Today's Teamster News 03.11.15

Teamsters
Teamsters Take Action To Protect Highway Safety, Stop Mexican Trucks  MarketWatch   ...Today, the Teamsters Union filed a legal challenge to the Department of Transportation's (DOT) recent decision to open the border to Mexican trucks. The union was joined by Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety and the Truck Safety Coalition...
Teamsters, Organic Consumers Protest UNFI and Whole Foods at Natural Products Expo West Financial Content   ...Teamsters and organic food advocates educated attendees of the annual Natural Products Expo West conference this weekend about conference sponsor UNFI (NYSE: UNFI) and its abusive and unsustainable behavior toward its workers...
The New Silicon Valley Movement That Is Taking on the Tech Giants  The Nation   ... Less well known is that the drivers who shuttle tech workers to and fro are going union. Last fall, the drivers at Loop Transportation who drive for Facebook voted to join the Teamsters. Before, their wages averaged $17.93 an hour, and some paid $1200 a month for family health insurance. Under their new contract, wages increased by an average of $5.73 an hour and healthcare is entirely covered by the employer...
Thorpe reaches agreement with Teamsters union  Times News   ...A tentative agreement has been reached between Jim Thorpe School District and Teamsters Local 773. Members of the school board voted 7-1 in favor of accepting the tentative agreement, which covers custodial personnel and some of the district's cafeteria staff...
Trade
TPP Chief Negotiators Resume Talks In Hawaii  Japan Times   ...Chief negotiators from countries involved in a Pacific Rim free trade initiative resumed talks Monday in Hawaii, as the 12 negotiating members attempt to reach a deal by the end of spring...
New Zealand Targets Trade Partners, Hacks Computers in Spy Operations  The Intercept   ...New Zealand is conducting covert surveillance operations against some of its strongest trading partners and has obtained sophisticated malware to infect targeted computers and steal data, newly released documents reveal...
British MPs Say US-EU Free Trade Deal Must Not Leave Govts At Multinationals’ Mercy  RT News   ...British MPs are protesting the US-EU TTIP free trade deal that could enable multinational corporations to sue governments if newly introduced rules harm their businesses, thus weakening essential European health and food regulations...
State Battles
Missouri Senate panel considers right-to-work measure  St. Louis Post-Dispatch   ...Some St. Louis area business executives are breaking ranks with the state's largest business organizations and speaking out against a Missouri bill that would bar mandatory union fees...
Proposal Would Scrap Prevailing Wage Law  Journal Times   ...Before the city even goes out to bid on a project, the wages it must pay workers for most projects are predetermined by the state. Those wages, known as prevailing wages, are in the range of about $35 to $60 per hour for most skilled workers. Under a proposed bill co-sponsored by state Sen. Van Wanggaard, R-Racine, and Rep. Thomas Weatherston, R-Caledonia, the prevailing wage law setting those wages would be eliminated...
It's Not Just Right-To-Work: Bills Targeting Unions Multiply  Raleigh News and Observer   ...Republican lawmakers in statehouses nationwide are working to weaken organized labor, sometimes with efforts that directly shrink union membership. Walker's signing of right-to-work legislation in Wisconsin on Monday puts his defiance of organized labor even more at the center of his nascent presidential campaign. And the inability of unions to exact a price for the first round of legislation targeting them in 2011 is encouraging even more proposals to limit their power...
The Right-To-Work Fight You Aren't Hearing About  National Journal   ...there's also a high stakes showdown underway in New Mexico. Late last month, the state's House of Representatives passed a right-to-work bill, setting up a face-off with the Senate, which could raise the profile of Republican Gov. Susana Martinez, positioning her as a Walker-esque rising star for the GOP who is unafraid of challenging big labor...
War on Workers
Falling Behind On Your Student Loan Debt Will Get You Fired  Main St.   ...New research from Jobs With Justice has uncovered laws in at least 22 states that punish borrowers who fall too far behind by revoking their professional license; that's particularly grave given that some 30% of workers require professional licensure to do their job. It’s a novel approach to helping people get out of debt by taking away their ability to earn a living...
Recession’s Impact Lingers For Many States  Wall Street Journal   ...Government revenues have been slow to recover across the country as sales-tax collections fall prey to many of the same forces buffeting the broader economic expansion, from cautious consumers who have seen scant growth in wages to a downturn in home construction that has sapped sales of building materials and furnishings. At the same time, states are facing down a decades-long shift in the economy to services from goods, leaving them to collect taxes on a shrinking number of purchases...
Justices side with Labor Department in overtime pay dispute  Associated Press   ...The U.S. Supreme Court has sided with the Obama administration in upholding a rule making mortgage brokers eligible for overtime pay under federal labor law...
Ohio Man Killed, 2 Other Workers Hurt In W.Va. Mine Accident  WTNH   ...State officials are investigating a coal mine accident in Marshall County that killed one worker and injured two others. In a statement to media outlets, Murray Energy identified the miner who was killed as John M. “Mike” Garloch of Neffs, Ohio. The company says Garloch was a management employee. The injured miners haven’t been identified...
Worker Killed When Truck Rolls Down Embankment In Burbank  MyNewsLA   ...The driver of a rock mover truck was killed Monday when the vehicle rolled down an 80-foot embankment in Burbank’s landfill. Road Builders Inc., a private contractor, was performing roadway services about 2:45 p.m. when the accident occurred, according to Officer Cindy Guillen of the Burbank Police Department...
Miscellaneous
Don’t Kill Keystone XL. Regulate It. (opinion)  New York Times   ...Pipelines are the safest way to move oil. They’re an order of magnitude more reliable than trains, and trains are an order of magnitude more reliable than trucks. So the banners that say “If you build it, it will leak” should also be followed by “But if you don’t build it, you’ll have a lot more leaks.”...
Southbound I-95 Reopens Outside DC After Tanker Overturns  Associated Press   ...Two of Interstate 95's 4 southbound lanes just north of the Capital Beltway in Maryland have reopened after officials say a tanker truck overturned, spilling about 400 gallons of bio-diesel fuel...

Austerity: The real winner of the government shutdown

A popular thing to say on Capitol Hill is that there were no winners in the government shutdown and debt ceiling crisis that ended last night.

But once again, savage cuts to social spending have won the day. Sure, the conflict may have been a terrible embarrassment for the GOP, but the Wall Street-backed tea party agenda of austerity came out unscathed.

The Los Angeles Times observed:

As the shadow of the shutdown passes, it's proper to be reminded again that this fight involved spending levels that are materially suppressing economic growth and hampering the recovery.

Specifically, the deal soon to be voted on leaves the sequester in place, at least until Jan. 15….The sequester is merely one manifestation of Congress's love for austerity in the post-recession era. From the inception, recovery programs have never been as large or robust as they needed to be, despite evidence that even harsher austerity regimes kept much of Europe mired in slumps.

But the deal that was negotiated yesterday to reopen the government and suspend the debt ceiling didn’t just leave the austerity assault in place. It may end up escalating the assault on workers even more. Richard Eskow at the Campaign for America’s Future writes:

This deal will bend the next few months’ deliberations along the same misguided lines that have guided our political discourse for years now. House and Senate members will be encouraged to come up with a “deficit reduction plan” -- in other words, to impose another round of cuts just like those which have already wounded the economy and shredded millions of jobs.

Specifically, Congress’s latest deal opens the door to further cuts that will target working Americans by establishing a bipartisan committee to deal with budget issues.

Yeah, another one of those! And you can be sure that this committee will try to hash out a “Grand Bargain,” which is basically Washington-speak for harsher cuts and “entitlement reform” -- “entitlement reform,” by the way, is Washington-speak for gutting Social Security and Medicare.

But austerity was the winner even before that part of the deal was conceived. That’s because the goalposts in Congress’s spending debates have already been moved to austerity’s side of the field.
Think Progress reports:

It may seem like ancient history, but sequestration was originally designed to be so unpalatable to both parties that the threat of its automatic budget cuts to both defense and non-defense programs alike would be enough to force lawmakers to come to a grand bargain budget agreement. As it first went into effect in March, Republicans tried to pin the blame for any negative consequences on President Obama. But they gradually came out in favor of sequestration’s devastating cuts and have now made it the baseline in the fight over funding the government.

According to the Center for American Progress, Obama’s original budget for 2014 was $1.203 trillion. In 2010, Republicans took control of the House and deficit hawk Paul Ryan proposed a 2014 budget of $1.095 trillion -- that's 10 percent more than what Congress just passed to end the shutdown.

Outrageously, the justification for all these spending reductions is baseless. The country’s supposedly out-of-control debt has been falling significantly over the last two years.

But for tea party extremists, austerity was never about getting the deficit under control. It’s about shrinking government in a way that punishes workers and the poor. Even during the shutdown, what was deemed “essential” and “non-essential” gives you an idea of what parts of government right-wing elites think is important. So Congress’s gym – complete with heated pools and a sauna – was essential. Food assistance to low-income mothers and children? Non-essential.

Now, the latest agreement sets the stage for another budget and debt limit battle just in time for another round of sequester cuts. As we wrote at Teamster.org:

...our government will be funded at a significantly reduced level than it should be... because of sequester cuts that went into effect last year.

For now, we’ve avoided default, reopened the government and hundreds of thousands of locked-out government workers are back to work. That’s definitely a good thing. But now anti-worker zealots in Washington are hoping that sharper austerity measures won't seem so bad compared to the pain caused by the shutdown.

Don’t be fooled.

Is Congress driving you to drink? Tell them

It’s usually not a good idea to make phone calls when you’re drunk (i.e. drunk dialing). But if the person you’re calling belongs to a dysfunctional political party that's driving America off a cliff, then we say go for it.

A new website called Drunk Dial Congress allows you to type in your phone number so you can be connected to a member of Congress.

But you’re encouraged to have a drink or two before laying in to lawmakers with some of these talking points: 

If you can yell at a Park Ranger after forcing the Government to shut down then I get to yell at you

How dare you not fund Veterans

You jerks are costing the country $12 million bucks per hour!

You guys aren't funding the police that are protecting you??? 

My grandma can't get her cancer treatment 

Why don't you make yourself useful and at least mow the lawn?

It’s only fair that Congress should hear from angry Americans -- especially during happy hour. Because, as the website points out, members of Congress were found boozing up right after they shut down the government and put 800,000 people out of work:

As Members of Congress quickly returned from their final symbolic, non-effective and otherwise useless votes to avert a government shutdown, the heavy drinking began. Reports of our representatives getting plastered on the government's dime -- the one we have left -- have come streaming in from witnesses all over Capitol Hill. 

 And you certainly don’t have to be a furloughed government worker to be pissed off at Congress. The shutdown being orchestrated by anti-worker Republican extremists is hurting everything from veterans’ health care and workers’ rights to food and transportation safety.

Drunk Dial Congress also includes some interesting drink recipes. But while you're having fun, don't forget to enjoy some of the great brews made and distributed by Teamsters.

So drink up -- responsibly, of course -- and give Congress a piece of your mind.

Locked-out union workers rally against government shutdown

Today on Capitol Hill. 

The gloom of the government shutdown and a cold rainy day didn't stop a thousand locked-out federal workers from rallying outside the Capitol in Washington, D.C., this morning.

With the shutdown now in its tenth day, the huge crowd of furloughed union workers -- including members of the American Federation of Government Employees, the National Treasury Employees Union and AFSCME -- gathered to express their outrage and demand that extremist Republicans stop holding the country hostage. Other workers from SEIU, the Teamsters and Good Jobs Nation came out to support their union brothers and sisters.

Rain pounded down on a furloughed aviation inspector who spoke to protesters:

I'm a little damp right now, but that's nothing compared to the way American workers are getting soaked by House Republicans.

Rev. Jesse Jackson, union leaders and dozens of members of Congress also rallied the crowd. Like a similar protest held last week, Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) of the Progressive Caucus led the demonstration, joined by Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) and Nancy Pelosi.

Workers chanted "Let us work," holding umbrellas and signs that said "Stop the lockout" and "Stop holding America hostage."

One AFGE leader set the record straight on what American workers are willing to negotiate on with anti-worker Republicans:

Half of our members are out of work and the other half are being forced to work without a paycheck. And despite what John Boehner and tea party extremists are saying, we are willing to negotiate. We want to negotiate an end to sequestration and a fairer tax system so that the rich and corporations pay their fair share.

We have all kinds of ideas to end the plight of the working class and improve federal government. But we don't shut down the government to make a political point.

As always, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) called out the extremists in Congress and put their latest attack on the middle class in context:

This shutdown started with tea party hostage-takers wanting to stop health care reform. But let's be clear: destroying health care is just the tip of the iceberg for right-wing extremists. They want to destroy Social Security and Medicare. They want to end regulations on Wall Street. They want to go after the whole social safety net that keeps millions of Americans from falling into extreme poverty. They want an oligarchic society ruled by the rich.

And they say they are willing to negotiate -- it's time to compromise. We have already compromised! The budget we passed is their budget. We don't like it. And still they want to take more from the American people.

Today the shutdown hit 3,600 employees at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission -- the people who make sure a Fukushima-like nuclear disaster doesn't happen in America. Meanwhile the clock is ticking on the deadline to increase the debt ceiling.

The shutdown has hurt hundreds of thousands of workers, families and small businesses, but millions more will face a deep economic crisis if Congress drives the government to default.

Some locked-out government workers said they will return to the Capitol tomorrow -- rain or shine -- to keep the pressure on politicians and stop Republicans' war on working families.

Hundreds of union workers protest government shutdown

Union workers protest shutdown today.

Locked-out federal workers gathered in front of the Capitol in Washington D.C. this morning to protest Republican extremists in Congress who shut down the government.

Members of the American Federation of Government Employees, the National Treasury Employees Union and other unions spoke for thousands of union workers employed by the government, calling the shutdown what it is: a lockout.

Led by Reps. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and union leaders, the crowd of workers chanted "Let us work" and "Shut down the shutdown." Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said the jobs of dedicated public servants should not be held hostage by tea party fanatics:

Two weeks ago a shooting took place not too far from here at the Navy Yard. Hundreds of brave federal police officers responded to stop the carnage and restore security. Today those dedicated officers are not being paid. That's outrageous.

Sanders noted the budget that Republican extremists refuse to pass is already a very conservative one. He said there's no reason for them to shut down the government over a budget that is more to the right-wing's liking than anyone else's.

As the crowd grew, furloughed federal employees talked about the uncertainty and hardship their families are facing during the shutdown. An aviation safety inspector said he can't do his job to make sure planes are safe to fly. And a worker from Good Jobs Nation who works at a McDonald's at the Smithsonian described how  the shutdown harms low-wage federal contract workers.

Workers at the rally said they should get back pay for the days they are furloughed. Some members of Congress have proposed legislation to do just that.

The pain from the shutdown is not just being felt by government employees. Speakers railed against right-wing lawmakers who put veterans' families and other vulnerable people at risk, just to score political points and to gut a law they don't like.

As for Republicans' proposal to reopen some parts of the government with piecemeal funding, workers at the rally said they want all of their coworkers to get back to work, not just some of them.

Rep. Ellison said locked out federal workers were prepared to come back and protest every day for as long as extremists in Congress keep holding the government hostage.

Today's Teamster News 06.19.13

Fast-food workers echo 'Occupy' spirit  Chicago Tribune   ...Labor unions have been knocked back, knocked down and knocked out for so long that a new generation of organizers is beginning to try something new. Instead of unionizing and then protesting, they're protesting first...
Alan Grayson On Trans-Pacific Partnership: Obama Secrecy Hides 'Assault On Democratic Government'  Huffington Post   ...Progressive Democrats in Congress are ramping up pressure on the Obama administration to release the text of Trans-Pacific Partnership, a secretive free trade agreement with 10 other nations, amid intensifying controversy over the administration's transparency record and its treatment of classified information...
Brazil protests erupt over public services and World Cup costs  The Guardian   ...Some of country's biggest ever rallies sweep major cities as bus fare rise is last straw in spiral of high costs and poor services...
When the Government Asks, Tech Companies Usually Turn Over User Information   AlterNet   ...How often do technology companies hand over user information to the government? More answers to that question have come out in recent days...
Student loans: Government looks to make $50B profit  WJLA TV   ...Lauren Brice, who recently graduated with a law degree, has money on her mind. “My undergraduate loans and my graduate loans together are about $167,000,” she says. The notion that the government will make a record $50 billion profit on student loans this year has her unsettled...
Union ratchets up pressure on Amazon Germany   Associated Press   ...Union members at online retailer Amazon's German operations have begun a two-day strike to ratchet up pressure on the company over pay demands. The ver.di union says Amazon's roughly 5,300 workers receive lower wages than their peers in the online retail industry...
US Workers protest over low wages  Press TV   ...People in California are protesting against working longer hours for less pay and less protection...
Florida blocks cities, counties from voting on sick pay laws  CNN News   ...Florida's governor has signed a law that says cities and counties cannot make businesses offer paid sick leave...
Planned civil service changes irk N.J. state workers  Philadelphia Inquirer   ...New Jersey public employees are bracing for what their union leaders say is the latest anti-worker onslaught by the Christie administration...
Oklahoma voter registration law survives U.S. Supreme Court decision  The Oklahoman   ...The Supreme Court decision to strike down a voter registration law in Arizona will not affect the process in Oklahoma, which requires registrants to attest to U.S. citizenship but not provide documents proving their status...
Why Pennsylvania's voter ID law probably won't be affected by the Supreme Court ruling on Arizona's election law  Patriot-News   ...A ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court Monday striking down an Arizona voter identification law will likely have little consequence in another legal case - that of the Pennsylvania voter identification law, legal experts said...
Carnival operators sued over wage law  Boston Globe   ...Workers who set up carnivals around New England have sued a New Hampshire amusements company, alleging it violated minimum wage and overtime laws by requiring employees to work long hours at a low weekly salary...
Investigation Shows Politicians Profit off Foreclosure Sales  WNYC News   ...When New York State Senator John Sampson was arrested last month for allegedly embezzling $440,000 from foreclosure sales, the curtain pulled back on a little known corner of the state’s justice system – the job of foreclosure referee...
Teamsters want Hernando County to stop reclassifying jobs, adding pay  Tampa Bay Times   ...The Teamsters union has put Hernando County on notice this week to "cease and desist" from the practice of reclassifying some county jobs. The union, representing 400 county workers, said the practice is allowing management to circumvent the employees' contract with the county and give altered jobs with higher salaries to chosen employees...
City Of Oakland Considers Contract With Known Lawbreaker, Teamsters Joint Council 7 Says  IBT   ...Politically connected firm poised to get lease despite nearly $1 million judgment for violating California Labor laws and a $235,000 debt to the City...
Sign Up for the 2013 Teamster Women's Conference  IBT   ...The Teamster Women’s Conference will be held September 19-21, 2013 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Register now to join your Teamster Sisters and Brothers!...

Anti-worker radio host sues anti-worker network for being anti-worker

Toxic radio show host Dana Loesch is suing Big Journalism, the website that promotes vicious and dishonest attacks on working people.  (Somehow extremist billionaires never feel the wrath of Big Journalism.)

Loesch went to work for Big Journalism after riding her wave of bile to national celebrity, if you could call it that. (There's a whole blog devoted to Loesch, Dana Busted, that calls her "St. Louis's most embarrassing liar." Lately she's been attacking workers who protested RTW4Less in Michigan and supporting the new anti-worker laws.)

Loesch was surprised to discover that the anti-worker website doesn't treat its workers well. So she sued. The St. Louis Post Dispatch reports,

Conservative talk radio host and commentator Dana Loesch sued the owner of the conservative website Breitbart.com Friday, claiming that although her relationship with the news and opinion aggregating website had gone “tragically awry,” Breibart.cοm LLC refused to let her work for the company or anyone else, forcing her into “indentured servitude in limbo.” 

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court here, seeks at least $75,000 in damages, as well as a judge's declaration that her contract had expired. 

The suit says that difficulties managing the Breitbart “media 'empire'” or ideological conflicts or both had spiked the working relationship, creating a “increasingly hostile” work environment. When Loesch tried to terminate her work agreement in September, Breitbart refused and extended the agreement by a year, the suit says.

Karma's a bitch.