Today's Teamster News 07.21.12

Unemployment rates rise in 27 states as more look for work  Associated Press   ...Nevada recorded the highest unemployment rate, at 11.6%, same as the previous month. It was followed by Rhode Island at 10.9% and California at 10.7%. North Dakota had the lowest unemployment rate at 2.9%, followed by Nebraska at 3.8%...
Will New Oversight of Credit Reports Stop Unscrupulous Debt Collectors?  Economic Populist   ... Unscrupulous debt collectors inaccurately report actions to credit reporting bureaus all the time, especially for Medical bills...
Housing Bubbles and Wealthier Canadians  Iacano Research   ... teetering home prices in Canada are raising alarm bells far and wide after someone did a calculation showing that the average net worth of Canadians passed that of the U.S...
Mitt Romney Avoided Major Tax Hit By Shifting Stock Of Offshoring Firm  Huffington Post   ... Mitt Romney saved himself hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes in 2010 by transferring stock in two companies from his personal account to a nonprofit entity he set up. The stock maneuver included $172,397 in shares of Sensata Technologies, a company now under fire for a high-profile effort to offshore central Illinois jobs to China...
Wisconsin progressives take on election fraud, not to be confused with voter fraud   The Daily Page   ...In a few weeks, a group of volunteers will don latex gloves, huddle around a table in downtown Madison under the watchful eyes of election clerks and start counting — by hand — a select group of ballots cast in the June 5 recall elections...
YoCream dairy workers join Teamsters local  Portland Business Journal   ...Dairy workers with Portland-based frozen yogurt specialist YoCream International Inc. have voted to join the Teamsters, the union announced Friday...

Something hinky in the Wisconsin recall...

Thanks to Free Wisconsin for the graphic.

There are at least credible questions about the way the vote was counted in the Wisconsin recall. One of those has to do with the electronic voting machines used in the election.

Another has to do with Walker's history of dirty politicking. According to DailyKos, when Walker ran for office as an undergraduate at Marquette, his college newspaper concluded:

Walker was "unfit for office" due to his being "sanctioned for illegal campaigning on numerous occasions, and brutal personal attacks upon his opponent’s character." Plus, "Walker’s campaign was secretly and systematically (stealing and) throwing out copies of the newspaper that endorsed his opponent" (prior to the "unfit for office" editorial), and newspapers never like that kind of theft.

As far as the electronic voter machines go, the votes were recorded on memory cards. By law, those cards must stay with the counties for 21 days after the election. For some reason they were returned early -- to the for-profit vendor. Free Wisconsin explains:

...memory cards of voting machines used in the June 5 Recall Election were sent back to Command Central early – before the 21 days required by Wisconsin State Statutes. ...  the send back was described as an “offer” from Command Central to store the memory cards, which occupy no more space than your middle dresser drawer.

Command Central is a vendor that has contracts with Wisconsin counties to program machines and tabulate votes. Or as Free Wisconsin explains:

They are free of any oversight by any government agency, elected official(s), or the judiciary. And to had salt to the wound, the corporation has recently shown complete disregard for transparency, and the free flow of information provided by the Freedom of Information Act – and they got away with it! 

Apparently, Command Central is above any oversight and the law. They imposed an exorbitant fees for the replacement of memory cards on the County Clerks who, in turn, passed these costs along to citizens requesting to inspect open records. Citizens were denied the right to the information on “secret” memory cards unless Command Central “edited” the information in private. They also reserved the right to charge $200 for each memory card inspected! Only under these secret and costly restrictions would they reveal information on the memory cards...

It gets worse.

Turns out that certain kinds of machines seemed to have an unusual bias in favor of job-killer Gov. Scott Walker.

...certain types of machines (Accuvote/TSX) and the (OS/AVC Edge) have a mind of their own – “They just don’t like recalls”. They believe that Walker should be allowed to serve out his term. 

You can see for yourself how these AVG Edge machines consistently voted for Walker in the June 5 Recall election. You are about to discover how the Command Central AVC Edge (yep the one where the memory cards were sent back early) performed in favor of Walker when compared to other machines. Barrett had 57% on Opscan/Automark machines (the kind that read your ballot) but just 34-42% on other configurations (like the AVC Edge where memory cards were sent back early. Go to row 100 at the link below, and see for yourself.

Here's the link.

Was the WI recall rigged?

Thom Hartmann wants to know. Here's why: 1. The Diebold machines are extremely hackable. 2.The Wisconsin election results were 6 percentage points different than the exit polls, which is extremely unusual. 3. The Racine senate recounters double-checked the gubernatorial race and found significant differences between the official election night totals and the hand count -- and in every case the disparities benefited Walker.

Hartmann is also ticked off that private for-profit companies are counting votes.

"We got a big problem in this country," he says. "And check out Wisconsin WAVE, see what they're doing."

Today's Teamster News 07.15.12

The Romney job record in Massachusetts  Angry Bear   ...The comparisons make clear that state government employment increased 2.8% in Massachusetts, more than twice the national state government employment aggregate of 1.1%. Private sector employment over the same period in Massachusetts increased 1.4%, less than a quarter of the national aggregate of 5.9%...
Ralph Lauren to make 2014 Olympic uniforms in the U.S.  Los Angeles Times   ..."Ralph Lauren promises to lead the conversation within our industry and our government addressing the issue of increasing manufacturing in the United States," the company said...
U.S. Is Building Criminal Cases in Rate-Fixing  New York Times   ...As regulators ramp up their global investigation into the manipulation of interest rates, the Justice Department has identified potential criminal wrongdoing by big banks and individuals at the center of the scandal...
How A Right-Wing Group Is Infiltrating State News Coverage  Media Matters   ...The Franklin Center is a multimillion-dollar organization whose websites and affiliates provide free statehouse reporting to local newspapers and other media across the country. Funded by major conservative donors, staffed by veterans of groups affiliated with the Koch brothers, and maintaining a regular presence hosting right-wing events, the organization boasts of its ability to fill the void created by state newsroom layoffs...
A funny thing happened after the recall – Walker became irrelevant  DailyKos   ...If you visit the Wisconsin State Capitol on any given day, chances are Governor Scott Walker will not be there...he has voluntarily stopped being the Governor of Wisconsin for all intents and purposes. He has set himself up to cash in (think Sarah Palin with a bald spot) and now he don’t need no stinking badgers...
Happy ending follows a rare strike at Sorrento  Buffalo News   ... the number of work stoppages involving at least 1,000 workers fell to 15 in 2008 and just five in 2009, as the economy bottomed out. But we've been seeing more work stoppages since then, rising to 11 in 2010 and 19 last year...

Teamster: After Wisconsin, we won't turn our backs on the people who need us

Does the Wisconsin loss mean working people turned on each other? Have we lost our way? Is the term "middle class" meaningless? Those are the questions asked by Rick Hicks, secretary-treasurer of Local 174 in Tukwila, Wash.

Brother Hicks concludes we have not lost our way in an eloquent post to the local's website. We wanted to share the whole thing with you:

The recent election loss in Wisconsin left many of us with a profound sense of despair. Is America turning its back on unions? Have working people turned upon each other? How can a democracy that has been the envy of the rest of the world sell itself to plutocratic billionaires? 

Rick Hicks

When moneyed interests can buy politicians and judges, control media messaging, and prevent opponents from voting, the average citizen has no power and the term 'middle class' becomes meaningless. The fabric that has held our society together is being unraveled by corporate and political interests, and too many of our fellow citizens don't seem to realize it, or–even worse–don't seem to care. 

We see people turn upon neighbors who make a higher hourly wage, then rush to defend corporations that take billions in tax dollar bailouts, shut down companies and transfer jobs overseas. It seems impossible that so many people are too ignorant to recognize their own self interest. But when you get right down to it, maybe we are becoming a people who increasingly look at one another in terms of differences instead of similarities. Just look at Olympia and Washington D.C. The new order of politicians don't want to find common ground anymore or govern for the whole. They want to ram their agenda up the opposition's ass. It's 'us' versus 'them' in the worst possible way. Politics has turned into full-contact warfare over who has the ruling power, and people are nothing but faceless votes. 

At times like this, we look for a beacon of light, for any ray of hope. But our political leaders seem to be absent. Our own allies tell us that the world is changing and that unions should just get used to a diminished role. Our political opponents preach that working class people are the source of all the ills in the world. We live in a country increasingly polarized by fear, resentment, and hatred. What has happened to us? Where is the fulfillment of Martin Luther King Jr.'s Dream? What has happened to the idealism of Reagan's Shining City upon a Hill? 

The Preamble of the U.S. Constitution starts with the words, "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, ..."    Now, the founding fathers weren't talking about labor organizations as we know them today, but they WERE talking about an underlying principle that this nation and unions have always shared–that we are stronger when we work together, when we lift one another up and care for each other. Those ideals are still as true and as powerful today as they ever were. 

Through the history of our nation, there have been dark times. Times when the lantern of hope has seemed to dim. But there have always been stalwart men and women who have stood tall and resolute. Union people have never failed to step up when the need was most urgent–even when the costs were most dire. We will not abandon our ideals or the dreams of a decent life for the children of this nation. We will not turn our back on people who need us. 

An old Chinese proverb says that it is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness. Mahatma Gandhi told his followers to be the change they wanted to see in the world. We will not stop fighting for the things we believe in. People matter. Corporations are not people. No person should have the right to subjugate another. Every person in this country deserves the same opportunity to work hard and fulfill their dreams. The rules that govern our society should be fair and just for all. 

We may have lost an election, but we have NOT lost our way.

Don't mourn. Organize!

Unlike Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, working families don’t have the luxury of big money to keep their jobs. And now that Walker has held on to office in Wisconsin, his right-wing allies want to use the governor’s victory as proof that attacking workers is somehow an effective way to run the state and the country.

But $30.5 million is a cheap argument.

Here’s a good breakdown of all the money that went into Tuesday’s election.

As Mother Jones’s Andy Kroll wrote:

Walker crushed his Democratic opponent, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, in the political money wars. The governor raised $30.5 million while Barrett pulled in $3.9 million.

The dark-money-peddling Republican Governors Association itself spent $9.4 million to keep Walker in office.

Walker can also thank the Supreme Court for his win, writes the Washington Post’s Greg Sargent:

...one way of thinking about tonight’s results is that they say at least as much about Citizens United, and the ways it has empowered opponents of organized labor, as they do about the very real decline in union power. An analysis by the Center for Public Integrity found that Walker outraised his vanquished opponent Tom Barrett by nearly eight to one, and that outside groups supporting Walker vastly outspent unions, thanks to Citizens United.

When the U.S. Supreme removed limits to campaign contributions in the Citizens United case, it told Corporate America that money equals speech. This unleashed the power of the super-rich and their political spokespersons like Walker. Now they can trample on “one person, one vote” democracy.

And in case anyone thinks Tuesday’s recall shows that waging war on American workers is sound economic policy for the middle class, Professor Colin Gordon at the Economic Policy Institute points to a very different historical precedent:

By most estimates, declining unionization accounted for about a third of the increase in inequality in the 1980s and 1990s…In 1979, union stalwarts in the northeast and Rust Belt combined high rates of union coverage and relatively low rates of inequality, while just the opposite held true for the southern “right to work” states.

While Wisconsin reminds us that workers may be easily outgunned in the electoral arena, it also reminds us that we are strongest on our own turf: in the workplace and on the streets.

This video posted today by out brothers and sisters at the Transport Workers Union shows us the meaning of Wisconsin – the inspiration, the hope and the struggle that continues.

Today's Teamster News 06.07.12

GM producing 70% of autos outside US  Trade Reform   ...Dan Akerson, CEO of GM, says that seven out of 10 GM automobiles are built outside the U.S.  They have 11 joint ventures with Chinese government controlled auto manufacturers.  They are moving R&D to China...
"Chinese Construction Firm Botches Europe Road Job"  Manufacture This   ...Covec, a Chinese engineering group, hoped its construction of a highway in Poland would help to open the EU market. But its mistakes (numerous delays, poor planning) have raised questions about how ready China's state-owned builders are to expand into the West...
Wal-Mart is driving down wages for warehouse workers, report says  Los Angeles Times   ...The world's largest retailer has significantly outsourced its supply chain, hiring third-party companies to operate its warehouses and transport its good to stores. Those firms in turn often rely on poorly paid temporary workers...
Voters in California Back Pension Cuts for City Workers  New York Times   ...In San Diego and San Jose, voters overwhelmingly approved ballot initiatives designed to help balance ailing municipal budgets by cutting retirement benefits for city workers...
Big Money Wins in Wisconsin: Walker Spent 88% of the Money to Get 53% of the Vote  Huffington Post   ...There's no doubt that if the Barrett campaign had even one-third of the war-chest that Walker had, it would have been able to mount an even more formidable grassroots get-out-the-vote campaign and put more money into the TV and radio air war...
Teamsters approve new contract with Welch Foods  GoErie.com   ...Members ratified the contract at Iroquois High School on Wednesday after the company improved its wage offer and contract language, said Dave Northrup, business agent for Local 397...

Today's Teamster News 06.06.12

Scott Walker Survives Recall, but Investigations May Zero In on Him  Daily Beast   ...Walker survives his recall fight, but reports he may be the target of two separate probes into shady dealings could still bring him down...
Factory Orders In U.S. Unexpectedly Dropped In April  Bloomberg   ...Orders to U.S. factories unexpectedly fell in April for a second month, pointing to a deceleration in manufacturing as the global economy cools...
New economy fallout – ‘wage theft’ from paychecks  McClatchy   ...The problem reflects a changing economy in which low-wage work has increased, more companies try to cut labor costs to stay afloat in a sour business climate, and fewer workers belong to unions that might protect them. At the same time, budget-cutting state and federal governments do not enforce wage laws as aggressively as they once did...
AIG Chief Sees Retirement Age As High As 80 After Crisis  Bloomberg   ...American International Group Inc. (AIG) Chief Executive Officer Robert Benmosche said Europe’s debt crisis shows governments worldwide must accept that people will have to work more years as life expectancies increase...
FedEx Retires 24 Jets To Cut Costs As U.S. Shipments Fall  Bloomberg   ...FedEx Corp. (FDX) retired 24 jets to cut capacity in the U.S. domestic Express division as a slowing economy saps shipping volumes for the operator of the world’s largest cargo airline...
James F. Woodward, Teamsters official  Washington Post   ...James F. “Woody” Woodward, 61, the national director of the building material and construction trade division of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, died May 29 at Capital Caring’s Halquist Memorial Inpatient Center in Arlington...

Walker survives recall, loses Senate

What a bummer. Scott Walker won his recall race for governor, having massively outspent his opponent. Walker raised tens of millions of dollars from anti-worker billionaires, including Richard DeVos, Bob Perry and Sheldon Adelson. The Koch brothers' Americans for Prosperity kicked in $16 million for a ground game. 

As E.J. Dionne pointed out in The Washington Post, Walker was helped enormously by his early spending:

The pre-election polls suggested that Barrett was closing in on Walker in the final days, and he clearly was. The exit poll found that eight percent of the voters said they decided how to vote in the last few days, and they went overwhelmingly for Barrett, 69 percent to 27 percent. The rest of the electorate that decided earlier went for Walker, 55 percent to 44 percent. It’s intriguing to imagine what Barrett might have done with more money that he could have spent earlier. Money matters.

Here's some consolation: Walker lost the Senate. A Democrat, John Lehman, won a recall election against a Republican. That will make it much harder for Walker to push his anti-worker agenda.

Walker is also still under investigation.

And the battle has strengthened the labor movement. As Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa said,

It's hard to recall a sitting governor, especially one with a huge spending advantage. Win or lose, tonight's results will show that grassroots organizing can hold its own against overwhelming financial advantages. 

Our Teamster brothers and sisters in Wisconsin and across the nation are more active, energetic and educated because of this historic recall election.

Turnout 'wild' in WI as Republicans appear nervous

Turnout is so heavy in today's recall election that Milwaukee poll workers ran out of ballots and Dane County's clerk said as many as 88 percent of the county's voters could cast ballots today.

Milwaukee and Dane County are expected to vote heavily for Mayor Tom Barrett.

We knew turnout would be good in Wisconsin today, but had no idea it would be this good. High turnout is considered an advantage for Barrett.

The phone banking has been amazing, according to our friends at We Are Wisconsin. In 25 minutes phone bankers made 765 calls per minute. This means in less than a half hour, volunteers made 23,000 calls.

The Wisconsin State Journal reported,

Voters and public officials reported long lines at many Wisconsin polling places Tuesday — with Dane County Clerk Karen Peters calling the local turnout "just wild."

WisPolitics.com added this:

While there's no specific number on what turnout is looking like yet in the city of Milwaukee, Election Commission Executive Director Susan Edman says the turnout looks more like 2008 than it does 2010. 

"It's been much higher than 2010," Edman said. "We've had long lines at all of the polling places. This might be more along the lines of 2008 when it comes to turnout." 

Edman also said that city staff are being recruited to help out polling locations and that some wards have called saying they're running out of voter registration forms and ballots.

And our favorite tweet of the day from our good friend bluecheddar:

Liking the sound of this "@PeterHambyCNN: Nervous Republicans everywhere #WIrecall"

Epic Wisconsin turnout, photo finish predicted

Today in Wisconsin.

Turnout is huge, emotions are running high and today's recall election is expected to be thisclose.

@StuLevitan tweets that an astounding 33 percent of total registered voters came to the polls in the first four hours at Blue Hoyt School on Madison's west side. (That's not good for Scott Walker.)

@PurpleCatMama tweets (unsurprisingly) that polling numbers will be coming in between 9-10 pm, with recount lawyers standing by on both sides.

Wisconsin Teamsters were up before dawn to hold signs and flags on overpasses. Now they're phone banking to get every last Teamster vote out.

Today at the union hall.

The Wall Street Journal reports:

More than $60 million has flooded into Wisconsin, and prominent politicians from both parties have traveled to the state to campaign in what many have called the nation's second-most important election this year. Recent polls showed Mr. Walker with a slim lead over Tom Barrett, the Democratic Mayor of Milwaukee, with both sides girding for a photo finish. 

The race has fueled emotions on both sides of the electorate, and officials expect turnout to be high. At the polling station at the Kenosha Public Museum in the state's southeast corner, about 25 people waited in line at 7 a.m. for polls to open--several times more than in a typical election, said Peggy Gregorski, a museum official.

Note: Of that $60 million, nearly $50 million went to Walker, and most of that came from out of state.

It's an epic battle between the money of the 1% and the boots of the 99% on the ground. As Katrina van den Heuvel wrote today in The Washington Post:

...we are witnessing the first major battle between astronomical numbers of people and astronomical amounts of money. 

As I write this, Walker leads in the polls, and if progressive turnout is merely ordinary, he will likely win. On the other hand, if we see the same groundswell today as on the days that led to this one, Walker can be defeated. Yet, big as this election is, it is only the first test of the progressive response to an electoral landscape overrun with money from corporations and wealthy individuals.

The tweetosphere captures the excitement behind the cheese curtain:

@legaleagle: The solidarity we’ve seen since Feb ‘11 has been one of the greatest gifts of my life. If I live to be 113, few things will measure up.

@tkalex9052 It is a historic day in beautiful Wisconsin!!!! GET OUT AND VOTE!!!! #Wirecall #Wiunion 

@sswanbeck: Solidarity and cheese curds!! #recallwalker #Wisconsin #WIrecall #gotv #vote @Barrett4WI #WIunion

@WIProud: Cars parked everywhere. Epic turnout. It's like parking at a badger football game. #DEFEATWALKER #WIUnion #WIRecall

We love that Tom Morello tweeted GOTV messages:

@tmorello: Wisconsin has SAME DAY VOTER REGISTRATION at polls tomorrow. http://t.co/0sZlCJeS #wiunion

We can do this!

WI Teamsters in the field for today's victory

They're out there now

Teamsters are already up and at 'em in Wisconsin after a long night of calling members to tell them to vote.

Our brothers from Local 200 are standing at an overpass holding signs and flags to remind commuters to get to the polls. Wisconsinites can vote from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. The get-out-the-vote effort has been extraordinary.

We Are Wisconsin has 39 field offices with a team that’s trained its eyes on bringing voters to the polls. In the first 48 hours of the program, We Are Wisconsin knocked on 727,411 doors. By the time the polls close they will exceed their goal of knocking 1.4 million doo.  In terms of phone calls, We Are Wisconsin exceeded 550,000 dials as of Monday morning and will make between 1.8 and 2 million dials by the end of the day tomorrow.

Teamsters did their part last night. Here's a photo of  Local 200 member and Roundy’s Warehouse  employee Fred Steinbach calling members to get out and vote.

We'll have more photos as the day goes on. We can win this thing!

One last push in WI; race still a dead heat

Teamsters are phone banking Wisconsin voters even as we blog right now. The get-out-the-vote effort has been truly awesome. The photo above, for example, shows Local 200 member Greg Kender, Local 200 Trustee and DRIVE Lost timer Jim Hilgenberg, Local 200 member Pedro Ortiz and IBT Field representative Kevin Currie. They were getting out the vote at USF Holland today in Wisconsin. Now they're working the phones.

The photo below, taken just minutes ago, shows two of the many BLET Teamsters phone banking their Wisconsin brothers and sisters from Washington, D.C. (Well, it shows the top of their heads at any rate.) If phone banking doesn't look glamorous, it isn't.

Win or lose on Tuesday, let's all remember that recalling Scott Walker was always an uphill battle. Removing an incumbent governor from office is hard, especially when he has more than $50 million of secret corporate contributions from outside his own state.

This is a fight for the middle class in this country and we're all proud to be in it.

Amazing GOTV effort in WI could bring Barrett a win

From the Friends of Teamsters Local 222 Facebook page.

In just a few hours the polls will open in Wisconsin. The energy surrounding the election is reaching a fever pitch in Milwaukee, where We Are Wisconsin knocked on more than 257,000 doors on Saturday alone.

Workers and activists have been canvassing and phone-banking for weeks in a high-stakes struggle to beat back Gov. Scott Walker’s well-financed campaign. Walker that has outspent his opponent, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, 20-to-1.

The flood of out-of-state corporate money that has deluged the Wisconsin recall on Walker’s behalf has reached over $30 million – the most money ever raised by a public candidate in the state’s history.

The Nation’s John Nichols wrote this weekend,

Governor Scott Walker is not trying to win the Wisconsin recall election that will be held June 5. He is trying to buy it. If the embattled governor does prevail, he will provide essential evidence not of his own appeal but of the power of money to define our politics.

But activists and union members have mounted a huge get-out-the-vote operation that relies on people power to defeat the governor.

And as the election comes down to the wire, more news broke today about the governor’s role in the John Doe corruption investigation:

Scott Walker's closest political aide has just been named in Milwaukee County Circuit Court Monday as the source of damaging revelations that undermine Walker's claim that he has cooperated with the John Doe criminal corruption probe into his current and former administrations.

Tim Russell…was said in court Monday to have given Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Dan Bice information that showed that, contrary to Walker's claims, Walker was stonewalling investigators all along.

Ever since Walker rammed through legislation last year that stripped collective bargaining rights for public sector workers, the Badger State has been ground zero for the war on workers. And we’ve learned a lot about Walker over the past year.

Most important, Wisconsin's economy has suffered under his policies. According to the federal government, Wisconsin had the worst job record of any state in the country. To counter that fact, Walker put out his own job numbers that the Bureau of Labor Statistics would not confirm.

Walker is famous for being the only governor in Wisconsin history to set up his own criminal defense fund. The governor was caught detailing his divide-and-conquer strategy against unions in the state. And last week, we learned about Walker’s “deer czar” who has a history of taking public land away from hunters.

So, it’s not surprising that Walker has felt the need to spend enormous sums on ads attacking Tom Barrett.
Despite all the money Walker has spent, the tight race between the governor and Barrett is in a dead heat, according the latest PPP poll.

The outcome tomorrow hinges on turnout. Labor is mobilizing in big numbers to get union members out to the polls in one of the most important elections for workers around the country.

We like what Rev. Jesse Jackson told a crowd of Wisconsinites on Sunday:

Sooner or later the coach has to stop talking. The ball's in your court now. You can go out and vote on Tuesday. Most of you couldn't have been there in August of 1963 on the Mall in Washington, or marching from Selma to Montgomery in 1965, but God keeps giving us chances to change the world in our times. This is one of those times.

Added Esquire’s Charles Pierce:

At the end of the day, which is coming on Tuesday, that's all that's left. The marches and the occupations and the gathering of the signatures, it was all prologue to a couple of million individual decisions. Stay home or go out and vote. Everyone's equal when the curtains close.

On Wisconsin!

Today's Teamster News 06.04.12

The politics of the underwater homeowner.  zero hedge   ...A recent report shows that 1 out of 3 Americans with a mortgage is still underwater owing $1.2 trillion more on their home than it is currently worth...
Center for Public Integrity makes a strong case for more regulation and better enforcement  Economic Policy Institute   ...the federal government regulates too little, not too much. Most of the 4,500 workplace fatalities and 50,000 occupational disease deaths each year could be prevented with better rules, more diligent employers, and better enforcement by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration...
CAFTA Ruling Continues Corporate Attack on Environmental Protection  Public Citizen   ...The Pacific Rim CAFTA case also spotlights how a U.S. “trade” agreement can be exploited by a multinational mining firm to attack El Salvador’s fragile democracy, which emerged from 12 years of civil war, and to undermine the laws enacted by its elected leaders to regulate mining and safeguard the environment...
Germany's Neighbors Were Not More Profligate  Beat the Press   ...Italy's debt to GDP ratio had been falling before the crisis. Ireland and Spain had large budget surpluses. So the issue is not these countries were profligate, the issue is that these countries got hit badly by the collapse of housing bubbles across Europe...
Wisconsin recall election is an epic battle  Chicago Tribune   ...Wisconsin's erstwhile bland politics have been transformed into such a hotbed of nastiness and hyperbole that Tuesday's recall election against Gov. Scott Walker has all but framed itself as a battle of superhero vs. super-villain...
Trucking Adds 7,300 Jobs in May, National Job Growth Stalls  Truckinginfo   ...an increase from 1.3 million jobs in April and a 3.4% increase from a year ago...

Getting close to the wire in WI

Volunteers in Madison earlier this week.

No one knows what will happen on Tuesday in Wisconsin. If you average out all the election polls, Gov. Scott Walker had 49.5 percent of the vote on May 30, with Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett at 48.5 percent. Barrett is gaining on Walker, however. You can see the poll tracker here.

Kelly Steele from We Are Wisconsin argues persuasively that some of the polls are flawed and oversample Walker supporters. We shall see.

Everyone agrees on one thing: the recall result will come down to which side gets out more voters. The photo above shows a crowd of people in Madison who volunteered to get out the vote three days ago. Pretty impressive, eh?

We don't think the mainstream media has much insight into the recall campaign, so we decided to check out the tweetosphere. This is what we're finding:

@WorkingAmerica: Wowza. MT @news3jessica: GAB estimates recall election turnout at 60-65%, or 2.6 to 2.8 mil #wirecall #wiunion 

@steelekelly: Please call 1-866-OUR-VOTE to report incidents of these or any other suppression tactics. #wiunion #wirecall 

@AFLCIO:  Not too late to stop by #AFLCIO HQ in DC to join the #RecallWalker phone bank. We're open until 5. http://bit.ly/LOltW6 #wiunion 

@Cog_Dis: Good job, sir! RT @MahlonMitchell: Doing GOTV in Milwaukee. Stopped by Coffee Makes You Black to meet with voters. #wiunion #wirecal 

@Cog_Dis Recall canvassers outnumber out of state teahadists 20:1 RT @BrickM: WI Tea Party Rally Attracts (cont) tl.gd/hmartrl 

@bluecheddar1: Getting ready to canvass. @ Labor Temple, #Madison #wiunion #wirecall twitpic.com/9siidw

Today's Teamster News 06.03.12

China’s renmimbi is depreciating, not appreciating  Trade Reform   ...China’s currency undervaluation is 25-40%.  That is a 25-40% price advantage when selling to the U.S. and competing with domestic firms here… courtesy of the Communist Party of China...
Analysis: Greeks count mental health cost of a country in crisis  Reuters   ... Behind every suicide in crisis-stricken countries such as Greece there are up to 20 more people desperate enough to have tried to end their own lives. And behind those attempted suicides, experts say there are thousands of hidden cases of mental illness, like depression, alcohol abuse and anxiety disorder, that never make the news, but have large and potentially long-lasting human costs...
World’s Richest Lose $24 Billion As Adelson Fortune Drops  Bloomberg   ...The world’s richest people lost a combined $24.4 billion this week as concerns over Spain’s rising borrowing costs and the sputtering American job market caused global markets to tumble. Casino mogul Sheldon Adelson lost $2.2 billion...
Mitt Romney’s big green flop  Boston Herald   ...A Bay State solar panel developer that landed a state loan from Mitt Romney when he was Massachusetts governor has gone belly up — a day after the GOP presidential hopeful ripped President Obama’s green-energy investments...
An autocratic King Scott damaged state (opinion)  Milwaukee Journal Sentinel   ...In these waning hours before Tuesday's recall election, Wisconsin's undecided voters must feel like the last pork chop on the Green Bay Packers' training table. The undecideds - all eight of them - could make a difference in a tight race...
Motion to suppress future evidence in John Doe investigation filed  WTAQ.com   ...An attorney for one of Governor Scott Walker’s former aides has filed a motion to suppress evidence gathered in the John Doe investigation...
CP workers back on the job  Northern Life   ...The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference said its members are not happy with the federal government's move to force them back to work, but are advising the 4,800 union members to obey the law and report to work...

Getting out the vote in WI

Yesterday's get-out-the-vote rally in Milwaukee, featuring former President Clinton.

Teamster retirees in Wisconsin are lending a hand this weekend to get the vote out for Tuesday's recall elections. Polls are showing the race a dead heat, and turnout will make all the difference.

Last night, Tom Morello and Jackson Browne held a get-out-the-vote concert at the Labor Temple in Madison last night. The Cap Times reviewed the performance:

The concert itself, however, remained wholly focused on the issues at hand. Much of the 150-minute event could have doubled as a historical overview of the protest song, with some performers unearthing well-worn gems that stretched back decades (McIlrath's stripped-down take on Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young's "Ohio") and others turning out tunes inspired by much more recent events. Morello introduced a foot-stomping take on "Union Town," for one, by noting he wrote the song on an airplane shortly after performing on the steps of the Wisconsin Capitol at a February 2011 rally.

Local 200 President Tom Bennett and Local 200 Roundy’s  retiree Don Janz Sr. at the rally

If you live behind or near the cheese curtain, here are two things you can do this weekend to make sure everyone who's eligible votes on Tuesday:

1. Here's a list of GOTV events happening in your community this weekend if you're looking to get involved. Bring a friend or meet some new ones there. Sign up now.

2. If you can't, or don't want to leave your home, here's a handy call tool our friends at Workers' Voice have created to make a difference from your computer. Make some calls today and through the weekend.

Today's Teamster News 06.02.12

As Job Growth Slows, Will Republicans Double Down On Austerity?  ThinkProgress   ...The Bureau of Labor Statistics today reported that the economy created a disappointing 69,000 jobs last month, and that the unemployment rate increased to 8.2 percent. The job creation totals for March and April were both revised downward...
Personal Income increased 0.2% in April, Spending 0.3%  Calculated Risk   ...Also the personal saving rate declined to 3.4% in April...
How corporate socialism destroys  Reuters   ...A proposal to spend $250 million of taxpayer money on a retail project here illustrates the damage state and local subsidies do by taking from the many to benefit the already rich few...
Bill Clinton hits a home run in Wisconsin. Will it be enough?  Washington Post   ...Bill Clinton, in his speech in Wisconsin just now, framed the recall election as a stark choice between unity and division, between cooperation and conflict, and between shared prosperity and right wing winner-take-all economics...
Ex-spokeswoman granted immunity in case involving Scott Walker's Milwaukee County associates  Associated Press   ...A former spokeswoman for Gov. Scott Walker was granted immunity Thursday in connection with a Milwaukee County investigation that has led to criminal charges against six people close to Walker...
Teamsters Condemn La Michoacana's Attack On Workers' Rights To Form Union  IBT   ...The Teamsters Union has filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against La Michoacana and is condemning the ice cream company's attack on workers' rights to organize after the company fired 33 employees who supported the union...

More drama in WI as Barrett gains

The momentum in Wisconsin seems to be shifting to Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett as Gov. Scott Walker's made-up jobs numbers were dismissed by the federal government. Wisconsin is still dead last in job creation.

Politiscoop reported,

Scott Walker and the Department of Workforce Development attempted to pull the wool over the eyes of Wisconsinites with their claim that the Bureau of Labor Statistics confirmed his fictitious claim of creating jobs in Wisconsin... 

Politiscoop contacted the BLS today for verification of the claim. It turns out to be one of Walker's biggest lies to date. In a conversation with a BLS representative, we found that the state of Wisconsin submitted a new formula in regard to jobs created or lost in the state.

Politiscoop called BLS and a spokesman refused to confirm Walker's numbers. Apparently one of the ways Walker fudged the job-creation statistics was to assume the BLS made a mistake in counting. As Politiscoop points out,

The BLS also made it clear that if there was such an egregious error in Wisconsin, that error would also apply to the rest of the United States. In other words, Wisconsin would still be dead last in job creation.

The video above is from last night's debate between Barrett and Walker. Only one comment drew audible gasps from the audience. Barrett said of Walker:

I have a police department that arrests felons. He has a habit of hiring them.

Today, former President Bill Clinton came to Milwaukee for a Barrett rally. Union-busting (and proud of it) South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is in Wisconsin campaigning for Walker.

You can bet Teamsters from all over will be working hard all weekend to get out the vote!