Today's Teamster News 12.06.13

TurboTax Discount for Teamsters  teamster.org   ...Teamster households now have access to a leading branch of tax preparation software, TurboTax, at a discount of up to $20 off the price of Federal products. Part of the purchase price is donated to the James R. Hoffa Memorial Scholarship Fund...
Give the Gift of Teamster Pride  teamster.org   ...If you are searching for that perfect gift for your favorite Teamster, check out the Teamster Store. Proceeds from these sales will help provide dozens of annual scholarships to children and grandchildren of Teamster members...
Bristol Twp., bus driver's union begin negotiations  Bucks County Courier Times   ...Negotiations have begun between officials of the Bristol Township School District and a union that now represents 32 district bus drivers...
ABF Closing 30 Terminals  Truckinginfo   ...Less-than-truckload carrier, ABF Freight System, is cutting its number of terminals from 277 to 247...
Nelson Mandela, South Africa's first black president, dies aged 95  The Guardian   ...Nelson Mandela, the towering figure of Africa's struggle for freedom and a hero to millions around the world, has died at the age of 95...
ALEC’s Extreme Legislative Agenda for 2014  Center for Media and Democracy   ...Opposing U.S. Consumers' Right to Know the Origin of Our Food...Undermining Workers' Rights...Undermining the Rights of Injured Americans to Hold Corporations Accountable...Undermining Public Education and Lining the Pockets of For-Profit School Companies...
US fast-food workers strike over low wages in nationwide protests  The Guardian   ...Thousands of fast food and retail workers went on strike across the US on Thursday in a signal of the growing clamour for action on income equality...
Pension Theft: Class War Goes to the Next Stage  Center for Economic Policy Research   ...in 21st century America, contracts and the rule of law apparently don't mean anything, at least not if the people at the other end are ordinary workers. So, rather than inconvenience all those rich folks at the Chicago Board of Trade or other highly successful businesses with a larger tax bill, the plan is to stiff the firefighters, the schoolteachers, and the people who collected garbage for 30 years...
Big Banks Don't Pay A Third Of Tellers Enough To Live On  Huffington Post   ...A staggering number of bank tellers in New York City use public assistance to get by, according to a report released Wednesday...
The Real People Whose Lives Will Be Turned Upside Down If Congress Doesn’t Act In The Next Three Weeks  ThinkProgress   ...Millions of people who have been out of work for 27 weeks or more will be cut off unless Congress acts by the end of the year...
UK government paves way for driverless cars  BBC News   ...The government has announced that it wants to make the UK a world centre for the development of driverless cars. It said it would conduct a review next year to ensure that the legislative and regulatory framework is in place for such vehicles to be incorporated on Britain's roads...
New Study Confirms that Lower Corporate Tax Rates Don’t Create Jobs  Naked Capitalism ...Corporate executives love to peddle the notion that they need to have their low tax payments reduced even further, even as the share of company profits is at unprecedentedly high levels...
The Fight Continues to Prevent Billions in International Money Laundering and Tax Shelters  Center for Public Integrity   ...Offshore havens are under attack again, but the tricky part is getting past toothless pronouncements...
Congress' Cushy Jobs: 239 Days Off While Workers Guaranteed Zero  AlterNet   ...In contrast to the rest of the developed world, American workers are not guaranteed paid holiday or vacation days...
JP Morgan warns customers of possible data theft after cyber hack  BBC News   ...The pre-paid cards were issued for corporations to pay employees and for government agencies to issue tax refunds, unemployment compensation and other benefits...
Mexican authorities find stolen truck containing radioactive material   The Guardian   ...Mexican police have found a truck containing radioactive material that was stolen as it was being transported from a hospital near Mexico City. Thieves who removed the cobalt-60, which is used in hospitals to treat some cancer, from its protective container have been exposed to potentially life-threatening levels of radiation, a Mexican nuclear safety official told a local TV station...
In Greece, 3.8m people at risk of poverty or social exclusion in 2012  Enet English   ...In 2012, 3.8m people in Greece – or 34.6% of the country's population – were at risk of poverty or social exclusion, compared with 31% in 2011 and 28.1% in 2008, the European Union's statistical arm said on Thursday...
As Boeing charts plans for a new airliner, doubts arise about where to build it  Washington Post   ...Judging from the early returns, the Boeing Company’s 777X will be a hit by combining fuel-efficient materials and technology with a popular existing-plane design. Now, comes the crucial question: Where will it be built?...
Nelson Calls Florida Absentee Ballot Directive Voter Suppression  Talking Points Memo   ...Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) said Tuesday that a new directive in Florida that limits where voters can drop off their absentee ballots is a form of voter suppression...
County social workers strike over pay, high caseloads  Los Angeles Times   ...Los Angeles County social workers took to the picket lines on Thursday, the first county strike in more than a decade and a sharp escalation of a labor dispute between the county and its biggest employee union...

Today's Teamster News 07.08.13

Freight train derailment causes huge fire and evacuations in Canada  Guardian   ...Train of 73 fuel-carrying rail cars was driverless when it derailed at 1am local time Saturday in Lac-Magéntic, in Quebec...
Deaths in the workplace are no accident  Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette   ...The deaths of two workers in grain bins last month at the Union Mills Co-op and in Veedersburg are even more tragic because they could have been prevented...
Daily CEO Pay Now Exceeds the Average Worker's Annual Salary  The Contributor   ...These “golden parachute” arrangements have had a negative impact on corporate performance, say experts...
Jobless about to take big hit from sequester  NBC News   ...As of July 1, the average weekly benefit of $289 will fall by $43 a week, adding pressure at a time when the labor market is trying to find its bearings but has yet to generate the kind of employment that would indicate a strong recovery...
Banks pushing for repeal of credit unions' federal tax exemption  Los Angeles Times   ...Credit unions have been snatching customers from banks amid consumer frustration over rising fees and outrage over Wall Street's role in the financial crisis. Now banks are fighting back by trying to take away something vital to credit unions — their federal tax exemption...
Jaguar Land Rover production faces shutdown after DHL strike vote  Guardian   ...DHL workers serving Jaguar's Midlands plants at Castle Bromwich and Solihull vote for industrial action over pay...
Greeks close to getting latest bailout payout  BBC News   ...Eurozone finance ministers meet on Monday to decide whether to release the next instalment of rescue funds worth 6.3bn euros ($8.1bn; £5.4bn)...Talks have centred around 4,000 civil service jobs that are due to be cut...
Female inmates sterilized in California prisons without approval  Center for Investigative Reporting   ...At least 148 women received tubal ligations in violation of prison rules during those five years – and there are perhaps 100 more dating back to the late 1990s, according to state documents and interviews...
Fee'd Me: NY AG to Investigate Use of 'Payroll Cards' that Depress Already Low Take-Home Pay  The Contributor   ...Devonte Yates, 21, who earns $7.25 an hour working a drive-through station at a McDonald’s in Milwaukee, says he spends $40 to $50 a month on fees associated with his JPMorgan Chase payroll card. “It’s pretty bad,” he said. “There’s a fee for literally everything you do...”
America's Most Dynamic (Yet Under-Covered) Movement: Overturning 'Citizens United'  The Nation   ...On the eve of the nation’s Fourth of July celebrations, Oregon became the sixteenth state to formally call for an amendment. With bipartisan support, the state House and Senate requested that Congress take necessary steps to re-establish the basic American premise that “money is property and not speech, and [that] the Congress of the United States, state legislatures and local legislative bodies should have the authority to regulate political contributions and expenditures…”
Waltham student wins Teamsters scholarship  Wicked Local   ...Rion Hallaran of Waltham was recently awarded a $2,000 Teamsters Local 25 scholarship...