Trucking Companies Try New Approach at Congested California Ports Wall Street Journal ...The Southern California ports are serving as a “test bed for the transformation of the industry,” said Jonathan Rosenthal, co-managing partner of Saybrook Capital. He said he’d like to employ 1,000 drivers in the next few years. The new companies have the Teamsters’ backing. In addition to Eco Flow, the union pointed to Toll Group, Sea-Logix LLC, Shippers Transport Express and Green Fleet Systems as companies that employ their drivers...
EVSC Board to discuss Teamster representation at Monday meeting Courier & Press ...Lacking an agreement with Teamsters Local 215, the Evansville Vanderburgh School Board plans to discuss next steps at a regular meeting on Monday. EVSC Board President Mike Duckworth said the seven-member board will meet in executive session at 3:30 p.m. Monday. Local 215 President Chuck Whobrey and union members plan to be at Monday night’s 5:30 p.m. meeting...
Global Labor & Trade
Greece stands defiant as no vote rails against wrenching austerity The Guardian ...Democracy in Greece spoke on Sunday and the response was a resounding “no” to demands for more of the excoriating austerity that over five long years has been the price of keeping Europe’s weakest economy afloat. 61% of voters rejected the terms of further financial assistance set by creditors at the European Union and International Monetary Fund...
6 chapters of TPP pact still unresolved Japan News ...Of the 31 chapters of a proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade pact, six are expected to require “political settlement” at a ministerial meeting, according to Japanese government sources. The six include chapters on protection of intellectual property rights, treatment of state-owned enterprises and investment rules...
TISA Leaks Part Deux: More Evidence of Concerted Attack on Democracy Common Dreams ...One day after it leaked a trove of documents related to the massive, pro-corporate Trade in Services Agreement (TISA), WikiLeaks on Thursday published another four chapters of the proposed 52-nation trade deal. Thursday's batch of texts reveals "a concerted attempt to place restrictions on the ability of participating governments to regulate services sectors, even where regulations are necessary to protect the privacy of domestic populations"...
What is TTIP? The controversial trade deal proposal explained The Guardian ...If you are not yet familiar with the acronym TTIP it is likely you soon will be. The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership is a proposed trade agreement and the subject of an ongoing series of negotiations between the EU and US aimed at creating the world’s biggest free trade zone spanning the north Atlantic. Food safety has become a major stumbling block. The talks have been conducted largely in secret...
Japan, U.S. to resume TPP talks on July 9 Japan News ...Japan and the United States will resume bilateral working-level talks related to Trans-Pacific Partnership multilateral free trade negotiations on July 9, the Japanese government said Thursday. The talks, to be held in Tokyo, are slated to last for two days. The two countries aim to find a common ground on contentious issues such as Japan’s import quota for U.S. rice and automobile trade...
Air Force One Serves as Reward for Obama Trade Allies Bloomberg ...Are you a congressional Democrat who bucked organized labor and the progressive base of your party to support President Barack Obama’s trade agenda? Then the White House may have a gift for you: Air Force One touching down in your hometown, where the president will hold a large rally and praise you for your hard work...
You Are What Washington, D.C., Wants You to Eat TakePart.com ... To the United States’ free-trade partners, buy-local initiatives can be perceived as barriers to trade. If TPP participants choose to challenge these rules, efforts to connect farmers, eaters, and decision makers could be made obsolete. While the TPP eliminates obstacles to trade for multinational corporations, it may well destabilize burgeoning efforts to foster an environmentally sound food system in the United States...
"Democracy Cannot Be Blackmailed": Greek Voters Overwhelmingly Reject Creditors’ Austerity Demand Democracy Now ...In voting against austerity, Greek voters have rejected measures that helped cripple the economy, but also turned down a financial lifeline for its struggling banks. The banks will remain closed today as the European Central Bank meets to consider new emergency loans. Tsipras says he will seek a new round of talks with creditors...
Asia markets sink after Greece votes 'No' to austerity Business Insider ...Asian stocks mostly fell Monday after Greek voters rejected more austerity demands from creditors, fuelling fears the country will crash out of the eurozone, but the euro recovered from initial losses as dealers wait for European leaders' next move. Analysts warned the decision had likely put Athens on course to exit the eurozone...
What is really at stake in the Greek crisis (opinion) IUF.org ...A spectre is haunting Europe - the spectre of a democratic alternative to austerity. The Syriza government of Greece incarnates that alternative, which is why the European Commission and the European Central Bank (ECB) have allied with the IMF to exorcise the challenge it represents. With few exceptions, political parties of every persuasion have tacitly or actively supported the anti-Syriza coalition...
Bangladesh Women Workers Increasingly Empowered Solidarity Center ...Women garment workers primarily fuel Bangladesh’s $24 billion a year garment industry, yet women are “still viewed as basically cheap labor,” says Lily Gomes, Solidarity Center senior program officer for Bangladesh. “There is a strong need for functioning factory-level unions led by women,” says Gomes, who is leading efforts to help empower women workers to take on leadership roles at factories and in unions throughout Bangladesh...
State & Living Wage Battles
No major state contracts expected during prevailing wage limbo Charleston Daily Mail ...State officials don’t expect any major building contracts to go out for bid in the next few months while WorkForce West Virginia recalculates the state’s prevailing wage, but that doesn’t mean they’re willing to say the contracting process will be free from complications. West Virginia’s prevailing wage, which expired Wednesday after WorkForce West Virginia failed to deliver a recalculated wage scale by the Legislature-imposed deadline of June 30, is used to determine the minimum hourly rate of pay for construction workers...
Hiking the minimum wage: What would it mean for Nevada? Las Vegas Sun ...Los Angeles’ increase, which won’t be fully instituted until 2020, is the latest in a trend of minimum wage increases across the nation. Now, some are wondering: Is Nevada next? The minimum wage here is $8.25 an hour for employees who aren’t offered employer-sponsored health insurance and $7.25 for those who are. This year’s legislative session saw various pushes to change the state minimum wage...
Not so fast on a dismissal of the state voter ID case, law’s challengers say NC Policy Watch ...The parties challenging the voter ID provisions of the state’s 2013 election law changes in state court have asked the judge to put the case on hold until after the 2016 presidential primary, saying that only then will the merits of the recently adopted “reasonable impediment” process for voters lacking a photo ID be established. The request comes in response to the state’s motion to dismiss the case in light of those new provisions which they say moot the case...
Pittsburgh council to introduce paid sick-leave legislation Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ...Pittsburgh Councilman Corey O’Connor is scheduled to introduce an ordinance Tuesday that would require Pittsburgh employers to offer paid sick leave, thrusting the city into a statewide and national debate on the millions of workers across the country who don’t have access to the benefit...
No consensus emerging in KC minimum wage fight Kansas City Star ...Six weeks ago, the Kansas City Council put off a decision on a minimum wage increase in hopes of finding middle ground between $15-per-hour advocates and business groups adamantly opposed to that idea. Now, as the council’s self-imposed July 16 deadline for a vote looms, a solution remains elusive...
Fast Food CEO Blames Low-Wage Workers for Poverty The Nation ...In a recent op-ed, Puzder made the specious claim that the social safety net “can lock [people] into poverty.” What Puzder forgets to point out is that it is poverty wages—poverty wages paid by institutions like Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr. to many of their 20,000-plus employees— that force families to turn to nutrition and housing assistance, and other government-supplemented work supports, just to get by...
U.S. Labor
Salon Media’s Editorial Staff To Unionize with the Writers Guild of America, East WGAEast.org ...The editorial staff at Salon Media, Inc., the pioneering digital media outlet founded in 1995, today issued the following letter announcing plans to unionize with the Writers Guild of America, East, AFL-CIO (WGAE): "We, the editorial staffers at Salon Media, Inc. have decided to organize. Every single one of the editorial employees at Salon supports unionizing with the Writers Guild of America, East, and today we’re asking the management of Salon to recognize our union"...
3-day Milwaukee County bus drivers' strike ends with no deal on key sticking points of dispute Star Tribune ...Milwaukee County bus drivers have returned to work after a three-day strike over staffing and wages, despite a lack of a new contract. Union leaders say the strike ended as planned at 3 a.m. Saturday despite a few remaining issues preventing an agreement on a new deal. Amalgamated Transit Union Local 998 President James Macon says the biggest sticking point is the county's plan to hire more part-time drivers, with fewer benefits than full-time drivers...
The New Overtime Rules Are a Big Deal. Here’s Why The Nation ...Millions of Americans just got a little more reason to look forward to staying late at work. The Obama administration has revised the national overtime rules to entitle nearly 5 million workers to the right to earn 50 percent more than the base wage for each hour worked in addition to the standard 40-hour week. The proposed rule, announced this week by the Department of Labor, would raise the threshold at which certain professionals qualify for overtime coverage under the Fair Labor Standards Act...
The SEIU’s Odd Recipe for Unionizing Fast Food Bloomberg ...The Service Employees International Union, one of the nation’s largest labor groups, is battling to organize America’s fast-food workers. Since 2012 the union has spent more than $25 million on a campaign that’s included backing lawsuits over alleged unpaid wages and racially motivated firings, promoting legislation to change the franchise system, and occasionally mounting attention-grabbing strikes...
GOP seeks to block new NLRB rules through funding Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ...Republicans aren’t letting a presidential veto stop them from trying to block rules that would make it easier and faster for unions to organize. Stymied by the president’s March veto of their resolution against the policy change, Republicans now are using the budget process to block the rules...
Miscellaneous
Midair Collusion: Feds Probe Possible Conspiracy In U.S. Airline Industry Think Progress ...The Department of Justice (DOJ) is investigating major American air carriers over fears that Delta, American, United, and Southwest are conspiring together to restrict competition at travelers’ expense. Antitrust investigators have asked the four airlines to turn over all communications relating to passenger capacity on their planes over the past five years, including internal discussions, anything they’ve sent to or received from their competitors...
How Donald Trump Changed the GOP Debate on Immigration The American Prospect ...While his comments about the entirely fictional Mexican immigrant crime wave may have cost him many of the media and endorsement deals that sustain his fame (NBC, Univision, Macy's, Serta, and NASCAR have all cut their ties with him), it sure looks like Trump's particular brand of vulgar straight talk has vaulted him to the top tier of Republican candidates...
Economists say unemployment rate not as good as it sounds WWLP ...If you look at like the unemployment rate the job market seems to be improving across the United States. The unemployment rate is the lowest it’s been since 2008, but the numbers aren’t as good as many economists had hoped. This past month, the unemployment rate fell more than 5%, adding 200,000 jobs to the economy. However, after a brutal winter, economists were expecting those numbers to be much higher...
U.S. Labor
Salon Media’s Editorial Staff To Unionize with the Writers Guild of America, East WGAEast.org ...The editorial staff at Salon Media, Inc., the pioneering digital media outlet founded in 1995, today issued the following letter announcing plans to unionize with the Writers Guild of America, East, AFL-CIO (WGAE): "We, the editorial staffers at Salon Media, Inc. have decided to organize. Every single one of the editorial employees at Salon supports unionizing with the Writers Guild of America, East, and today we’re asking the management of Salon to recognize our union"...
3-day Milwaukee County bus drivers' strike ends with no deal on key sticking points of dispute Star Tribune ...Milwaukee County bus drivers have returned to work after a three-day strike over staffing and wages, despite a lack of a new contract. Union leaders say the strike ended as planned at 3 a.m. Saturday despite a few remaining issues preventing an agreement on a new deal. Amalgamated Transit Union Local 998 President James Macon says the biggest sticking point is the county's plan to hire more part-time drivers, with fewer benefits than full-time drivers...
The New Overtime Rules Are a Big Deal. Here’s Why The Nation ...Millions of Americans just got a little more reason to look forward to staying late at work. The Obama administration has revised the national overtime rules to entitle nearly 5 million workers to the right to earn 50 percent more than the base wage for each hour worked in addition to the standard 40-hour week. The proposed rule, announced this week by the Department of Labor, would raise the threshold at which certain professionals qualify for overtime coverage under the Fair Labor Standards Act...
The SEIU’s Odd Recipe for Unionizing Fast Food Bloomberg ...The Service Employees International Union, one of the nation’s largest labor groups, is battling to organize America’s fast-food workers. Since 2012 the union has spent more than $25 million on a campaign that’s included backing lawsuits over alleged unpaid wages and racially motivated firings, promoting legislation to change the franchise system, and occasionally mounting attention-grabbing strikes...
GOP seeks to block new NLRB rules through funding Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ...Republicans aren’t letting a presidential veto stop them from trying to block rules that would make it easier and faster for unions to organize. Stymied by the president’s March veto of their resolution against the policy change, Republicans now are using the budget process to block the rules...
Miscellaneous
Midair Collusion: Feds Probe Possible Conspiracy In U.S. Airline Industry Think Progress ...The Department of Justice (DOJ) is investigating major American air carriers over fears that Delta, American, United, and Southwest are conspiring together to restrict competition at travelers’ expense. Antitrust investigators have asked the four airlines to turn over all communications relating to passenger capacity on their planes over the past five years, including internal discussions, anything they’ve sent to or received from their competitors...
How Donald Trump Changed the GOP Debate on Immigration The American Prospect ...While his comments about the entirely fictional Mexican immigrant crime wave may have cost him many of the media and endorsement deals that sustain his fame (NBC, Univision, Macy's, Serta, and NASCAR have all cut their ties with him), it sure looks like Trump's particular brand of vulgar straight talk has vaulted him to the top tier of Republican candidates...
Economists say unemployment rate not as good as it sounds WWLP ...If you look at like the unemployment rate the job market seems to be improving across the United States. The unemployment rate is the lowest it’s been since 2008, but the numbers aren’t as good as many economists had hoped. This past month, the unemployment rate fell more than 5%, adding 200,000 jobs to the economy. However, after a brutal winter, economists were expecting those numbers to be much higher...
