Today's Teamster News 04.07.15

Teamsters
Strike delayed, Allegiant pilots union explains stance, next move  Tampa Bay Business Journal   ...Friday is the next milestone in the labor dispute between Allegiant Airlines and its pilots. That day brings to an end a temporary court injunction preventing the pilots from striking. The pilots are effectively threatening to strike to restore the conditions that existed before they decided to join the International Brotherhood of Teamsters in 2012...

Global Labor & Trade
Health experts worried as Trans Pacific Partnership negotiations conclude   Sydney Morning Herald  ...Eight health and community organisations have written to the Trade Minister Andrew Robb expressing "grave concerns" about the latest leaked draft of the nearly concluded Trans Pacific Partnership trade agreement. The organisations released a health impact assessment which found that the the investor‐state dispute settlement clauses were a threat to public health and recommended that ISDS be excluded from the agreement altogether...
The global south has free trade to thank for its obesity and diabetes epidemic  The Guardian   ...You wouldn’t think that free-trade deals could lead to a diabetes and obesity epidemic, but they have. Today, many countries in the global south are seeing an explosion of these afflictions - all because their governments welcomed in transnational food companies looking for new “growth markets”...
Strikes Grow in China as Grassroots Labor Movement Takes Shape  Common Dreams   ...As the economic landscape in China continues to shift, an awakening working class is demanding fair treatment and higher wages—and the movement is picking up steam...

State & Living Wage Battles
Weeks After Rushing Right-To-Work, Wisconsin Republicans Prepare Their Next Attack On Labor  Think Progress   ...Rep. Rob Hutton (R-Brookfield) plans to tack his bill to repeal the state’s nearly century-old “prevailing wage” law for construction workers on local and state projects onto the massive state budget that must pass some time in the next few months...
Scott Walker Controls Wisconsin’s Executive and Legislative Branches. Now His Minions Are Gunning For the Judicial   The Nation   ...Walker’s allies are focused on securing control of the judicial branch of state government in Wisconsin. The Republican Party of Wisconsin and groups that have consistently backed Walker’s agenda are leading the charge to oust a state Supreme Court justice who has championed judicial independence and to change the way in which the high court is organized...
Our Corporate Saviors (opinion)  Huffington Post   ...Outfits like McDonalds decide to make a virtue of necessity and pat themselves on the back for paying a bit more. They hope that these gestures will take some of the wind out of organizing drives. But moves like these should teach the opposite lesson--namely, that pressure works...
Extreme ‘Religious Liberty’ Bill Could Make Louisiana The Next Indiana  Think Progress   ...Louisiana is the latest state considering adopting a religious freedom bill, after state Rep. Mike Johnson (R) introduced legislation Friday that could allow businesses to refuse service for same-sex weddings and deny benefits to employees in same-sex marriages...
How Elizabeth Warren Made Expanding Social Security Cool  Mother Jones   ...For years, Washington politicians and policymakers been talking about cutting Social Security benefits. The Beltway consensus, unduly shaped by deficit hawks and Wall Streeters, has been that the system is broken and must be pared back, and progressives who support Social Security have often had to play defense. But in late March, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the populist Democrat from Massachusetts, entered the fray—and challenged the prevailing view...

U.S. Labor
Automakers, labor union face a long, hot summer of contract talks  Fortune   ...Although the Detroit-based auto industry and the United Auto Workers union are still a few months away from serious negotiations, early signs aren’t favorable for a labor contract settled on mutually agreeable terms...
BP Whiting Refinery strike hits 2-month mark  Chicago Tribune   ...The union said it gave its last offer to BP on Thursday and has yet to hear from the company. Workers are standing by their union leaders, though some say it has been rough on them and their families financially...
EEOC: New York City owes underpaid minority female employees $246 million  NY Daily News  ...The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ruled that New York City underpaid a thousand black and Hispanic female employees, a finding that could cost hundreds of millions of dollars. The Communications Workers of America lodged the complaint...

Raising Wages From the Bottom Up  American Prospect   ...The third way cities and states can build worker power is to stop the illegal practice of worker misclassification. Over the past several decades, many U.S. companies have relieved themselves of the obligation to provide their workers with benefits or pay them an adequate wage, through the expedient of declaring their workers not to be their employees.
Douglas County Fined For Violating Child Labor Laws  Grand Island Independent   ...A federal agency has fined Douglas County for violating child labor laws by letting four teenagers load a wood chipper last summer. The U.S. Department of Labor issued $3,100 in fines after discovering that four underage employees operated a wood chipper while temporarily working on a maintenance crew for the county engineer. Child labor laws allow only adults to do this...

Miscellaneous
Nestlé’s despicable water-crisis profiteering: How it’s making a killing — while California is dying of thirst   Salon   ...While California suffers through a historic 4-year drought, the corporate giant has made billions on bottled water. Nestlé has a 25-year contract with the Morongo Band of Cahuila Mission Indians to draw water from wells in Millard Canyon, in the desert city of Cabazon...
U.S. Spending Historic Amount Fighting Homelessness, And It's Working: Report  Huffington Post   ...Uncle Sam is prioritizing the fight against homelessness like he never has before. Federal funding for programs addressing homelessness is at its highest level ever, according to a report by the National Alliance to End Homelessness provided to The Huffington Post...
Is Your Favorite Baseball Team's Owner Still An Asshole?  Mother Jones   ...Chicago White Sox [owner] Jerry Reinsdorf made his fortune as a real estate developer who specialized in building tax shelters. One of the league's most anti-union owners, he was accused of colluding with fellow owners to drive down player salaries. He gives millions to charter schools, but takes even more out of the city's coffers thanks to a sweetheart deal that allows him to pay just 25 percent of the standard property tax rate for the United Center (home of the NBA's Chicago Bulls, which he also owns)...

Today's Teamster News 04.02.15

Trade
Australia should fix trade deal investor protection  Financial review   ...Two weeks ago an international arbitration panel awarded a US company compensation for the way its quarry project in Canada was "unfairly" rejected on environmental and planning grounds...  
In Press Call, Progressives Announce Anti-Fast Track Activities Nationwide  Public Citizen   ...Hundreds of progressive organizations are engaged nationwide in two action-packed weeks of rallies, press events, briefings, bird-dogging events, phone banks,canvasses and more to build opposition against Fast Tracking the Trans-Pacific Partnership...
Blame Bad Trade For Hurting America's Steel Industry  Alternet   ...Sucker punched by massive, illegally subsidized imports, American steel producers laid off thousands of workers in bedrock communities from Ohio and Illinois to Texas and Alabama. That’s in just the past three months...
ISDS A Bigger Threat Than ISIS (opinion)  Wanganui Chronicle   ...The Investor-State Dispute Settlement. ISDS is a means whereby investors (read corporations) may sue a government for lost corporate profits due to regulatory barriers of the defendant country. Regulatory barriers like environmental protections, health and safety rules, generic pharmaceuticals. ISDS is part of the invasive TPPA (TransPacific Partnership Agreement), a trade agreement written to benefit multinational corporations....
Cambodian Child Labor Laws Flouted With Fake IDs  The Guardian   ...“For many children in Cambodia, the child protection situation is dire,” says Unicef’s chief of communication...
State Battles
Seattle Minimum Wage Up To $11 For Most Wednesday  KING   ...Seattle's minimum wage is increasing to $11 for most businesses on Wednesday. It's the start of a phased increase to $15 per hour over the next several years...
City Council Pushes To Raise Minimum Wage  WDAF   ...The Kansas City council will consider an ordinance to raise minimum wage within the city to $15 an hour. Mayor Sly James talked about the ordinance during his state of the city address. The ordinance would begin raising the minimum wage within the city to $10 by September and then up to $15 by 2021...
Perez And Garcetti Take Aim At Wage Theft, Minimum Wage  Los Angeles Times   ...On Tuesday, Los Angeles County supervisors voted 5 to 0 to study the possible effects of boosting wage floors at the county level. City leaders in Los Angeles are considering an increase in the minimum wage to $13.25 or $15.25 an hour from the state minimum of $9 an hour...
Oil Trains To Pay More In State Fees  Albany Times Union   ...The state will collect millions of dollars more from companies that ship oil from the Midwest in massive trains that pass through the Capital Region and other parts of the state under language contained in the state budget hammered out by Gov. Andrew Cuomo and lawmakers...
BNSF Implements New Safety Rules For Oil Trains  Flathead Beacon   ...In an effort to safely move massive oil trains from North Dakota’s Bakken oil fields, BNSF Railway has told shippers that it is implementing its own rules to try and prevent explosive derailments and accidental spills...
War on Workers
Student Debt Strikers Grow in Number and in Power  truthout   ...Just over a month ago, Waging Nonviolence reported that 15 former students of Corinthian Colleges — the beleaguered, notorious for-profit higher education system — were going on strike; not from their jobs, or from class, but from their debt. Today, there are over 100 debt strikers...
McDonald’s to Raise Pay at Outlets It Operates  New York Times   ...McDonald's announced on Wednesday that it would raise wages and offer new benefits to 90,000 employees in he 1,500 outlets in the United States that it owns and operates, responding to competitive pressure from a tighter job market and to labor campaigns drawing public attention to its pay policies...
Republicans Take Aim At Union ‘Official Time’ For Federal Employees  Washington Post   ...House and Senate Republicans have introduced bills to bar federal employees from performing union work on the government’s dime, a practice that has been allowed since 1978 under the Civil Service Reform Act...
Worker Killed In Fall At Site  New Braunfels Herald Zeitung   ...A San Antonio construction worker died as a result of an accident he had while working Tuesday in New Braunfels, a New Braunfels Police Department spokesman said. Authorities said Victor Echartea-Medina, 41, fell from about four stories up before being rushed in an ambulance to Resolute Health Hospital in town. The man died from his injuries...
Miscellaneous
DOJ Inspector General: ATF, FBI's Drones Worthless, Expensive And Completely Mismanaged  Techdirt   ...$3 million spent on drones, with only half currently considered "operational." In eight years (2006-2014), the drones have only been deployed to assist in 13 investigations, with nine of those occurring in the last four years. This may be good news for those concerned about extensive domestic surveillance, but it's not good news for those interested in how their tax dollars are being spent...

Today's Teamster News 11.29.13

Five Ways to Support Striking Walmart Workers  truthout   ...Join Them! Nothing demonstrates support for striking workers more than actually showing up yourself. Not only do the workers appreciate your display of solidarity, but also the increased turnout signifies to bystanders that this is a legitimate problem worthy of everyone’s concern...
Pizza Hut Employee Fired For Defending Thanksgiving Offered Job Back  firedoglake   ...Rohr, a ten year employee of Pizza Hut, was asked to resign from his position as general manager after he took issue with orders from the owner to keep the store open on Thanksgiving, forcing workers to be away from their families. But instead of resigning Rohr wrote a letter explaining why he thought the decision was wrong. Now, after suffering a two day PR nightmare, Pizza Hut wants Rohr back...
TPP Defenders Take To The Internet To Deliver Official Talking Points; Inadvertently Confirm Opponents' Worst Fears  tech defenders   ...The leaked TPP draft, pried loose from the "open and transparent" grip of the USTR, is generating plenty of commentary all over the web. After getting a good look inside, it's little wonder the USTR felt more comfortable trying to push this through under the cover of darkness...
Good News: Geneva WTO Talks Collapse  Trade Reform   ...It seems that over 100 countries are not going to agree to further give up their sovereignty to the WTO...
Doesn’t Eat, Doesn’t Pray and Doesn’t Love (opinion)  New York Times   ...The question of whether for-profit companies can claim a religious identity, one that exempts them from obeying a generally applicable law, is fully worthy of the attention the Supreme Court is about to give it...
Mexico's booming car industry selling unsafe cars  Associated Press   ...Vehicles destined to stay in Mexico or go south to the rest of Latin America carry a code signifying there's no need for antilock braking systems, electronic stability control, or more than two air bags, if any, in its basic models...
6 of the Top 10 U.S. Billionaires Are Kochs and Waltons  Alternet   ...For the first time ever, according to Forbes magazine, the  400 richest Americanshave more than $2 trillion in combined wealth. And, a fifth of that amount is held by just 10 individuals...
U.S. Student Homelessness Up 10% Since Last Year  naked capitalism   ...the reality, as many here know altogether too well, is that only group that has shown meaningful gains over the last few years is the top 1%...
The Turkey Lobby Helped Block Child Labor Regulations  The Nation   ... counter to the National Turkey Federation’s family-friendly public image ... is the work the group has done to orchestrate opposition to the Obama administration’s child farm labor regulations...
North Carolina Faculty Complain After Conservative Group Seeks Liberal Professor’s Email  Portside   ...A group of law professors at UNC-Chapel Hill is standing behind Gene Nichol, director of the school’s poverty center, after a conservative think tank requested the left-leaning professor’s emails, phone records and calendars...

Today's Teamster News 04.30.13

Texas Blast Recalls Chemical Safety Bill Sunk by Business Lobby  Bloomberg   ...Guess who fought against a 2009 bill aimed at tightening “security standards of chemical factors, fertilizer depots and water-treatment plants.” None other than “Mining companies, refiners, paint makers, explosive fabricators and fertilizer plants...the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and American Farm Bureau...”
How Austerity Is Literally Killing People (opinion)  Think Progress   ...Austerity in the United States and Europe isn’t just placing an unnecessary drag on economic growth that has harmed the global economic recovery from the Great Recession...
Banking group says new regulations could push consumers into risky payday loans  The Hill   ...A leading banking group says tighter guidelines on deposit advance loans could push consumers into higher-risk payday credit...
US electricity giant rejects privatization plan  Financial Times ...Push-back. President Obama recently floated the notion that it might be time to privatize the TVA. TVA’s Chief Executive says “the authority ‘isn’t broke’ and could fund the investment it needed while staying in the public sector.” TVA’s electricity prices are “significantly below the US average...”
Wealth Gap Among Races Has Widened Since Recession  New York Times   ... Millions of Americans suffered a loss of wealth during the recession and the sluggish recovery that followed. But the last half-decade has proved far worse for black and Hispanic families than for white families, starkly widening the already large gulf in wealth between non-Hispanic white Americans and most minority groups, according to a new study...
Bill to end sequester's air travel delays flies through Congress   Los Angeles Times ...Lawmakers, among the nation's most frequent fliers, OK a bill allowing the FAA to transfer $253 million to stop furloughs of air traffic controllers...
But the sequester could hurt federal tax collections, IRS says  Washington Post   ...The head of the Internal Revenue Service is warning that the government-wide spending cuts that took effect last month could hurt federal tax collections...
Push to Require Online Sales Tax Divides the G.O.P.  New York Times   ...Legislation that would force Internet retailers to collect sales taxes from their customers has put antitax and small-government activists like Grover Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform and the Heritage Foundation in an unusual position: they’re losing...
Sanford, Colbert Busch Campaign Day After Debate  Associated Press   ...Republican Mark Sanford and Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch planned to hit the campaign trail a day after a spirited debate in their race for a vacant congressional seat along the South Carolina coast. "I rocked it," Colbert Busch said…
Citations drop for child work violations in Mass.  Boston Globe   ...Child-labor laws in Massachusetts were tightened then following on-the-job deaths of several teenagers, including a 16-year-old who was killed after losing control of a golf cart at a Salem country club. But enforcement citations appear to have dropped ...
Minimum wage hike goes to Minnesota House for vote   Associated Press   ....Many Minnesota workers would get a pay hike, extra time to spend with newborns and recently adopted children and more overtime pay in the minimum wage bill that is headed to the House floor.
Tax Shuffle Could Shake Up Missouri  St. Louis Post-Dispatch   ...Missouri’s Republican-led legislature is poised to send Gov. Jay Nixon a bill that would cut the state income tax, especially for small businesses, while raising the sales tax to benefit three legislative priorities…
Right-to-work will lower wages and weaken the economy (opinion) Southeast Missourian   ...Currently, Missouri Republicans are bent on passing so called "right-to work" legislation. Even though the president pro tem of the Senate said it isn't a priority of the Senate and it faces veto by the governor, they press on while they could be working to modernize our economy...
Feds approve New Jersey's plan to spend $1.8 billion in Sandy aid  New Jersey Star-Ledger   ...The federal government has approved New Jersey's plan to spend more than $1.8 billion in disaster aid, Gov. Chris Christie announced yesterday...
Sandy credited for rise in NY construction jobs  Crain’s New York   ...Thanks, in part, to a boost from post-Sandy work, employment in New York state's construction industry is inching its way back to its pre-recession peak...
Art Pope Groups Push Extreme ALEC Tax Agenda in North Carolina  PR Watch …An array of right-wing organizations in North Carolina are arguing loudly for Gov. Pat McCrory to radically alter how corporations and people pay taxes in the state -- and the not-so-hidden hand behind the effort is North Carolina millionaire Art Pope, a close ally of the Koch brothers, who funds the groups…
Airport Privatization Takes Off in Puerto Rico  Truth-Out   ...About 17 years ago, lawmakers slipped an obscure section of text into the annual federal aviation bill. In February, the intent of that law was enacted for only the second time when the FAA approved the privatization of Puerto Rico's Luis Munoz Marin International Airport. Numerous elected officials, lawyers and economists have denounced it as a bad bargain...
Virginia can block out of state use of FOIA, Supreme Court rules  Associated Press   ...The Supreme Court ruled Monday that it's legal for a state to limit use of its Freedom of Information Act to its own residents...
Marvel filming most of latest 'Captain America' movie in L.A.  Los Angeles Times   ...Disney-owned Marvel Studios is producing most of 'Captain America: The Winter Soldier' in L.A., a region that has seen the steady exodus of big-budget features. Teamsters Local 399, represents the film’s casting directors, location managers and drivers...

Today's Teamster News 02.05.12

Legislature nears midpoint as houses divided  SunSentinel.com   ...Senate President Mike Haridopolos, by insisting on driving through the prison plan, risks losing his grip on his chamber...
Indiana's new law turns up the volume on 'right to work' debate in Michigan Legislature  Associated Press   ...The debate over whether Michigan should become a right-to-work state has intensified because of actions in a neighboring state...
Gov. Scott Walker to meet with DA about John Doe investigation  Wisconsin Rapids Tribune   ...Gov. Scott Walker said Friday evening that he will be "voluntarily meeting" with the prosecutor leading the secret John Doe investigation that already has brought charges against some of his top aides...
Occupy CPAC  Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO   ...With workshops like “Return of Big Labor: What Can We Learn from Wisconsin & Ohio,” and “Taking back Wall Street: The Tea Party vs. Occupy Wall Street,” the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) descends on the nation’s capital February 9-11 and local labor activists are planning a DC lesson to ensure that the voice of the 99% are heard at this elite conservative gathering...
Agribusiness Fights to Allow Children to Work in Manure Pits  Republic Report   ...lobbying is just gross...
Snow plow drivers still negotiating with state  KXLH.com   ...The Teamsters are asking for more pay, a different work schedule, and a better reimbursement for health insurance. The employees haven't received a raise in 4 years. In December, the Teamsters voted to strike if they didn't get a deal...

Today's Teamster News 11.19.20

Hoffa Elected To Fourth Term By Overwhelming Margin  IBT   ...According to unofficial results provided by the Office of the Election Supervisor, the Hoffa-Hall Slate defeated their two challengers with 60 percent of the vote...
Occupy Wall Street protests aren't over by a long shot New York Daily News   ...Then the crowd of nurses and teachers and Teamsters and telephone company workers took up the chant: “All day, all week, Occupy Wall Street.” And for one brief moment, you got an inkling that the mindset of a city, perhaps a nation, was on the cusp of change...
What price the new democracy? Goldman Sachs conquers Europe  The Independent   ...Even before the upheaval in Italy, there was no sign of Goldman Sachs living down its nickname as "the Vampire Squid", and now that its tentacles reach to the top of the eurozone, sceptical voices are raising questions over its influence...
Rally to recall Walker  United Wisconsin   ...Join United Wisconsin, We Are Wisconsin, and our partners on Saturday, November 19th in Madison on the Capitol Steps to Stand up for our values and recall Walker and Kleefisch!...
Newt: Fire the janitors, hire kids to clean schools  Politico   ...Newt Gingrich tonight said at an address at Harvard that child work laws "entrap" poor children into poverty - and suggested that a better way to handle failing schools is to fire the janitors, hire the local students and let them get paid for upkeep...
Nevada Files Felony Charges for Mortgage Fraud  Economic Populist   ...The Nevada Attorney General just filed felony criminal charges for mortgage fraud, but wait for it, so far it is just two little fish...

Those tired arguments for deregulation

Today, right-wing corporate quislings who hold elected office just love to rail against government regulation. Here's Rep. Tim Scott, R-S.C.:

Each layer of the American dream is being infected by government regulations.

It is true that some government regulations are way too heavy. (That may be because lobbyists make them complex by getting exemptions for their industries.) It is also true that some government regulations -- like the ones governing banks -- are way too light. But isn't it time to abandon these tired old attacks claiming that all government regulation is bad? 

Rick Bookstaber shows how we're hearing the same arguments today that we heard more than 150 years ago to oppose regulation -- in this case, of child labor in England. They will sound all too familiar to modern American ears:

First, that abolishing child labor would harm those who promoted job creation and productivity. Manufacturers opposed the child labor laws as an unjust interference with their business, an unnecessary and burdensome obstacle to their success, and a threat of ruin to the class who provided employment to so many laborers and created the productive engine that was the source of commerce for the country.

Second, that if child labor were restricted England would be placed at a competitive disadvantage. This would not only affect the capitalist class, but affect the size of the pie to be distributed, and thus ultimately trickle down to affect the working class itself.

Third, that at a more fundamental level government regulation should be broadly cast aside because it was detrimental to competition and essential freedoms: freedom of labor, freedom of capital, and freedom of contract. If the employer and the employee were both satisfied with the conditions of their labor, why should the government interfere?

Sound familiar? Now, let's look at a report by a Royal Commission in 1842 on the conditions of children in the mines:

Children began their life in the coal mines at five, six, or seven years of age. Girls and women worked like boys and men, they were less than half clothed, and worked alongside of men who were stark naked. There were from twelve to fourteen working hours in the twenty-four, and these were often at night. Little girls of six or eight years of age made ten to twelve trips a day up steep ladders to the surface, carrying half a hundred weight of coal in wooden buckets on their backs at each journey. Young women appeared before the commissioners, when summoned from their work, dressed merely in a pair of trousers, dripping wet from the water of the mine, and already weary with the labor of a day scarcely more than begun. A common form of labor consisted of drawing on hands and knees over the inequalities of a passageway not more than two feet or twenty-eight inches high a car or tub filled with three or four hundred weight of coal, attached by a chain and hook to a leather band around the waist.

There it is: A "dream" uninfected by government regulation.

Today's Teamster News 06.02.11

Three GOP senators go to court to block recalls  Associated Press   ...GOP Sens. Dan Kapanke of La Crosse, Luther Olsen of Ripon and Randy Hopper of Fond du Lac all want judges to block the Government Accountability Board from calling elections...
Secret tape: GOP considered spoiler candidate to challenge Shilling  LaCrosse Tribune   ... La Crosse County Republicans discussed running a spoiler candidate against Democrat Jennifer Shilling in an effort to delay the recall election of Sen. Dan Kapanke, according to a secret recording of the party's general membership meeting last week...
Senate Republicans declare war on Ohio’s minimum wage constitutional amendment  Plunderbund   ...they’re now seeking to undermine Ohio’s minimum wage protections that the voters overwhelming supported a little over four years ago...
Maine Child Labor Law: Teens To Work More During School Year  Huffington Post   ...Paul LePage, Maine's Republican governor, signed into law Tuesday a watered-down version of a controversial bill that would have rolled back the state's child labor standards...
Lansing politicians focused on bath salts, not jobs  We are the people Michigan.com   ...Last year, politi­cians across the state ran on a plat­form of cre­at­ing jobs. Instead, this is what our elected offi­cials were focused on today — bath salts...
Two N.H. GOP Lawmakers Resign Over House Speaker’s Anti-Worker Agenda  AFL-CIO   ...Two top-ranking Republican legislators in the New Hampshire House have resigned their leadership positions to protest House Speaker Bill O’Brien’s extreme anti-worker agenda and strong-arm tactics...

ME's wingnut gov. to gut child labor laws

Wingnut Maine Gov. Paul LePage is expected to sign new legislation loosening child work rules. The Bangor Daily News reports the bill, which has already passed the Senate, allows teens to work an additional four hours during the school week, increasing the limit from 20 to 24 hours, and allows them to work 15 minutes later, until 10:15 p.m. on school days. Republican legislators said the new law will allow teens to contribute to their families’ finances and pay for increasing college costs, while Democratic legislators rightfully say Maine needs to create good jobs for adults first.

“Given the current high unemployment rate in Maine, we should be spending our time and energy here creating jobs for people’s parents not increasing the amount of hours 16- and 17-year-olds can work,” said Rep. Erin Herbig, D-Belfast.

It comes as no surprise the bill has the support of the Maine Restaurant Association and the Maine Innkeepers Association.

“I think this bill should be more rightly titled an act to exploit our children for the financial benefit of the restaurant and the hospitality industry,“ Rep. Timothy Driscoll, D-Westbrook, told The Bangor Daily News.

The original bill, sponsored by Sen. Debra Plowman, R-Hampden, would have lifted all of the restrictions on the hours 16-year-olds can work while school is out of session and would have eliminated all restrictions on the hours 17-year-olds can work.

Legislation that would have instituted a “training” minimum wage of $5.25 for teens, below the state’s $7.50 minimum wage, was defeated by the legislature’s labor committee earlier this month. A very small favor for which it is difficult to be thankful.

Today's Teamster News 05.20.11

Voter ID passed by Wisconsin Senate, sends bill to Gov. Scott Walker Sheboygan Press ...Spectators in the Senate gallery exploded into shouts and screams after the vote, yelling “Shame! Shame! Shame!” and “Recall! Recall! Recall!” They then burst into singing “We Shall Overcome...”
Does Alvin Brown's victory in politically conservative Jacksonville mean tougher times for Florida's Gov. Rick Scott and the GOP? Florida Courier ...(He) comes into office raising questions about whether his win could portend tougher times for Republicans in what has been a staunchly conservative county...
Maine moves to loosen teen labor laws Stateline   ...A controversial proposal to let teenagers work longer hours during the school year is headed to the desk of Governor Paul LePage, a Republican who supports the changes...
Montgomery County Democrats bash Corbett budget, agenda The Times-Herald ...they claim (it) would cripple public schools, social services agencies and cut jobs...
Anxiety keeps the super-rich safe from middle-class rage The Guardian ...The Institute for Fiscal Studies reports that last year incomes among the top 1% grew at the fastest rate in a decade...
Editorial: Missouri Legislature, governor, fail on job creation promise stltoday.com ...Its leaders' alleged job creation agenda lay in tatters on the Capitol's marble floors, trampled by a stampede of partisan politicians, with plenty of evidence that most of them were worried mostly about one job and one job only: their own...
Teamsters Endorse U.S. Rep. Shelley Berkley for U.S. Senate IBT  ...The Teamsters Union is proudly backing U.S. Rep. Shelley Berkley in her election campaign for U.S. Senate for the state of Nevada, the union announced today...
Teamsters Call on Loomis Leadership to Restore Workers' Rights in U.S.  IBT   ...Teamsters International Vice President Rome Aloise formally called on Loomis AB’s CEO Lars Blecko and Chairman of the Board Alf Göransson to meet with the Teamsters and restore the fundamental rights of their U.S. employees to be represented by the union of their choice...

Don't let ME gut child labor laws (VIDEO)

Wingnut Maine Gov. Paul LePage wants children to work longer hours, later into the night, and for less than the minimum wage. He says he'll sign a bill moving through the Legislature that would roll back child labor laws.

Our friends at the National Employment Law Project are not pleased. Nor is the Maine People's Alliance. (Nor are we.)  The commercial above started running this week on Portland television. 

Today's Teamster News 04.20.11

Teamsters president lobbys against anti-union bills in Missouri  Kansas City Star   ...“This is not about workers’ rights. It’s about getting rid of unions...”
Tea Party Activists Ready to Submit Recall Petitions Against Wisconsin Democrats  Slate   ...Don't be surprised to hear about a rush of petitions to recall Democrats in the next seven days...
Prosser Declares Win in Wisconsin Race With Recount Possible  Bloomberg   ...Challenger JoAnne Kloppenburg is deciding whether to seek a recount after Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice David T. Prosser Jr. emerged with a 7,316-vote victory...
Oklahoma Senate approves collective bargaining repeal  The Oklahoman   ...The Senate on Tuesday sent Gov. Mary Fallin a bill that would strip collective bargaining rights from city employees in Oklahoma's largest cities...
Kasich comments on "shabby" benefits at Bob Evans  Columbus Dispatch   ...Five weeks ago, the state offered Bob Evans millions in incentives to ensure it did not move its headquarters out of the state...
Sarasota sees surge of independent voters  Herald-Tribune   ...Elections supervisors in the region say they have never seen such a dramatic shift away from the major parties...
Another labor battle brewing in Augusta  WLBZ.com   ...(A bill) would allow employers to pay students under the age of 20 a Training Wage that is two dollars below the minimum wage...
Detroit's pension boards sue over emergency manager law  Detroit News   ...The suit alleges the emergency manager statute is unconstitutional, would modify the City Charter and collective bargaining agreements and allow for the removal of pension fund trustees...
NH Senate to vote on right-to-work legislation  Boston Globe   ...Gov. John Lynch has said he will veto the bill, but Republicans hold supermajorities in both chambers and could override a veto...

Today's Teamster News 04.19.11

Can Dems take back Wisconsin state senate?  Washington Post   ...for the first time, it’s fair to say that the possibility, as improbable as it still seems, is now in play...
Petitions to repeal SB5 to begin circulating soon  WTOL    ...The coalition group called "We Are Ohio" says they will begin circulating petitions later this week to repeal Senate Bill 5 now passed into law...
Low-wage jobs too big a part of recovery (opinion)  Dayton Daily News  ...the number of Ohioans earning $7.25 an hour (the federal minimum wage) or less has more than doubled since the beginning of the recession. From 77,000, it is most recently reported at 172,000...
Moveon.org stages 300 Tax Day rallies  The Hill  ...to protest tax-dodging by 12 U.S. corporations...
Senate weakens anti-union bill amid strong opposition  Miami Herald   ...Public employee unions could continue to deduct dues from paychecks under new Senate plan but couldn’t use the money for political purposes...
Teen 'training wage' bill draws opposition  Bangor Daily News  ... it would establish a training wage for new workers 20 years old or younger of $5.62 per hour for their first 90 days of employment. Maine minimum wage is $7.50 an hour...
NH Senate to consider House pension reform bill  Boston Globe  ...A measure that strips New Hampshire's public unions of much of their bargaining power is back...
Pay increases for them, but not for you  Pocono Record   ...While Pennsylvanians of all stripes continue to be saddled with wage freezes, pay cuts or job uncertainty ... politicians are selfishly taking care of their own, apparently without fear of reprisal from taxpayers who are required to foot the bill...

ME politicians try to kill child labor laws

It’s bad enough corporate-backed politicians across the country are rolling back workers’ rights when they should be creating jobs. Now Maine's Legislature is looking to turn back child labor laws.

The minimum wage in Maine is $7.50 an hour, but children under the age of 20 will be paid $5.25 an hour for their first 180 days on the job if LD 1346 passes. The bill, otherwise known as, “An Act to Enhance Access to the Workplace for Minors,” also eliminates the maximum number of hours a child over 16 can work during the school year. Rep. David Burns (R-Whiting), sponsor of the legislation, told the Bangor Daily News:

An employer’s got to have employees, so they can decide what they want to pay. The student wants to have a job, and they can decide what they’re willing to work for.

Actually, with this legislation, Rep. Burns and his colleagues get to decide how low businesses can set the bar for paying kids to work. And what business is going to hire adults when they can have children work for $2.25 less an hour?

Sen. Debra Plowman (R-Hampden) is also sponsoring a bill that loosens restrictions on hours that teens can work. The bill, which would allow children to work longer hours and until 11 p.m., is headed for a vote in the Senate. Wingnut Gov. Paul LePage is backing the bill, which comes as no surprise after he recently removed a mural depicting labor history, including child millworkers, from the Department of Labor because it was “anti-business.”

Some good-ish news—an effort to kill child labor laws in Missouri appears pretty much dead. The kids are safe there for now.

But still. Isn't this supposed to be the 21st century, not the 19th?

Today's Teamster News 03.31.11

Ohio Legislature approves Senate Bill 5  Cincinnati Enquirer   ...The Ohio General's passage Wednesday night of a bill to restrict collective bargaining rights for 360,000 unionized public employees will likely shift to the courts and the ballot box...
Rally to denounce budget cuts  Concord Monitor   ...Organizers of a (N.H.)rally say they expect thousands of people to gather at the State House tomorrow to ask the Senate to reject a state budget under consideration by the House...
State will continue implementing collective bargaining law despite judge's order  Wisconsin State Journal   ...Department of Administration Secretary Mike Huebsch said Wednesday he has a legal obligation to implement all laws passed by the Legislature...
Unemployment rises in nearly every Wis. county  Associated Press   ...Kenosha County was the only county whose seasonally adjusted rate remained the same, at 10.1%...
Amended child labor bill heads to Senate  Lewiston Sun-Journal  ...(Maine) Republicans supported the measure, which would allow minors to work longer hours and more often during weeks when school is in session...
Democrats push back on Gov. Rick Snyder's cut in jobless benefits  Detroit Free Press    ...Michigan will become the only state to offer fewer than 26 weeks of initial state unemployment benefits, though some observers say other GOP-controlled states may try the same...
Attack on PLAs launched in Senate (AUDIO)  Missourinet   ...A plan to bar project labor agreements on any project using public money in Missouri has run into opposition from labor-affiliated state senators...
Labor vs. Legislatures: Wisconsin's attack on collective bargaining may spread  Pittsburgh Post-Gazette   ...Republican lawmakers in Harrisburg, who hold majorities in both bodies of the General Assembly, are seeking support for a handful of bills that would weaken unions' reach and rein in their organizing power...

First they go after unions. Then they go after your kid.

Lovely.

While Koch whore Gov. Scott Walker attacks the working class in Wisconsin, politicians elsewhere are not content with just stripping adult workers of their rights. Now they’re trying to gut child labor laws.

Sen. Jane Cunningham (R-Mo.) is sponsoring a bill in the Missouri legislature that would legalize the employment of children under the age of 14, remove restrictions on the number of hours children can work and eliminate inspections on workplaces that employ children.

Cunningham believes Missouri’s labor law rules are an example of “big government telling parents how to raise their children,” and says her aim is to “put back some common sense.”

This very week, in 1912, women and children textile strikers in Lawrence, Mass., were beaten by police during a 63-day walkout protesting low wages and work speedups.

In 2011, an estimated 158 million children aged 5-14 are engaged in child labor, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, places that don’t have child labor laws. That’s one in six children in the world.

It took the labor movement a hundred years to guarantee protections for child workers, from 1836 when early trade unions proposed state minimum age laws to 1938 when children’s employment and hours of work were federally regulated in the Fair Labor Standards Act.

One hundred years. We just can't let wackadoodles like Cunningham roll back those hard-won rights.

Kill child labor laws, MO senator says

What is this woman thinking?

Bad enough that a right-to-work (for LESS) bill is speeding through the Missouri legislature. Even worse, state Sen. Jane Cunningham (pictured) wants to eliminate child labor laws.

If that doesn't tell you where these anti-worker, anti-family troglodytes are coming from, I don't know what does.

Yesterday in the Missouri Senate, SB1 and SB 206, both right-to-work (for LESS) bills, merged and passed the Senate General Laws Committee.  Cunningham chairs the committee.

Mike Hall over at the AFL-CIO blog has a great rant about this:

...there isn’t much that surprises me anymore, let alone shocks me. Well, today, I’m shocked. Missouri State Sen. Jane Cunningham (R) has introduced a bill to minimize child labor laws. I could find all kinds of colorful words and descriptions to show just how crazed and outrageous is S.B. 222.  

You have to see it to believe it, and here it is.

• It takes away the ban on employment of children under 14.
• It removes restrictions on the number of hours and times of day when a child may work
• It repeals the work certificate requirement
• It allows children under 16 to work in any capacity in a motel, resort or hotel
• It removes Division of Labor Standards' authority to inspect employers who employ children.  

As Hall says, "This is insane."