Showing posts with label VA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label VA. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Today's Teamster News 04.24.13

Boston Teamsters to Westboro Hate Group: You Are Not Welcome Here  IBT   ...(Local 25 President Sean) O'Brien made it clear that Boston Teamsters will be at the funeral of officer Sean Collier on Wednesday, April 24, 2013 to ensure that the Westboro hate group is hidden from mourners - should they choose to show up...
Teamsters aim to shield Boston funeral from Westboro picketers  USA Today   ...Another memorial is planned (today) ... for Sean Collier, 26, the police officer at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who was shot and killed...
The deficit is falling fast. Can Washington accept victory?  Washington Post  ...the United States has made remarkable progress toward trimming its fiscal sails. We may not be doing austerity European-style (thankfully, if you’ve paid attention to recent economic numbers out of Europe), but American austerity, or at least steady deficit reduction, is well underway, as two new reports affirm...
Who Is Defending Austerity Now?  The Atlantic   ...It's not "just" that southern Europe is stuck in a depression and Britain is stuck in a no-growth trap. It's that the very intellectual foundations of austerity are unraveling. In other words, economists are finding out that austerity doesn't work in practice or in theory...
High Income Households Would Pay Most—But Not All—of the New Taxes in Obama’s 2014 Budget  Tax Policy Center   ...despite Obama’s long-standing pledge to protect individuals making below $200,000 (and couples making $250,000 or less) from any tax hikes, even many of those families would pay slightly more than under today’s tax law...
A Rise in Wealth for the Wealthy; Declines for the Lower 93%  Pew Research and Social Demographic Trends   ...During the first two years of the nation’s economic recovery, the mean net worth of households in the upper 7% of the wealth distribution rose by an estimated 28%, while the mean net worth of households in the lower 93% dropped by 4%, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of newly released Census Bureau data...
Federal employee furloughs begin  Washington Post   ...Labor Department employees have already begun taking their unpaid leave, part of the government’s cost-cutting hatchet known as the sequester...
Bangladeshi Activists Bring Fight to Wal-Mart’s Doorstep  Common Dreams   ...On top of the fire safety agreement to prevent future disasters, the International Labor Rights Forum has joined with Warehouse Workers United and other labor groups to push for stronger regulations at various links in the supply chain, from garment factories in Asia to warehouses in Illinois...
Death Trap Plants Win ‘Safe’ Certifications, New AFL-CIO Report Reveals  AFL-CIO   ...In the most recent fires, both factories had been certified as meeting working condition and safety standards by official-sounding groups financed by the very corporations profiting from the low-wage labor churning out the pants, sweaters, shirts and more destined for boutique stores and department store racks, according to Responsibility Outsourced: Social Audits, Workplace Certification and 20 Years of Failure to Protect Worker Rights...
Japanese Leaders Bring a Reality-Check to Washington about Japanese Participation in the TPP  The National Press Club   ...The reality: Japanese participation in TPP negotiations will delay their completion and require a reduction in the agreement’s “ambition.”...
Voting rights groups lambaste Florida GOP’s election law rewrite  The Miami Herald   ...The advocates said Republican lawmakers are trying to impose new barriers to voting and they aimed their opposition squarely at Sen. Jack Latvala, R-Clearwater, architect of HB 7013, which requires anyone seeking to help a voter must previously be known to the voter and no one can help more than 10 voters in an election...
Wisconsin redistricting scandal deepens  Daily Kos  ...Republican staffers had deleted hundreds of thousands of files relating to the 2011 redistricting of Wisconsin...
Michigan Republicans introduce cut-and-pasted ALEC “forced privatization” legislation  eclectablog   ...The bill would prohibit public entities from competing against the private sector, and its definitions are so restrictive that it would allow corporations to take the state to court and force it to stop providing valuable public services...
Hearings set on bill to privatize liquor stores  Philadelphia Inquirer   ...The first of what will likely be three state Senate hearings on a controversial bill to privatize Pennsylvania's government-run wine and liquor stores has been scheduled for next Tuesday in the Capitol - and it is bound to be telling...
Teamsters sign off on YRC restructuring  Kansas City Business Journal   ...Leaders of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters approved YRC Worldwide Inc.’s change of operations request, the Overland Park less-than-truckload company announced on Tuesday...
Virginia Teamsters Endorse Herring For Attorney General  IBT   ...(Mark) Herring has worked tirelessly for Virginia working families during his two terms in the Virginia State Senate...
Teamsters, ABF again extend ‘frustrating’ labor talks  The City Wire   ...The Teamsters issued a statement on April 19 suggesting that new proposals from Arkansas Best have put the negotiations “at risk.”...
Garbage trucks roll, but labor strife still roils  Youngstown Vindicator   ...Though all 106 workers, represented by Teamsters International Local 377, lifted picket lines over the weekend, headwinds still remain as both sides plan to meet today and Wednesday during a new round of bargaining to discuss disagreements ranging from unfair labor practices to wages and retirement benefits...

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Today's Teamster News 01.24.13

Austerity Fails: European Nations See Debt Grow Despite Deep Spending Cuts  ThinkProgres  ...Since the onset of the financial crisis, European countries have attempted to deal with their economic malaise by implementing austerity packages, slashing government spending and laying off public workers. However, such measures have proved self-defeating, as the austerity measures blunted economic growth and caused Europe’s debt to actually grow...
British PM proposes vote on EU membership  AP ...Prime Minister David Cameron said Wednesday he will offer British citizens a vote on whether to leave the European Union if his party wins the next election, a move which could trigger alarm among fellow member states...
Two Democrats try for long-shot financial transaction tax   Reuters ...Two congressional Democrats said on Tuesday they will revive a bill to tax financial transactions after 11 euro zone countries won approval for such a tax...
Austerity bites for unions  Washington Post ...The Labor Department is out this morning with its annual report on union membership in America, and once again, it shows a year-over-year drop in how many workers belong to labor unions. The big culprit for last year’s drop doesn’t appear to be outsourcing (though union factory employment has fallen since the recession, while non-union employment has risen). The issue was austerity...
Senate Democrats proclaim victory, will move quickly to pass House debt-ceiling bill  The Hill ...The Senate will immediately pass a House bill to extend the federal debt limit to May 19 on condition that both chambers pass budget resolutions by mid-April, according to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.)...
Senate to examine FAA approval of Dreamliner battery  Reuters ...A key Senate committee will hold a hearing in coming weeks to examine U.S. aviation safety oversight and the Federal Aviation Administration's decision to allow Boeing Co to use highly flammable lithium-ion batteries on board its new 787 Dreamliner...
Wal-Mart Factory Rules Won’t Make Them Safer, Activists Say  Bloomberg ...Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT)’s new zero-tolerance policy for suppliers that source garments from unauthorized factories won’t make workers safer, a labor-rights activist said...
Colorado right to work bill gets quick axing  Denver Business Journal ...it took just 21 minutes for a Senate committee to dismiss a freshman senator’s effort to turn Colorado into the 25th right-to-work state, dismissing it with nary a word...
Maine lawmakers join effort to amend Constitution to allow campaign funding limits  Bangor Daily News   ...Republican state Sen. Edward Youngblood of Brewer and Democratic state Sen. Geoff Gratwick of Bangor joined forces Tuesday to endorse a constitutional amendment to overturn the Supreme Court’s 2010 ruling that equates campaign donations to free speech protected by the First Amendment...
Unions pan NH proposal as management power grab  NECN.com   ...New Hampshire's labor unions are criticizing legislation that would give public employers more control in the collective bargaining process as a power grab...
Supreme Court to hear whether JobsOhio lawsuit can proceed  Plain Dealer   ...No court has ever heard ProgressOhio's main contention: That it violates the Ohio Constitution for Kasich to funnel state liquor profits to support JobsOhio, a private economic development entity that he set up...
Voter ID trial set for July  WITF   ...Today Judge Robert Simpson issued an order scheduling the voter ID trial for July 15, 2013, at the Pennsylvania Judicial Center in Harrisburg...
Virginia State Senate Moves Ahead on Electoral College-Rigging Bill  Slate   ...Virginia's Republican-ruled legislature has taken the first steps toward ending the state's winner-takes-all system of apportioning its 13 presidential electoral votes...
Board Approves Pay Raise  The Sentinel  ...the approval of collective bargaining agreements with the Teamsters Local 776 Juniata County Commissioners residual unit and appointed employees unit...meant close to a 10 percent pay increase for employees during the next four years...