TEAMSTERS
Teamsters Reach Tentative Agreement With Ralphs, Vons and Albertsons Teamster.org ...The Teamsters Union announced today that it has reached a tentative agreement with grocery companies Ralphs, Vons and Albertsons that if passed, will cover more than 8,000 members across Southern California. The drivers, warehouse, dairy and manufacturing workers at the three companies will vote on the tentative agreement from Oct. 16-18...
Union Challenges Unjust Treatment of Paratransit Workers Local 727 ...In the last nine months alone, Teamsters Local 727 representatives have successfully fought for the reinstatement of a dozen paratransit workers who were wrongfully fired. The union also has filed about 75 grievances relating to issues with discipline, seniority, attendance and other contract violations committed by management at CDT, First Transit, MV Transportation and Ride Right locations...
An Uber Union? American Prospect ...If the National Labor Relations Act doesn’t cover independent contractors, could local governments still pass laws that would? It’s not without precedent: Some states have allowed farmworkers to join unions and O’Brien has been working with Teamsters Local 117 to find a concrete strategy for Seattle. While his bill focuses specifically on drivers, it may also set a precedent for workers' rights for other industries that rely on independent contract labor...
School board members: Teamsters negotiations need to be resolved soon Courier & Press ...At some point, there has to be an end. That's what Evansville Vanderburgh School Board Secretary Andy Guarino said about collective bargaining negotiations with Teamsters Local 215. Duckworth noted issues and concerns have been addressed on the other four employee group contracts but he said binding arbitration is preventing the two groups from an agreement. Teamsters Local 215 President Chuck Whobrey said that shouldn't be a sticking point...
Port Driver Heads to D.C. Go By Truck News ...A port truck driver who was fired over employee classification issues is taking the fight to the White House. Alex Paz served on a panel at a conference on workers’ rights yesterday, Oct. 7, 2015, in Washington, D.C.
Yesterday’s White House Summit on Worker Voice was the first event of its kind. It sought to “explore ways to ensure that middle class Americans are sharing in the benefits of the broad-based economic growth that they are helping to create”...
Joe Biden would be only Democratic candidate backing Asia trade deal if he runs for president Star Tribune ..."This is a game changer," Biden said earlier this year in Mexico, describing TPP as a "comprehensive, high-standard trade agreement" that would raise the bar for 21st century trade. Clinton and other Democrats are aggressively seeking union endorsements in the primary. Galen Munroe, a Teamsters spokesman, said opposition to TPP would be an important consideration...
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
Hillary Clinton Just Made Passage of the TPP Much More Difficult The Nation ... In a Wednesday afternoon interview with PBS, Hillary Clinton announced that she is opposed to the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal that was finalized just two days earlier. “As of today, I am not in favor of what I have learned about it,” she told Judy Woodruff. “I don’t believe it is going to meet the high bar I have set”...
Tobacco ‘carve-out’ sparks bid to sink TPP The Hill ...Lawmakers from tobacco-producing states and business groups are aiming to torpedo a sweeping Asia-Pacific deal over a provision they believe will severely damage the U.S. industry. Delegates from North Carolina, where the majority of the nation’s tobacco is grown, says language unveiled this week in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) unfairly targets the Tar Heel State’s prized crop...
China and Europe may team up to snub TPP CNBC ...The world's largest trade deal in recent decades may wind up creating high school-esque cliques on the international stage. As the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) celebrates after sealing an agreement five years in the making, analysts are wondering whether the key losers from the deal, China and Europe, could join forces in retaliation...
How the Trans-Pacific Partnership Threatens America's Recent Manufacturing Resurgence The Atlantic ...Now that the U.S. and 11 Pacific Rim nations have agreed on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, those who follow manufacturing are looking with new scrutiny at the deal, which will now come before Congress. There’s been a resurgence of manufacturing in the U.S. after all, a movement called “onshoring.” The nitty-gritty details of the TPP are still not public, but it’s known that the agreement seeks to gradually reduce trade barriers such as tariffs among member countries...
Why the TPP Won’t Work for Workers The Nation ...Those who want evidence of the impact TPP may have on a huge chunk of the world’s workforce can look no further than how an existing free trade accord, based on the same model, is managing labor relations between Peru, a TPP signatory, and the United States. The US-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement’s (PTPA) supposedly state-of-the-art labor grievance process is just starting to be tested in a landmark case...
TTIP: The Need For A New Trade Model Dedicated To Shared Prosperity (opinion) Social Europe ...Unions on both sides of the Atlantic are coming together to demand a new set of pro-worker objectives for the TTIP agreement. The AFL-CIO shares information, develops shared proposals and meets regularly with both partners’ negotiators to make clear that the status quo on trade is unacceptable. In 2014, the AFL-CIO and the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) published a joint statement urging the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiators to adopt an “open, democratic and participatory” process...
Anti-austerity protests turn violent in Belgium The Independent ...Up to 100,000 people took to the streets on Wednesday in the Belgian capital Brussels, in order to protest against the austerity policies of right-wing Prime Minister Charles Michel. In violent clashes, the police deployed a water cannon against protestors outside Brussels Nord train station. The demonstration was part of a national day of protest against austerity policies and was organised by the Belgium’s three main trade unions...
New VW boss warns staff of ‘massive cutbacks’ after emissions scandal Al Jazeera ...New Volkswagen Chief Executive Matthias Müller warned staffers on Tuesday to brace for "massive cutbacks" in response to the diesel emissions scandal that has hammered the company's stock and reputation. Speaking to employees at VW headquarters in Wolfsburg, Germany, Müller, who replaced longtime CEO Martin Winterkorn late last month, said all the company's investment plans would be put under review and an existing cost-cutting program accelerated...
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Tennessee’s First Year Of Drug Testing Welfare Applicants Didn’t Go Very Well Think Progress ...Tennessee’s first year of drug testing welfare recipients uncovered drug use by less than 0.2 percent of all applicants for the state’s public assistance system. The state implemented the testing regime in the summer of 2014, adding three questions about narcotics use to the application form for aid. Anyone who answers “yes” to any of the three drug questions must take a urine test or have their application thrown away immediately...
Can California Prevent Wage Discrimination Against Women? The Atlantic ...Despite, or perhaps because of, overwhelming congressional gridlock that has stymied federal legislation, states are taking their own steps toward addressing the gender wage gap. On Tuesday evening, California Governor Jerry Brown signed the California Fair Pay Act, which is being called the “strongest” state law to tackle the issue...
State wants federal judge to rule on Voter ID before March primaries Winston-Salem Journal ...State attorneys want a federal judge to dismiss the legal challenge to North Carolina’s voter-identification law before the March 2016 presidential primary, according to court documents filed Wednesday. And though the plaintiffs, including the North Carolina chapter of the NAACP, said they hoped to settle the matter before a trial, state attorneys said there’s no chance of that...
Alabama Puts Up More Hurdles for Voters (editorial) New York Times ...Barely one year after Alabama’s voter-ID law went into effect, officials are planning to close 31 driver’s license offices across the state, including those in every county in which blacks make up more than 75 percent of registered voters. It's ostensibly a cost-cutting effort, but couples with the voter-ID law, these closings will make it even more difficult for many of the state's most vulnerable voters to get one of the most common forms of identification now required to cast a vote...
It’s Getting Harder To Move Beyond A Minimum-Wage Job FiveThirtyEight ...Minimum-wage jobs are meant to be the first rung on a career ladder, a chance for entry-level workers to prove themselves before earning a promotion or moving on to other, better-paying jobs. But a growing number of Americans are getting stuck on that first rung for years, if they ever move up at all...
U.S. LABOR
Obama praises unions, workers' rights at White House Summit Reuters ...President Barack Obama called for higher blue-collar wages and benefits and promoted collective bargaining on Wednesday, courting workers' unions in a day-long event as his advancing Pacific Rim trade deal has left many labor groups disenchanted with the White House. In a speech to workers, union leaders, lawmakers and employers, Obama supported the defense of workers' rights and urged workers to band together in an increasingly technology-driven economy...
UAW reaches tentative deal with Fiat Chrysler to avoid strike Washington Post ...The United Auto Workers union narrowly avoided a strike against Fiat Chrysler of America early Thursday morning, announcing an agreement less than two days after threatening to pull as many as 40,000 workers off the job while contract negotiations soured. The union posted on Facebook just after midnight that that bargaining committee had "secured significant gains"...
Ford Motor Company Dodges The Impending Workers’ Strike After Reaching An Agreement With The Union Business Finance News ...Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) has avoided a workers’ strike at Ford’s Kansas City assembly plant, which produces its most profitable F-150 pickups along with the transit full size commercial vans. Approximately 7,500 people work at the Missouri Ford plant. According to Bloomberg, both parties reached on a tentative labor contract on Friday...
Companies agree to first union deal for Pittsburgh security guards Post-Gazette ...Capping what supporters have called the biggest labor organizing victory in Pittsburgh in a decade, a group of security companies have agreed to the first-ever contract covering hundreds of security guards who patrol dozens of large commercial buildings in the city. The local chapter of the property services labor union, known as 32BJ SEIU, began organizing security guards last fall by the hundreds...
Wave of Digital Media Organizing Continues as Al Jazeera America Goes Union In These Times ...The unionization of digital media continues—now at Al Jazeera America (AJAM), after the National Labor Relations Board confirmed this morning that the news publication’s digital workers voted 32-5 in favor of union representation under the NewsGuild of New York, an affiliate of the Communications Workers of America (CWA). AJAM digital workers had previously sought voluntary union recognition from employers on September 3...
Trevor Noah dissects the Uber economy: “You get into it for the 19-year-old who vomits in the back seat of your Camry” Salon ...Uber’s app-based taxi service might be available in 311 different cities and be estimated as a $50 billion company, but “The Daily Show’s” Trevor Noah and Jordan Klepper say there’s something disturbing about the new “gig economy.” The model of paying people for a brief service means fewer workers are salaried employees...
Senators Want To Clean Up After Supreme Court Decision That Exposed Older Workers To Discrimination Think Progress ...On Thursday, Sens. Bob Casey (D-PA) and Mark Kirk (R-IL) will introduce the Protecting Older Workers Against Discrimination Act (POWADA), a bill aimed at reversing a 2009 Supreme Court decision that made it much harder for workers to prove they have been victims of age discrimination, a Congressional staffer told ThinkProgress...
How Bernie Sanders’ New Bill Would Help More Workers Unionize Think Porgress ...Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) unveiled a new bill this week that would make it easier for workers to form a union and negotiate a contract free from employer retaliation or foot-dragging. As he actively courts union endorsements of his presidential candidacy, Sanders’ latest move also draws a strong contrast with his Republican opponents in the presidential race, who have almost unanimously backed “right-to-work” laws that would weaken labor unions...
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
Not Just Consumer Fraud, VW Scandal Called 'Crime Against Climate' Common Dreams ...Joining the chorus of watchdogs who say Volkswagen (VW) must pay for its corporate crime, the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) on Tuesday released an analysis charging that financial penalties for the company's environmental violations should be no less than $25.1 billion in the United States alone. While VW Chief Executive Matthias Müller stressed on Wednesday that "there were no deaths, and our cars were, and are safe," the evidence suggests otherwise...
Clinton to Meet Friday with Black Lives Matter Activists NBC ...A Clinton campaign aide confirmed that the meeting will take place Friday in DC. McKesson and other activists have already met over the last few weeks with Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. They have been seeking meetings with all of the candidates of both parties to push their idea of police reforms that they have dubbed "Campaign Zero," the idea being to end police killings of civilians...
Showing posts with label VW. Show all posts
Showing posts with label VW. Show all posts
Thursday, October 8, 2015
Friday, March 21, 2014
Today's Teamster News 03.21.14
Teamster News
Striking VT Teamsters Fend Off Binding Arbitration, Enjoy Support of Local Community, Gov’t
The We Party ...In Burlington, Vermont nearly 70 bus drivers have gone on strike hoping to receive a fair contract from management. The drivers are represented by Teamsters Local 597 and work for the Chittenden County Transportation Authority (CCTA). Chittenden County is Vermont’s most populated county...
Trade
Conn. suffers losses under U.S.-Korea trade treaty Stamford Advocate ...U.S. monthly net exports to Korea of helicopters -- Connecticut's second largest export -- have plummeted 81 percent on average under the FTA...
Tech Companies Urge Senator Wyden to Reject Fast Track and Bring Transparency to TPP Electronic Frontier Foundation ...More than 25 leading technology companies have joined a public letter urging Senator Ron Wyden, the newly appointed Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, to firmly oppose any form of "fast track" authority for trade agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)...
In Trade Talks, It's Countries vs. Companies Bloomberg ...to many people, arbitration looks profoundly undemocratic. Countries that sign the treaties give away a lot: The arbitration panels are unelected tribunals of three experts (usually lawyers, one chosen by each side and one picked by mutual consent or a third party) that are empowered to overrule a nation’s highest authorities. The panels have come under attack from environmental groups, labor unions, and developing nations including Venezuela, Ecuador, and South Africa....
Rights group alarmed by Colombian port killings Associated Press ... illegal armed groups have forcibly disappeared scores if not hundreds of people in Colombia's main Pacific port of Buenaventura in the past two years, killing and dismembering some in so-called "chop-up houses."… the situation is among the most alarming it has seen in years…
State Battles
New York law makes it illegal to misclassify truckers Land Line ...Employers who misclassify truckers in New York face civil and criminal penalties under a new law that takes effect April 10. Classification has ramifications not only for employee drivers but also for owner-operators and leased operators...
Judge: Arizona can require proof of citizenship from new voters Capitol Media Services ...A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the Election Assistance Commission to require would-be Arizona voters to provide proof of citizenship when they register...
Governors siphoning mortgage settlement money: It's disgusting Los Angeles Times ...Gov. Jerry Brown diverted more than $350 million from California's share of the 2012 national mortgage settlement with the banking industry to reduce the state's 2013 budget deficit. A coalition of homeownership advocates and religious organizations has filed suit against the state to force Brown to restore the money...
Md. Senate chair seeks pay raise for workers who care for developmentally disabled Washington Post ...The chairman of a key Maryland Senate Committee said Wednesday that he does not plan to act on a bill to raise the minimum wage until a related issue is resolved involving the way the state reimburses workers who care for the developmentally disabled...
Michigan Plan Would Allow Students to Attend College 'For Free' Newsmax ...Students would be able to initially attend college for free under a new plan introduced recently in the Michigan Legislature, but they would have to pay for it down the road...
Pennsylvania among states to block food stamp cuts Pittsburgh Tribune-Review ...Pennsylvania will join more than a half-dozen states and the District of Columbia to block as much as $1.2 billion in food stamp cuts, relying on a wrinkle in federal law to preserve aid for millions of people...
Wisconsin Poised to Pass ALEC's Deadly Asbestos Bill Center for Media and Democracy ...Wisconsin could become the latest state to narrow access to the courts for asbestos victims in a bill up for a vote on March 20, joining a national coordinated effort that can be traced back to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce...
Gov Haley fires back after machinists union opens office for Boeing employees WCSC News 5 ...South Carolina's Governor Nikki Haley responds to a machinists union opening an office in North Charleston to educate workers at Boeing...
War on Workers
Koch Group, Spending Freely, Hones Attack on Government New York Times ...Americans for Prosperity — the group backed by David H. and Charles G. Koch that has been pouring millions of dollars into competitive Senate races...
Google Sued For Data-Mining Kids' Emails in Its Education App Alternet ...Google admitted in a sworn statement that it scans millions of students’ email messages to compile keywords for advertisements, despite not displaying any visual ads on its app...
Just 11% of US long-term unemployed find jobs Associated Press ...The number of people unemployed for more than six months has tripled since the recession began at the end of 2007...
This J.C. Penney Worker Was Fired For Telling The Truth About Its 'Fake' Prices Huffington Post ...J.C. Penney is going to war against a former employee who outed the department store for its questionable discounting practices...
Chicago voters support raising minimum wage The Chicago Reporter ...A symbolic victory on the non-binding referendum gives advocates and progressive aldermen the boost needed to press for an ordinance raising Chicago's minimum wage...
Walmart workers in China blockade store in protest at closure plan USI ...Nearly 150 workers have been picketing a Walmart store in the central Chinese city of Changde for two weeks, after management announced 4 March that the store would close down on 19 March...
Miscellaneous
New Report: Fortune 100 Companies Have Received $1.2 Trillion in Corporate Welfare Recently AlterNet ..Military contractors, oil companies and banks are the biggest 'welfare queens' around...
Starbucks to expand evening beer and wine service Guardian ...The chain first offered beer and wine after 4pm at one of its Seattle cafes in 2010. The drinks are now in about 26 cafes, with plans to reach 40 by the end of the year...
Residents Still Not Drinking Tap Water Two Months After West Virginia Spill Truthout ...It was a harsh start to 2014 for West Virginia, though in this state, events over the last two months have been only the latest twists in a long and familiar story...
NSA: Tech Companies Knew About PRISM The Whole Time Huffington Post ...Since leaked documents revealed that Internet companies like Apple, Facebook and Google were giving the National Security Agency vast access to people's online information under a scheme codenamed PRISM, those Silicon Valley titans have taken pains to deny participation in such a program. But now, the NSA's top lawyer says that just isn't true...
Bad news about American retirement McCook Daily Gazette ...How much do you have put away for retirement? A million dollars? Five hundred thousand? Five hundred dollars? If you're like a third of Americans, the final answer is closer to the truth...
Striking VT Teamsters Fend Off Binding Arbitration, Enjoy Support of Local Community, Gov’t
The We Party ...In Burlington, Vermont nearly 70 bus drivers have gone on strike hoping to receive a fair contract from management. The drivers are represented by Teamsters Local 597 and work for the Chittenden County Transportation Authority (CCTA). Chittenden County is Vermont’s most populated county...
Trade
Conn. suffers losses under U.S.-Korea trade treaty Stamford Advocate ...U.S. monthly net exports to Korea of helicopters -- Connecticut's second largest export -- have plummeted 81 percent on average under the FTA...
Tech Companies Urge Senator Wyden to Reject Fast Track and Bring Transparency to TPP Electronic Frontier Foundation ...More than 25 leading technology companies have joined a public letter urging Senator Ron Wyden, the newly appointed Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, to firmly oppose any form of "fast track" authority for trade agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)...
In Trade Talks, It's Countries vs. Companies Bloomberg ...to many people, arbitration looks profoundly undemocratic. Countries that sign the treaties give away a lot: The arbitration panels are unelected tribunals of three experts (usually lawyers, one chosen by each side and one picked by mutual consent or a third party) that are empowered to overrule a nation’s highest authorities. The panels have come under attack from environmental groups, labor unions, and developing nations including Venezuela, Ecuador, and South Africa....
Rights group alarmed by Colombian port killings Associated Press ... illegal armed groups have forcibly disappeared scores if not hundreds of people in Colombia's main Pacific port of Buenaventura in the past two years, killing and dismembering some in so-called "chop-up houses."… the situation is among the most alarming it has seen in years…
State Battles
New York law makes it illegal to misclassify truckers Land Line ...Employers who misclassify truckers in New York face civil and criminal penalties under a new law that takes effect April 10. Classification has ramifications not only for employee drivers but also for owner-operators and leased operators...
Judge: Arizona can require proof of citizenship from new voters Capitol Media Services ...A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the Election Assistance Commission to require would-be Arizona voters to provide proof of citizenship when they register...
Governors siphoning mortgage settlement money: It's disgusting Los Angeles Times ...Gov. Jerry Brown diverted more than $350 million from California's share of the 2012 national mortgage settlement with the banking industry to reduce the state's 2013 budget deficit. A coalition of homeownership advocates and religious organizations has filed suit against the state to force Brown to restore the money...
Md. Senate chair seeks pay raise for workers who care for developmentally disabled Washington Post ...The chairman of a key Maryland Senate Committee said Wednesday that he does not plan to act on a bill to raise the minimum wage until a related issue is resolved involving the way the state reimburses workers who care for the developmentally disabled...
Michigan Plan Would Allow Students to Attend College 'For Free' Newsmax ...Students would be able to initially attend college for free under a new plan introduced recently in the Michigan Legislature, but they would have to pay for it down the road...
Pennsylvania among states to block food stamp cuts Pittsburgh Tribune-Review ...Pennsylvania will join more than a half-dozen states and the District of Columbia to block as much as $1.2 billion in food stamp cuts, relying on a wrinkle in federal law to preserve aid for millions of people...
Wisconsin Poised to Pass ALEC's Deadly Asbestos Bill Center for Media and Democracy ...Wisconsin could become the latest state to narrow access to the courts for asbestos victims in a bill up for a vote on March 20, joining a national coordinated effort that can be traced back to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce...
Gov Haley fires back after machinists union opens office for Boeing employees WCSC News 5 ...South Carolina's Governor Nikki Haley responds to a machinists union opening an office in North Charleston to educate workers at Boeing...
War on Workers
Koch Group, Spending Freely, Hones Attack on Government New York Times ...Americans for Prosperity — the group backed by David H. and Charles G. Koch that has been pouring millions of dollars into competitive Senate races...
Google Sued For Data-Mining Kids' Emails in Its Education App Alternet ...Google admitted in a sworn statement that it scans millions of students’ email messages to compile keywords for advertisements, despite not displaying any visual ads on its app...
Just 11% of US long-term unemployed find jobs Associated Press ...The number of people unemployed for more than six months has tripled since the recession began at the end of 2007...
This J.C. Penney Worker Was Fired For Telling The Truth About Its 'Fake' Prices Huffington Post ...J.C. Penney is going to war against a former employee who outed the department store for its questionable discounting practices...
Chicago voters support raising minimum wage The Chicago Reporter ...A symbolic victory on the non-binding referendum gives advocates and progressive aldermen the boost needed to press for an ordinance raising Chicago's minimum wage...
Walmart workers in China blockade store in protest at closure plan USI ...Nearly 150 workers have been picketing a Walmart store in the central Chinese city of Changde for two weeks, after management announced 4 March that the store would close down on 19 March...
Miscellaneous
New Report: Fortune 100 Companies Have Received $1.2 Trillion in Corporate Welfare Recently AlterNet ..Military contractors, oil companies and banks are the biggest 'welfare queens' around...
Starbucks to expand evening beer and wine service Guardian ...The chain first offered beer and wine after 4pm at one of its Seattle cafes in 2010. The drinks are now in about 26 cafes, with plans to reach 40 by the end of the year...
Residents Still Not Drinking Tap Water Two Months After West Virginia Spill Truthout ...It was a harsh start to 2014 for West Virginia, though in this state, events over the last two months have been only the latest twists in a long and familiar story...
NSA: Tech Companies Knew About PRISM The Whole Time Huffington Post ...Since leaked documents revealed that Internet companies like Apple, Facebook and Google were giving the National Security Agency vast access to people's online information under a scheme codenamed PRISM, those Silicon Valley titans have taken pains to deny participation in such a program. But now, the NSA's top lawyer says that just isn't true...
Bad news about American retirement McCook Daily Gazette ...How much do you have put away for retirement? A million dollars? Five hundred thousand? Five hundred dollars? If you're like a third of Americans, the final answer is closer to the truth...
Tuesday, March 18, 2014
Today's Teamster News 03.18.14
Teamster News
County sets public hearing on contract with Teamsters Topeka Capital Journal ...The Shawnee County Commission made plans Monday to hear public comments at its March 31 meeting regarding an impasse between Shawnee County and its approximately 470 employees represented by the Teamsters Union...
Trade
The TPP Tries to Put a "No Exit" Sign on America's Crapified Health Care System by Allowing Medical Procedures to be Patented World-wide truthout ...if some guy decided to patent a medical procedure like, oh, looking at a patient’s teeth using a dental mirror (“tilt the mirror at the correct angle to display the crown or other surface”) that patent could be approved, if the examiner had a bad day, even though the procedure is neither new nor revolutionary. That would raise the price of dental care world-wide...
Fashion Faux Pas? Free Trade and Sweatshop Labor in Guatemala truthout ..."In several CAFTA countries things are worse now than when CAFTA went into effect..."
State Battles
Ohio Mistrusts Democracy New York Times ...Ohio Republicans must not think their political candidates can win a fair fight against Democrats...
GOP Bill Designed to Disrupt John Doe Dark Money Probe, Court Filings Confirm Center for Media and Democracy ...New court filings confirm that Wisconsin's John Doe campaign finance investigation hinges on how state election law treats "issue ad" groups coordinating with political campaigns, shedding new light on a Republican effort to quietly change the law in advance of Governor Scott Walker's reelection campaign...
The Battle for Chattanooga: Southern Masculinity and the Anti-Union Campaign at Volkswagen In These Times ...“Work is not supposed to be a popularity contest, but that’s exactly what it is, unless you’re protected [by a union],” says Gravett, who since graduating from high school in 1985 has worked in various factories, including Dupont, Cleveland Tubing, Polyloom and Volkswagen...
Pensiongate? Christie Campaign Donors Won Huge Contracts The Nation ...While trumpeting “pension reform,” the New Jersey governor placed retiree assets in the hands of hedge fund managers bankrolling his political career...
The War on Workers
Hunger crisis: Charities are strained as nearly 1 in 5 New Yorkers depend on aid for food New York Daily News ...In a city of wealth, 1.4 million people rely on a network of 1,000 food pantries and soup kitchens to eat. That's an increase of 200,000 people in five years, and the city's programs are struggling to keep up with that need...
Low-Wage Workers Are Finding Poverty Harder to Escape New York Times ...More than half of those who make $9 or less an hour are 25 or older, while the proportion who are teenagers has declined to just 17 percent from 28 percent in 2000, after adjusting for inflation...
Wells Fargo foreclosure manual under fire Washington Post ...lenders, including Wells Fargo, used forged and shoddy paperwork during the recession to quickly foreclose on struggling homeowners, a practice known as “robo-signing.” Those charges led to a $25 billion national mortgage settlement that was supposed to put an end to such abusive practices, but bankruptcy lawyer Linda Tirelli says nothing has changed...
Miscellaneous
Obama auto rescue saved 2.6 million jobs and over $100 billion examiner ...The total loss of jobs would have topped 2.6 million if the entire auto industry would have been left to collapse and the report also notes that the bailout "saved or avoided the loss of $105.3 billion in transfer payments and the loss of personal and social insurance tax collections -- or 768% of the net investment...”
County sets public hearing on contract with Teamsters Topeka Capital Journal ...The Shawnee County Commission made plans Monday to hear public comments at its March 31 meeting regarding an impasse between Shawnee County and its approximately 470 employees represented by the Teamsters Union...
Trade
The TPP Tries to Put a "No Exit" Sign on America's Crapified Health Care System by Allowing Medical Procedures to be Patented World-wide truthout ...if some guy decided to patent a medical procedure like, oh, looking at a patient’s teeth using a dental mirror (“tilt the mirror at the correct angle to display the crown or other surface”) that patent could be approved, if the examiner had a bad day, even though the procedure is neither new nor revolutionary. That would raise the price of dental care world-wide...
Fashion Faux Pas? Free Trade and Sweatshop Labor in Guatemala truthout ..."In several CAFTA countries things are worse now than when CAFTA went into effect..."
State Battles
Ohio Mistrusts Democracy New York Times ...Ohio Republicans must not think their political candidates can win a fair fight against Democrats...
GOP Bill Designed to Disrupt John Doe Dark Money Probe, Court Filings Confirm Center for Media and Democracy ...New court filings confirm that Wisconsin's John Doe campaign finance investigation hinges on how state election law treats "issue ad" groups coordinating with political campaigns, shedding new light on a Republican effort to quietly change the law in advance of Governor Scott Walker's reelection campaign...
The Battle for Chattanooga: Southern Masculinity and the Anti-Union Campaign at Volkswagen In These Times ...“Work is not supposed to be a popularity contest, but that’s exactly what it is, unless you’re protected [by a union],” says Gravett, who since graduating from high school in 1985 has worked in various factories, including Dupont, Cleveland Tubing, Polyloom and Volkswagen...
Pensiongate? Christie Campaign Donors Won Huge Contracts The Nation ...While trumpeting “pension reform,” the New Jersey governor placed retiree assets in the hands of hedge fund managers bankrolling his political career...
The War on Workers
Hunger crisis: Charities are strained as nearly 1 in 5 New Yorkers depend on aid for food New York Daily News ...In a city of wealth, 1.4 million people rely on a network of 1,000 food pantries and soup kitchens to eat. That's an increase of 200,000 people in five years, and the city's programs are struggling to keep up with that need...
Low-Wage Workers Are Finding Poverty Harder to Escape New York Times ...More than half of those who make $9 or less an hour are 25 or older, while the proportion who are teenagers has declined to just 17 percent from 28 percent in 2000, after adjusting for inflation...
Wells Fargo foreclosure manual under fire Washington Post ...lenders, including Wells Fargo, used forged and shoddy paperwork during the recession to quickly foreclose on struggling homeowners, a practice known as “robo-signing.” Those charges led to a $25 billion national mortgage settlement that was supposed to put an end to such abusive practices, but bankruptcy lawyer Linda Tirelli says nothing has changed...
Miscellaneous
Obama auto rescue saved 2.6 million jobs and over $100 billion examiner ...The total loss of jobs would have topped 2.6 million if the entire auto industry would have been left to collapse and the report also notes that the bailout "saved or avoided the loss of $105.3 billion in transfer payments and the loss of personal and social insurance tax collections -- or 768% of the net investment...”
Friday, March 14, 2014
Koch-linked group sues UAW, VW to prevent workers from joining union
A secretly funded anti-worker group linked to the Koch brothers is suing the UAW and Volkswagen to stop workers from forming a union at the automaker's Tennesee plant. Reuters reports the Koch-linked National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation is providing free legal counsel three workers who filed Wednesday's lawsuit.
One could argue that First Amendment rights are "things of value," but those are granted by the U.S. Constitution.
And here's why we say National Right to Work is linked to the Kochs: According to Jobs with Justice:
Filed on Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee in Chattanooga, the complaint alleges VW provided "things of value" to the UAW in the unionization drive."Things of value" include neutrality, letting union representatives onto the property and letting union representatives talk to workers.
One could argue that First Amendment rights are "things of value," but those are granted by the U.S. Constitution.
And here's why we say National Right to Work is linked to the Kochs: According to Jobs with Justice:
The National Right to Work Committee and its legal arm, the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation ... claims to be a “worker advocate,” but an examination of its press releases issued between 2003 and 2005 showed no reference to any attempt to improve benefits or working conditions for workers; ... Meanwhile, the organization continuously pushes reports with outdated and flawed information to advance right to work. National Right to Work refuses to disclose its donors. However, like ALEC, the group has connections to the ultra-conservative Koch brothers.Meanwhile, the UAW is fighting to keep OTHER outside groups (presumably funded by the same sociopath billionaires as National Right to Work) away from the UAW-VW election.
Thursday, March 13, 2014
Today's Teamster News 03.13.14
Teamster News
Teamsters: Just 19 Days Until the Deadline to Apply for a James R. Hoffa Scholarship teamster.org ...The Fund will award $800,000 in scholarships this year to children and financially dependent grandchildren of Teamster members...
Teamsters Support the Fight for Justice for Port Drivers teamster.org ...At the Port of Savannah, Teamster Local 728 Organizing Director Ben Speight and Savannah port truck driver John Jackson were hosted by radio show host Rick Smith...
Teamsters Local 830 endorses Davidson in 164th district Delaware County Daily Times ...The International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 830 endorsed state Rep. Margo Davidson last week in the Democratic primary for the 164th Legislative District...
Teamsters: Latest Transit Numbers Show More Investment is Warranted teamster.org ...Since 1995, ridership for rail and buses is up 37.2 percent, out pacing not only population growth but vehicle miles traveled as well...
Trade
U.S. biz lobby says Japan’s TPP proposal not enough The Japan Times ...apan has so far insisted on maintaining tariffs in five key farm product categories, including rice and beef. It is holding two days of working-level talks with the U.S. in Washington...
2 years later, Korea trade deal a disaster TeamsterNation ...Two years after the so-called 'trade' deal with Korea took effect, U.S. exports plummeted, the trade deficit ballooned and 40,000 Americans lost their jobs...
How dependent on China is the U.S. military? manufacture this ...America's national security is threatened by a growing military reliance on foreign sourcing for raw materials, parts, and finished products...
State News
UAW: NLRB ruling in favor of anti-union VW workers 'an outrage' Detroit News ...“(It) claims to be an organic group of Volkswagen workers who came together of their own accord to participate in the election campaign,” the UAW said, alleging that the group is actually funded by conservative business groups...
Was LePage’s jobs proposal sincere or a union-busting ‘election stunt’? Bangor Daily News ...Gov. Paul LePage’s proposal to create Open for Business zones to attract economic development and jobs to Maine likely would breeze through the Legislature if it weren’t for the fact that it includes a “right-to-work” provision that there is little appetite for in the State House...
Teamsters: Just 19 Days Until the Deadline to Apply for a James R. Hoffa Scholarship teamster.org ...The Fund will award $800,000 in scholarships this year to children and financially dependent grandchildren of Teamster members...
Teamsters Support the Fight for Justice for Port Drivers teamster.org ...At the Port of Savannah, Teamster Local 728 Organizing Director Ben Speight and Savannah port truck driver John Jackson were hosted by radio show host Rick Smith...
Teamsters Local 830 endorses Davidson in 164th district Delaware County Daily Times ...The International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 830 endorsed state Rep. Margo Davidson last week in the Democratic primary for the 164th Legislative District...
Teamsters: Latest Transit Numbers Show More Investment is Warranted teamster.org ...Since 1995, ridership for rail and buses is up 37.2 percent, out pacing not only population growth but vehicle miles traveled as well...
Trade
U.S. biz lobby says Japan’s TPP proposal not enough The Japan Times ...apan has so far insisted on maintaining tariffs in five key farm product categories, including rice and beef. It is holding two days of working-level talks with the U.S. in Washington...
2 years later, Korea trade deal a disaster TeamsterNation ...Two years after the so-called 'trade' deal with Korea took effect, U.S. exports plummeted, the trade deficit ballooned and 40,000 Americans lost their jobs...
How dependent on China is the U.S. military? manufacture this ...America's national security is threatened by a growing military reliance on foreign sourcing for raw materials, parts, and finished products...
State News
UAW: NLRB ruling in favor of anti-union VW workers 'an outrage' Detroit News ...“(It) claims to be an organic group of Volkswagen workers who came together of their own accord to participate in the election campaign,” the UAW said, alleging that the group is actually funded by conservative business groups...
Was LePage’s jobs proposal sincere or a union-busting ‘election stunt’? Bangor Daily News ...Gov. Paul LePage’s proposal to create Open for Business zones to attract economic development and jobs to Maine likely would breeze through the Legislature if it weren’t for the fact that it includes a “right-to-work” provision that there is little appetite for in the State House...
Ohio’s Kasich Says He’s ‘Not Interested’ In Run For President 10TV ...Kasich's denial comes after his Democratic opponent Ed FitzGerald last month challenged him to sign a pledge vowing to serve a full term if reelected this November...
Public Union Dust Still Settling in Wisconsin, Three Years After Act 10 WUWM ...Even if they got recertified the only thing that they could collectively bargain about would be pay raises up to the level of inflation. That was tantamount to abolishing public employee unions in Wisconsin, which I think was the intent...
Rasmussen Poll: Scott Walker Tied With Democratic Challenger Talking Points Memo ...The poll found Walker tied with Democrat Mary Burke with each candidate getting 45 percent of support of those surveyed. Five percent said they preferred some other candidate in the race and the last five percent said they were not sure who they supported...
War on Workers
It's Official: One Koch Brother Equals 515,000 Union Members New Republic ...conservative nonprofit organizations that received large grants from Koch-backed intermediaries spent $170 million during the 2012 election cycle. Unions spent just $24 million...
Still No Jobs for More Than 60 Percent of Job Seekers Economic Policy Institute ... there were 10.2 million job seekers and only 4.0 million job openings, meaning that more than 60 percent of job seekers were not going to find a job in January no matter what they did. In a labor market with strong job opportunities, there would be roughly as many job openings as job seekers. We are not in a strong labor market...
My Life as a Retail Worker: Nasty, Brutish, and Poor The Atlantic ...Mop the floors in the bathroom, replace the toilet paper and scrub the toilets if necessary. Vacuum. Empty the garbage. Wipe down the glass front doors, every night, even if they don’t really need it. It was all part of the job, done after your shift has ended but without overtime pay...
The Looting Of Ukraine Has Begun Paul Craig Roberts ...the finance ministry of Washington’s stooges in Kiev who are pretending to be a government has prepared an economic austerity plan that will cut Ukrainian pensions from $160 to $80 so that Western bankers who lent money to Ukraine can be repaid at the expense of Ukraine’s poor. http://www.kommersant.ua/doc/2424454 It is Greece all over again.
Rasmussen Poll: Scott Walker Tied With Democratic Challenger Talking Points Memo ...The poll found Walker tied with Democrat Mary Burke with each candidate getting 45 percent of support of those surveyed. Five percent said they preferred some other candidate in the race and the last five percent said they were not sure who they supported...
War on Workers
It's Official: One Koch Brother Equals 515,000 Union Members New Republic ...conservative nonprofit organizations that received large grants from Koch-backed intermediaries spent $170 million during the 2012 election cycle. Unions spent just $24 million...
Still No Jobs for More Than 60 Percent of Job Seekers Economic Policy Institute ... there were 10.2 million job seekers and only 4.0 million job openings, meaning that more than 60 percent of job seekers were not going to find a job in January no matter what they did. In a labor market with strong job opportunities, there would be roughly as many job openings as job seekers. We are not in a strong labor market...
My Life as a Retail Worker: Nasty, Brutish, and Poor The Atlantic ...Mop the floors in the bathroom, replace the toilet paper and scrub the toilets if necessary. Vacuum. Empty the garbage. Wipe down the glass front doors, every night, even if they don’t really need it. It was all part of the job, done after your shift has ended but without overtime pay...
The Looting Of Ukraine Has Begun Paul Craig Roberts ...the finance ministry of Washington’s stooges in Kiev who are pretending to be a government has prepared an economic austerity plan that will cut Ukrainian pensions from $160 to $80 so that Western bankers who lent money to Ukraine can be repaid at the expense of Ukraine’s poor. http://www.kommersant.ua/doc/2424454 It is Greece all over again.
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
UAW furious that business-backed phony worker group can challenge VW re-election before NLRB
During the UAW's recent organizing drive at VW in Tennessee, a group secretly funded by business masqueraded as legitimate workers' representatives. This phony worker group campaigned against the union.
The UAW is understandably furious about that -- and even more furious that the National Labor Relations Board is letting the group challenge the UAW's request for a new election.
All of this is on top of the anti-union billboards plastered all over Chattanooga by political grifter Grover Norquest and intimidation and lies by Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker and local officials. They threatened to withhold incentives from VW (which remained neutral in the fight) if the UAW were voted in. And they hinted a plant expansion wouldn't happen if the workers voted to unionize.
Labor professor John Logan summed up what happened in The Hill:
In Chattanooga, an employer respected workers’ right to choose, but the threats and intimidation of anti-union extremists and Republican lawmakers pressured Volkswagen workers into voting against the union.The UAW, which lost by a mere 44 votes, asked the NLRB for a new election. The Atlanta Region of the NLRB is letting the phony workers' group challenge the UAW.
The UAW is outraged that the Atlanta Region of the NLRB is deviating from the board's practice and letting
...groups with shadowy funding that are masquerading as legitimate worker representatives to participate in the process to determine whether the UAW election at Volkswagen was tainted by state and federal politicians’ threats of retaliation against workers.The UAW recounted the 'two-week barrage of anti-UAW propaganda, outright lies, distortions, and threats about the viability of their plant.'
They have mocked the NLRB process and have denigrated workers who are demanding that the federal government enforce their right to have an election free from outside interference.
One of these groups, ‘Southern Momentum’ – an ally of outside groups like Grover Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform and the National Right-to-Work Legal Defense Foundation – claims to be an organic group of Volkswagen workers who came together of their own accord to participate in the election campaign. Instead, Southern Momentum, registered at a management law firm, disclosed after the election that in two weeks, it raised “funding in the low six figures” from “businesses and individuals” rather than Volkswagen workers, according to Reuters news service.
With this secret business funding, this “grassroots” organization also hired one of the nation’s largest anti-union firms, Projections, to create propaganda for their anti-union campaign. Southern Momentum neglected to publicly disclose these facts during the election campaign.
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
Jon Stewart mocks politicians who interfered in UAW VW vote
Jon Stewart jokes that Democratic politicians are the ones accused of sticking their big government noses where they don't belong. And yet it was Republicans who employed heavy-handed interventions in the free market when they interfered with the Tennessee Volkswagen workers voting on unionizing with the UAW.
He takes apart Sen. Bob Corker for espousing strict ideological principles but only when it suits his narrow purpose.
Enjoy.
Friday, February 21, 2014
Today's Teamster News 02.22.14
Teamster News
Teamsters Local 326 Welcomes Law Enforcement Officers teamster.org ...By an overwhelming majority, law enforcement officers in the city of Milford, Delaware's police department have voted to join Teamsters Local 326 in New Castle, Delaware...
Warehouse Workers in Texas Join Teamsters Local 745 teamster.org ...On February 20, by a vote of 25-4, warehouse workers in Grapeview, Texas voted to join Local 745 in Dallas...
Teamsters Aviation Mechanics Coalition to Launch Investigation into Allegiant Air Maintenance teamster.org ...The Teamsters Aviation Mechanics Coalition (TAMC) announced it will launch an investigation into reports of a disproportionate number of engine failures, air returns and declared emergencies at Allegiant Air...
High-Speed Rail Supporters Rally in California teamster.org ...Teamsters, Laborers, community members and environmental groups rallied February 20 to support high-speed rail. Watch the video...
Spring Grove school bus drivers strike averted, at least though March York Daily Record ...The possibility of a strike for Spring Grove, Penn. school bus drivers is at least temporarily averted, and contract negotiations between Teamsters Local 776 and Durham School Services continue...
Penn Station Marks Contributions From African-American Men And Women teamster.org
BLET member Carlyle Smith, an Amtrak locomotive engineer and member of Division 482 in Washington, D.C., is featured in this Black History Month story on the rail industry. Read the article and watch the video, here....
UPS Honors South Carolina Drivers for 25 Years of Safe Driving Wall Street Journal ...On Wednesday, UPS announced 29 elite drivers from South Carolina are among 1,519 newly inducted worldwide into the Circle of Honor, an honorary organization for UPS drivers who have achieved 25 or more years of accident-free driving...
The War on Workers
Fed Misread Fiscal Crisis, Records Show New York Times ...The hundreds of pages of transcripts, based on recordings made at the time, reveal the ignorance of Fed officials about economic conditions during the climactic months of the financial crisis. Officials repeatedly fretted about overstimulating the economy, only to realize time and again that they needed to redouble efforts to contain the crisis...
Union still wants to organize Boeing's North Charleston workers, official says The Post and Courier ...The union that represents thousands of Boeing Co. workers in the Pacific Northwest is still looking to make inroads at the company's North Charleston jet-making operation...
Boeing Paid No Federal Income Tax Last Year Huffington Post ...One of the largest recipients of federal government contracts paid nothing in taxes last year, according to an analysis from the Center for Effective Government...
McDonald’s workers’ horror story: 25-hour shifts and bunking in their boss’s basement! Salon ...A former McDonald’s franchisee will pay out a six-figure settlement after allegedly subjecting student guest workers to 25-hour shifts, substandard housing and repeated retaliatory threats...
McDonald’s fires employee for buying meals for firefighters working in the cold Death and Taxes ...Heather Levia of Olean, New York, was fired from her job at McDonald’s after she personally bought breakfast for some on-duty firefighters, who were working in the freezing cold...
Majority of port truckers misclassified, pro-labor groups say FleetOwner ...A report issued by several pro-labor organizations concluded that about 49,000 of the nation’s 75,000 port truck drivers are misclassified as independent contractors...
Private Prison Firm CEO Collected $22 Million In Compensation Between 2008 and 2012 ThinkProgress ...A new report from the Center for Media and Democracy dubs GEO Group CEO George Zoley America’s highest paid “corrections officer,” in a ranking of top-earning “government workers” — those in privatized industries...
Despite Receiving Millions in Public Money, Private Prisons are Impenetrable "Bastions of Secrecy" Alternet ...Public prisons are beholden to a dizzying array of record-keeping programs under the Bureau of Justice Statistics. By contrast, the only data released by private facilities about their prisoners and facilities is that which is mandated by business contracts or particular state laws. Even then, the information provided by prison corporations is often falsified -- or even “all the time,” in the words of one high-ranking GEO Group executive...
Secret Plans and Clever Tricks: How Information About Public Contracting Is Hidden From the Public truthout ...reporters, elected officials, community activists, public-interest lawyers and other concerned individuals and organizations often hit a brick wall when they attempt to unravel privatization plans...
State Battles
UAW appeals outside interference in union representation election for Chattanooga Volkswagen workers UAW ...The UAW filed an appeal (“objections”) with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) today related to the interference by politicians and outside special interest groups in the union representation election held last week at Volkswagen’s Chattanooga plant...
Walker Staff on the Mentally Ill: "No One Cares about Crazy People" Center for Media and Democracy ...One of the more disturbing exchanges in recently-unsealed court documents shows callousness among Scott Walker's staff and campaign as they worked to deflect criticism over mismanagement in a county mental health facility...
Illinois Lawmakers Eye $600 Million Tax on Sugary Drink Heartland Institute ...In Illinois, it’s called everything from pop to soda to sodi, but the state’s Democrats are now calling soda pop a money maker...
Arizona Senate repeals 2013 election law Associated Press ...The Arizona Senate has voted to repeal a sweeping 2013 Arizona election law that included trimming the state's permanent early voting list and a host of other provisions that incensed voter-rights advocates...
Trade
TPP Trade Officials Received Hefty Bonuses From Big Banks Bill Moyers ...Officials tapped by the Obama administration to lead the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade negotiations have received multimillion dollar bonuses from CitiGroup and Bank of America...
Crucial TPP ministerial meeting begins in Singapore Global Post ...Ministers from the 12 countries involved in the envisioned Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade accord began talks in Singapore on Saturday seeking to achieve the challenging goal of reaching a broad agreement after missing an end-of-2013 deadline...
AFL-CIO Executive Council Calls for Commitment to Broad-Based Wage Growth, Ending Job Export, Stopping Fast Track and More AFL-CIO ...The AFL-CIO Executive Council adopted several policy statements addressing wage growth and economic inequality, job outsourcing, Fast Track and trade, higher education and performers' rights at its winter meeting in Houston on Tuesday...
Miscellaneous
Wall Street Landlords Buy Bad Loans for Cheaper Homes Bloomberg News ...Wall Street-backed landlords are showing a greater appetite for bad mortgages as a source for cheap property as the supply of foreclosed homes declines while housing prices continue to climb...
Social Identity Markers are NOT a proxy for left wing social policies Ian Welsh ...They may love the gay (or at least not mind it), but that doesn’t mean they don’t still intend to create a society in which there are aristocrats, and if the serfs want to marry same sex, let’em...
Former USGS head endorses Keystone pipeline Washington Post ...A former head of the U.S. Geological Survey endorsed the idea of building the Keystone XL pipeline Thursday in an editorial contending that the pipeline would be less damaging to the environment than the “viable alternatives” of transporting oil by rail and truck...
Teamsters Local 326 Welcomes Law Enforcement Officers teamster.org ...By an overwhelming majority, law enforcement officers in the city of Milford, Delaware's police department have voted to join Teamsters Local 326 in New Castle, Delaware...
Warehouse Workers in Texas Join Teamsters Local 745 teamster.org ...On February 20, by a vote of 25-4, warehouse workers in Grapeview, Texas voted to join Local 745 in Dallas...
Teamsters Aviation Mechanics Coalition to Launch Investigation into Allegiant Air Maintenance teamster.org ...The Teamsters Aviation Mechanics Coalition (TAMC) announced it will launch an investigation into reports of a disproportionate number of engine failures, air returns and declared emergencies at Allegiant Air...
High-Speed Rail Supporters Rally in California teamster.org ...Teamsters, Laborers, community members and environmental groups rallied February 20 to support high-speed rail. Watch the video...
Spring Grove school bus drivers strike averted, at least though March York Daily Record ...The possibility of a strike for Spring Grove, Penn. school bus drivers is at least temporarily averted, and contract negotiations between Teamsters Local 776 and Durham School Services continue...
Penn Station Marks Contributions From African-American Men And Women teamster.org
BLET member Carlyle Smith, an Amtrak locomotive engineer and member of Division 482 in Washington, D.C., is featured in this Black History Month story on the rail industry. Read the article and watch the video, here....
UPS Honors South Carolina Drivers for 25 Years of Safe Driving Wall Street Journal ...On Wednesday, UPS announced 29 elite drivers from South Carolina are among 1,519 newly inducted worldwide into the Circle of Honor, an honorary organization for UPS drivers who have achieved 25 or more years of accident-free driving...
The War on Workers
Fed Misread Fiscal Crisis, Records Show New York Times ...The hundreds of pages of transcripts, based on recordings made at the time, reveal the ignorance of Fed officials about economic conditions during the climactic months of the financial crisis. Officials repeatedly fretted about overstimulating the economy, only to realize time and again that they needed to redouble efforts to contain the crisis...
Union still wants to organize Boeing's North Charleston workers, official says The Post and Courier ...The union that represents thousands of Boeing Co. workers in the Pacific Northwest is still looking to make inroads at the company's North Charleston jet-making operation...
Boeing Paid No Federal Income Tax Last Year Huffington Post ...One of the largest recipients of federal government contracts paid nothing in taxes last year, according to an analysis from the Center for Effective Government...
McDonald’s workers’ horror story: 25-hour shifts and bunking in their boss’s basement! Salon ...A former McDonald’s franchisee will pay out a six-figure settlement after allegedly subjecting student guest workers to 25-hour shifts, substandard housing and repeated retaliatory threats...
McDonald’s fires employee for buying meals for firefighters working in the cold Death and Taxes ...Heather Levia of Olean, New York, was fired from her job at McDonald’s after she personally bought breakfast for some on-duty firefighters, who were working in the freezing cold...
Majority of port truckers misclassified, pro-labor groups say FleetOwner ...A report issued by several pro-labor organizations concluded that about 49,000 of the nation’s 75,000 port truck drivers are misclassified as independent contractors...
Private Prison Firm CEO Collected $22 Million In Compensation Between 2008 and 2012 ThinkProgress ...A new report from the Center for Media and Democracy dubs GEO Group CEO George Zoley America’s highest paid “corrections officer,” in a ranking of top-earning “government workers” — those in privatized industries...
Despite Receiving Millions in Public Money, Private Prisons are Impenetrable "Bastions of Secrecy" Alternet ...Public prisons are beholden to a dizzying array of record-keeping programs under the Bureau of Justice Statistics. By contrast, the only data released by private facilities about their prisoners and facilities is that which is mandated by business contracts or particular state laws. Even then, the information provided by prison corporations is often falsified -- or even “all the time,” in the words of one high-ranking GEO Group executive...
Secret Plans and Clever Tricks: How Information About Public Contracting Is Hidden From the Public truthout ...reporters, elected officials, community activists, public-interest lawyers and other concerned individuals and organizations often hit a brick wall when they attempt to unravel privatization plans...
State Battles
UAW appeals outside interference in union representation election for Chattanooga Volkswagen workers UAW ...The UAW filed an appeal (“objections”) with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) today related to the interference by politicians and outside special interest groups in the union representation election held last week at Volkswagen’s Chattanooga plant...
Walker Staff on the Mentally Ill: "No One Cares about Crazy People" Center for Media and Democracy ...One of the more disturbing exchanges in recently-unsealed court documents shows callousness among Scott Walker's staff and campaign as they worked to deflect criticism over mismanagement in a county mental health facility...
Illinois Lawmakers Eye $600 Million Tax on Sugary Drink Heartland Institute ...In Illinois, it’s called everything from pop to soda to sodi, but the state’s Democrats are now calling soda pop a money maker...
Arizona Senate repeals 2013 election law Associated Press ...The Arizona Senate has voted to repeal a sweeping 2013 Arizona election law that included trimming the state's permanent early voting list and a host of other provisions that incensed voter-rights advocates...
Trade
TPP Trade Officials Received Hefty Bonuses From Big Banks Bill Moyers ...Officials tapped by the Obama administration to lead the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade negotiations have received multimillion dollar bonuses from CitiGroup and Bank of America...
Crucial TPP ministerial meeting begins in Singapore Global Post ...Ministers from the 12 countries involved in the envisioned Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade accord began talks in Singapore on Saturday seeking to achieve the challenging goal of reaching a broad agreement after missing an end-of-2013 deadline...
AFL-CIO Executive Council Calls for Commitment to Broad-Based Wage Growth, Ending Job Export, Stopping Fast Track and More AFL-CIO ...The AFL-CIO Executive Council adopted several policy statements addressing wage growth and economic inequality, job outsourcing, Fast Track and trade, higher education and performers' rights at its winter meeting in Houston on Tuesday...
Miscellaneous
Wall Street Landlords Buy Bad Loans for Cheaper Homes Bloomberg News ...Wall Street-backed landlords are showing a greater appetite for bad mortgages as a source for cheap property as the supply of foreclosed homes declines while housing prices continue to climb...
Social Identity Markers are NOT a proxy for left wing social policies Ian Welsh ...They may love the gay (or at least not mind it), but that doesn’t mean they don’t still intend to create a society in which there are aristocrats, and if the serfs want to marry same sex, let’em...
Former USGS head endorses Keystone pipeline Washington Post ...A former head of the U.S. Geological Survey endorsed the idea of building the Keystone XL pipeline Thursday in an editorial contending that the pipeline would be less damaging to the environment than the “viable alternatives” of transporting oil by rail and truck...
Thursday, February 20, 2014
Today's Teamster News 02.20.14
Teamster News
City of Santa Rosa's biggest labor group affiliates with Teamsters The Press Democrat ...The 410 members of the Santa Rosa City Employees Association last week voted overwhelmingly to join the Teamsters Local 856, which represents about 8,000 workers in the Northern California...
Mayor Wants To Drive Horse-Drawn Carriages Out Of NYC WEKU ...Stewart's studios are just around the corner from the largest of New York's four carriage horse stables, called Clinton Park. It looks like Cinderella's parking garage, with rows of fancy carriages lined up against whitewashed walls. The stalls appear clean and roomy, 8 by 10 feet — with freshly laid hay and clean water available...
Why truck drivers are getting dinged on pay CNN Money ...Many port trucker drivers across the country are making fast-food wages. These truck drivers haul goods from ports to warehouses, distribution centers and rail yards so that products can get to stores. They make an average of $28,700 per year, working an average of 59 hours per week, according to a report from the National Employment Law Project (NELP), a labor rights advocacy group...
State Battles
VW workers may block southern U.S. deals if no unions: labor chief Reuters ...Volkswagen's top labor representative threatened on Wednesday to try to block further investments by the German carmaker in the southern United States if its workers there are not unionized...
‘I’m sorry’ bill gets Assembly approval Wisconsin Law Journal ...The state Assembly approved on a voice vote Tuesday on a bill that would let doctors and other medical providers apologize or express fault for botched medical procedures without having to worry their words would be used against them in court...
Walker asked for daily call between campaign and official aides, e-mails show Washington Post ...Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) instructed a top aide to organize a daily conference call that involved both official and campaign staffers when he was executive of Milwaukee County in 2010, according to documents released publicly for the first time Wednesday that could complicate Walker's future as he eyes another term and a possible run for president...
This Could Be the Start of Scott Walker’s Bridgegate Salon ... Walker's aides regularly exchanged emails about the campaign during business hours, but for the first time, one of those emails directly implicates Walker in breaking campaign law...
Trade
Poll: Voters Blame Trade Agreements For Job Losses Campaign for America's Future ...voters overwhelmingly see unfair trade agreements and outsourcing as a main cause of our job problem...
Politics to Shadow Obama’s Trade Talks in Mexico New York Times ...President Obama traveled to Mexico on Wednesday for a brief but politically fraught visit aimed at forging closer trade ties with America’s two closest neighbors even as his party’s leaders back home have vowed to undercut his efforts...
The War on Workers
Wal-Mart Says ‘Looking’ at Support of Federal Minimum Wage Rise Bloomberg ...Wal-Mart is weighing the impact of additional payroll costs against possibly attracting more consumer dollars at its stores, David Tovar, a company spokesman, said today in a telephone interview. Increasing the minimum wage means that some of the 140 million people who shop at the chain weekly would “now have additional income,” Tovar said...
Walmart denies reports saying it is considering minimum wage increase The Guardian ...Walmart, America’s largest private employer, denied reports Wednesday that it is looking at supporting an increase in the federal minimum wage...
Government drops plan to collect license tag data Associated Press ...The Homeland Security Department abruptly reversed course Wednesday and dropped plans to ask a private company to give the government access to a nationwide database of license plate tracking information...
How Dark Money Flows Through the Koch Network Pro Publica ...Fundraising by the libertarian billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch supports a tangle of nonprofits, sometimes referred to as the Kochtopus, all aimed at advancing conservative causes. Two groups, the Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce and TC4 Trust, handed out almost $264 million from mid-2011 to October 2012 to 30 other nonprofits...
A hopeful first day for players? ESPN ... an attorney for Northwestern ... conceded that the labor board could conclude that college athletes may be employees, something that Northwestern had steadfastly refused even to consider as a possibility since Colter and the College Athletes Players Association filed their petition with the National Labor Relations Board on Jan. 28...
NSA, DHS drop parody complaint The Hill ...It isn't illegal to print the National Security Agency's (NSA) official seal above the words “Spying On You Since 1952” on a novelty mug, the agency acknowledged on Tuesday...
Miscellaneous
Another Apparent Suicide Brings Financial World Death Toll to 6 in 2014 truthdig ...A 33-year-old JPMorgan employee jumped to his death from the roof of the firm’s Hong Kong headquarters Tuesday, adding to a series of untimely deaths in the banking and big business arena in recent weeks...half from JPMorgan...
City of Santa Rosa's biggest labor group affiliates with Teamsters The Press Democrat ...The 410 members of the Santa Rosa City Employees Association last week voted overwhelmingly to join the Teamsters Local 856, which represents about 8,000 workers in the Northern California...
Mayor Wants To Drive Horse-Drawn Carriages Out Of NYC WEKU ...Stewart's studios are just around the corner from the largest of New York's four carriage horse stables, called Clinton Park. It looks like Cinderella's parking garage, with rows of fancy carriages lined up against whitewashed walls. The stalls appear clean and roomy, 8 by 10 feet — with freshly laid hay and clean water available...
Why truck drivers are getting dinged on pay CNN Money ...Many port trucker drivers across the country are making fast-food wages. These truck drivers haul goods from ports to warehouses, distribution centers and rail yards so that products can get to stores. They make an average of $28,700 per year, working an average of 59 hours per week, according to a report from the National Employment Law Project (NELP), a labor rights advocacy group...
State Battles
VW workers may block southern U.S. deals if no unions: labor chief Reuters ...Volkswagen's top labor representative threatened on Wednesday to try to block further investments by the German carmaker in the southern United States if its workers there are not unionized...
‘I’m sorry’ bill gets Assembly approval Wisconsin Law Journal ...The state Assembly approved on a voice vote Tuesday on a bill that would let doctors and other medical providers apologize or express fault for botched medical procedures without having to worry their words would be used against them in court...
Walker asked for daily call between campaign and official aides, e-mails show Washington Post ...Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) instructed a top aide to organize a daily conference call that involved both official and campaign staffers when he was executive of Milwaukee County in 2010, according to documents released publicly for the first time Wednesday that could complicate Walker's future as he eyes another term and a possible run for president...
This Could Be the Start of Scott Walker’s Bridgegate Salon ... Walker's aides regularly exchanged emails about the campaign during business hours, but for the first time, one of those emails directly implicates Walker in breaking campaign law...
Trade
Poll: Voters Blame Trade Agreements For Job Losses Campaign for America's Future ...voters overwhelmingly see unfair trade agreements and outsourcing as a main cause of our job problem...
Politics to Shadow Obama’s Trade Talks in Mexico New York Times ...President Obama traveled to Mexico on Wednesday for a brief but politically fraught visit aimed at forging closer trade ties with America’s two closest neighbors even as his party’s leaders back home have vowed to undercut his efforts...
The War on Workers
Wal-Mart Says ‘Looking’ at Support of Federal Minimum Wage Rise Bloomberg ...Wal-Mart is weighing the impact of additional payroll costs against possibly attracting more consumer dollars at its stores, David Tovar, a company spokesman, said today in a telephone interview. Increasing the minimum wage means that some of the 140 million people who shop at the chain weekly would “now have additional income,” Tovar said...
Walmart denies reports saying it is considering minimum wage increase The Guardian ...Walmart, America’s largest private employer, denied reports Wednesday that it is looking at supporting an increase in the federal minimum wage...
Government drops plan to collect license tag data Associated Press ...The Homeland Security Department abruptly reversed course Wednesday and dropped plans to ask a private company to give the government access to a nationwide database of license plate tracking information...
How Dark Money Flows Through the Koch Network Pro Publica ...Fundraising by the libertarian billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch supports a tangle of nonprofits, sometimes referred to as the Kochtopus, all aimed at advancing conservative causes. Two groups, the Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce and TC4 Trust, handed out almost $264 million from mid-2011 to October 2012 to 30 other nonprofits...
A hopeful first day for players? ESPN ... an attorney for Northwestern ... conceded that the labor board could conclude that college athletes may be employees, something that Northwestern had steadfastly refused even to consider as a possibility since Colter and the College Athletes Players Association filed their petition with the National Labor Relations Board on Jan. 28...
NSA, DHS drop parody complaint The Hill ...It isn't illegal to print the National Security Agency's (NSA) official seal above the words “Spying On You Since 1952” on a novelty mug, the agency acknowledged on Tuesday...
Miscellaneous
Another Apparent Suicide Brings Financial World Death Toll to 6 in 2014 truthdig ...A 33-year-old JPMorgan employee jumped to his death from the roof of the firm’s Hong Kong headquarters Tuesday, adding to a series of untimely deaths in the banking and big business arena in recent weeks...half from JPMorgan...
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
Today's Teamster News 02.18.14
Trade
Here's Why Foreign Investors Are Trying to Buy American Farmland Take Part ...wealthy international investors and corporations are buying up much of America’s usable land at astronomical prices per acre, turning the farmers into their tenants or repurposing the land altogether...
State Battles
After Historic UAW Defeat at Tennessee Volkswagen Plant, Theories Abound In These Times ...interviews with both pro-union and anti-union workers—as well as low-level Volkswagen supervisors, top UAW officials and community activists—point to a confluence of factors, including outside interference by GOP politicians and unsanctioned anti-union activity by low-level supervisors. Some questioned, too, whether missteps by the UAW and concerns about its prior bargaining agreements played a role...
'Joe the Plumber' Wurzelbacher gets union job with Chrysler Group Toledo Blade ...Mr. Wurzelbacher, 40, of Springfield Township, who once was vilified as an "unlicensed plumber," said he was on his fourth day today and taking a smoke break at the time, when he was accosted by a co-worker as a “teabagger,” a derogatory term used for Tea Party members...
The War on Workers
Businesses Going Into “All Surveillance All the Time” Mode in Pursuit of More Productivity Naked Capitalism ...Another pioneering outfit is Sociometric Solutions, which puts sensors in name badges to discover social dynamics at work. The badges monitor how employees move around the workplace, who they talk to and in what tone of voice...
Making Retirements Less Secure (opinion) New York Times ...It is easy to see why companies are switching to lump-sum contributions: It saves them money...
What can unite liberals and tea partyers? The NSA Associated Press ...By exposing the NSA's vast surveillance web, Snowden created a link between tea partyers and liberals — two tribes camped on opposite sides of the nation's political chasm...
Corporate Cronyism: The Secret to Overpaid CEOs truthout ...we have people like Erskine Bowles who had the distinction of sitting on the boards of both Morgan Stanley and General Motors in the years they were bailed out by the government. And we have Martin Feldstein, the country's most prominent conservative economist, who sat on the board of insurance giant AIG when it nearly tanked the world's financial system. Both Bowles and Feldstein were well-compensated for their "work."...
Miscellaneous
Obama to take next step in fuel efficiency for trucks CNN Politics ...Obama will direct the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Transportation Department to propose a new standards for post-2018 model years...
EXCLUSIVE: National clown shortage may be approaching, trade organizations fear New York Daily News ...As the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus returns to Brooklyn Thursday, membership at the country's largest clown organizations has plunged over the past decade amid declining interest, old age and higher standards for the jokesters...
Here's Why Foreign Investors Are Trying to Buy American Farmland Take Part ...wealthy international investors and corporations are buying up much of America’s usable land at astronomical prices per acre, turning the farmers into their tenants or repurposing the land altogether...
State Battles
After Historic UAW Defeat at Tennessee Volkswagen Plant, Theories Abound In These Times ...interviews with both pro-union and anti-union workers—as well as low-level Volkswagen supervisors, top UAW officials and community activists—point to a confluence of factors, including outside interference by GOP politicians and unsanctioned anti-union activity by low-level supervisors. Some questioned, too, whether missteps by the UAW and concerns about its prior bargaining agreements played a role...
'Joe the Plumber' Wurzelbacher gets union job with Chrysler Group Toledo Blade ...Mr. Wurzelbacher, 40, of Springfield Township, who once was vilified as an "unlicensed plumber," said he was on his fourth day today and taking a smoke break at the time, when he was accosted by a co-worker as a “teabagger,” a derogatory term used for Tea Party members...
The War on Workers
Businesses Going Into “All Surveillance All the Time” Mode in Pursuit of More Productivity Naked Capitalism ...Another pioneering outfit is Sociometric Solutions, which puts sensors in name badges to discover social dynamics at work. The badges monitor how employees move around the workplace, who they talk to and in what tone of voice...
Making Retirements Less Secure (opinion) New York Times ...It is easy to see why companies are switching to lump-sum contributions: It saves them money...
What can unite liberals and tea partyers? The NSA Associated Press ...By exposing the NSA's vast surveillance web, Snowden created a link between tea partyers and liberals — two tribes camped on opposite sides of the nation's political chasm...
Corporate Cronyism: The Secret to Overpaid CEOs truthout ...we have people like Erskine Bowles who had the distinction of sitting on the boards of both Morgan Stanley and General Motors in the years they were bailed out by the government. And we have Martin Feldstein, the country's most prominent conservative economist, who sat on the board of insurance giant AIG when it nearly tanked the world's financial system. Both Bowles and Feldstein were well-compensated for their "work."...
Miscellaneous
Obama to take next step in fuel efficiency for trucks CNN Politics ...Obama will direct the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Transportation Department to propose a new standards for post-2018 model years...
EXCLUSIVE: National clown shortage may be approaching, trade organizations fear New York Daily News ...As the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus returns to Brooklyn Thursday, membership at the country's largest clown organizations has plunged over the past decade amid declining interest, old age and higher standards for the jokesters...
Monday, February 17, 2014
Today's Teamster News 02.17.14
State Battles
VW works council says will pursue labor representation at U.S. plant Reuters ...Volkswagen's works council said it would press on with efforts to set up labor representation at its Chattanooga, Tennessee plant, undeterred by a workers' vote against any such step involving the United Auto Workers union (UAW)...
Spread the word: ALEC’s education agenda not good for kids or public schools Education Votes ...All across the country students, parents, educators, and community leaders are teaming up to get the word out about the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and its destructive anti-children and anti-public education agenda...
Crossing Borders and Changing Lives, Lured by Higher State Minimum Wages New York Times ...many minimum-wage migrants … travel from homes in Idaho, where the rate is $7.25, to work in Oregon, where it is the second highest in the country, $9.10...
The War on Workers
Race to a million The Economist ...EACH second Walmart collects $15,054, Google garners $1,897 and tiny Twitter ekes out $21...
Economics of the 1%: Devastating Democracy for the 99% The Real News ...the source of authoritarianism is not fascism or centrally planned economies; it's the ideology of free markets, because what that ideology seeks to do is to say there's no effective role for governments, governments should be minimized. Yet governments are the vehicle by which we the 99 percent assert ourselves...
Pay Pals Huffington Post ...Here’s what the Fortune 100 executives paid each other from 2008 to 2012...
Small-firm lawyer takes on Wall Street and wins, twice Reuters ...In January, the U.S. Attorney's office in Manhattan said it is seeking up to $2.1 billion in penalties from Bank of America after a jury in October found the firm liable for fraud over defective mortgages sold by Countrywide. Wasinger's client, former Countrywide Executive Vice President Edward O'Donnell, was the star witness for the prosecution. And earlier this month, JPMorgan Chase agreed to pay $614 million to settle claims that it defrauded the U.S. government by submitting sub par home loans for federal insurance. The case relied in part on evidence provided by another Wasinger client...
Train firms failing half of passengers: Delays, overcrowding and poor value for money means customer satisfaction is 'shockingly low' Daily Mail ...Train companies are registering ‘shockingly low’ levels of poor customer satisfaction on overcrowded and over-priced services, a damning new consumer survey reveals today...
Miscellaneous
Abba admit outrageous outfits were worn to avoid tax The Guardian ...According to Abba: The Official Photo Book, published to mark 40 years since they won Eurovision with Waterloo, the band's style was influenced in part by laws that allowed the cost of outfits to be deducted against tax – so long as the costumes were so outrageous they could not possibly be worn on the street...
Sophisticated but low-tech power grid attack baffles authorities Los Angeles Times ...The military-style raid on April 16 knocked out 17 giant transformers at the Metcalf Transmission Substation, which feeds power to Silicon Valley. The FBI is still working the case, and agents say they are confident it was not the work of terrorists...
VW works council says will pursue labor representation at U.S. plant Reuters ...Volkswagen's works council said it would press on with efforts to set up labor representation at its Chattanooga, Tennessee plant, undeterred by a workers' vote against any such step involving the United Auto Workers union (UAW)...
Spread the word: ALEC’s education agenda not good for kids or public schools Education Votes ...All across the country students, parents, educators, and community leaders are teaming up to get the word out about the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and its destructive anti-children and anti-public education agenda...
Crossing Borders and Changing Lives, Lured by Higher State Minimum Wages New York Times ...many minimum-wage migrants … travel from homes in Idaho, where the rate is $7.25, to work in Oregon, where it is the second highest in the country, $9.10...
The War on Workers
Race to a million The Economist ...EACH second Walmart collects $15,054, Google garners $1,897 and tiny Twitter ekes out $21...
Economics of the 1%: Devastating Democracy for the 99% The Real News ...the source of authoritarianism is not fascism or centrally planned economies; it's the ideology of free markets, because what that ideology seeks to do is to say there's no effective role for governments, governments should be minimized. Yet governments are the vehicle by which we the 99 percent assert ourselves...
Pay Pals Huffington Post ...Here’s what the Fortune 100 executives paid each other from 2008 to 2012...
Small-firm lawyer takes on Wall Street and wins, twice Reuters ...In January, the U.S. Attorney's office in Manhattan said it is seeking up to $2.1 billion in penalties from Bank of America after a jury in October found the firm liable for fraud over defective mortgages sold by Countrywide. Wasinger's client, former Countrywide Executive Vice President Edward O'Donnell, was the star witness for the prosecution. And earlier this month, JPMorgan Chase agreed to pay $614 million to settle claims that it defrauded the U.S. government by submitting sub par home loans for federal insurance. The case relied in part on evidence provided by another Wasinger client...
Train firms failing half of passengers: Delays, overcrowding and poor value for money means customer satisfaction is 'shockingly low' Daily Mail ...Train companies are registering ‘shockingly low’ levels of poor customer satisfaction on overcrowded and over-priced services, a damning new consumer survey reveals today...
Miscellaneous
Abba admit outrageous outfits were worn to avoid tax The Guardian ...According to Abba: The Official Photo Book, published to mark 40 years since they won Eurovision with Waterloo, the band's style was influenced in part by laws that allowed the cost of outfits to be deducted against tax – so long as the costumes were so outrageous they could not possibly be worn on the street...
Sophisticated but low-tech power grid attack baffles authorities Los Angeles Times ...The military-style raid on April 16 knocked out 17 giant transformers at the Metcalf Transmission Substation, which feeds power to Silicon Valley. The FBI is still working the case, and agents say they are confident it was not the work of terrorists...
Sunday, February 16, 2014
Today's Teamster News 02.16.14
Teamster News
Teamsters Celebrate, Remember James R. Hoffa teamster.org ... He was the man who introduced himself as “I’m Jimmy Hoffa and I stand up for the American workers...”
Republic Airways reaches tentative deal with pilots union for its three airlines Dallas Morning News ...According to a Teamsters press release, "The tentative agreement includes increases in pay that will place Republic pilots at or near the top of its regional airline peers. It also includes improvements in work rules, quality of life enhancements and more flexibility in scheduling as well as a significant signing bonus if ratified...
State Battles
Historic election brings outside interference in the vote of Chattanooga Volkswagen workers UAW ...Volkswagen workers voted against joining the union in a vote of 712 to 626. The decision follows three days of voting during an election supervised by the National Labor Relations Board and comes amid a firestorm of interference and threats from special interest groups...
FitzGerald vows to fight for unions if elected Toledo Blade ...Ed FitzGerald, the leading Democratic candidate to run against Republican Gov. John Kasich this November, told supporters Thursday at the United Auto Workers headquarters in Maumee that if elected, he would veto any right-to-work bill that gets passed...
County Commissioners get into 'Paycheck Protection' fight: Friday Morning Coffee The Patriot-News ...The proxy fight over "Paycheck Protection" being waged by national labor unions and astrotuf groups such as FreedomWorks and the Koch Brothers-funded American Legislative Exchange Council is playing out in the state Legislature with bills in the state House and Senate...
House repeals 2013 election law that angered many Associated Press ...The Arizona House voted Thursday to repeal a sweeping 2013 Arizona election law that included trimming the state's permanent early voting list and a host of other provisions that incensed voter-rights advocates...
Teamsters Celebrate, Remember James R. Hoffa teamster.org ... He was the man who introduced himself as “I’m Jimmy Hoffa and I stand up for the American workers...”
Republic Airways reaches tentative deal with pilots union for its three airlines Dallas Morning News ...According to a Teamsters press release, "The tentative agreement includes increases in pay that will place Republic pilots at or near the top of its regional airline peers. It also includes improvements in work rules, quality of life enhancements and more flexibility in scheduling as well as a significant signing bonus if ratified...
State Battles
Historic election brings outside interference in the vote of Chattanooga Volkswagen workers UAW ...Volkswagen workers voted against joining the union in a vote of 712 to 626. The decision follows three days of voting during an election supervised by the National Labor Relations Board and comes amid a firestorm of interference and threats from special interest groups...
FitzGerald vows to fight for unions if elected Toledo Blade ...Ed FitzGerald, the leading Democratic candidate to run against Republican Gov. John Kasich this November, told supporters Thursday at the United Auto Workers headquarters in Maumee that if elected, he would veto any right-to-work bill that gets passed...
County Commissioners get into 'Paycheck Protection' fight: Friday Morning Coffee The Patriot-News ...The proxy fight over "Paycheck Protection" being waged by national labor unions and astrotuf groups such as FreedomWorks and the Koch Brothers-funded American Legislative Exchange Council is playing out in the state Legislature with bills in the state House and Senate...
House repeals 2013 election law that angered many Associated Press ...The Arizona House voted Thursday to repeal a sweeping 2013 Arizona election law that included trimming the state's permanent early voting list and a host of other provisions that incensed voter-rights advocates...
Estimated Gross State Product for Wisconsin and Minnesota Econbrowser ...Since 2011, Minnesota’s per capita GSP has grown a cumulative 2.1 percentage points (log terms) more than Wisconsin’s...
Trade
Spying by N.S.A. Ally Entangled U.S. Law Firm New York Times ...A top-secret document, obtained by the former N.S.A. contractor Edward J. Snowden, shows that an American law firm was monitored while representing a foreign government in trade disputes with the United States...
Momentum Builds to Stop Fast Track Trade Deals, Thanks to You Trade Reform ...Thanks to the efforts of tens of thousands of people—including people like you—more and more congressional leaders, including Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, are joining the chorus of voices standing up for us—America’s 99%—and saying that Fast Track is wrong...
The War on Workers
Foreclosure Filings Jump as Investors Eye Exits truthout ...The reason prices have been rising is because of the Fed’s loosy-goosey monetary policy (fake rates and QE), inventory suppression, bogus gov mortgage modification programs, and unprecedented speculation. (mainly Private Equity and investors groups) Those are the four legs of the stool propping up housing. Only now it looks like a couple of those legs are in the process of being sawed off which is going to put downward pressure on sales and prices...
Brazil's World Cup courts disaster as delays, protests and deaths mount The Guardian ...Another week, another storm of teargas and rubber bullets at a World Cup host city in Brazil. This time, the clashes were in the capital, Brasília, where 15,000 protesters from the Landless Workers Movement marched from the Mané Garrincha football stadium to the Palácio do Planalto state office of the president, Dilma Rousseff...
California's New 'Dust Bowl': "It's Gonna Be a Slow, Painful, Agonizing Death" For Farmers zero hedge ...For the state that produces one-third of the nation's fruits and vegetables, the driest spell in 500 years has prompted President Obama to make $100 million in livestock-disaster aid available within 60 days to help the state rebound from what he describes is " going to be a very challenging situation this year... and potentially some time to come..."
Rising Inequality – Recovery Occurring Almost Exclusively Among the Wealthy naked capitalism ...America’s income inequality has grown so wide that the current “recovery” is driven primarily by the upper fifth of income earners, as revealed by the latest consumer spending data. Right now, more than 60% of all consumer spending is done by just the top 20% of income earners...
AOL's CEO Proves Women and Children Make Easy Scapegoats in the Workplace Next New Deal ...AOL CEO Tim Armstrong recently ignited a firestorm of criticism when he announced the company would be restructuring its retirement benefits. Armstrong explained that the financial burden of Obamacare and the deliveries of two “distressed babies”, which cost the company $1 million each, had forced the company to reduce 401(k) matching contributions...
Trade
Spying by N.S.A. Ally Entangled U.S. Law Firm New York Times ...A top-secret document, obtained by the former N.S.A. contractor Edward J. Snowden, shows that an American law firm was monitored while representing a foreign government in trade disputes with the United States...
Momentum Builds to Stop Fast Track Trade Deals, Thanks to You Trade Reform ...Thanks to the efforts of tens of thousands of people—including people like you—more and more congressional leaders, including Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, are joining the chorus of voices standing up for us—America’s 99%—and saying that Fast Track is wrong...
The War on Workers
Foreclosure Filings Jump as Investors Eye Exits truthout ...The reason prices have been rising is because of the Fed’s loosy-goosey monetary policy (fake rates and QE), inventory suppression, bogus gov mortgage modification programs, and unprecedented speculation. (mainly Private Equity and investors groups) Those are the four legs of the stool propping up housing. Only now it looks like a couple of those legs are in the process of being sawed off which is going to put downward pressure on sales and prices...
Brazil's World Cup courts disaster as delays, protests and deaths mount The Guardian ...Another week, another storm of teargas and rubber bullets at a World Cup host city in Brazil. This time, the clashes were in the capital, Brasília, where 15,000 protesters from the Landless Workers Movement marched from the Mané Garrincha football stadium to the Palácio do Planalto state office of the president, Dilma Rousseff...
California's New 'Dust Bowl': "It's Gonna Be a Slow, Painful, Agonizing Death" For Farmers zero hedge ...For the state that produces one-third of the nation's fruits and vegetables, the driest spell in 500 years has prompted President Obama to make $100 million in livestock-disaster aid available within 60 days to help the state rebound from what he describes is " going to be a very challenging situation this year... and potentially some time to come..."
Rising Inequality – Recovery Occurring Almost Exclusively Among the Wealthy naked capitalism ...America’s income inequality has grown so wide that the current “recovery” is driven primarily by the upper fifth of income earners, as revealed by the latest consumer spending data. Right now, more than 60% of all consumer spending is done by just the top 20% of income earners...
AOL's CEO Proves Women and Children Make Easy Scapegoats in the Workplace Next New Deal ...AOL CEO Tim Armstrong recently ignited a firestorm of criticism when he announced the company would be restructuring its retirement benefits. Armstrong explained that the financial burden of Obamacare and the deliveries of two “distressed babies”, which cost the company $1 million each, had forced the company to reduce 401(k) matching contributions...
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
Today's Teamster News 02.04.14
Teamsters join thousands in action against Fast Track TeamsterNation ...Teamsters, techies and tens of thousands of people took action Friday to oppose a Fast Track bill that would grease the Congressional skids for so-called 'trade deals' like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)...
'Strongest' union head: Put Sanitation plows on the streets, not private plowers Staten Island Advance ...(Teamsters Local 631) Union chief Harry Nespoli called the expense of hiring private contractors and paying them to be on stand-by "foolish" and "a waste taxpayer money."...
New York liquor warehousing law in the works, may cost small dealers big New York Daily News ...George Miranda, president of Teamsters Joint Council 16, said the bill could create up to 1,000 warehouse jobs in the state. “It is just the right thing to do,” Miranda said...
De Blasio’s horse-carriage ban stalls Capital New York ...as the Council holds its second meeting of the new year under the leadership of de Blasio's ally and fellow carriage opponent, Melissa Mark-Viverito, a bill to ban them has yet to appear on the Council's agenda. A spokesman for Mark-Viverito would not say when the bill will be introduced...
YRC announces $300 million debt reduction plan after Teamsters labor agreement CCJ ...YRC Worldwide (No. 3 in CCJ’s Top 250) has closed a deal to attempt to reduce its debt by $300 million, per an announcement from the company Jan. 31, in which it will issue $250 million in new stock and convert $50 million in convertible notes to common stock and use the proceeds to reduce its roughly $1 billion of debt...
CN Rail to meet with union over stalled labor deal Reuters Canada ...Union members have "a lot of mistrust" with Canada's largest railway, Teamsters Canada Rail Conference General Chairman Roland Hackl told Reuters, and will need assurances that CN will respect rest provisions for workers in the current agreement...
V & V Supremo Workers Benefit from Teamsters Local 703 Contract teamster.org ...Represented by the Teamsters since 2001, the workers at V&V Supremo continue to receive annual wage increases, fair and equitable benefits and the protection of the Teamsters’ grievance procedure due to their contract with Local 703...
Teamsters Applaud Green Light for Keystone XL Pipeline teamster.org ...Following the U.S. State Department’s analysis that the Keystone XL pipeline project provides a safe and correct process for the transport of Canadian oil to the U.S. Gulf region, the Teamsters Union is pleased that the project, which will directly create 20,000 good jobs for American workers, is one step closer to reality...
Allegheny County workers to strike Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ...Nearly 50 Allegheny County workers, mainly truck drivers in the Public Works Department, will strike after members of Teamsters Local 249 overwhelmingly voted Sunday to reject the county's proposals for a new contract, their union leader said...
States Are Feeling the Pinch from Lost Unemployment Revenues teamster.org ...Americans who want to work but can’t find a job after months of unemployment are being hit hard by the cut off of long-term unemployment benefits by Republicans in Congress. But their epic policy blunder is hurting everyone, even if they don’t realize it...
New National Poll: Voters Blame Lawmakers for Weak Job Growth Trade Reform ...By an overwhelming margin, voters say job creation should be a top priority, beating out deficit reduction by a 2-1 margin (65% vs. 31%)...
2014 stock market selloff intensifies USA Today ...The financial turbulence that began in emerging markets and engulfed Wall Street intensified Monday, leaving U.S. stock investors bracing for the possibility of the first 10% market drop since 2011...
Wall Street Journal Exposes Entirely New Private Equity Tax Scam naked capitalism ...so-called “monitoring fees” that PE firms levy on the companies they’ve bought should actually be recognized as dividends for corporate tax purposes. This is is significant because fees are a tax deductible expense to the companies while the dividends aren’t, so the effect of this ruse is to shortchange Uncle Sam, and hence ordinary taxpayers to the PE funds’ benefit...
A Rash of Deaths and a Missing Reporter – With Ties to Wall Street Investigations Wall Street On Parade ...In a span of four days last week, two current executives and one recently retired top ranking executive of major financial firms were found dead. Both media and police have been quick to label the deaths as likely suicides. Missing from the reports is the salient fact that all three of the financial firms the executives worked for are under investigation for potentially serious financial fraud...
Businesses gather more information than they need from consumers Los Angeles Times ...Strong rules for collection and use of people's personal data should be enacted...
Edward Snowden speaks: US blackout of interview Jonathan Turley ... the interview appears to have been blocked intentionally by US government authorities. In fact, the media in the US appears to have gone to ‘radio silence’ about it. … He says his “breaking point” was “seeing Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, directly lie under oath to Congress.”...
Microsoft, Facebook, Google and Yahoo release US surveillance requests The Guardian ...Tens of thousands of accounts associated with customers of Microsoft, Google, Facebook and Yahoo have their data turned over to US government authorities every six months as the result of secret court orders, the tech giants disclosed for the first time on Monday....
Newly Wary, Shoppers Trust Cash ...New York Times ...Like dieters vowing to trade cupcakes for carrots, a number of American shoppers are making a new pledge: cash only...
Factory, construction spending data hint at slowing economy Reuters ...U.S. manufacturing activity slowed sharply in January on the back of the biggest drop in new orders in 33 years while construction spending barely rose in December, pointing to some loss of steam in the economy...
Calif. Bill Targets Discrimination Against Caregivers Associated Press ...If you don't get a job because you're a woman, or you get fired because you're black, or you get transferred to the night shift because you're gay, there's a law for that. But if you're punished at work because you need time to take your child to the doctor or talk to your confused elderly mother, you might be out of luck...
Olive Garden offers free babysitting to increase sales Philadelphia Inquirer ...The "Italian dining experience" inspired restaurant chain has worked on revamping its menu, but on Friday is offering something not many other dining establishments offer: free babysitting...
VW Workers to Decide Whether to Join UAW uaw.org From Feb. 12-14, Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga, Tenn., will decide the issue of union representation by the United Auto Workers in a secret ballot election supervised by the National Labor Relations Board...
'Strongest' union head: Put Sanitation plows on the streets, not private plowers Staten Island Advance ...(Teamsters Local 631) Union chief Harry Nespoli called the expense of hiring private contractors and paying them to be on stand-by "foolish" and "a waste taxpayer money."...
New York liquor warehousing law in the works, may cost small dealers big New York Daily News ...George Miranda, president of Teamsters Joint Council 16, said the bill could create up to 1,000 warehouse jobs in the state. “It is just the right thing to do,” Miranda said...
De Blasio’s horse-carriage ban stalls Capital New York ...as the Council holds its second meeting of the new year under the leadership of de Blasio's ally and fellow carriage opponent, Melissa Mark-Viverito, a bill to ban them has yet to appear on the Council's agenda. A spokesman for Mark-Viverito would not say when the bill will be introduced...
YRC announces $300 million debt reduction plan after Teamsters labor agreement CCJ ...YRC Worldwide (No. 3 in CCJ’s Top 250) has closed a deal to attempt to reduce its debt by $300 million, per an announcement from the company Jan. 31, in which it will issue $250 million in new stock and convert $50 million in convertible notes to common stock and use the proceeds to reduce its roughly $1 billion of debt...
CN Rail to meet with union over stalled labor deal Reuters Canada ...Union members have "a lot of mistrust" with Canada's largest railway, Teamsters Canada Rail Conference General Chairman Roland Hackl told Reuters, and will need assurances that CN will respect rest provisions for workers in the current agreement...
V & V Supremo Workers Benefit from Teamsters Local 703 Contract teamster.org ...Represented by the Teamsters since 2001, the workers at V&V Supremo continue to receive annual wage increases, fair and equitable benefits and the protection of the Teamsters’ grievance procedure due to their contract with Local 703...
Teamsters Applaud Green Light for Keystone XL Pipeline teamster.org ...Following the U.S. State Department’s analysis that the Keystone XL pipeline project provides a safe and correct process for the transport of Canadian oil to the U.S. Gulf region, the Teamsters Union is pleased that the project, which will directly create 20,000 good jobs for American workers, is one step closer to reality...
Allegheny County workers to strike Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ...Nearly 50 Allegheny County workers, mainly truck drivers in the Public Works Department, will strike after members of Teamsters Local 249 overwhelmingly voted Sunday to reject the county's proposals for a new contract, their union leader said...
States Are Feeling the Pinch from Lost Unemployment Revenues teamster.org ...Americans who want to work but can’t find a job after months of unemployment are being hit hard by the cut off of long-term unemployment benefits by Republicans in Congress. But their epic policy blunder is hurting everyone, even if they don’t realize it...
New National Poll: Voters Blame Lawmakers for Weak Job Growth Trade Reform ...By an overwhelming margin, voters say job creation should be a top priority, beating out deficit reduction by a 2-1 margin (65% vs. 31%)...
2014 stock market selloff intensifies USA Today ...The financial turbulence that began in emerging markets and engulfed Wall Street intensified Monday, leaving U.S. stock investors bracing for the possibility of the first 10% market drop since 2011...
Wall Street Journal Exposes Entirely New Private Equity Tax Scam naked capitalism ...so-called “monitoring fees” that PE firms levy on the companies they’ve bought should actually be recognized as dividends for corporate tax purposes. This is is significant because fees are a tax deductible expense to the companies while the dividends aren’t, so the effect of this ruse is to shortchange Uncle Sam, and hence ordinary taxpayers to the PE funds’ benefit...
A Rash of Deaths and a Missing Reporter – With Ties to Wall Street Investigations Wall Street On Parade ...In a span of four days last week, two current executives and one recently retired top ranking executive of major financial firms were found dead. Both media and police have been quick to label the deaths as likely suicides. Missing from the reports is the salient fact that all three of the financial firms the executives worked for are under investigation for potentially serious financial fraud...
Businesses gather more information than they need from consumers Los Angeles Times ...Strong rules for collection and use of people's personal data should be enacted...
Edward Snowden speaks: US blackout of interview Jonathan Turley ... the interview appears to have been blocked intentionally by US government authorities. In fact, the media in the US appears to have gone to ‘radio silence’ about it. … He says his “breaking point” was “seeing Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, directly lie under oath to Congress.”...
Microsoft, Facebook, Google and Yahoo release US surveillance requests The Guardian ...Tens of thousands of accounts associated with customers of Microsoft, Google, Facebook and Yahoo have their data turned over to US government authorities every six months as the result of secret court orders, the tech giants disclosed for the first time on Monday....
Newly Wary, Shoppers Trust Cash ...New York Times ...Like dieters vowing to trade cupcakes for carrots, a number of American shoppers are making a new pledge: cash only...
Factory, construction spending data hint at slowing economy Reuters ...U.S. manufacturing activity slowed sharply in January on the back of the biggest drop in new orders in 33 years while construction spending barely rose in December, pointing to some loss of steam in the economy...
Calif. Bill Targets Discrimination Against Caregivers Associated Press ...If you don't get a job because you're a woman, or you get fired because you're black, or you get transferred to the night shift because you're gay, there's a law for that. But if you're punished at work because you need time to take your child to the doctor or talk to your confused elderly mother, you might be out of luck...
Olive Garden offers free babysitting to increase sales Philadelphia Inquirer ...The "Italian dining experience" inspired restaurant chain has worked on revamping its menu, but on Friday is offering something not many other dining establishments offer: free babysitting...
VW Workers to Decide Whether to Join UAW uaw.org From Feb. 12-14, Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga, Tenn., will decide the issue of union representation by the United Auto Workers in a secret ballot election supervised by the National Labor Relations Board...
Friday, November 15, 2013
Today's Teamster News 11.15.13
Teamsters Support Walmart Strikers teamster.org ...Teamsters are out front supporting Walmart worker protests in the run-up to the nationwide strike planned for Friday, Nov. 29, or Black Friday. Walmart workers want respect, a living wage and the right to form a union...
Teamsters Support 'SAFE SKIES ACT Of 2013 teamster.org ...The Teamsters Union applauds today’s re-introduction of the ‘Safe Skies Act of 2013’ by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA). The bill would bring air cargo and supplemental pilots under the same safety regulations as air passenger pilots, standardizing rules within the industry...
Teamsters Condemn Cab Commission's Denying Driver Time To Speak At Public Meeting DCist ...At yesterday's extremely chaotic D.C. Taxicab Commission meeting, which was attended by over one hundred city cabbies, a driver without copies of his testimony for the commissioners was told he could not speak...
Maine Teamsters Endorse Michaud For Governor, Jackson For Congress Teamsters Local 340 ...Teamsters Local 340 in South Portland, Maine announced that its executive board unanimously voted to endorse both Rep. Mike Michaud (D-2nd District) in his run for governor and State Senator Troy Jackson who is running for the 2nd Congressional District seat being vacated by Michaud...
Hoffa: Lawmakers Increasingly Realize Fast Track Is a Fraud Huffington Post ...The Teamsters for years have been an outspoken critic of fast-track trade authorization which allows bad proposed trade agreements to move through Congress on just a quick up-or-down vote. And in the last week, we were joined by 185 House lawmakers who feel the same way...
The more you know about the odious Trans-Pacific Partnership, the less you’ll like it The Guardian ...That is why it's been negotiated in secret meetings dominated by governments and corporations...
US trade deficit widened 8% in September Associated Press ...imports increased to the highest level in 10 months while exports slipped. The wider gap suggests growth was somewhat slower over the summer than previously estimated...
US mobility for young adults falls to 50-year low Associated Press ...Among adults ages 25-29, just 4.9 million, or 23.3 percent, moved in the 12 months ending March 2013. That's down from 24.6 percent in the same period the year before. It was the lowest level since at least 1963. The peak of 36.7 percent came in 1965, during the nation's youth counterculture movement...
Facebook and Microsoft help fund rightwing lobby network, report finds The Guardian ...State Policy Network rejects climate change, opposes workers' rights – and is backed by some top US tech and telecoms firms...
Koch-backed nonprofit spent record cash in 2012 Center for Public Integrity ...Americans for Prosperity — the main political arm of billionaire industrialist brothers Charles and David Koch — spent a staggering $122 million last year as it unsuccessfully attempted to defeat President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats, according to a Center for Public Integrity review of documents filed in Colorado...
How McDonald's And Walmart Became Welfare Queens Bloomberg ...It seems that welfare queens are back in the news these days. This time, they are even bigger, richer and less deserving of taxpayer support...
An example of how the banking cartels control countries the unbalanced evolution of homo sapiens ...The biggest private banks created a complex financial environment with complex financial destructive "tools" which governments are unable to manage. Governments are forced to turn to the same banks for "advising services" while they are flooded with former bank executives placed in key positions. This explains why the biggest private banks receive bailout packages of billions at the expense of taxpayers, loading governments with more debt...
Justices grill lawyers over neutrality agreements between employers and unions Washington Post ...Supreme Court justices seemed reluctant Wednesday to disallow a type of agreement between employers and unions that has become increasingly important to the labor movement as it tries to grow its ranks...
Poverty Is America's #1 Education Problem (opinion) AlterNet ...Teachers' unions are not the reason America's schools are in trouble...
Troubled Youth Prison Company Wins Even More Contracts Huffington Post ...Despite voluminous evidence that inmates have suffered violence, sexual abuse and neglect inside the facilities of a private juvenile prison operator, the state of Florida has in recent weeks awarded fresh contracts to the company...
Lockheed to cut 4,000 jobs as U.S. government spending wanes Reuters ...Defense contractor Lockheed Martin Corp said on Thursday it plans to cut 4,000 jobs, or more than 3 percent of its worldwide workforce, to cope with declines in U.S. spending...
Swiss voters likely to reject salary cap bill for executives Raw Story ...Swiss voters look set to reject a law to rein in executive pay in a looming referendum, with a poll released Wednesday showing only around a third back the plan...
German union's incoming boss warns VW about avoiding unions Reuters ...The incoming leader of an influential German union warned Volkswagen AG on Wednesday about trying to avoid unions in Tennessee, where the German automaker has an assembly plant...
Giant, Safeway workers authorize possible strike Washington Post ...Unionized employees at Washington area Safeway and Giant Food stores voted Wednesday to authorize a strike against the grocery chains if the two parties fail to agree on a new contract...
Any proposal to ban BART workers from striking is not a simple matter (opinion) San Francisco Examiner ...The California Supreme Court has gone back and forth on whether public-sector employees, such as these BART workers last month, are allowed to walk off the job...
Boeing machinists soundly reject labor deal Reuters ...Boeing machinists soundly rejected an eight-year labor contract extension on Wednesday that would have let them build the company's newest jetliner in Washington, a historic decision that could forever alter the course of Boeing's 97-year presence in the state...
Teamsters Support 'SAFE SKIES ACT Of 2013 teamster.org ...The Teamsters Union applauds today’s re-introduction of the ‘Safe Skies Act of 2013’ by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA). The bill would bring air cargo and supplemental pilots under the same safety regulations as air passenger pilots, standardizing rules within the industry...
Teamsters Condemn Cab Commission's Denying Driver Time To Speak At Public Meeting DCist ...At yesterday's extremely chaotic D.C. Taxicab Commission meeting, which was attended by over one hundred city cabbies, a driver without copies of his testimony for the commissioners was told he could not speak...
Maine Teamsters Endorse Michaud For Governor, Jackson For Congress Teamsters Local 340 ...Teamsters Local 340 in South Portland, Maine announced that its executive board unanimously voted to endorse both Rep. Mike Michaud (D-2nd District) in his run for governor and State Senator Troy Jackson who is running for the 2nd Congressional District seat being vacated by Michaud...
Hoffa: Lawmakers Increasingly Realize Fast Track Is a Fraud Huffington Post ...The Teamsters for years have been an outspoken critic of fast-track trade authorization which allows bad proposed trade agreements to move through Congress on just a quick up-or-down vote. And in the last week, we were joined by 185 House lawmakers who feel the same way...
The more you know about the odious Trans-Pacific Partnership, the less you’ll like it The Guardian ...That is why it's been negotiated in secret meetings dominated by governments and corporations...
US trade deficit widened 8% in September Associated Press ...imports increased to the highest level in 10 months while exports slipped. The wider gap suggests growth was somewhat slower over the summer than previously estimated...
US mobility for young adults falls to 50-year low Associated Press ...Among adults ages 25-29, just 4.9 million, or 23.3 percent, moved in the 12 months ending March 2013. That's down from 24.6 percent in the same period the year before. It was the lowest level since at least 1963. The peak of 36.7 percent came in 1965, during the nation's youth counterculture movement...
Facebook and Microsoft help fund rightwing lobby network, report finds The Guardian ...State Policy Network rejects climate change, opposes workers' rights – and is backed by some top US tech and telecoms firms...
Koch-backed nonprofit spent record cash in 2012 Center for Public Integrity ...Americans for Prosperity — the main political arm of billionaire industrialist brothers Charles and David Koch — spent a staggering $122 million last year as it unsuccessfully attempted to defeat President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats, according to a Center for Public Integrity review of documents filed in Colorado...
How McDonald's And Walmart Became Welfare Queens Bloomberg ...It seems that welfare queens are back in the news these days. This time, they are even bigger, richer and less deserving of taxpayer support...
An example of how the banking cartels control countries the unbalanced evolution of homo sapiens ...The biggest private banks created a complex financial environment with complex financial destructive "tools" which governments are unable to manage. Governments are forced to turn to the same banks for "advising services" while they are flooded with former bank executives placed in key positions. This explains why the biggest private banks receive bailout packages of billions at the expense of taxpayers, loading governments with more debt...
Justices grill lawyers over neutrality agreements between employers and unions Washington Post ...Supreme Court justices seemed reluctant Wednesday to disallow a type of agreement between employers and unions that has become increasingly important to the labor movement as it tries to grow its ranks...
Poverty Is America's #1 Education Problem (opinion) AlterNet ...Teachers' unions are not the reason America's schools are in trouble...
Troubled Youth Prison Company Wins Even More Contracts Huffington Post ...Despite voluminous evidence that inmates have suffered violence, sexual abuse and neglect inside the facilities of a private juvenile prison operator, the state of Florida has in recent weeks awarded fresh contracts to the company...
Lockheed to cut 4,000 jobs as U.S. government spending wanes Reuters ...Defense contractor Lockheed Martin Corp said on Thursday it plans to cut 4,000 jobs, or more than 3 percent of its worldwide workforce, to cope with declines in U.S. spending...
Swiss voters likely to reject salary cap bill for executives Raw Story ...Swiss voters look set to reject a law to rein in executive pay in a looming referendum, with a poll released Wednesday showing only around a third back the plan...
German union's incoming boss warns VW about avoiding unions Reuters ...The incoming leader of an influential German union warned Volkswagen AG on Wednesday about trying to avoid unions in Tennessee, where the German automaker has an assembly plant...
Giant, Safeway workers authorize possible strike Washington Post ...Unionized employees at Washington area Safeway and Giant Food stores voted Wednesday to authorize a strike against the grocery chains if the two parties fail to agree on a new contract...
Any proposal to ban BART workers from striking is not a simple matter (opinion) San Francisco Examiner ...The California Supreme Court has gone back and forth on whether public-sector employees, such as these BART workers last month, are allowed to walk off the job...
Boeing machinists soundly reject labor deal Reuters ...Boeing machinists soundly rejected an eight-year labor contract extension on Wednesday that would have let them build the company's newest jetliner in Washington, a historic decision that could forever alter the course of Boeing's 97-year presence in the state...
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