussels, using a legal mechanism known as “administrative arrest”.
Administrative arrest allows groups of people to be held without charge for up to 12 hours.Here's something else you won't find out from U.S. mainstream media:
Shortly after an estimated 250 demonstrators were arrested on Thursday, EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht and US Ambassador to the EU Anthony Gardner accused some protestors of spreading lies during a summit panel about TTIP, a trade deal between the EU and US. One example cited was that TTIP would mean Europeans being sold US chickens washed in chlorine.
This week, EU and US negotiators are meeting in Washington DC for the fifth round of negotiations. They are aiming to agree on a deal by the end of next year.Just try it: Do a google news search of TTIP or TAFTA. You'll see what news organizations are covering it.
And read the whole EurActive.com story here.
Today's Teamster News 05.22.14
Teamster News
Teamsters Strike Averted Pekin Daily Times ...After about five hours of mediation between the city of Pekin and Teamsters Local 627 officials the two sides reached a tentative agreement Tuesday to keep city services operational...
International Brotherhood Of Teamsters Reports Taylor Farms Workers' Rights Violations Insurance News Net ...Taylor Farms workers and Teamster members gathered with state and community leaders at a forum on May 15 evening to investigate workers' rights violations at the company's facilities in Tracy, California, according to a release from International Brotherhood of Teamsters...
ACTR Drivers To Vote On Union The Eagle ...Bus drivers of ACTR, Addison County Transit Resources, will vote to unionize June 11, according to driver Craig Bingham. Bingham says the drivers will decide to join the Teamsters Local 597...
Drivers Physicals Must Now Be Performed by Certified Medical Examiners Trucking Info ...The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is reminding the trucking industry Wednesday marks the start of new regulations requiring that all U.S. DOT physicals must be performed by a qualified health professional listed on the National Registry of Certified Medical Examiners.
The new program sets baseline training and testing standards for medical professionals who perform commercial driver physicals and for tracking of driver medical certificates...
Teamsters Local 727 Defends Funeral Workers at SCI Shareholders Meeting Teamsters Local 727 ...Teamsters Local 727 President John Coli Jr. on May 14 publicly denounced funeral giant Service Corporation International at its annual shareholders meeting in Houston for the company’s mistreatment of Chicago-area workers...
Trade
Surprise, US media fails to cover talks on big 'trade' deal with Europe TeamsterNation ...The European media came out for a press conference today against TAFTA, the latest power grab by big corporations and the 1%. The American media wasn't interested in the so-called trade deal with Europe...
Trans-Pacific Partnership Talks To Intensify As Key Players Remain Divided Raw Story ...Asia-Pacific trade ministers said Tuesday they would intensify talks on a vast trans-Pacific free trade agreement, but offered no clue on when a final accord would be reached. At the end of a two-day meeting in Singapore, ministers and chief negotiators of the 12 putative member economies of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) remained divided on key issues...
State Battles
Christie's pension payment reduction plan sparks lawsuit from CWA NJ.com ...Another prominent labor union, the Communications Workers of America, says it will file a lawsuit in an effort to stop Gov. Chris Christie's plans to grab $2.43 billion meant for the pension system to balance the state budget...
Minnesota vs. Wisconsin, and More Econbrowser ... No turnaround for Wisconsin — it continues to lag Minnesota and the Nation...
War On Workers
U.S. Fast Food Protests Go Global The Hill ...Last Thursday, fast food workers in over 30 countries participated in protests over poverty wages, a lack of full-time positions, poor working conditions and management retaliation against union activism. U.S. workers protested in over 160 cities...
McDonald's Vacates Headquarters Ahead Of Massive Protest Business Insider ...McDonald's executives vacated the company headquarters in Oak Brook, Illinois, on Wednesday ahead of a massive protest involving thousands of workers and supporters...
Why Is Credit Suisse Still Allowed to Do Business in the United States? The Atlantic ...Credit Suisse, the gigantic Swiss bank, is clearly a criminal organization. In its guilty plea yesterday, Credit Suisse admitted that it has been actively helping Americans (and no doubt people from all around the world) evade taxes for years...
Is Credit Suisse Really in Jail? Baseline Scenario ...no one will go to jail because of the conviction...
Hubris at the Top: The Imperial and Tone Deaf CEO Wall Street on Parade ...Yesterday, at the JPMorgan shareholders’ meeting, which has been held in Tampa, Florida for the past three years, more than 1,000 miles from the JPMorgan headquarters in New York (ostensibly to avoid mass protests), CEO Jamie Dimon’s pay package was rubber stamped by shareholders at $20 million for 2013. Over the past 18 months, the bank has been charged with ever alarming amounts of crimes, including the unprecedented two-felony count charge for aiding and abetting the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme which devastated financial lives across America...
Miscellaneous
TransCanada Considers Keystone XL Pipeline Alternative, Oil By Rail Reuters ...TransCanada Corp is in talks with customers about shipping Canadian crude to the United States by rail as an alternative route as its Keystone XL pipeline project that has been mired in political delays, Chief Executive Russ Girling said on Wednesday...
Couple Fined $750, Threatened With Jail for Feeding Homeless People Alternet ...A Florida couple who fed more than 100 homeless people each week have been accused of breaking the law for their good deed...
Saudi Arabia: Filipino Maid Disfigured with Boiling Water for not Bringing Coffee on Time IBT ...The maid, who is from Pikit, North Cotabato, said she had been working for the Arab family in Riyadh for two months. She was not given her salary or provided with proper meals...
Teamsters Strike Averted Pekin Daily Times ...After about five hours of mediation between the city of Pekin and Teamsters Local 627 officials the two sides reached a tentative agreement Tuesday to keep city services operational...
International Brotherhood Of Teamsters Reports Taylor Farms Workers' Rights Violations Insurance News Net ...Taylor Farms workers and Teamster members gathered with state and community leaders at a forum on May 15 evening to investigate workers' rights violations at the company's facilities in Tracy, California, according to a release from International Brotherhood of Teamsters...
ACTR Drivers To Vote On Union The Eagle ...Bus drivers of ACTR, Addison County Transit Resources, will vote to unionize June 11, according to driver Craig Bingham. Bingham says the drivers will decide to join the Teamsters Local 597...
Drivers Physicals Must Now Be Performed by Certified Medical Examiners Trucking Info ...The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is reminding the trucking industry Wednesday marks the start of new regulations requiring that all U.S. DOT physicals must be performed by a qualified health professional listed on the National Registry of Certified Medical Examiners.
The new program sets baseline training and testing standards for medical professionals who perform commercial driver physicals and for tracking of driver medical certificates...
Teamsters Local 727 Defends Funeral Workers at SCI Shareholders Meeting Teamsters Local 727 ...Teamsters Local 727 President John Coli Jr. on May 14 publicly denounced funeral giant Service Corporation International at its annual shareholders meeting in Houston for the company’s mistreatment of Chicago-area workers...
Trade
Surprise, US media fails to cover talks on big 'trade' deal with Europe TeamsterNation ...The European media came out for a press conference today against TAFTA, the latest power grab by big corporations and the 1%. The American media wasn't interested in the so-called trade deal with Europe...
Trans-Pacific Partnership Talks To Intensify As Key Players Remain Divided Raw Story ...Asia-Pacific trade ministers said Tuesday they would intensify talks on a vast trans-Pacific free trade agreement, but offered no clue on when a final accord would be reached. At the end of a two-day meeting in Singapore, ministers and chief negotiators of the 12 putative member economies of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) remained divided on key issues...
State Battles
Christie's pension payment reduction plan sparks lawsuit from CWA NJ.com ...Another prominent labor union, the Communications Workers of America, says it will file a lawsuit in an effort to stop Gov. Chris Christie's plans to grab $2.43 billion meant for the pension system to balance the state budget...
Minnesota vs. Wisconsin, and More Econbrowser ... No turnaround for Wisconsin — it continues to lag Minnesota and the Nation...
War On Workers
U.S. Fast Food Protests Go Global The Hill ...Last Thursday, fast food workers in over 30 countries participated in protests over poverty wages, a lack of full-time positions, poor working conditions and management retaliation against union activism. U.S. workers protested in over 160 cities...
McDonald's Vacates Headquarters Ahead Of Massive Protest Business Insider ...McDonald's executives vacated the company headquarters in Oak Brook, Illinois, on Wednesday ahead of a massive protest involving thousands of workers and supporters...
Why Is Credit Suisse Still Allowed to Do Business in the United States? The Atlantic ...Credit Suisse, the gigantic Swiss bank, is clearly a criminal organization. In its guilty plea yesterday, Credit Suisse admitted that it has been actively helping Americans (and no doubt people from all around the world) evade taxes for years...
Is Credit Suisse Really in Jail? Baseline Scenario ...no one will go to jail because of the conviction...
Hubris at the Top: The Imperial and Tone Deaf CEO Wall Street on Parade ...Yesterday, at the JPMorgan shareholders’ meeting, which has been held in Tampa, Florida for the past three years, more than 1,000 miles from the JPMorgan headquarters in New York (ostensibly to avoid mass protests), CEO Jamie Dimon’s pay package was rubber stamped by shareholders at $20 million for 2013. Over the past 18 months, the bank has been charged with ever alarming amounts of crimes, including the unprecedented two-felony count charge for aiding and abetting the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme which devastated financial lives across America...
Miscellaneous
TransCanada Considers Keystone XL Pipeline Alternative, Oil By Rail Reuters ...TransCanada Corp is in talks with customers about shipping Canadian crude to the United States by rail as an alternative route as its Keystone XL pipeline project that has been mired in political delays, Chief Executive Russ Girling said on Wednesday...
Couple Fined $750, Threatened With Jail for Feeding Homeless People Alternet ...A Florida couple who fed more than 100 homeless people each week have been accused of breaking the law for their good deed...
Saudi Arabia: Filipino Maid Disfigured with Boiling Water for not Bringing Coffee on Time IBT ...The maid, who is from Pikit, North Cotabato, said she had been working for the Arab family in Riyadh for two months. She was not given her salary or provided with proper meals...
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
Surprise, US media fails to cover talks on big 'trade' deal with Europe
The European media came out for a press conference today against TAFTA, the latest power grab by big corporations and the 1%. The American media wasn't interested in the so-called trade deal with Europe.
We didn't expect the U.S. media to cover the event, as it is in the tank for these corporate power grabs and knows the less people know about them, the better. They just lobby on trade deals, they don't report on them.
Anyhoo, TAFTA talks are going on in Arlington, Va., and representatives from a range of organizations explained why they oppose the deal. According to our friends at the Citizens Trade Campaign,
We didn't expect the U.S. media to cover the event, as it is in the tank for these corporate power grabs and knows the less people know about them, the better. They just lobby on trade deals, they don't report on them.
Anyhoo, TAFTA talks are going on in Arlington, Va., and representatives from a range of organizations explained why they oppose the deal. According to our friends at the Citizens Trade Campaign,
A wide range of consumer, family farm, environmental, Internet freedom, labor and other organizations held a press event ...to expose the pact as more about deregulation than “trade” per se.Here's one good reason to oppose it, CTC tells us:
“European negotiators have targeted ‘Buy Local’ public procurement in 23 cities across the United States, threatening programs that shore up local economies and family farms,” said Kathy Ozer from the National Family Farm Coalition. “Corporations on both sides of the Atlantic are also targeting food safety and consumer measures affecting everything from GMO labeling, to milk standards, to policies under the recent Food Safety Modernization Act. Knocking down progress on food safety and GMOs through TTIP further threatens food sovereignty here in the US and across the globe.”And, jobs.
Sunday, May 18, 2014
Today's Teamster News 05.18.14
Trade
TPP ministers to seek progress in Singapore but deal unlikely global post ...Hopes have grown that talks for an ambitious Pacific trade deal will advance when ministers from 12 countries gather in Singapore on Monday and Tuesday after Japan and the United States moved closer on thorny issues, but observers say reaching a broad deal at the upcoming meeting is unlikely...
Brussels authorities help silence opposition to the ‘Great Transatlantic Market’ (TTIP) The Economic Voice ...over a thousand people were in the streets of Brussels, attempting to peacefully protest against austerity and the proposed great transatlantic market (TTIP) which were being discussed in the absence of citizens at the European Business Summit. In an unprovoked move 281 people were violently arrested said the Corporate Europe Observatory, including Belgian and European parliamentarians and candidates, senior trade union officials, farmers and many elderly citizens...
State Battles
In Georgia, Lawmakers Taking Pride in Policies That Hurt the Poor Next New Deal ...lawmakers in Georgia have been systematically dismantling the state’s social safety net. Of the 300,000 Georgian families living below the poverty line, only 19,000 receive TANF and more than three quarters of those cases involve children only. That means that fewer than seven percent of low-income Georgians are able to get the welfare assistance they badly need...
‘Right-to-work’ is actually just a right to freeload The Athens News ...But why should they bother with the transparent ruse of right-to-work laws when they can just offer legislation to ban unions? That's what they really want...
Come to North Dakota for the paycheck, lose your life Los Angeles Times ...The state had the highest rate of worker fatalities in the nation--17.7 per 100,000 workers, or more than five times the national average. The union calculated the toll as "one of the highest state job fatality rates ever reported for any state," and observed that it had more than doubled from the rate in 2007...
ALEC fires back, but proves its 'pro-business' state index is bogus Los Angeles Times ...Plainly stung by the chorus of ridicule that has greeted their latest attempt to paint anti-union policies and tax cuts for the rich as pathways to economic nirvana, the folks at the American Legislative Exchange Council have struck back with a "response to the critics..."
War on Workers
A guide to the VA health care controversy Washington Post ...Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric K. Shinseki faced tough questions from a Senate panel Thursday about the state of his department after allegations that some VA health clinics have cooked their books to cover up treatment delays...
The Deep Roots of Skilled Labor Shortages: Anti-Union, Anti-Worker Corporations Economic Policy Institute ...Oil giants like Chevron can afford to have their construction contractors pay well for skilled work, but they resist. Organizations they fund, such as the Business Roundtable, have led a decades-long campaign to weaken or destroy the building trades unions that actually train the greatest number of skilled tradesmen. Chevron, Koch Industries, ExxonMobil and many other energy industry corporations fund the American Legislative Exchange Council and its legislative efforts to kill unions and eliminate labor standards...
G.M. Is Fined Over Safety and Called a Lawbreaker New York Times ...Saying that safety practices at General Motors were “broken,” federal regulators on Friday imposed the biggest punishment they could on the automaker and condemned it over its failure to promptly report a defect that G.M. has linked to 13 deaths...
GM suggested engineers avoid ‘judgment words’ like ‘death trap,’ ‘grenade-like’ Politico Pro ...GM told engineers to avoid using dozens of words when communicating about vehicle problems that could potentially lead to recalls, including everything from “safety” to “Kevorkianesque...”
Shocker: Cable TV prices went up four times the rate of inflation ars technica ...US homes on average receive 189.1 cable TV channels and only watch 17.5 of them...
Wal-Mart Says It Won't Oppose Increase in Minimum Wage Wall Street Journal ...Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said it wouldn't oppose an increase in the federal minimum wage, its most explicit comment yet on the controversial debate to move past the $7.25-an-hour minimum...
Miscellaneous
Over 3000 Chinese Evacuated (By Boat & Plane) As Vietnam's Anti-China Riots Escalate; Taiwan Also On "High Alert" zero hedge ...China began evacuating hundreds of its nationals from Vietnam (via at least 2 planes and 5 ships) as the anti-China protests have become increasingly deadly following Beijing's attempt to deploy an oil drill in Vietnamese dispuited waters...
TPP ministers to seek progress in Singapore but deal unlikely global post ...Hopes have grown that talks for an ambitious Pacific trade deal will advance when ministers from 12 countries gather in Singapore on Monday and Tuesday after Japan and the United States moved closer on thorny issues, but observers say reaching a broad deal at the upcoming meeting is unlikely...
Brussels authorities help silence opposition to the ‘Great Transatlantic Market’ (TTIP) The Economic Voice ...over a thousand people were in the streets of Brussels, attempting to peacefully protest against austerity and the proposed great transatlantic market (TTIP) which were being discussed in the absence of citizens at the European Business Summit. In an unprovoked move 281 people were violently arrested said the Corporate Europe Observatory, including Belgian and European parliamentarians and candidates, senior trade union officials, farmers and many elderly citizens...
State Battles
In Georgia, Lawmakers Taking Pride in Policies That Hurt the Poor Next New Deal ...lawmakers in Georgia have been systematically dismantling the state’s social safety net. Of the 300,000 Georgian families living below the poverty line, only 19,000 receive TANF and more than three quarters of those cases involve children only. That means that fewer than seven percent of low-income Georgians are able to get the welfare assistance they badly need...
‘Right-to-work’ is actually just a right to freeload The Athens News ...But why should they bother with the transparent ruse of right-to-work laws when they can just offer legislation to ban unions? That's what they really want...
Come to North Dakota for the paycheck, lose your life Los Angeles Times ...The state had the highest rate of worker fatalities in the nation--17.7 per 100,000 workers, or more than five times the national average. The union calculated the toll as "one of the highest state job fatality rates ever reported for any state," and observed that it had more than doubled from the rate in 2007...
ALEC fires back, but proves its 'pro-business' state index is bogus Los Angeles Times ...Plainly stung by the chorus of ridicule that has greeted their latest attempt to paint anti-union policies and tax cuts for the rich as pathways to economic nirvana, the folks at the American Legislative Exchange Council have struck back with a "response to the critics..."
War on Workers
A guide to the VA health care controversy Washington Post ...Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric K. Shinseki faced tough questions from a Senate panel Thursday about the state of his department after allegations that some VA health clinics have cooked their books to cover up treatment delays...
The Deep Roots of Skilled Labor Shortages: Anti-Union, Anti-Worker Corporations Economic Policy Institute ...Oil giants like Chevron can afford to have their construction contractors pay well for skilled work, but they resist. Organizations they fund, such as the Business Roundtable, have led a decades-long campaign to weaken or destroy the building trades unions that actually train the greatest number of skilled tradesmen. Chevron, Koch Industries, ExxonMobil and many other energy industry corporations fund the American Legislative Exchange Council and its legislative efforts to kill unions and eliminate labor standards...
G.M. Is Fined Over Safety and Called a Lawbreaker New York Times ...Saying that safety practices at General Motors were “broken,” federal regulators on Friday imposed the biggest punishment they could on the automaker and condemned it over its failure to promptly report a defect that G.M. has linked to 13 deaths...
GM suggested engineers avoid ‘judgment words’ like ‘death trap,’ ‘grenade-like’ Politico Pro ...GM told engineers to avoid using dozens of words when communicating about vehicle problems that could potentially lead to recalls, including everything from “safety” to “Kevorkianesque...”
Shocker: Cable TV prices went up four times the rate of inflation ars technica ...US homes on average receive 189.1 cable TV channels and only watch 17.5 of them...
Wal-Mart Says It Won't Oppose Increase in Minimum Wage Wall Street Journal ...Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said it wouldn't oppose an increase in the federal minimum wage, its most explicit comment yet on the controversial debate to move past the $7.25-an-hour minimum...
Miscellaneous
Over 3000 Chinese Evacuated (By Boat & Plane) As Vietnam's Anti-China Riots Escalate; Taiwan Also On "High Alert" zero hedge ...China began evacuating hundreds of its nationals from Vietnam (via at least 2 planes and 5 ships) as the anti-China protests have become increasingly deadly following Beijing's attempt to deploy an oil drill in Vietnamese dispuited waters...
Saturday, May 17, 2014
Today's Teamster News 05.17.14
Teamster News
Exclusive: City, Teamsters Entering Mediation Pekin Daily Times ...The City of Pekin and the Teamsters Local 627 have scheduled a mediation session for May 20 in an effort to settle some sticking points in the labor negotiations...
State, Community Leaders Hold Investigative Forum On Workers’ Rights Violations At Taylor Farms teamster.org ...Taylor Farms workers and Teamster members gathered with state and community leaders at a forum on Thursday evening to investigate workers’ rights violations at the company’s facilities in Tracy, Calif...
Teamsters Unite With U.K. Unions To Demand National Express End War On North American Workers teamster.org ...The Teamsters Wednesday took their battle for bus driver labor rights to National Express Group’s shareholders meeting in England, where the union was part of a larger labor delegation...
Local 330 Circuit Court Members Receive Big Economic Gains Teamsters Local 330 ...Members of Teamsters Local 330 working for Illinois’ 16th Judicial Circuit Court have secured the highest wage increases of any organized public employees in Kane County...
Uber Drivers To Form Association After Arbitrary Shift Cuts Seattle Times ...Drivers for the ride services Uber and Uber X plan to form an association to protect their rights and improve safety as the City of Seattle negotiates with taxi and ride-service organizations over proposed new regulations...
Port Of Poulsbo Employees Move To Unionize North Kitsap Herald ...Employees of the Port of Poulsbo have begun the process of unionizing. The state's Public Employment Relations Commission received a representation petition on April 1 that was submitted by attorney Thomas Leahy of Seattle...
Clifton Steel Co. workers on strike to keep pension and benefits should company be sold cleveland.com ...At issue is the successor clause in the contract between the company, which treats steel for abrasion, impact and wear resistance, and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 507...
Teamsters Rip Scott Brown For Preventing Vote On Keystone XL Huffington Post ...Scott Brown can't win for losing. After helping torpedo Sen. Jeanne Shaheen's (D-N.H.) energy efficiency legislation, he is now being hit by backers of Keystone XL, who saw her bill as the vehicle to get a vote on the controversial pipeline...
Trade
Police arrest 240 at Belgian anti free-trade protest EU Business ...Belgian police arrested some 240 people, including three Green politicians, during a protest Thursday against a massive EU-US free trade accord in central Brussels...
Second Anniversary of Colombia Pact Spotlights Administration's Failed Promise of Labor Rights Improvements, Now Recycled to Defend TPP Negotiations with Vietnam amid Worker Riots Public Citizen ...Today, as foreign-owned factories in Vietnam lie smoldering after protesting Vietnamese workers burnt them to the ground, Obama administration officials are in Vietnam negotiating a Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) pact that would place U.S. workers in direct competition with their Vietnamese counterparts...
Will The Fight For Gay Rights Stop The Trans Pacific Partnership? PQ Monthly ...You may have heard that wealthy Hollywood types are boycotting the Beverly Hills Hotel (assuming you follow news about places only rich Hollywood types can afford to stay). This is because the hotel is owned by an investment firm that is owned by the Sultan of Brunei...
Congressman Enyart Demands Action To End Growing Steel Crisis at #SOSJobs Rally manufacture this ...Following more chants of “Got to do somethin’, stop that dumpin’,” Congressman William Enyart (D-IL) took the stage at today's AAM-sponsored #SOSJobs Rally in Granite City, IL...
State Battles
Missouri lawmakers end session without RTW, Paycheck Deception on ballot TeamsterNation ...n a big victory for workers, the Missouri Legislature ended its session this evening without putting right-to-work or Paycheck Deception on the ballot...
Anti-Labor Bills Defeated in Missouri in 2014 The St. Louis Powercast ...Though a number of bills that were not good for Missouri’s working families passed in this legislative session, the Missouri House adjourned without passing right-to-work and the Missouri Senate adjourned without passing paycheck deception!...
Show This To The Next Person Who Says High Minimum Wages Kill Jobs Huffington Post ...If you need more evidence that a higher minimum wage won't kill the economy, consider this: the city with one of the highest minimum wages in the country has faster job growth than any other big city over the past 10 years...
After Huge Tax Cuts For The Rich, Kansas' Economy Is Floundering Think Progress ...In a time of slack economic growth and high unemployment around the country, Kansas lawmakers thought they had the solution: massive tax cuts for the wealthy would lure economic activity and jump-start the state's economy...
War On Workers
Fast Food Workers Across The World Protest Pay Time Magazine ...Fast food workers demanding higher wages staged strikes in dozens of cities across as many as 30 countries Thursday, alongside 150 similar protests planned in the United States...
Soaring Earnings of Chipotle’s 2 Bosses Raise Investor Unease New York Times ...Chipotle paid its founder and co-chief executive, Steve Ells, $25.1 million in cash and stock last year. It paid Montgomery F. Moran, the company’s other co-chief executive, $24.4 million. ..
The State Of America's Deadly Jobs, In 9 Charts Huffington Post ...Earlier this week, an explosion at a coal mine in West Virginia killed two, a somber reminder that for too many people, going to work still means risking death. Workplace deaths have fallen dramatically since safety laws were implemented in the 1970s...
UK Survey Finds High Levels of Depression and Desperation Among the Young naked capitalism ...The report found 40% of jobless young people had faced symptoms of mental illness, including suicidal thoughts, feelings of self-loathing and panic attacks, as a direct result of unemployment...
Exclusive: City, Teamsters Entering Mediation Pekin Daily Times ...The City of Pekin and the Teamsters Local 627 have scheduled a mediation session for May 20 in an effort to settle some sticking points in the labor negotiations...
State, Community Leaders Hold Investigative Forum On Workers’ Rights Violations At Taylor Farms teamster.org ...Taylor Farms workers and Teamster members gathered with state and community leaders at a forum on Thursday evening to investigate workers’ rights violations at the company’s facilities in Tracy, Calif...
Teamsters Unite With U.K. Unions To Demand National Express End War On North American Workers teamster.org ...The Teamsters Wednesday took their battle for bus driver labor rights to National Express Group’s shareholders meeting in England, where the union was part of a larger labor delegation...
Local 330 Circuit Court Members Receive Big Economic Gains Teamsters Local 330 ...Members of Teamsters Local 330 working for Illinois’ 16th Judicial Circuit Court have secured the highest wage increases of any organized public employees in Kane County...
Uber Drivers To Form Association After Arbitrary Shift Cuts Seattle Times ...Drivers for the ride services Uber and Uber X plan to form an association to protect their rights and improve safety as the City of Seattle negotiates with taxi and ride-service organizations over proposed new regulations...
Port Of Poulsbo Employees Move To Unionize North Kitsap Herald ...Employees of the Port of Poulsbo have begun the process of unionizing. The state's Public Employment Relations Commission received a representation petition on April 1 that was submitted by attorney Thomas Leahy of Seattle...
Clifton Steel Co. workers on strike to keep pension and benefits should company be sold cleveland.com ...At issue is the successor clause in the contract between the company, which treats steel for abrasion, impact and wear resistance, and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 507...
Teamsters Rip Scott Brown For Preventing Vote On Keystone XL Huffington Post ...Scott Brown can't win for losing. After helping torpedo Sen. Jeanne Shaheen's (D-N.H.) energy efficiency legislation, he is now being hit by backers of Keystone XL, who saw her bill as the vehicle to get a vote on the controversial pipeline...
Trade
Police arrest 240 at Belgian anti free-trade protest EU Business ...Belgian police arrested some 240 people, including three Green politicians, during a protest Thursday against a massive EU-US free trade accord in central Brussels...
Second Anniversary of Colombia Pact Spotlights Administration's Failed Promise of Labor Rights Improvements, Now Recycled to Defend TPP Negotiations with Vietnam amid Worker Riots Public Citizen ...Today, as foreign-owned factories in Vietnam lie smoldering after protesting Vietnamese workers burnt them to the ground, Obama administration officials are in Vietnam negotiating a Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) pact that would place U.S. workers in direct competition with their Vietnamese counterparts...
Will The Fight For Gay Rights Stop The Trans Pacific Partnership? PQ Monthly ...You may have heard that wealthy Hollywood types are boycotting the Beverly Hills Hotel (assuming you follow news about places only rich Hollywood types can afford to stay). This is because the hotel is owned by an investment firm that is owned by the Sultan of Brunei...
Congressman Enyart Demands Action To End Growing Steel Crisis at #SOSJobs Rally manufacture this ...Following more chants of “Got to do somethin’, stop that dumpin’,” Congressman William Enyart (D-IL) took the stage at today's AAM-sponsored #SOSJobs Rally in Granite City, IL...
State Battles
Missouri lawmakers end session without RTW, Paycheck Deception on ballot TeamsterNation ...n a big victory for workers, the Missouri Legislature ended its session this evening without putting right-to-work or Paycheck Deception on the ballot...
Anti-Labor Bills Defeated in Missouri in 2014 The St. Louis Powercast ...Though a number of bills that were not good for Missouri’s working families passed in this legislative session, the Missouri House adjourned without passing right-to-work and the Missouri Senate adjourned without passing paycheck deception!...
Show This To The Next Person Who Says High Minimum Wages Kill Jobs Huffington Post ...If you need more evidence that a higher minimum wage won't kill the economy, consider this: the city with one of the highest minimum wages in the country has faster job growth than any other big city over the past 10 years...
After Huge Tax Cuts For The Rich, Kansas' Economy Is Floundering Think Progress ...In a time of slack economic growth and high unemployment around the country, Kansas lawmakers thought they had the solution: massive tax cuts for the wealthy would lure economic activity and jump-start the state's economy...
War On Workers
Fast Food Workers Across The World Protest Pay Time Magazine ...Fast food workers demanding higher wages staged strikes in dozens of cities across as many as 30 countries Thursday, alongside 150 similar protests planned in the United States...
Soaring Earnings of Chipotle’s 2 Bosses Raise Investor Unease New York Times ...Chipotle paid its founder and co-chief executive, Steve Ells, $25.1 million in cash and stock last year. It paid Montgomery F. Moran, the company’s other co-chief executive, $24.4 million. ..
The State Of America's Deadly Jobs, In 9 Charts Huffington Post ...Earlier this week, an explosion at a coal mine in West Virginia killed two, a somber reminder that for too many people, going to work still means risking death. Workplace deaths have fallen dramatically since safety laws were implemented in the 1970s...
UK Survey Finds High Levels of Depression and Desperation Among the Young naked capitalism ...The report found 40% of jobless young people had faced symptoms of mental illness, including suicidal thoughts, feelings of self-loathing and panic attacks, as a direct result of unemployment...
Thursday, January 9, 2014
Massive trade bill filed in Congress; you can help stop it
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The legislation is known as 'fast track.' Sponsors know phony trade bills in the works -- TPP and TAFTA -- won't pass if anyone looks at them too closely. People rightly suspect these deals will kill good American jobs, undermine democracy, raise the cost of health care and let tainted food from overseas into our grocery stores.
That's why the TPP has been negotiated in extreme secrecy, with only corporate lobbyists allowed into the negotiations. That's why you don't hear a whole lot about TPP from supporters -- they don't want you to know about it.
Politico Pro reports,
Three senior lawmakers on Thursday unveiled long-awaited legislation to help President Barack Obama strike major trade deals in Asia and Europe, setting the stage for a potential election-year battle between the president and many of his fellow Democrats in Congress...
The bill would allow Obama to submit trade deals to Congress for straight up-or-down votes without any amendments and lays out negotiating objectives for the agreements in such areas as currency, digital trade, state-owned enterprises, investment, labor, the environment, agriculture, services, intellectual property and trade remedies.Here's what you can do: Click on this link and send an email to your representatives in Congress. Do it now. We cannot allow Congress to give a rubber stamp to the TPP and other bad trade deals by allowing Fast Track to pass.
Once again, click on this link here.
Monday, January 6, 2014
Today's Teamster News 01.06.14
Better Than Expected US Economic Data The Big Picture ...Generally, the data supports the view that US manufacturing should improve this year...
Meet the Americans Who've Lost Their Unemployment Benefits: "I'm Thoroughly Petrified" Mother Jones ..."When you apply for a job at 50 people laugh at you. When you apply for a job at 65 people just look at you like you are crazy..."
The New Financial Scam Driving Workers Deep Into Debt Alternet ... there is a new game in town. It’s called “workplace loans” but in many cases they should be called “company store loans...”
Once Upon a Time We Were Winning the War on Poverty CEPR ...The rise in inequality over the last three decades explains the lack of progress on reducing poverty...
How Many Constitutional Rights Have Americans Lost? Washingtons Blog ...This post explains the liberties guaranteed in the Bill of Rights – the first 10 amendments to the United States Constitution – and provides a scorecard on the extent of the loss of each right...
The Exciting New Trend In Citizenship Programs Q Experts' Blog ...Citizenship by Investment, also known as Economic Citizenship, has gained popularity in recent years as a means of acquiring a second passport. One of the achievements of the “immigration consultancy” business as a whole has definitely been to make the whole process more respectable...
Proof that offshore banking is the key to embezzling billions Quartz ...Four countries’ legal systems are trying to recoup billions from Ablyazov, who used his position as chairman of the bank to make more than $1.7 billion in loans to holding companies in the British Virgin Islands that were never repaid. Those companies are allegedly controlled by Ablyazov...
TAFTA: 'The Global Corporate Coup', Part Two The BRAD BLOG ...Don't care for the secretly-negotiated Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal? You're not gonna like the Trans-Atlantic 'Free Trade' Agreement (TAFTA) much better...
Chinese dam builders rush to Latin America China Business ...China's growing involvement in hydropower development in the region boosts clout but also leads to allegations of poor corporate responsibility...
Right-to-work laws do nothing to increase jobs (opinion) Statesman-Journal ...How inevitable is a right-to-work fight in Oregon? Our sense is that it is almost as if a big red X has been affixed to a map of our state by outside influences who have decided in secret that we are to be the next target in their misinformation campaign...
Oregon County Won't Raise Taxes, Resorts to Posse Economic Populist ...These people do not have the money to pay more taxes and if you want to blame anyone, blame Congress for stopping timber payments to rural regions where jobs are scarce. It's no surprise areas with poverty rates above 20% reject an increase in mandatory taxes under these circumstances. Bottom line, these rural areas are returning to the wild west and vigilante justice is sure to follow...
Meet the Americans Who've Lost Their Unemployment Benefits: "I'm Thoroughly Petrified" Mother Jones ..."When you apply for a job at 50 people laugh at you. When you apply for a job at 65 people just look at you like you are crazy..."
The New Financial Scam Driving Workers Deep Into Debt Alternet ... there is a new game in town. It’s called “workplace loans” but in many cases they should be called “company store loans...”
Once Upon a Time We Were Winning the War on Poverty CEPR ...The rise in inequality over the last three decades explains the lack of progress on reducing poverty...
How Many Constitutional Rights Have Americans Lost? Washingtons Blog ...This post explains the liberties guaranteed in the Bill of Rights – the first 10 amendments to the United States Constitution – and provides a scorecard on the extent of the loss of each right...
The Exciting New Trend In Citizenship Programs Q Experts' Blog ...Citizenship by Investment, also known as Economic Citizenship, has gained popularity in recent years as a means of acquiring a second passport. One of the achievements of the “immigration consultancy” business as a whole has definitely been to make the whole process more respectable...
Proof that offshore banking is the key to embezzling billions Quartz ...Four countries’ legal systems are trying to recoup billions from Ablyazov, who used his position as chairman of the bank to make more than $1.7 billion in loans to holding companies in the British Virgin Islands that were never repaid. Those companies are allegedly controlled by Ablyazov...
TAFTA: 'The Global Corporate Coup', Part Two The BRAD BLOG ...Don't care for the secretly-negotiated Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal? You're not gonna like the Trans-Atlantic 'Free Trade' Agreement (TAFTA) much better...
Chinese dam builders rush to Latin America China Business ...China's growing involvement in hydropower development in the region boosts clout but also leads to allegations of poor corporate responsibility...
Right-to-work laws do nothing to increase jobs (opinion) Statesman-Journal ...How inevitable is a right-to-work fight in Oregon? Our sense is that it is almost as if a big red X has been affixed to a map of our state by outside influences who have decided in secret that we are to be the next target in their misinformation campaign...
Oregon County Won't Raise Taxes, Resorts to Posse Economic Populist ...These people do not have the money to pay more taxes and if you want to blame anyone, blame Congress for stopping timber payments to rural regions where jobs are scarce. It's no surprise areas with poverty rates above 20% reject an increase in mandatory taxes under these circumstances. Bottom line, these rural areas are returning to the wild west and vigilante justice is sure to follow...
Friday, December 13, 2013
Today's Teamster News 12.13.13
Funeral Giant SCI Refuses Interest Arbitration teamster.org ...SCI, which operates under the Dignity Memorial brand name, rejected the arbitration deal after turning down an unconditional offer to return to work made by Teamsters Local 727 in September. The lockout affects 59 funeral directors and livery drivers at 16 Dignity Memorial funeral homes...
Teamsters Announce Formation Of Pennsylvania Law Enforcement Association Teamsters Pennsylvania Conference ...The association will represent the more than 2,000 law enforcement officers working in over 100 Pennsylvania borough and county departments who already belong to the Teamsters Union...
Teamsters Rally for Justice, Fair Election at Ohio Bottle Manufacturer teamster.org ...Teamsters Local 377 Secretary-Treasurer Sam Cook talks about the fight for a fair and free election for workers who manufacture aluminum bottles at EXAL Corp. in Youngstown, Ohio--a fight that the Teamsters recently took all the way to Canada...
Canadian IKEA Employees in Sweden to Appeal to Kamprad Sveriges Television ...300 workers at an IKEA store in Canada have been without a job for seven months during a protracted conflict between the union and the employer. The company has lost its Swedish values, they say, and now they visit Sweden to meet IKEA's founder Ingvar Kamprad...
House Passes Budget Bill to Increase Spending, Reverse Some Automatic Cuts Time ...Although Democrats are upset that unemployment benefits will not be extended in the deal, the agreement drafted by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Washington) drew bipartisan support in a fiercely divided Congress...
The Top 10 Threats of the Trans-Atlantic “Trade” Deal To U.S. Consumers Public Citizen ...A “trade” deal only in name, TAFTA, which corporate proponents have tried to rebrand as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), would require the United States and EU to conform domestic food and product safety standards, financial regulations, climate policies, data privacy protections and other non-trade policies to TAFTA rules – rules being negotiated in secret...
Iceland Sends Four Bank Bosses to the Slammer truthdig ...The onetime CEO of Iceland’s Kaupthing bank, one Hreidar Mar Sigurdsson, is going to jail for five and a half years for his part in his firm’s downfall—which also helped his country’s economy bottom out in 2008. He’ll be in good company. Three other former high-level Kaupthing execs, including ousted board Chairman Sigurdur Einarsson, will join Sigurdsson for shorter stints in prison for aiding in the cover-up of a sham deal with a Qatari financier that sank the firm late that year...
Ford to hire 11,000 workers in US and Asia in 2014 BBC News ...About 5,000 workers will be hired in the US and 6,000 in Asia, where Ford is opening two plants in China next year...
Feds To Examine NY commuter rail line for 2 months Associated Press ...Federal experts will spend the next two months examining safety compliance and safety culture at a commuter railroad that operated a train that derailed and killed four people this month...
Grass-roots economic protests spread across Italy Associated Press ...Students are marching through cities and towns, small business owners are blocking highway entrances and demonstrators have even tried to close the border with France. Their singular aim: To send all the politicians home in hopes of ending the country's malaise...
Orr: Detroit pensions still at risk in bankruptcy Associated Press ...Orr, appointed by the governor last spring to run Detroit, said he "absolutely" supports a campaign to tap foundations and wealthy people to prevent the possible sale of city-owned art and preserve pensions. But he warned that the "expectations of the retiree community should be sober..."
Group’s conservative funding questioned Nashua Telegraph ...A left-leaning interest group charged that the Concord-based, Josiah Bartlett Center was secretly bankrolled by national conservatives and promoting a national corporate agenda...
Teamsters Announce Formation Of Pennsylvania Law Enforcement Association Teamsters Pennsylvania Conference ...The association will represent the more than 2,000 law enforcement officers working in over 100 Pennsylvania borough and county departments who already belong to the Teamsters Union...
Teamsters Rally for Justice, Fair Election at Ohio Bottle Manufacturer teamster.org ...Teamsters Local 377 Secretary-Treasurer Sam Cook talks about the fight for a fair and free election for workers who manufacture aluminum bottles at EXAL Corp. in Youngstown, Ohio--a fight that the Teamsters recently took all the way to Canada...
Canadian IKEA Employees in Sweden to Appeal to Kamprad Sveriges Television ...300 workers at an IKEA store in Canada have been without a job for seven months during a protracted conflict between the union and the employer. The company has lost its Swedish values, they say, and now they visit Sweden to meet IKEA's founder Ingvar Kamprad...
House Passes Budget Bill to Increase Spending, Reverse Some Automatic Cuts Time ...Although Democrats are upset that unemployment benefits will not be extended in the deal, the agreement drafted by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Washington) drew bipartisan support in a fiercely divided Congress...
The Top 10 Threats of the Trans-Atlantic “Trade” Deal To U.S. Consumers Public Citizen ...A “trade” deal only in name, TAFTA, which corporate proponents have tried to rebrand as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), would require the United States and EU to conform domestic food and product safety standards, financial regulations, climate policies, data privacy protections and other non-trade policies to TAFTA rules – rules being negotiated in secret...
Iceland Sends Four Bank Bosses to the Slammer truthdig ...The onetime CEO of Iceland’s Kaupthing bank, one Hreidar Mar Sigurdsson, is going to jail for five and a half years for his part in his firm’s downfall—which also helped his country’s economy bottom out in 2008. He’ll be in good company. Three other former high-level Kaupthing execs, including ousted board Chairman Sigurdur Einarsson, will join Sigurdsson for shorter stints in prison for aiding in the cover-up of a sham deal with a Qatari financier that sank the firm late that year...
Ford to hire 11,000 workers in US and Asia in 2014 BBC News ...About 5,000 workers will be hired in the US and 6,000 in Asia, where Ford is opening two plants in China next year...
Feds To Examine NY commuter rail line for 2 months Associated Press ...Federal experts will spend the next two months examining safety compliance and safety culture at a commuter railroad that operated a train that derailed and killed four people this month...
Grass-roots economic protests spread across Italy Associated Press ...Students are marching through cities and towns, small business owners are blocking highway entrances and demonstrators have even tried to close the border with France. Their singular aim: To send all the politicians home in hopes of ending the country's malaise...
Orr: Detroit pensions still at risk in bankruptcy Associated Press ...Orr, appointed by the governor last spring to run Detroit, said he "absolutely" supports a campaign to tap foundations and wealthy people to prevent the possible sale of city-owned art and preserve pensions. But he warned that the "expectations of the retiree community should be sober..."
Group’s conservative funding questioned Nashua Telegraph ...A left-leaning interest group charged that the Concord-based, Josiah Bartlett Center was secretly bankrolled by national conservatives and promoting a national corporate agenda...
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