Fast food, Walmart, low-wage workers strike for $15 and a union

NYC Teamsters, JC 16 Pres. George Miranda stand with #Fightfor15 protesters

Low-wage workers toiling at the bottom of the economic ladder are striking back again today. This time fast food, retail and childcare workers -- among others -- are hitting 200 cities and 30 countries all at once, demanding living wages and union rights!

Teamsters and other union members are standing in solidarity with low-wage workers because we know the increase in poverty-wage jobs is a drag on middle-class wages, including those of union members. And most people working low-wage jobs are not high school students -- they are middle-aged mothers and fathers who have been pushed to the bottom thanks to a three-decade assault on workers' wages and living standards.

Today's protests and strikes are expanding the scope of the movement, both geographically and by industry. A USA Today article gives us a snapshot of today's mass protests:

It was an unusual coalition of low-wage workers taking shape on Wednesday, from home care workers in Raleigh-Durham to adjunct faculty members in Chicago. Fast-food workers protested in Miami even as peers in Washington, D.C. announced early Wednesday the filing of a ballot initiative to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour.

There was support overseas, too, as strikes organized in coordination with the U.S. strikes took place in New Zealand along with fast-food worker protests in Antwerp, Helsinki and several cities in Japan, organizers say.

The timing of the strikes on Tax Day is intentional, [Kendall] Fells [organizing director of Fight for $15] said, to focus public attention on the strain that low wages place on public budgets and taxpayers when working families are forced to rely on public assistance. 

#Fightfor15 protests in LA.

Since the "Fight for 15" movement took off two years ago, issues of income inequality and low wages have dominated the national spotlight. A number of states and cities have raised their minimum wages. The protests have pushed Walmart to raise wages for some of its lowest paid workers, followed by McDonald's efforts to head off protests with a very modest increase for a small portion of its workforce.

At the New York Times, former labor reporter Steven Greenhouse explains why today's protests matter:

The more people who get involved, the more pressure that puts on cities and states to raise the minimum wage. It is good for unions and their members because it is bringing back and reinspiring collective action.

Brinks Security workers walk off job in Chicago today.

In a column at In These Times today, United Steel Workers President Leo Gerard underscored why this is such an important fight for labor:

Dominic Flis, whose company owns 18 Burger Kings in central Arkansas, said raising the minimum wage pushes up pay for other workers too.

“If somebody was already making $7.50, and minimum wage goes to $7.50, they’ll have some expectation of a raise as well,” Flis said. “And I have to maintain my workforce.”

IBT VP-At-Large George
Miranda #Fightfor15

The Brookings Institute calls this the ripple effect. The pay increase at the bottom ripples all the way up the pay scale.

[Kip] Hedges, [a] fired Delta worker, put it another way: “a lot of the better paid workers also understand that the bottom has to be raised otherwise the top is going to fall as well.”

If for no other reason than self-interest, join the gutsy minimum-wage workers at a Fight for $15 event Wednesday.

Go to www.April15.org to continue following (and join!) today's Fight for 15 protests.

Solidarity with low-wage workers everywhere!

Today's Teamster News 06.25.14

Teamster News
D.C. Taxi Drivers To Stage Caravan For Fairness On Wednesday, June 25  teamster.org   ... Hundreds of D.C. cab drivers affiliated with the Teamsters Union will take part in a “Fairness NOW!” caravan throughout the city on Wednesday, June 25 to demand an immediate stop to illegal private sedan services until a fair resolution is reached...
Delegates to BMWED/Teamsters Take Historic Action At Convention  teamster.org   ...Delegates of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division convention have elected the first female member of the union's Executive Board, Stacey Moody Gilbert...
Trade
#SOSJobs: The Story of The Rally On The Iron Range  manufacture this   ...Less than a month remains until the US Department of Commerce makes its final decision on a trade case that will affect thousands of steelworkers across the United States...
State Battles
Mayoral veto overturned  Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette   ...City Council members voted along party lines Tuesday to override Mayor Tom Henry’s veto of the new prohibition on collective bargaining for city employees who are not police or firefighters...
Mayors Want Federal Minimum Wage Hike  Dallas News   ...Mike Rawlings oversaw many minimum-wage workers as top executive at Pizza Hut. Now, as the mayor of Dallas, he’s trying to determine what a living wage is for city residents and city contract workers...
Changes To Wage Theft Prevention Law Approved By New York State Legislature  Daily Labor Report   ...The new measure would go even further by increasing penalties for violations to $50 to $200 per day from $50 to $200 per week and raising maximum penalties to $5,000 from $2,000. The bill also would establish penalties of $1,000 to $20,000 for repeat violators. Maximum liquidated damages would be increased under the bill to $20,000 from $10,000...
2nd Bridge Inquiry Said To Be Linked To Christie  New York Times   ...The inquiries into securities law violations focus on a period of 2010 and 2011 when Gov. Chris Christie’s administration pressed the Port Authority to pay for extensive repairs to the Skyway and related road projects, diverting money that was to be used on a new Hudson River rail tunnel that Mr. Christie canceled in October 2010...
Water is a Human Right: Detroit Residents Seek U.N. Intervention as City Shuts Off Taps to Thousands  Democracy Now   ... Since March, up to 3,000 account holders have had their water cut off every week. The Detroit water authority carries an estimated $5 billion in debt and has been the subject of privatization talks...
War On Workers
After Gap Raised Its Minimum Wage, Job Applications Surged  Think Progress   ...As of June, the lowest-paid Gap employees are making $9 an hour, and that will increase to $10 in June of next year. The raise will affect 65,000 employees in the United States. One of the reasons originally cited was to be able to “attract and retain great talent,” and Chairman and CEO Glenn Murphy had said, “Our decision to invest in frontline employees will directly support our business, and is one that we expect to deliver a return many times over.”...
Contract Workers Strike: Government Is The Top Low-Wage Employer Of Women  Moyers & Company   ...Hundreds of women struggling to make ends meet on the low wages paid by federal contractors went on strike in Washington, DC, today....They’re demanding that President Obama sign an executive order allowing them to bargain collectively for better pay, decent health care and paid sick leave...
Fact-Checking Walmart's Fact-Check Of The New York Times  Huffington Post   ...Exxon Mobil, Chevron, Apple and Wells Fargo paid more in taxes than Walmart...
Miscellaneous
Federal Judge Rules US Citizens Placed on No-Fly List Had Their Due Process Rights Violated  firedoglake   ...A federal district court in Oregon has ruled that United States citizens who were placed on the No-Fly List had their rights to “procedural due process” violated. The current process is unconstitutional and the government must “provide a new process” that satisfies the “constitutional requirements for due process.”...
Veterangate: VA whistleblower says records of deceased vets were altered  RT   ...A Veteran Affairs employee has come forward claiming that government officials doctored the medial records of deceased veterans in order to hide the fact that they died waiting for medical care...
Want To Suppress The Vote? Stress People Out  Mother Jones   ...individuals who have higher baseline levels of the bodily stress hormone cortisol are, as a group, less likely to vote. In other words, individuals who are more sensitive to stress don't appear to vote as often...

Today's Teamster News 06.13.14

Teamster News
House Sides with Teamsters on HOS  GoByTruck   ...The transportation funding bill passed this week by the U.S. House of Representatives does not include a provision to suspend the hours of service restart provision. Some legislative insiders expected the House to add an amendment similar to the Senate amendment to defund enforcement for the restart, but the lower chamber instead seemed to side with the Teamsters union, which sent a letter asking Congressmen to oppose such an initiative...
AM Alert: Hernández, Hoffa push workplace protections for temps  Sacramento Bee   ...Assemblyman Roger Hernández, D-West Covina, and Teamsters President Jim Hoffa ... discuss legislation that would make companies fully responsible for temporary employees brought in by a labor contractor...
It's Time To Terminate Temp Abuse, Pass California Bill AB 1897  Huffington Post   ...Cecilia Ceron has worked at the Tracy, California, plant of the world's biggest salad processor Taylor Farms for the past 11 years. But she doesn't work for the company. Instead, she is a long-term temporary employee trying to raise two daughters who has no health insurance...
Abuses At World’s Largest Salad Processing Co. Illustrate Need For Temp Worker Legislation In California  IBT   ...“This shell game is a significant contributor to the crisis in our economy today,” said Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa...
Trade
How The Trans-Pacific Partnership Affects Jobs, Trade, And Regulation  IVN   ...tariffs among a majority of the countries are already quite low. Indeed, once “most favored nation” (MFN) status is extended to include Malaysia, New Zealand, Vietnam, and Brunei, U.S. exporters will hardly enjoy expanded access to markets: these four countries have a combined purchasing power equivalent to that of Pennsylvania...
Lawmakers, LGBT groups urge U.S. trade action on Brunei criminal laws  Reuters   ...Brunei, the first East Asian country to introduce Islamic criminal law, has announced laws that will impose fines or jail terms for offenses such as pregnancy outside marriage and failure to perform Friday prayers. The laws will ultimately punish sodomy and adultery with the death penalty, including by stoning...
Bipartisan Call To Crack Down On Currency, Restore 5.8 Million Jobs  Trade Reform   ...Senators Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) issued an appeal Tuesday to President Obama to crack down on currency manipulation, which has cost 5.8 million U.S. jobs and increased the federal budget deficit by $266 billion...
State Battles
Booming Business, But Falling Wages, in California Grocery Stores  In These Times   ...the median hourly wage (measured in 2010 dollars) of grocery store workers fell from $12.97 in 1999 to $11.33 in 2010, a decline of 12.6 percent...
War On Workers
CEOs Earn Nearly 300 Times What Their Workers Make  Think Progress   ...The ratio of CEO pay to workers’ pay was 295.9-to-1 last year according to a new analysis from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI).That ratio is down from a peak of 383.4-to-1 in 2000 but is far higher than the historical norm. The ratio was just 20-to-1 in 1965 and 29.9-to-1 in 1978...
U.S. retail sales miss expectations, jobless claims rise  Reuters   ...U.S. retail sales rose less than expected in May and first-time applications for jobless benefits increased last week, but the data did little to alter views the economy is regaining steam...
Eric Cantor Loses: Goldman Sachs, Blackstone, Citigroup & NYU Board Weep  Wall Street on Parade   ...With the House Majority leader now soundly defeated in Tuesday’s primary in Virginia by an upstart economics professor supported by the Tea Party, David Brat, who took 56 percent of the vote and sprinkled his speeches with the phrase “crony capitalism,” Wall Street money may not be able to travel from Gotham across state lines as effectively as it once did...
The Places That Most Desperately Need A Higher Minimum Wage  Huffington Post   ...The Southest and Southwest are home to a disproportionate number of workers who would benefit from raising the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour, according to a new report from the global poverty-fighting group Oxfam America...
Former Managers Allege Pervasive Inventory Fraud At Walmart. How Deep Does The Rot Go?  The Nation   ...Inventory results that “should have raised red flags” were actually lauded by those significantly higher in Walmart’s regional chain of command. One recently departed senior vice president, for instance, would send her handwritten notes commending such numbers, she said...
How ordinary Americans can influence policy – no super PAC required  AlJazeera America   ...voters are best represented in Montana, Minnesota and Oregon and poorly represented in Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi. ... states with stringent lobbying regulations better weigh the interests of citizens across the income spectrum...
Mother Of Seven Dies in Jail While Serving Sentence For The Truancy Of Her Children  Jonathan Turley   ...Eileen DiNino, 55, of Reading, Pennsylvania has died while serving one of these ridiculous sentences. The mother of seven died in jail after serving half of her 48-hour sentence. The 48-hour sentence was in lieu of a $2,000 — a choice that many impoverished parents have to make...
Six Supreme Court Decisions To Watch For This Month  Newsweek   ...For millions of public employees, constitutional scholar Garrett Epps wrote after oral arguments in January, “Their collective-bargaining rights are hanging by a thread...
Fusion Centers Approached 2011 Black Friday Consumer Boycott Like a Terrorist Threat  The Partnership for Civil Justice Fund   ..."It is outrageous that counter-terrorism officials used their anti-terrorism authority and funding to "protect" corporate America from a consumer boycott. It is well past time that the vast flow of tax-payer money to the Fusion Centers be ended..."
Miscellaneous
Tesla Making Patents ‘Open Source’ to Boost Electric Cars  Bloomberg   ...Elon Musk, Tesla Motors Inc. (TSLA)’s outspoken co-founder, said patents for the maker of Model S electric cars will be “open source” and available at no charge as it seeks to expand adoption of battery-powered autos...

Today's Teamster News 06.12.14

Teamster News
Teamsters: THUD Amendments Will Weaken Highway Safety Standards  TheTrucker.com   ...Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa Monday denounced two potential floor amendments to the Transportation Housing and Urban Development (THUD) FY ’15 Appropriations bill that the Teamsters say will weaken highway safety standards by putting fatigued drivers on the road in bigger, heavier trucks...
Teamsters come out against hours changes, ATA still supportive  Overdrive   ...The Teamsters Union has voiced its opposition to recent Congressional action to roll back the 2013 changes to federal hours-of-service restart provisions, but American Trucking Associations head Bill Graves is holding strong on the group’s support for suspending the changes...
Official Statement of the Teamsters Union on the Worldwide Taxi Drivers' Protests Against Uber  teamster.org   ..."I express our solidarity with today’s protests by taxi drivers in city after city across Europe. The drivers are calling for fairness and asking that if the private sedan services are allowed to operate that they do so on a level playing field. Uber is currently operating without having to comply with the same rules and regulations that taxi drivers do..."
Teamsters Local 142 Wants To Bid On Chesterton Police Officers' Health Care  Chesterton Tribune   ...The officers of the Chesterton Police Department and their brothers in Teamsters Local 142 filled the meeting room of the town hall on Monday night, to hear a union attorney accuse the Town Council of fiduciary irresponsibility. At issue: the Teamsters is interested in bidding its healthcare plan to CPD officers...
Teamsters Against HoS Restart Charges  Truck News   ...The accident involving a Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. driver and comedian Tracy Morgan’s entourage has yet another industry organization weighing in about potential hours of service changes. The International Brotherhood of Teamsters sent an open letter to the US House of Representatives saying any steps to “delay, revise or replace the current hours of service 34-hour restart provision” or allow increases in truck size and weight, “especially they size of double trailers from the current 28-ft. to 33-ft.” should be opposed...
Coral Gables Employees To Get One Time Bonus  Miami Herald   ...The Coral Gables City Commission approved a two-year contract with the city’s general employees union Tuesday that includes a one-time bonus and lower pension contributions from employees during the first year...

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/06/10/4169720/coral-gables-employees-to-get.html#storylink=cpy

Trade
Comment: Shrouded in secrecy, opposition to TPP mounts  SBS   ...They want to reassure us that we don’t need to worry about spiralling drug costs or curtailed internet freedom, but they’re not willing to let us see the text of the deal to back up their claims...
Livestock Groups Show Concern for TPP During D.C. Hearing  Farm Futures   ...Japan's TPP requests to exempt certain "sensitive" products – including pork and beef, dairy, sugar, wheat and barley, and rice and starch – from tariff elimination has big impacts on future trade deals and the ag industry's ability to benefit from the agreement, the National Cattlemen's Beef Association said during a hearing before the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee...
Anger by US farmers threatens ambitious Pacific trade pact  Reuters   ...U.S. farmers are in an uproar over signs Japan will maintain some barriers to agricultural exports under a Pacific trade pact, which threatens to unravel a deal that is central to U.S. efforts to retain economic and security influence in the region...
State Battles
Repeal the pension tax on Michigan seniors  Detroit News   ...a retired couple born after 1952 with more than $50,000 in income, including $48,000 in pension benefits, paid $1,930 more in taxes than they would have if pensions weren’t taxed...
New Jersey's soaring subsidy program doing little to boost struggling economy  The Guardian   ...Study says New Jersey badly trailing other states' economic recovery despite corporate credits rising sevenfold under Christie...
Council Votes Again To End Collective Bargaining  Fort Wayne Journal Gazette   ...City Council members again voted along party lines Tuesday to end collective bargaining for all city workers except police and firefighters...
San Francisco Voters Will Weigh In On A $15 Minimum Wage  Think Progress   ...A question on San Francisco’s November ballot will ask city residents whether they want to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour by July 2018...
Why that ruling against teacher tenure won't help your schoolchildren (opinion)  Los Angeles Times   ... one should be "suspicious of wealthy and powerful individuals and groups whose advocacy for children leads to 'reforms' that won’t cost a cent, but will weaken labor."...
Numbers put lie to state growth strategy (opinion)  Journal Gazette   ...Light taxation and regulation haven’t raised living standard (in Indiana)...
War On Workers
Walmart Associate: 'Give The Workers Dignity And Respect We Deserve'  WBUR   ...Charmaine Givens-Thomas ... is a sales associate who has worked at Walmart for eight years. She makes $23,000 a year and has trouble paying rent and putting food on the table. She says Walmart should pay its employees a living wage...
Cantor’s Loss a Triumph for Anti-Corporate Right-Wing Populism  naked capitalism   ...conservative economics professor David Brat succeeded in channeling a strain of right-wing populism to target Cantor, and plausibly so, as a corporate stooge and progenitor of crony capitalism...
Clauses That Hurt Workers  New York Times   ...Many businesses have long required that executives and other important employees agree not to work for a competitor for a year or two after they leave. Now some employers are unfairly imposing that requirement on all kinds of workers, including lower-wage employees like camp counselors, interns and yoga instructors...
Here's Why Amazon Is More Brutal Than Walmart  Time   ...The recent dustup between Amazon and publisher Hachette reminds us that retail is a brutal business — tough on employees, really hard on suppliers. Walmart, the largest physical retailer, and Amazon, the largest retailer online, illustrate the pain produced in the effort to make consumers’ prices as low as possible...
Miscellaneous
Occupy Wall Street Protesters Win Lawsuit Over Arrests  Washington Post   ...New York City has agreed to pay nearly $600,000 to settle allegations that police wrongfully arrested a group of Occupy Wall Street protesters, marking what their lawyers Tuesday called the largest settlement to date in a single Occupy-related civil rights case...

Today's Teamster News 06.10.14

Teamster News
Teamsters Demand Crackdown On Cheap Korean Steel Imports  Digital Journal   ...Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa and top leaders with the union's railway conference are calling on the Department of Commerce to fully weigh the concerns of the U.S. steel industry as it continues its anti-dumping probe looking at cheap imports being brought into this country by South Korea and eight other nations...
Fourth Cumberland County Union On Way? Court Related Employees Seek Membership  The Sentinel   ...Non-professional, court-related Cumberland County employees could receive union representation for the first time thanks to a National Labor Relations Board petition filed by Teamsters Local 776 on May 14, Chief Clerk Larry Thomas confirmed...
Hoffa Calls On House Of Representatives To Protect Highway Safety  teamster.org   ...“The tragic accident that claimed the life of comedian James McNair and injured many others including actor Tracy Morgan, could have been prevented had Walmart’s driver been properly rested rather than reportedly going 24 hours without a break,” Hoffa said. “...We must ensure that hours of service rules provide enough rest for drivers so cumulative fatigue doesn’t put the driving public at risk.”...
Trade
Japan Holding Up Free Trade Talks  13WHOtv.com   ...a major hold up in the talks are Japan’s proposal to maintain tariffs on sensitive products like beef, dairy, wheat, rice, and pork...
State Battles
Grocery workers in California see wages shrink  SFGate.com   ...A new look at California's $98 billion grocery industry shows it is a microcosm of the state's wealth inequality gap. While a private-equity firm is buying Safeway for $9 billion, 1 in 3 grocery workers is on some form of public assistance. While grocery chains are cash machines for investors, nearly 1 in 5 workers has cut back on meals because he or she couldn't afford to buy food...
War On Workers
Prosecutor: Trucker in Morgan crash lacked sleep  Associated Press   ...The Wal-Mart truck driver from Georgia accused of triggering a crash in New Jersey that critically injured Tracy Morgan and killed another comedian had not slept for more than 24 hours, a criminal complaint said...
Regular shoppers cite Walmart's low pay and poor treatment of workers as reasons to stay away  Daily Kos   ...Walmart's reputation is suffering among consumers, with 28 percent saying they have an unfavorable view of Walmart, compared to just 13 percent unfavorable for Target and just six percent unfavorable for Costco. Walmart's low wages and bad treatment of its workers are registering on shoppers...
Wal-Mart's Image Problem Under Scrutiny At Annual Shareholder Meeting  Al Jazeera America   ...Walmart workers speaking at the company’s annual shareholder meeting in Bentonville, Arkansas, on Friday said the megastore’s staffing problems and poor pay were hurting the company’s image and contributing to lagging sales. Their statement comes after a week of rallies across the country by labor activists, union representatives and workers in cities such as Chicago; Dayton, Ohio; and Baton Rouge, Louisiana...
What’s the Source of Soaring Corporate Profits? Stagnant Wages  Washington's Blog   ...once capital can no longer make profits selling goods and services and wage-earners can no longer afford to buy goods and services, the system disintegrates...
Court probes Wells’ foreclosure steps again  New York Post   ...How exactly do the note endorsement processes described in Wells Fargo’s controversial Home Mortgage Foreclosure Attorney Procedure Manual work? On March 12, The Post broke the news of this manual and allegations in court papers by attorney Linda Tirelli that the document provides detailed procedures to fabricate foreclosure papers on demand. Wells Fargo denied the allegations...
Tipped Into Poverty  New York Times   ...When Senate Republicans recently blocked a vote to raise the federal minimum wage, they snubbed the estimated 27.8 million people who would earn more if the measure became law. The hardest hit are the roughly 3.3 million Americans who work for tips...
The US Chamber Of Secrets  Moyers & Company   ...The US Chamber of Commerce’s stated mission is “representing the interests of more than 3 million businesses of all sizes, sectors and regions,” but watchdog groups say the US Chamber represents the interests of a select few big industry groups that want to crush worker organizing...
The Job Market's Five-Year Recovery In 10 Charts  FiveThirtyEight   ...Six-and-a-half years after the Great Recession began — and five years after it officially ended the U.S. has finally surpassed its precrisis employment peak. But the job market is far from fully healed...
Miscellaneous
Student Debt Relief To Expand  Wall Street Journal   ...An expansion of a federal program designed to reduce payments for student-loan recipients is expected to be announced Monday by President Barack Obama, the latest push by Democrats to address concerns about rising student debt...
How Much Did Snowden Take? Not Even The NSA Really Knows  Newsweek   ...It was just over a year ago this week that former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden leaked a trove of secret National Security Agency documents detailing the agency’s massive online spy program. What and how much Snowden took remains a mystery...

Today's Teamster News 05.30.14

Teamster News
MORENO VALLEY: Union vote nixed at food company  Press Enterprise   ...An Inland-based Teamsters local attempting to organize workers at a Moreno Valley food distribution center has canceled an election that had been scheduled for today, claiming that the company continues to threaten and intimidate employees...
Teamsters target Florida West International Airways  teamster.org   ... Today, the Teamsters Airline Division announced the start of a new initiative to organize pilots at Florida West International Airways (FWIA), a cargo airline based out of Miami International Airport. The pilots fly routes throughout the U.S., Latin America and the Caribbean...
Teamsters ratify 4 contracts with Pekin  Journal Star   ...The Teamsters represent four units that work for the city — the street department, the wastewater plant workers, solid waste department workers and a general unit that represents bus drivers, mechanics, secretaries, clerks and others...
Trade
EU Elections Pose New Threat To Trade Deal  Financial Times   ...EU and US officials are increasingly concerned about the impact on transatlantic trade talks of a surge in support for anti-establishment parties in European elections, raising the prospect for delays as they adapt to a new political reality...
State Battles
Fort Wayne Moves To End Collective Bargaining  WSBT   ...Indiana's second-largest city is poised to end collective bargaining with all city employees except police and firefighters under a measure a union official said is being pushed by "far-right politicians" to the detriment of hundreds of hard-working public employees...
Why Is The Wall Street Journal Livid That Scott Walker Wants A John Doe Settlement  PR Watch   ...Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's campaign is reportedly negotiating a settlement with prosecutors in the long-running "John Doe" criminal campaign finance probe -- and the editorial board, which for months has attacked prosecutors and portrayed the investigation as baseless, is livid...
Seattle City Council panel OKs $15 minimum wage  Associated Press   ... City Council members approved a delay to the implementation of the ordinance, from Jan. 1, 2015 to April 1, 2015...
An End to Sweatshop-Made City Workers’ Uniforms in Chicago?  In These Times   ...the people who make those same uniforms are unlikely to have any protections from the wage theft, locked fire exit doors and precarious buildings they could be facing on the job. A new ordinance introduced in the Chicago City Council on May 28 aims to fix that inconsistency. If the ordinance is passed, Chicago will join Los Angeles, St. Louis, Milwaukee, Boston and Seattle in attempting to enforce labor rights for factory workers…
War On Workers
U.S. Economy Shrinks For The First Time In 3 Years  Huffington Post   ...The U.S. economy contracted for the first time in three years as it buckled under the weight of a severe winter, but there are signs activity has since rebounded...
Walmart Moms’ Walkout Starts Friday  In These Times   ... hundreds of mothers who work at Walmart stores throughout the country will begin walking off the job on Friday, a week before the company's shareholders meet in Bentonville, Arkansas. The action will culminate in a nationwide strike on Wednesday, June 4...
Few workers confident of easy retirement  USA Today   ...Only 28% of U.S. workers are "very" or "extremely" confident that they'll one day fully retire with a comfortable lifestyle; a third are somewhat confident...
In New Orleans, Major School District Closes Traditional Public Schools For Good  Washington Post   ...The second-graders paraded to the Dumpster in the rear parking lot, where they chucked boxes of old work sheets, notebooks and other detritus into the trash, emptying their school for good. Benjamin Banneker Elementary closed Wednesday as New Orleans’s Recovery School District permanently shuttered its last five traditional public schools this week...
Northwestern And Its Football Players May Have To Wait For Clarity About Unionizing  Chicago Business Journal   ...When the Northwestern football team starts practice for the 2014 season in early August, will there be clarity about whether the team has the right to unionize? Frankly, it's unclear at this point. But here is what is known about where things stand right now...
Here's What Corporate America Really Thinks About You  Huffington Post   ...If you are an American human being today, ... what you really are is a sadly predictable agglomeration of demographic traits and buying habits. This is just how the world works, according to our many "data brokers," who pretty much know everything. These are companies that tirelessly scour the Internet, government records and anyplace else we might leave a mark on this mortal coil and then use the information they glean to help companies sell crap to you...
Miscellaneous
Harry Reid's Attacks On Koch Brothers Send GOP Donors Into The Shadows  Washington Post   ...Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid's relentless attacks on the billionaire Koch brothers are having an unforeseen impact--spurring other wealthy GOP donors to give more money to groups that keep their supporters' names secret...
The Wal-Mart Free City  The New Yorker   ...In October, the city council of Portland, Oregon, ... adopted a resolution banning Walmart—and Walmart alone— from the city’s investment portfolio. The resolution, unanimously approved, cited an anonymous executive who was quoted in Charles Fishman’s 2006 book, “The Wal-Mart Effect,” saying, “They have killed free-market capitalism in America.”...

Today's Teamster News 05.16.14

Teamster News
Teamsters say Scott Brown lied to their face  Manchester Union Leader   ...The local Teamsters chapter is accusing Republican U.S. Senate candidate Scott Brown of lying to their face over his support of the Keystone XL pipeline...
Teamsters 'out & looking militant' support supersized global fast food strike  TeamsterNation   ...Teamsters took to the streets along with striking fast food workers today, escalating the global movement for fair wages for all workers and the right to join a union...
Teamster presence felt at 9/11 Memorial Museum  TeamsterNation   ...Teamster Local 282 member Manny Rodriguez donated his Teamsters jacket to the 9/11 Memorial Museum, the hard hat he wore at Ground Zero and a sculpture of the twin towers burned from World Trade Center steel...
Newburgh PBA, Teamsters, Slam Police Administration  Mid Hudson News   ...The City of Newburgh's PBA claims there is a turf war among crime factions in the city, with bullets flying day and night and the city administration, including Police Chief Michael Ferrera, is doing nothing about it...
Teamsters Reveal What's Really Happening at National Express  teamster.org   ...Evelina Moultrie, a Durham driver in Charleston, S.C., and a member of Teamsters Local 509 in West Columbia, S.C., told the Board about issues with overcrowding, as well as insects and mold on the buses...
Airgas Drivers Join Teamsters Local 25  teamster.org   ...Local 25 in Boston recently organized a group of 17 tankhaul workers who deliver air cylinders to commercial entities in the area...
Trade
Elizabeth Warren Reveals Inside Details of Trade Talks  The Nation   ... “I actually have had supporters of the deal say to me ‘They have to be secret, because if the American people knew what was actually in them, they would be opposed.’”...
Second Anniversary of Colombia Pact Spotlights Administration's Failed Promise of Labor Rights Improvements, Now Recycled to Defend TPP Negotiations with Vietnam amid Worker Riots  Public Citizen   ...Undeterred by the ongoing repression of Colombian workers, U.S. trade negotiators are in Vietnam at this very moment in attempt to negotiate via the TPP an expansion of the FTA model to Vietnam, despite the country’s widespread labor abuses...
State Battles
Report indicates Wisconsin added 28,000 jobs last year  Wisconsin Radio Network   ...Figures submitted by the state to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics show Wisconsin added just over 28,000 private sector jobs in 2013. It’s the lowest rate of growth for the state since Walker took office, bringing the total number of job created during the governor’s first three years in office to just under 92,000. That’s less than half of the 250,000 private sector jobs Walker promised to help create...
North Carolina Voters Want To End Partisan Gerrymandering  Think Progress   ...By a wide margin, North Carolina voters say they want to replace their state's current system of political gerrymandering with a non-partisan redistricting option, according to a new poll...
I Attended An ALEC Convention And Found An Alternate Universe  Bill Moyers   ...Last week I traveled to Missouri to attend my second American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) conference. As a state legislator from Wisconsin, I joined ALEC last year...
America's Most Gerrymandered Congressional Districts  Washington Post   ...This election year, we can expect to hear a lot about Congressional district gerrymandering, which is when political parties redraw district boundaries to give themselves an electoral advantage...
War On Workers
Biggest fast food strike ever attracts global support  MSNBC   ...A year and a half ago, it was 200 striking workers in a single city. As of this week, it’s a global movement. On Thursday, thousands of fast food workers across the United States initiated the latest in a series of day-long strikes against their employers...
Boeing conducted unfair practices against U.S. engineers: labor board  Reuters   ...The U.S. National Labor Relations Board said on Thursday that Boeing Co (BA.N) committed unfair labor practices against its unionized engineers near Seattle and in Portland, Oregon, when it photographed and videotaped workplace marches in 2012...
Median Net Worth Of Grads Under 40 With Student Debt Is Only $8,700  Los Angeles Times   ...The financial travails of people under 40 with student loan debt extend far beyond the college loans themselves, according to a new study...
Miscellaneous
FCC Votes For Plan To Kill Net Neutrality  Huffington Post   ...On Thursday, the Federal Communications Commission voted in favor of a proposal that would rewrite the rules that govern how traffic flows on the internet, issuing a blow to the principle of net neutrality...

Today's Teamster News 05.15.14

Teamster News
Teamsters and California Hauling Company Reach Settlement through NLRB – Back Wages and New Bargaining Agreement Result  Beeson, Tayer & Bodine   ...Dispatch Transportation, the operating name for Commodity Trucking Acquisition, LLC, is paying $262,000 in back pay to the former employees of the predecessor to Dispatch, Valley Aggregate Transport, Inc.  Even better, perhaps, is that Dispatch has entered into a three-year collective bargaining agreement with Local 137 that includes a generous wage and benefit package in line with what other Union contractors provide in the industry...
Teamsters Take On National Express Group At Annual General Meeting  teamster.org   ...Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa led a powerful delegation of Teamsters, including North American school bus workers, in calling on the National Express Group PLC (NEX: LN) Board of Directors to address the company's poor worker rights record at its North American subsidiaries...
Road Bills Could Lead To Taxpayer Rage  Detroit News   ...Michigan's roads are in dire need of repair. But a House-passed package of bills in Lansing that would allocate upwards of $500 million a year to fix streets and bridges is a far cry from a permanent solution...
Adams County Board Approves Union Contracts  Quincy Journal   ...The Adams County Board unanimously passed three year contracts with most of its bargaining units....
Savannah-Chatham school bus drivers demand year-round pay  Savannah Now   ...Local school bus drivers are demanding new contracts and year-round pay in response to new legislation that bars them from claiming unemployment during the summer break. They protested at the First Student school bus transportation offices Wednesday and last week at the Savannah-Chatham public school board meeting...
Swift Transportation Shareholders Give Mandate: Eliminate Dual Class Structure  teamster.org   ... A Teamster shareholder proposal to address Swift Transportation’s dual class stock structure received 79.2 percent support by shareholders of the company’s Class A, publicly traded shares, based on results disclosed by the company in its 8-K dated May 13, 2014 and filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC)...
IBEW, BLET joint statement regarding SEPTA negotiations  teamster.org   ...SEPTA’s decision on May 9 to decline the proffer of binding arbitration from the National Mediation Board (NMB) is regrettable. We continue to maintain that binding arbitration is a reasonable and expeditious method of resolving the dispute between the labor unions and SEPTA...
Teamsters Announce UPS Will Add Thousands Of New Union Package Jobs  teamster.org   ...Hiring has already started, and the new jobs will be in addition to the regular filling of jobs through attrition...
Trade
Is The Trans-Pacific Partnership An Environmental Disaster Waiting To Happen?  TreeHugger   ...President Obama's environmental legacy is in deep trouble and in large part will hinge on a trade deal that his administration is discussing in Vietnam the week of May 12...
State Battles
Governor Brown Signs SB 27 – Sheds Light on Dark Money  Common Cause   ...Today Governor Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 27, reforming the Political Reform Act of 1974 to further regulate campaign financing, adding the requirement that committees disclose donors of $100 or more where those donations were solicited for the purpose of making contributions or expenditures in California. This essential campaign disclosure bill will go a long way toward improving California’s campaign disclosure laws by closing the nonprofit reporting loophole...
War On Workers
Walmart Warehouse Contractor To Pay $21 Million To Settle Wage Theft Allegations  Huffington Post   ...A Walmart contractor that operates many of the retailer's distribution centers has agreed to pay $21 million in back pay to warehouse workers in California who claim they were systematically shorted on pay for years...
Walmart US CEO Gets A $1.5 Million Bonus For Missing Expectations While A Worker Gets $0  Think Progress   ...Walmart US CEO William Simon's contract gave him the opportunity to earn a $1.5 million bonus on top of $10 million in salary and stock awards if the company's American net sales grew by 2 percent...
Nurses Launch New Campaign to Alert Public to Dangers of Medical Technology and Erosion of Care Standards  National Nurses United   ...An unchecked proliferation of unproven medical technology and sharp erosion of care standards are rapidly spreading through the health care system, far outside the media spotlight but frighteningly apparent to nurses and patients, says National Nurses United...
How Student Debt Keeps Young People From Buying Houses  Slate   ...It seems obvious that owing a lot of student debt should make it difficult to buy a house. After all, if you're stuck paying interest on college loans, it's hard to save up for a 20 percent down payment...
Big Tobacco's Secret Workforce: Child Farm Workers  Think Progress   ...Hundreds of children too young to buy cigarettes are working 60 hours a week on tobacco farms across the South, a new report from Human Rights Watch finds...
Spying Is Meant to Crush Citizens’ Dissent, Not Catch Terrorists  Washington's Blog   ...The record is suffused with examples of groups and individuals being placed under government surveillance by virtue of their dissenting views and activism – Martin Luther King, the civil rights movement, anti-war activists, environmentalists...

Fast food workers to strike in 100 cities tomorrow

The low-wage strike wave continues this week as fast-food workers and supporters gear up for tomorrow’s national day of strikes and protests. Fast-food workers are demanding living wages and the right to unionize.

Organizers say widespread walkouts targeting fast-food chains will hit up to 100 cities tomorrow. This latest round of strikes follows last week’s Black Friday strikes against Walmart that saw worker protests at up to 1,500 Walmart stores and resulted in over 100 arrests. It also follows the 36-hour strike by port truck drivers who haul Walmart goods at the Port of Los Angeles starting Nov. 18.

Fast-food workers are hoping Thursday’s strikes will be the largest ever, doubling the reach of mass strikes in August that spread to more than 50 cities.

TIME magazine reports on the upcoming strikes:

An organized labor movement that began at a single New York McDonald’s about a year ago is planned to spread to around 100 cities this week. Fast-food workers nationwide are redoubling their efforts to earn higher wages with a more aggressive set of one-day strikes that organizers say will hit every region of the U.S.

Over the course of the last year, the fast-food protests, which are being backed by union groups such as the Service Employees International Union, have expanded greatly in scope.

Retail and fast-food corporations are raking in billions of dollar while their workers scrape by on poverty wages. Multibillion dollar fast-food giants like McDonald’s cost taxpayers $7 billion a year in public assistance because they pay their workers so little. Meanwhile, a new study released yesterday exposed a tax loophole that allowed fast food chains to reap an extra $64 million over the last two years, feeding more bloated executive pay.

These corporate welfare queens do more than give crumbs to workers – they directly push their employees onto welfare, give them demeaning tips about how to survive on low pay, and ask low-wage workers to donate to other low-wage workers instead of paying them a living wage.

The rising movement of low-wage workers is growing – and it’s bigger than retail and fast food. Workers in other low-wage industries such as warehouse workers, port truck drivers and government contract workers have been staging protests and strikes, too.

Tomorrow’s fast-food strikes promise to keep the momentum going in the fight against corporate America’s sweatshop economy.

According to the Low Pay Is Not Okay website:

We’ve got their attention, and the fast food giants we work for are going to hear us Thursday. Over the last couple of weeks there has been an amazing – and inspiring – outpouring of support for workers like us who don’t get paid enough to make ends meet.

On Thursday, supporters will be protesting and rallying in solidarity with us across the country!

Mary Coleman, a 59 year-old worker at Popeye’s who relies on food stamps, was quoted in The Nation saying,

I'm tired of working for $7.25. I can't take care of my household; I can't even take care of myself. Everyday struggles are being able to keep food on the table, being able to get the necessities that are needed for everyday living…And then if you need to go to the doctor, you can't afford that either…

I'm very excited about [Thursday’s strikes], and it lets me know people can come together and do what's right.

Teamsters are encouraged to come out tomorrow and stand in solidarity with low-wage workers in the fast-food industry. Click here to find a protest near you!

ALL American workers deserve living wages – not McWages!

Walmart workers to strike in 15 cities tomorrow

Tomorrow is shaping up to be another big day of action among low-wage workers as Walmart employees prepare to mount widespread protests and walkouts. OUR Walmart organizers are hoping the day of action will be the biggest since last year's Black Friday strike.

Josh Eidelson at The Nation reports:

This week’s rallies follow an August 22 civil disobedience action at which the campaign announced a Labor Day deadline for Walmart to raise its wages to at least $25,000 per year, and reverse the terminations of twenty workers who participated in a June strike.

Thursday’s actions will include a march through downtown Los Angeles to the site of a proposed Walmart in Chinatown, and a demonstration in Washington, DC, where all sides are awaiting word on whether Mayor Vince Gray will veto a bill (passed by City Council in July but formally sent to his desk last Friday) that would require “large retailers” like Walmart to pay employees at least $12.50 in total hourly compensation. Thursday actions are also planned for cities in the East, West, South and Midwest: Baton Rouge, Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Dallas, Denver, Miami, Minneapolis, New York, Orlando, Sacramento, San Francisco and Seattle.

Walmart protests tomorrow follow strikes last week involving low-wage workers in the port trucking and fast-food industries. Walmart workers are fighting back against management retaliation against OUR Walmart supporters, and they are part of a growing movement to raise wages and standards for America's growing population that is trying to survive on poverty wages.

Eidelson adds:

Thursday’s rallies will have the largest total turnout by Walmart employees, and the biggest overall number of participants, of any Walmart mobilization since the one-day November 23 strike last year, in which organizers say 400-some workers walked off the job and thousands of supporters turned out to support them. Since then, organizers say hundreds of workers took part in collective confrontations with local management over scheduling on April 24, and over a hundred participated in the longer June work stoppage, which included a week of protests in and around Walmart’s Arkansas hometown. 

The OUR Walmart campaign has asked the National Labor Relations Board, whose pace and penalties labor has long charged are insufficient for protecting workers, to seek an injunction to more quickly address Walmart’s recent alleged retaliation.

Last week, port truck drivers staged a historic one-day strike in their drive to become Teamsters and raise standards at the Port of Los Angeles.

While corporations in retail and other low-paying industries are rolling in record profits, low-wage workers represent the fastest-growing segment of American workers and the country's expanding income gap.

Making Change at Walmart wrote in a statement yesterday:

Economists, labor market experts and others have been increasingly voicing concern about the growing income inequality and its impact on the economy. Walmart, the largest company on the Fortune 500 list, made $16 billion in profit last year, and the majority of owners of the company, the Waltons, have the combined wealth of nearly half of American families. Meanwhile, many Walmart workers continue to earn on average poverty wages of $8.81 an hour.

Rather than providing good jobs that American workers need and deserve, Walmart is trying to silence workers who are standing up with their co-workers to live better and spending its time and money trying to deny workers a decent day’s pay.

Since June, Walmart has illegally disciplined nearly 80 workers, including firing 20 worker-leaders. More than 100 Unfair Labor Practice charges have been filed with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against Walmart. 

Not only do Walmart and other low-wage workers represent a growing part of the labor force, they represent a huge upsurge of collective action against corporate greed and the fight to save the middle class.

Teamsters and supporters everywhere are encouraged to stand in solidarity with Walmart workers tomorrow. Visit the Corporate Action Network website to find a protest in your area.

SOLIDARITY!

Wal-Mart freedom riders hailed in union halls, churches

Wal-Mart freedom riders are setting out from union halls, churches and outdoor rallies to demand respect from the company at its headquarters in Arkansas.

As they set out on their cross-country journey they were blessed by a bishop, hailed by a mayor, cheered in union halls.

They call the bus trips the "Ride for Respect." It's part of the biggest and longest strike by Wal-Mart workers who are fed up with poverty wages and intimidation. At least 100 Wal-Mart workers walked off the job in Massachusetts, Miami and California on Tuesday, and more are expected to join. They are riding on buses through the South, much as the freedom riders did in 1961. They will stop in 30 cities on the way to their protest at Wal-Mart's shareholders meeting in Bentonville, Ark., on June 7.

They'll be greeted by supporters in the towns and cities where they stop. Events are being planned in more than 40 Wal-Mart stores, union halls and churches throughout the country.

Earlier this week, two Wal-Mart workers in Massachusetts held a news conference before driving to Washington, where they'd board the bus to Bentonville. Aubretia told the press that employees were tired of depending on government subsidies for health care, food, heat and electricity because of Wal-Mart's low wages.

What we want to do is stand up and live better. we are the employees of Wal-Mart except they keep pushing us down and pushing us down.

In Washington, D.C., UFCW tells us,

Labor and community groups gathered in support in D.C. at Florida Ave. Baptist Church for a pep rally and breakfast to send off Maryland and Massachusetts Walmart associates who are also members of the Organization United for Respect at Walmart (OUR Walmart). After an opening prayer by Reverend Dr. Edwin Jones from Living Faith Baptist Church, the all women social justice a cappella group, Song Rise, gave an inspirational performance by serenading the attendees with “aint gonna let no Walmart, turn me around” and “aint gonna let injustice, turn me around.”

In El Monte, Calif., Mayor Andre Quintero spoke about respect to a gathering of striking Wal-Mart workers and their supporters. In Pico Rivera, Calif., clergy joined a picket line in front of a store and Bishop Mendez blessed the bus. In Irvine, Calif., janitors and Wal-Mart strikers represented with a large drum and signs demanding respect outside of a store.

In Atlanta, Wal-Mart strikers kicked off their Ride for Respect with a community breakfast at IBEW Local 613's hall. They got a sendoff from the Martin Luther King, Jr., Center, as community leaders joined them to protest the company's refusal to change.

And in Seattle, a dozen strikers posed for a photo in front of their bus before heading south.

Rallies to support the Wal-Mart strikers are being held all across the country. To find one near you, click here. To donate to the strike fund, click here. To follow them on twitter, use the #WalmartStrikers hashtag.

Today's Teamster News 05.29.13

Working moms are now main breadwinners in a record 40 percent of US households with children  Associated Press   ...While most are headed by single mothers, a growing number are families with married mothers who bring in more income than their husbands...
Chance at a Union Job Draws 800 Job Applicants in Queens, N.Y.  AFL-CIO   ...a union elevator mechanic job prompted nearly 1,000 young workers to haul out tents and mattresses and weather the great outdoors of Long Island City at the chance to be considered...
Feds investigate Md. train derailment, explosion  Associated Press   ...In the third serious derailment this month, a dozen or so rail cars — at least one carrying hazardous materials — went off the tracks around 2 p.m. Tuesday in Rosedale, Md., a suburb east of Baltimore. Several rail cars caught fire, sending a plume of black and gray smoke into the air that could be seen for miles, and an explosion rattled homes at least a half-mile away...
'Lost generation' fears for Europe's youth as unemployment soars across eurozone and leaves more than 19million without jobs  Daily Mail   ...In Greece, 58 per cent of under-25s are unemployed, along with 56 per cent in Spain and 38 per cent in Portugal and Italy. In the eurozone as a whole it is 24 per cent. In the UK it is 21 per cent...
Citi settles U.S. suit over $3.5 billion in mortgage securities  Reuters   ...Citigroup Inc (C.N) has reached a settlement with a federal agency that had accused the bank of misleading Fannie Mae (FNMA.OB) and Freddie Mac (FMCC.OB) into buying $3.5 billion of mortgage-backed securities...
US tax inspector targets Caribbean bank  The Guardian   ...A Caribbean bank formerly co-owned by Barclays has been targeted by US tax authorities seeking information on suspected American tax evaders...
US prosecutes '$6 bn money-laundering hub'  BBC News   ...The Liberty Reserve digital money service that was shut down laundered more than $6 billion in criminal cash, US authorities have said...
Wal-Mart pleads guilty in environmental case involving pesticides sent to Missouri contractor   Kansas City Star  ...Retailer Wal-Mart resolved years of hazardous-waste complaints Tuesday with criminal guilty pleas in Missouri and California and the settlement of a civil lawsuit filed by federal environmental authorities...
Elders Should Exercise Caution Before Turning to Payday Loans   Rocky Mount Telegram   ...An increasing number of cash-strapped elders are turning to payday loans—a highly-risky source of short-term financing—to cover their day-to-day expenses...
Appeals court says union groups may revise lawsuit  Associated Press   ...Union groups are getting a chance to revise their lawsuit and add new defendants in a challenge to two Idaho laws targeting organized labor...
Women still on the lower salary rungs in Wyoming state government  Star-Tribune   ...Women working in Wyoming’s state government hold relatively few high-paid jobs — including management positions — compared to men, a state-issued report found...
American Airlines Mechanics File for Election to Become Teamsters  IBT   ...American Airlines mechanics and related workers filed for an election today with the National Mediation Board (NMB) as part of a months-long effort to become Teamsters...
Local 117 Members Attend National Police Week  Teamsters Local 117   ...Two Local 117 Police Officers, Roger Gale of the City of Pacific and Willie Bergin from the University of Washington, attended National Police Week in Washington D.C. from May 12-18...
Collective Bargaining TLA Slated for June 18-21  IBT   ...The IBT Training and Development Department is conducting a Teamsters Leadership Academy on Collective Bargaining, June18-21, 2013, hosted by Joint Council 40 in Mars, Pennsylvania...
Advanced Business Agents’ Seminar Scheduled July 29-31  IBT   ...The IBT Training and Development Department will conduct an Advanced Business Agents seminar July 29-31, 2013 at Teamsters Joint Council 25 in Chicago...

Today's Teamster News 05.24.13

Average CEO Salary Reached A New Record High Of $9.7 Million In 2012  Alternet   ...The average CEO salary broke records in 2011 at $9.6 million — and now, that record high has been topped by 2012 salaries, which averaged out to $9.7 million...
Passenger Trains Bump Along With Fixes Outrunning Funding  Bloomberg   ...U.S. investigators looking into the May 17 Connecticut commuter-rail crash haven’t yet found a clear cause. The fact a broken rail became the most immediate suspect speaks to years of deferred maintenance that have left trouble spots throughout a Washington-Boston network that carries more than 700,000 people a day and dates to the 1800s...

Bridge Collapses in Washington State, Dumping at Least 2 Cars In River  Gawker   ...The Interstate 5 bridge spanning the Skagit River in Washington state collapsed Thursday evening. Several cars fell into the water, though authorities aren't sure how many or if there were any casualties...
Tighter U.S. Rule on Imported Meat May Cost $192 Million  Bloomberg   ...Canada vowed to escalate a dispute with the U.S. over plans to impose stricter country-of-origin labeling rules for meat that are opposed by industry groups on both sides of the border...
The Powerful People Arguing for U.S.-China Free Trade  Bloomberg News   ...Recommending that the U.S. and China work toward a free-trade deal is a bit like stepping into a prize fight and asking the boxers to settle their differences peacefully...
Marcus Hedger, Wrongfully Fired Worker, Loses His Home With NLRB In Limbo  Huffington Post   ...In the past three years, Marcus Hedger has lost a good-paying manufacturing job and a nice home in Antioch, Ill. Thanks to the dysfunction on Capitol Hill, there's no telling when he'll get either of them back...
Wal-Mart Hires Former Bush Aide as Chief Image Maker  New York Times   ...To continue burnishing its image, Wal-Mart has replaced a former Clinton White House aide with a former Bush White House staff member...
Petition urges Tribune not to sell Sun to 'union-bashing' Koch brothers   Baltimore Business-Journal   ...It remains unclear who might emerge as a buyer for the Baltimore Sun, but about 6,500 Maryland residents know whose hands they don't want the Sun to end up in...
Scott Walker's Austerity Plan: Turning Wisconsin Into the New Greece  (opinion)  Huffington Post   ...It's now become clear that austerity -- and the attack on unions that always comes with it -- was not only bad medicine, it was close to toxic...
Washington state joins 9 other states in passing password protection law  Examiner   ...Washington state became the latest one to join these ranks when Governor Jay Inslee signed a bill that would make it illegal for employers or potential employer to ask for the password to your Facebook or any other social media account...
Louisiana Senate passes amended Equal Pay for Women Act  Times-Picayune...Female state workers should be paid as much as their male colleagues, Louisiana lawmakers declared...
Oregon House votes to extend foreclosure mediation  Associated Press   ...The Oregon House has voted to extend a requirement that some mortgage lenders meet with struggling borrowers and a professional mediator before initiating foreclosure proceedings...
Missouri Unemployment Bill Prompted by Federal Rules  CBS News-KMOX   ...Awaiting action from Gov. Jay Nixon are proposed changes for the unemployment compensation program. The changes are designed to avoid a several hundred million dollar price tag and make it harder for workers to receive jobless benefits...
Teamsters Roll Up Their Sleeves in Wake of Oklahoma Tragedy  IBT   ...Teamsters are inundating Oklahoma locals with offers to help them recover from one of the most violent tornadoes in history. The twister that ripped through the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore killed at least 24 people and damaged as many as 13,000 homes in a 17-mile swath...
Durham School Bus Workers Speak Out About Safety, Wage Theft Concerns  IBT   ...School bus drivers and attendants with Durham School Services who transport students attending Baltimore City Public Schools joined with Teamsters, political and other community leaders at a rally today to demand respect and safe working conditions...
Apply Now for Chicago Teamsters Hispanic Caucus Scholarships  Teamsters Local 727   ...Applications are now available for the 2013-2014 Chicago Teamsters Hispanic Caucus Scholarship. Active adult Teamster members and the children, grandchildren and spouses of active Teamsters are eligible for the academic awards...

Federal govt. has more low-wage workers than Wal-Mart, McDonald's combined

Today in Washington, D.C.

And today Teamsters are joining hundreds of them in Washington, D.C., rallies to protest their low wages.

The federal workers are on strike for the day and picketing in front of the National Air and Space Museum, the Old Post Office, Union Station and the Ronald Reagan Trade Center. DCist reports,

Groups of workers employed in service jobs at federal buildings around D.C. are picketing this morning outside the landmark sites at which they are employed over their low wages. The protest, organized by a new group calling itself Good Jobs Nation, includes people who work at federal building food courts, loading docks, memorabilia shops, and facilities that manufacture uniforms for the military. 

The demonstration started about 7 a.m. outside the Ronald Reagan Building, with more than 100 participants filling the intersection of Pennsylvania Avenue and 13th Street NW during the morning rush. 

It's the sixth one-day strike by low-wage workers in recent months. Fast-food and retail employees have walked off the job in New York, Chicago, Detroit, St. Louis and Milwaukee to protest poverty-level wages.

A report released by Demos exposes the millions of government jobs that don't pay enough to live on:

...Through federal contracts and other funding, our tax dollars are fueling the low-wage economy and exacerbating inequality. Hundreds of billions of dollars in federal contracts, grants, loans, concession agreements and property leases go to private companies that pay low wages, provide few benefits, and offer employees little opportunity to work their way into the middle class. At the same time, many of these companies are providing their executives with exorbitant compensation. 

We find that nearly two million private sector employees working on behalf of America earn wages too low to support a family, making $12 or less per hour. This is more than the number of low-wage workers at Walmart and McDonalds combined.1 Yet, if anything, this figure underestimates the total number of poorly-paid workers funded by our tax dollars. Our analysis encompasses U.S. workers employed by government contractors, paid by federal health care spending, supported by Small Business Administration loans, working on federal construction grants, and maintaining buildings leased by the federal government. This encompasses the largest share of poorly-paid workers funded by our taxes. However, other streams of funding have yet to be analyzed. For example, loans and subsidies from the Department of Agriculture fund giant agribusinesses that employ more than a million farm workers, while grants from the Department of Education fund low-wage assistant teachers, bus monitors and cooks in Head Start and other programs. Due to lack of data, retail and food service workers for concessionaires of the National Parks Service and other federal agencies also fall outside our analysis.

Josh Eidelson at The Nation also reports:

In September 2010, the Government Accountability Office issued a report concluding that the government had paid $6 billion in fiscal year 2009 federal contracts to contractors who had been cited for violations of federal labor laws. Seven months earlier, The New York Times reported that the Obama administration was planning to issue a “High Road Procurement Policy” that could “disqualify more companies with labor, environmental or other violations and give an edge to companies that offer better levels of pay, health coverage, pensions and other benefits” in securing federal contracts. But such a move never came to pass.

Good Jobs Nation is asking President Obama to sign an executive order requiring federal contractors to pay living wages. You can sign the petition here.

The Teamsters are supporting the strike through the Change to Win federation. Change to Win supports strikes by non-union workers who work in Wal-Mart stores, Wal-Mart warehouses, on sub-contracted cleaning crews in Minneapolis-St. Paul Target stores and in fast food restaurants.