Today's Teamster News 12.08.15

TEAMSTERS
More Facebook Drivers Join Teamsters, Ratify Strong Agreement  Teamster.org  ...Shuttle drivers who transport Facebook employees to and from work have joined Teamsters Local 853 in San Leandro, Calif., and ratified a strong agreement providing for significant wages, benefit improvements and gains mirroring or exceeding the Facebook/Loop Transportation contract already in place. These drivers with WeDriveU, Inc., will supplement the drivers who work for Facebook contractor Loop Transportation...
More Facebook shuttle drivers join Teamsters, get new contract  USA Today  ...The seven drivers with WeDriveU, Inc., a corporate transportation provider based in Burlingame, Calif., shuttle Facebook employees to and from work. They will supplement the 90 or so drivers working for Loop Transportation, which has a contract with Facebook. Back in February, those drivers approved a contract negotiated between Loop and Teamsters Local 853 of San Leandro, Calif...
It's Time to Take a Stand for Workers on TPP  Huffington Post  ...We serve as representatives of American organized workers on the Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations (ACTPN) and together have stated that the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is a bum deal we cannot support. By registering our dissent to the ACTPN report that endorses the agreement, the Teamsters, the United Steelworkers and the United Auto Workers are letting Congress and the public know this deal fails everyday Americans...

GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
Trans-Pacific Partnership: Industry Discord Threatens Quick Approval Of TPP Trade Agreement   IBTimes  ...Six years of negotiations on a massive free-trade agreement among Asia-Pacific nations have produced an accord that’s generating lukewarm support from corporate America. Skepticism from industries as diverse as pharmaceuticals and financial services is now dimming the prospects for approval of the Trans-Pacific Partnership before U.S. President Barack Obama leaves office...
WTO Orders Sanctions Unless US Cuts Consumer Labels, Disproving Obama TPP Claims  Huffington Post  ...Yesterday's World Trade Organization (WTO) ruling against the country-of-origin meat labels (COOL) that Americans rely on to make informed choices about their food provides a glaring example of how trade agreements can undermine U.S. public interest policies. The ruling is a nightmare for the Obama administration's uphill battle to build support for the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)...
The Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) is Part of Obama’s “Pivot to Asia”  Global Research  ...The TPPA aims to enforce a common regulatory framework structured around the norms of American trade policies that govern rules for tariffs and trade disputes, patents and intellectual property, foreign investment, and other areas. Despite a level of secrecy that barred even elected public representatives of participating countries from access to the deal’s draft, advisors from major multinational corporations played a consistent, key role in forming the deal’s proposed measures...
Scottish Cabinet to Be Handed Petition to Block TTIP Trade Deal With US  Sputnik News ...A petition calling on the SNP-controlled Scottish government to oppose a controversial EU-US trade deal is due to go before the Cabinet on Tuesday, according to the anti-TTIP (Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership) grassroots movement. The TTIP trade deal has faced sharp criticism from activists and policymakers...
There is no EU solution to climate change as long as TTIP exists  (opinion) Independent  ...The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) now being negotiated between the EU and the USA exemplifies the contradiction between Europe’s rhetoric on free trade and climate change. The European Commission has admitted that TTIP represents a danger to biodiversity, natural resources and the environment...
IBEW and Ontario Northland reach deal  Canadian Press  ... A five-year agreement has been reached between the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. Ontario Northland president Corina Moore says the company is pleased that an agreement has been reached with the union, which "has shown tremendous leadership and commitment to the company"...

STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
3 minimum wages in Oregon? Lawmaker's proposal would do just that  Oregon Live  ...Hoping to avoid a ballot fight in 2016, a Democratic state senator is crafting a proposal for three minimum wages in Oregon. A draft bill by Sen. Michael Dembrow, D-Portland, would divide the state into three regions — Portland, the Willamette Valley and everywhere else — with different minimums for each. The Portland metro area, including Washington and Clackamas counties, would have the highest...
Lincolnshire considers going 'right to work' in village limits  Chicago Tribune  ...The Lincolnshire Village Board might soon give unionized employees who work at private companies inside village boundaries the choice of whether or not to pay union dues. And a variety of interests from outside their boundaries might gather in Village Hall, either to support or protest the move...
Right-to-Work vote could cause lingering tension in Missouri Senate in 2016  Missourinet  ...The 2016 legislative session could be tense at times in the Senate from the aftermath of Republicans forcing a vote on a right to work bill. The proposal would have prevented workers from having to pay union dues as a requirement for employment.  Democrat Leader Joe Keaveny said some Democrats are still upset with Republicans. "I’ve got some that are still pretty energized and I’ve got some that would like to move on. I would like to see us work our way through this,” said Keaveny...
Civil Rights Commission Committee To Hold Hearing On Kansas Voter ID Law  KCUR  ...The Kansas voter ID law will be the subject of  a U.S. Civil Rights Commission committee hearing next month. The Kansas voter ID law is one of most restrictive in the country. Pushed by Secretary of State Kris Kobach, it demands voters not only have photo ID but they prove they are American citizens...
Koch-Funded Special Interest Groups and Utilities Bankrolling ALEC Meeting  Truthout  ...Koch-funded groups and utilities are bankrolling ALEC's closed-door winter meeting and parties for state legislators that are underway in Scottsdale, Arizona, at a luxury resort and spa. The three-day gathering is bringing together lobbyists and legislators to plan their 2016 bill agenda for the upcoming legislative session....

U.S. LABOR
UAW workers picketing outside Nexteer Automotive as strike begins  MLive  ...Workers represented by the UAW at Nexteer Automotive walked off their jobs at midnight Tuesday, Dec. 8, after the union failed to reach a new contract agreement with the company. Some of those workers appeared minutes later outside the gates of the sprawling manufacturing complex...
Unions For Workers At Detroit Casinos Reach Tentative Deal  CBS  ...Unions representing workers at Detroit’s three casinos have reached a tentative contract agreement that would cover about 7,000 workers. The Detroit Free Press reports the Detroit Casino Council, a consortium of four unions, reached the deal Sunday with Greektown Casino, MGM Grand Detroit and MotorCity Casino...
Trump Las Vegas Workers Vote For UNITE HERE Union  NH Labor News  ...After two days of voting in a National Labor Relations Board election, a majority of workers at the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas have voted “YES” to be represented by the Culinary Workers Union Local 226 and the Bartenders Union Local 165 of UNITE HERE. Over 500 employees of the hotel are in the union’s bargaining units and were eligible to vote. Trump Las Vegas workers voted in the NLRB election on December 4 and 5 at their hotel...
UFCW Local 7 Grocery Workers Overwhelmingly Approve New Contracts  UFCW  ...Following three months of intense and challenging negotiations, members of UFCW Local 7 who work at King Soopers, Safeway and Albertsons stores in Denver, Colo., voted overwhelmingly to approve their new collective bargaining agreements. The new 40 month contracts are some of the best in the country...
Teacher contract dispute deepens, tests state law before union strike vote  Chicago Tribune  ...The school board has rejected the Chicago Teachers Union's demand to move contract talks to a final stage, setting up a new fight as teachers prepare to vote later this week on whether to authorize their leaders to call a strike. The union filed an unfair labor practice on Monday with the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board, demanding talks proceed to a fact-finding phase...
Day-Care Costs Can Drive a Family Into Poverty Before a Child Reaches Kindergarten  The Nation  ...The cost of daycare can drive a family into poverty before a child reaches kindergarten, but it’s also likely to impoverish her teacher first. While preschool programs are expanding nationwide, somehow, they cost parents everything while paying teachers nothing simultaneously. And childcare providers are so underfunded overall that the system leaves both teachers and families impoverished...
New report finds Americans lack economic mobility, opportunity  PBS  ...A report on poverty published on Thursday found a striking lack of economic mobility in America, that 43 percent of Americans born into families in the bottom fifth of the economic ladder are stuck there as adults, while 40 percent born in the top fifth stay there. The data was part of Opportunity, Responsibility and Security: A Consensus Plan for Reducing Poverty and Restoring the American Dream...

SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
Railroads Beat Back New Safety Rules After Derailments  ABC  ...A pair of train derailments in 2012 that killed two people in Maryland and triggered a fiery explosion in Ohio exposed a little-known and unsettling truth about railroads in the U.S. and Canada: No rules govern when rail becomes too worn down to be used for hauling hazardous chemicals, thousands of tons of freight or myriad other products on almost 170,000 miles of track...
Climate Inaction Risks Warming Far Beyond 2°C Threshold: Exxon (Yes, Exxon)  Common Dreams  ..Blink and you'll miss it, but one line in a recent Washington Post interview on climate change with experts from fossil fuel giant ExxonMobil offhandedly suggests a nightmarish, desperate future if global leaders don't act fast—one that centers around a possible average temperature rise of up to 7 or more degrees Celsius. "With no government action, Exxon experts told us during a visit to The Post last week, average temperatures are likely to rise by a catastrophic 5 degrees Celsius...
Trump New Low: Ban All Muslim Immigration to U.S.  Daily Beast  ...After weeks of ramping up rhetoric against worshippers of Islam, the Republican presidential frontrunner says they have a ‘great hatred towards Americans.’ Donald Trump said Monday as president he would halt all Muslim immigration to the United States. His xenophobic rhetoric has intensified in the last week...
'No human being is illegal': linguists argue against mislabeling of immigrants  The Guardian  ...Santa Ana is among many linguists who argue that the phrase “illegal immigrants” is neither “accurate nor neutral”. Other law-breakers are not referred to as illegal, making immigrants an outlier in the naming system, he said...
Trump and the “Low-Skilled” Labor Myth  (opinion) New Republic  ...In an otherwise sensible column about the limitations and possible consequences of dubbing Donald Trump a fascist, New York Times columnist Ross Douthat suggests that one of “the legitimate reasons” Trump’s campaign has endured so long is that conservative voters share a “reasonable skepticism about the bipartisan consensus favoring ever more mass low-skilled immigration”...
Chicago on the Brink After Release of New Police Killing Video  Common Dreams  ...Outraged citizens of Chicago say they are taking to the streets Monday night after the Cook County State's Attorney on Monday announced there will be no charges filed against the police officer who fatally shot Ronald Johnson III, a black man, last year—a decision that was prompted by what Johnson's family attorney described as "a whitewash, a cover-up"...  

Today's Teamster News 11.09.15

TEAMSTERS
Waste Workers in Tennessee Join Teamsters Local 667  Teamster.org  ...Drivers at Waste Management, Inc., in Memphis, Tenn., have voted to join Teamsters Local 667 seeking improved wages and benefits. The 37-worker unit remained strong and united as the company waged a vicious anti-worker campaign. During the campaign, the workers were joined in support by students and campus workers...
Workers Speak Up After Being Told To Go Back To Work After Chemical Spill  Think Progress  ...A group of immigrant workers and community members rallied on Thursday at Taylor Farms in California, the largest producer of fresh-cut fruits and vegetables, asking for safer work conditions nearly one month after managers failed to evacuate the plant after a chemical spill. At the Taylor Farms’ Tracy plant, about 900 workers have been trying to organize a union with the Teamsters over the past two years...
Labor and Climate Groups Blast TPP as Full Text is Released  American Prospect  ...Within hours of the text’s release, leading environmental, labor, and civil liberties groups blasted the deal for its lackluster provisions on workers rights, climate change, and human rights. On Twitter, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters noted that the TPP includes no penalties for human trafficking...

GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
Lufthansa cabin crew strike affects 113,000 passengers  AP  ...Some 113,000 Lufthansa passengers were facing domestic and international cancellations Monday due to all-day walkouts at three German airports staged by a cabin crew union protesting cost cuts. The UFO flight attendant union says it will rotate its strike action to different airports as it presses its demands regarding early retirement payments...
Finance chair: Trade deal may need to be renegotiated  The Hill  ...The top Republican overseeing trade in the Senate on Friday suggested inadequate intellectual property protections may halt the passage of a sweeping Asia-Pacific trade agreement. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) said he is most concerned about a provision in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) that provides pharmaceutical companies with up to eight years of exclusive rights to their clinical trial data, instead of the 12-year standard set by Congress six years ago...
How the five most contentious issues in Obama’s big trade deal turned out  Washington Post  ...The full text of the Trans Pacific Partnership became public Thursday, and there's a lot we still don't know about it. This deal isn't really about lowering tariffs, after all — much more importantly, it's the rulebook for trade across a giant region. While advocacy groups acknowledged some improvements from previous drafts, they're still worried that even the best provisions won't be enforced...
Trans-Pacific Partnership Text Released, Waving Green Flag for Debate  New York Times  ...The release on Thursday of the full text of President Obama’s trade accord with 11 Pacific Rim nations brought out opponents and supporters and officially opened what may be the last big battle of the president’s tenure: winning congressional approval of the largest regional trade deal in history. The opposition mainly came from the left, as an array of unions, environmental groups and public advocacy organizations that typically resist global trade agreements registered their dismay...
Historic Trade Deal Confirms Critics' Worst Fears  Huffington Post  ...The United States government released the final text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership on Thursday, and a wide array of advocacy groups did not like what they saw. Organizations promoting climate change action and global health have long argued that the 12-nation trade deal would undermine participating countries’ freedom to set and preserve their own economic and social policies...
TPP revealed: Pact details ignite debate over privacy, internet freedom, whistleblowers  RT  ...With the release of the full text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a sharpening of arguments on both sides outline a debate about privacy, corporatism, internet freedom and intellectual property, and even the plight of whistleblowers. The world got its first look at the international agreement between 12 Pacific Rim countries on Thursday, exactly one month after it was finalized on October 5...
Chris Hedges: TPP Is the Most Brazen Corporate Power Grab in American History  (opinion) Alternet  ...The release Thursday of the 5,544-page text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership—a trade and investment agreement involving 12 countries comprising nearly 40 percent of global output—confirms what even its most apocalyptic critics feared. “The TPP, along with the WTO [World Trade Organization] and NAFTA [North American Free Trade Agreement], is the most brazen corporate power grab in American history,” Ralph Nader told me...
Over three million Europeans sign anti-TTIP petition  DW.com  ...A European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) called "Stop TTIP" on Monday handed over an updated list of 3.28 million signatures from people opposed to the planned free trade agreement between the EU and the US. The list was given to the head of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, in Berlin, with the campaigners demanding a parliamentary hearing...
1 Worker Dies, 18 Faint at Cambodian Garment Factory  AP  ...One worker died and 18 others fainted at a garment factory in eastern Cambodia that has been closed pending an investigation, authorities said Friday. They were sent to a hospital, where a 21-year-old worker later died, he said. On Friday, 14 more workers fell ill with similar symptoms...
Rising Left Bloc in Portugal Could Threaten Austerity Drive  New York Times  ...Last month’s elections in Portugal were meant to deliver a clear verdict on the center-right coalition of Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho, whose austerity program has been held up as a model by creditors and countries like Germany that have advocated belt-tightening in Europe. Instead, it yielded a vexing muddle, allowing both left and right to claim victory...

STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Right-to-Work weighed heavily in Kentucky race for governor  PR News  ...Right-to-Work may not have been a front-and-center issue in the highly competitive race for governor in Kentucky, but it was a major issue behind the scenes. Those on both sides of the divisive Right-to-Work issue knew that whoever won the governor’s race in Kentucky might play a critical–if not pivotal–role on whether the state becomes the next to fall to Right-to-Work...
Fight for $15 rallies and strikes Tuesday supporting minimum wage hike  Cleveland.com  ...Demonstrations are planned throughout Ohio, including Cincinnati, Columbus, Dayton, Toledo and Youngstown, according to the labor-backed Fight for $15 movement, which is organizing the day of action. The locations of these rallies and the day on which they are being held is not by happenstance. Fight for $15, intends to send a political message by rallying on the steps of City Halls throughout the country...
Childcare Workers Make 40% Less Than the Nationwide Median Wage  The Nation  .... Tuesday’s protests in Atlanta and hundreds of other cities will launch the Fight for $15’s yearlong campaign leading up to Election Day. The SEIU-backed movement to press nationwide demands for a living wage and a union, now includes their demand as voters, that politicians commit to raising pay and working conditions. With hourly wages averaging about $10.30, childcare workers earn some 40 percent less than the nationwide median wage...
How Corrupt Is Your State?  Mother Jones  ...In Missouri, a lawmaker who pushed through a bill that prohibited cities from banning plastic bags in supermarkets also happened to be the director of the state's Grocer's Association. New Mexico lawmakers passed a resolution that exempted their emails from public scrutiny...
Wisconsin Begins Drug Testing Applicants For Food Stamps And Unemployment Benefits Today  Think Progress  ...On Monday, many Wisconsin residents who apply for food stamps, unemployment benefits, jobs training, or benefits and training from a handful of other state programs will have to be screened and potentially tested for drug use. Applicants will have to fill out a questionnaire about drug use, and depending on their answers, may have to submit to an actual test...

U.S. LABOR 
Ford UAW leaders meet to approve proposed agreement  Detroit Free Press  ...The UAW's top elected Ford leaders from around the country are in Detroit today to review a tentative agreement reached last week between the automaker and the union that would deliver $10,000 in signing bonuses and $9 billion in new U.S. product investments, retaining or creating 8,500 jobs...
UAW deals with Ford, GM enter critical week  The Detroit News  ...Monday marks the beginning of a critical week for labor negotiations between the United Auto Workers and two of Detroit’s Big Three automakers. Labor leaders at Ford Motor Co. will convene at 10 a.m. Monday at the UAW-Ford National Programs Center on Jefferson in downtown Detroit to accept or reject a proposed tentative deal that the union and Dearborn automaker agreed to Friday afternoon...
AFSCME withdraws petition for OU call center union election  Athens News  ...A major public employees union, citing an alleged “aggressive” campaign undertaken by “hired union busters,” has withdrawn its petition for an election for student workers employed at Ohio University’s call center in Athens. The university and Wilson-Bennett Technology – the subcontractor OU pays to manage the alumni fundraising call center – have denied hiring the alleged union busting group...
Why Childcare Workers Are So Poor, Even Though Childcare Costs So Much  The Atlantic   ...Childcare is really expensive. In some states the costs can top 15 percent of the median income for a married couple. And when looking at single-family households, that burden can easily pass 40 percent of the median income. One place all that money is not going: the pockets of the workers doing all that childcare...
Rutgers group documents Trump Taj Mahal casino workers' fight for benefits  NJ.com  ...NJ Spark, a social justice journalism lab at Rutgers University, is chronicling the fight of workers at Trump Taj Mahal Casino Hotels to have their health insurance and pension benefits restored. The union is demanding the restoration of the workers' health insurance and pension benefits, which were stripped away by the casino's previous owner, Trump Entertainment Resorts, as part of a $14.6 million cost cutting campaign...

SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
With Mass Civil Disobedience, Young Activists March Against 'Broken System'  Common Dreams  ...Roughly 1,000 young activists are marching through the streets of Washington, D.C. on Monday in what they hope will be the largest-ever planned civil disobedience action to demand racial, immigration, and climate justice reform for a "broken" political system. Under the banner Our Generation, Our Choice, millenials from a range of grassroots advocacy organizations...
University of Missouri president resigns amid protests  Daily Kos  ...Today, faculty, students, graduate students, and student-athletes at the University of Missouri will be engaged in protests as the Board of Curators calls a special meeting to address a long-simmering racial tension and protest surrounding racial incidents on campus. The #ConcernedStudent1950 protests center around the hunger strike of Jonathan Butler, a graduate student who began the strike in response to several unaddressed incidents of bigotry...
Paul Krugman just made perfect sense of Donald Trump, Ben Carson and angry white Republican voters  Salon  ...Some people who feel left behind by the American story turn self-destructive; others turn on the elites they feel have betrayed them. No, deporting immigrants and wearing baseball caps bearing slogans won’t solve their problems, but neither will cutting taxes on capital gains. So you can understand why some voters have rallied around politicians who at least seem to feel their pain...

"Racism Isn't Funny": Trump's SNL Gig Draws Outrage, Calls to Disrupt Show  Common Dreams  ...From civil rights groups to lawmakers to Hollywood A-listers, members of the public are furious that the popular comedy program Saturday Night Live (SNL) has invited 2016 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump—whose rhetoric demonizing immigrants has reportedly inspired hate crimes—to host its November 7th show...

Today's Teamster News 08.15.14

Teamster News
Democratic Party, Teamsters Challenge Yost's Suggestions  Youngstown Vindicator   ...On Wednesday, the Ohio Democratic Party and Teamsters Local 377 blasted the audit’s recommendations for $384,000 in annual concessions in the Teamsters local’s labor contract. That local represents 51 of the engineer’s office employees...
Any Problems With Garbage Deal Will Belong To City (opinion)  Contra Costa Times   ...Our members will be fine working for either company. We've had our share of problems with both of them, just as we've helped make both a success...
Trade
EU-Canada Trade Deal Leak ‘Ridicules’ TTIP Consultation  EurActiv   ...The leaked text of an EU-Canada free trade deal confirms fears that multinationals may sue EU states in special tribunals for enacting laws that upset their profit forecasts, and makes a mockery of public consultation on a free trade deal with the US, campaigners say...
Wisconsin Farmers Union President Cautions Against Free Trade’s False Promises  Bloomer News   ...Behind the rosy projections about the benefits of free trade, history presents us with the cold hard facts. The 1993 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has been devastating for farmers in the U.S., and we are headed down the same path with the current Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (T-TIP) proposals...
State Battles
Wisconsin Employment under Walker  Econbrowser   ...Since January 2011, Wisconsin private nonfarm payroll employment growth has been a cumulative 2.8% lower than that for the United States as a whole...
Powerful D.C. Lobbies Join Fight Against Seattle Minimum Wage  Seattle Post-Intelligencer   ...Two of the most powerful lobbies in Washington, D.C. — the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Restaurant Association — have joined in a lawsuit against Seattle’s new $15-an-hour minimum wage ordinance...
Labor sharks sink teeth into low-wage immigrant workers  AlJazeera America   ...In New York, employment agencies face few penalties for charging advance fees for jobs that don’€™t exist...
War On Workers
Wal-Mart’s Sales Stagnation Reignites Concern About Economy  Bloomberg   ...Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT)’s latest struggles to revive U.S. sales, following a disappointing Commerce Department report earlier this week, add to evidence that the economy isn’t recovering as quickly as expected...
Fed: Typical American family doesn't have $400 on hand  WWL   ...The Federal Reserve survey shows a typical American household cannot raise $400 without borrowing money or selling possessions...
Europe’s Greater Depression is worse than the 1930s  Washington Post   ...it's been six-and-a-half years, and eurozone GDP is still 1.9 percent lower than it was before the Great Recession began. It "only" took the U.S. economy seven years to get back to where it'd been before the Great Depression hit...
Among Workers At Revel There's Shock, Anxiety, Uncertainty, And Even Some Optimism  Philadelphia Inquirer   ...The 3,200 workers who have made Revel home the last 28 months are hoping against hope that the casino snags a buyer before its targeted Sept. 10 closing to save their jobs and a key piece of Atlantic City's skyline...
Worker Killed In Lamar County Plant Fire  KXII   ...A worker has been killed in a fire Wednesday at a trailer manufacturing facility in Lamar County. News 12 has learned one employee was found dead just before 2 p.m...
Congressman Who Voted Against Minimum Wage Hike Complains He Hasn't Gotten A Raise  Huffington Post   ...Rep. Lee Terry (R-Neb.) says Congress can't afford a pay cut because its last salary increase occurred six years ago...
Starbucks to Revise Policies to End Irregular Schedules for Its 130,000 Baristas  New York Times   ...The change comes amid a growing push to curb scheduling practices, enabled by sophisticated software, that can cause havoc in employees’ lives: giving only a few days’ notice of working hours; sending workers home early when sales are slow; and shifting hours significantly from week to week...
Berlin Bans Uber App Citing Passenger Safety  BBC News   ...It is the latest setback for Uber, which has faced bans and protests in cities across Europe. The Berlin authority said passengers may not be covered by insurance because they aren't traditional cabs...
Virgin America Flight Attendants Vote To Join Union  Huffington Post   ... The attendants would be the first Virgin America employees to be represented by a labor union...
Miscellaneous
Improving Our Railways: A Key Part of Rebuilding America  manufacture this   ...Virtually every wealthy nation in the world has invested in a high-speed rail network—with the striking exception of the United States. From Japan to France, even from Turkey to Russia, trains travel through the country at speeds of 150 miles per hour or above...
Where We Came From, State by State  New York Times   ...We charted how Americans have moved between states since 1900. See how your state has changed...
Koch brothers group to keep pressure on Common Core  USA Today   ...Convinced of wins during last week's elections in Tennessee, a group led by the billionaire Koch brothers has vowed to continue to spend aggressively in the state in pursuit of derailing Common Core academic standards here...

Today's Teamster News 11.03.12

U.S. job growth quickens, giving Obama some relief  Reuters   ...U.S. employers stepped up hiring in October and a small increase in the jobless rate was due to more workers restarting their job hunts, a hopeful sign for a lackluster economy that has been a drag on President Barack Obama's re-election bid...
Gas Shortage Lingers, Crippling Aid Organizations And Recovery Effort  Huffington Post   ...Thursday, a deadly cocktail of mass power outages, port closures and skyrocketing demand for fuel shut down gas stations across New York and New Jersey, spurring mile-long lines and fights at the few pumps that remained open. Now, the shortage is crippling aid organizations spearheading relief in devastated areas...
Dems see chance as Gregg narrows gap to single digits in gov’s race  Associated Press   ...Democrat John Gregg has begun tying Pence to Republican Senate candidate Richard Mourdock, whose candidacy is in jeopardy following remarks he made last week that a pregnancy resulting from rape is something “God intended...”
Department of Justice Investigating Alleged Ballot Fraud At Clackamas County Elections  Willamette Week   ...the woman filled in a straight Republican ticket on the ballots where preferences had been left blank by voters...
Early voting in Florida not extended despite long lines  Raw Story   ...Florida Gov. Rick. Scott denied a request from the League of Women Voters and Florida Democrats on Friday to extend early voting, according to the News-Press. Long lines and record turnout prompted the call, but Scott reiterated that “Early voting will end Saturday night,” although he said he wants “everyone to get out to vote...”
Vultures Descend On Bainport: Sensata Plant Set to Close November 5.  Wisconsin Citizens Media Cooperative   ... Overpass Light Brigade  illuminated  the procession of masked vultures and large puppets with “VULTURE IN CHIEF” over to the Sensata plant in defiance of management’s orders that workers not be on the property outside of their assigned shifts...
Waukegan school bus drivers join Teamsters  Lake County News-Sun   ...The Waukegan workers had voted in a National Labor Relations Board election in May 2012 ... The Waukegan drivers lost their election by a vote of 86-90... The Teamsters local ... filed more than 20 unfair labor practice charges and seven objections to the election. The NLRB found merit in the charges...
County sanitation workers want union  The Champion Newspaper   ...DeKalb County sanitation workers say they need their voices to be heard. That’s why they want to be represented by the Teamsters union...
Some Rivers Casino employees might form union  Daily Herald   ...A movement to organize workers at Rivers Casino in Des Plaines is gaining support from the town’s Mayor Marty Moylan, himself a former union representative. Moylan, who retired earlier this year from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Union Local 134, said he was asked by the casino’s parking and valet attendants to support their efforts to unionize under the Teamsters Local 727...