Today's Teamster News 06.28.14

Teamster News
Ulster County Resource Recovery Agency, Employees' Union Reach Deal  Daily Freeman   ...An agreement between the Ulster County Resource Recovery Agency board and 21 agency employees who are part of the Teamsters union gives the employees raises of 2 percent per year for 2014, 2015 and 2016 and, for the first time, mandates employee contributions to their heath insurance costs....
Parking Employees Can Seek Arbitration To Regain Jobs  Scranton Times-Tribune   ...The Commonwealth Court said Lackawanna County Judge Vito Geroulo erred when he ruled Teamsters Local 229 had to first obtain the judge’s permission before it could seek an arbitration hearing on behalf of garage maintenance workers who lost their jobs after a private firm, Central Parking, took over operation of the city’s five parking garages...
Costanzo's Bakery Sales Drivers Join Teamsters Local 264  teamster.org   ...route sales drivers at Costanzo’s Bakery overwhelmingly voted to join Teamsters Local 264 in Cheektowaga, N.Y. despite a concerted effort by the company to discourage unionization that included weekly captive audience meetings and intimidation...
Teamster Local Union Leaders Endorse Proposed AEI Agreement  teamster.org   ...Leaders of Teamster local unions that represent workers at Air Express International (AEI) met today and unanimously endorsed the proposed National Master AEI Agreement and the company’s final offer...
Trade
Obama TPP Trade Officials Got Hefty Bonuses From Big Banks As “Reward” For Joining Government  America Blog   ...Officials tapped by the Obama administration to lead the Trans-Pacific Partnership [TPP] trade negotiations have received multi-million dollar bonuses from CitiGroup and Bank of America, financial disclosures obtained by Republic Report show...
State Battles
Paycheck Deduction Bills Advance In Pa. Legislature  CBS Philly   ...Controversial legislation that would limit union deductions from the paychecks of public employees is in position for a possible vote as lawmakers wrap up work before summer recess...
Meeting In Providence, Unitarians Join Protest For Fair Wages  Providence Journal   ...In his opening prayer, Rodriguez said low-wage workers have to make “terrible decisions between paying their rent and feeding their families. … Pay them enough to live.” By mid-rally, the crowd had grown to more than 250. The signs they held included “Minimum Wage is a Moral Outrage.”...
War On Workers
U.S. Supreme Court Ruling Seen Unlikely To Alter Past NLRB Decisions  Reuters   ...A Supreme Court ruling on Thursday raised questions about the validity of more than 1,000 U.S. National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) decisions, but any cases the board reconsiders will likely end with similar decisions, labor lawyers said...
Investors Who Bought Foreclosed Homes in Bulk Look to Sell  New York Times   ...The single-family home market, after a wave of acquisitions by companies backed by Wall Street money, is changing as institutional buyers now focus more on expanding their operations to manage tens of thousands of homes across the United States...
To Get A Fair Share, Sharing Economy Workers Must Unionize  Al-Jazeera America   ...Only four years after the service debuted in San Francisco, Uber drivers nationwide are getting organized and demanding better treatment...
No, The Long-Term Jobless Aren't 'Catching A Break'  FiveThirtyEight   ... Only about 11 percent of the long-term jobless find jobs each month, little better than in the depths of the recession. Moreover, even those who do find jobs are often able to find only part-time or short-term work...
Miscellaneous
Report: Mexican Military Chopper Crosses Into US, Shoots At Border Agents  CBS Las Vegas   ...Mexican authorities were conducting a drug interdiction operation when the incident happened early Thursday morning on the Tohono O’odham Indian Nation. The Mexican chopper fired at the agents and then flew back into Mexico....  
PRISM, Local Edition: NY DA Employs 381 Secret Orders to Gather Complete Digital Dossiers from Facebook  Electronic Frontier Foundation   ...The DA was looking for evidence of disability fraud, and saw Facebook as a treasure trove.  … Perhaps some of them, after claiming a disability, would post a windsurfing selfie or write about their marathon training, and evidence their fraud...
6 Groups That Are Reinventing Organized Labor  Think Progress   ...while in this changed economy just 11.3 percent of the nation’s wage and salary workers — about 14.5 million people — belong to unions, millions of other American workers are also organizing and uniting for better conditions, in a manner outside of the union structure created by the National Labor Relations Act...
U.S. Government, Not Banks, Should Service Loans, Professors Argue  Chronicle of Higher Education   ...Student-loan servicers are not doing enough to help borrowers. Mr. Fink and Mr. Zullo argue that the federal government should consider moving the responsibility to an agency with the capacity and inclination to help manage the student-loan crisis...

Today's Teamster News 01.06.14

Better Than Expected US Economic Data  The Big Picture   ...Generally, the data supports the view that US manufacturing should improve this year...
Meet the Americans Who've Lost Their Unemployment Benefits: "I'm Thoroughly Petrified"  Mother Jones   ..."When you apply for a job at 50 people laugh at you. When you apply for a job at 65 people just look at you like you are crazy..."
The New Financial Scam Driving Workers Deep Into Debt  Alternet   ... there is a new game in town. It’s called “workplace loans” but in many cases they should be called “company store loans...”
Once Upon a Time We Were Winning the War on Poverty  CEPR   ...The rise in inequality over the last three decades explains the lack of progress on reducing poverty...
How Many Constitutional Rights Have Americans Lost?  Washingtons Blog   ...This post explains the liberties guaranteed in the Bill of Rights – the first 10 amendments to the United States Constitution – and provides a scorecard on the extent of the loss of each right...
The Exciting New Trend In Citizenship Programs  Q Experts' Blog   ...Citizenship by Investment, also known as Economic Citizenship, has gained popularity in recent years as a means of acquiring a second passport. One of the achievements of the “immigration consultancy” business as a whole has definitely been to make the whole process more respectable...
Proof that offshore banking is the key to embezzling billions  Quartz   ...Four countries’ legal systems are trying to recoup billions from Ablyazov, who used his position as chairman of the bank to make more than $1.7 billion in loans to holding companies in the British Virgin Islands that were never repaid. Those companies are allegedly controlled by Ablyazov...
TAFTA: 'The Global Corporate Coup', Part Two  The BRAD BLOG   ...Don't care for the secretly-negotiated Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal? You're not gonna like the Trans-Atlantic 'Free Trade' Agreement (TAFTA) much better...
Chinese dam builders rush to Latin America  China Business   ...China's growing involvement in hydropower development in the region boosts clout but also leads to allegations of poor corporate responsibility...
Right-to-work laws do nothing to increase jobs (opinion)  Statesman-Journal   ...How inevitable is a right-to-work fight in Oregon? Our sense is that it is almost as if a big red X has been affixed to a map of our state by outside influences who have decided in secret that we are to be the next target in their misinformation campaign...
Oregon County Won't Raise Taxes, Resorts to Posse  Economic Populist   ...These people do not have the money to pay more taxes and if you want to blame anyone, blame Congress for stopping timber payments to rural regions where jobs are scarce.  It's no surprise areas with poverty rates above 20% reject an increase in mandatory taxes under these circumstances. Bottom line, these rural areas are returning to the wild west and vigilante justice is sure to follow...

Memo to the Senate: Read the Constitution

Retiring senator Max Baucus wants a bill passed that would grease the skids for another secretly negotiated trade deal to be rammed through Congress. Before anyone even reads the fine print.

Reuters reports:

An influential Democratic U.S. senator said on Wednesday he was working on a bipartisan bill to boost President Barack Obama's ability to negotiate trade deals, while Republicans made clear that more White House involvement is needed to pass the measure.

Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution states "The Congress shall have Power ... To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations."

What Baucus wants is Fast Track, an undemocratic procedure that allows no amendments and limited debate on a bill written by the Executive branch for trade deals negotiated in secret. Fast Track is the prerequisite for congressional approval of the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement (TPPA), a trade deal being negotiated among a dozen Pacific Rim countries. Supporters hope it will pass this year.

The Teamsters want any trade deal to be carefully vetted by Congress to make sure it benefits working families -- and that no special breaks for corporations are sneaked into the fine print.

We suggest Sen. Baucus re-read the U.S. Constitution before he sails off into the sunset.

Just sayin'.

Today's Teamster News 07.07.12

5 Ways Republicans Have Sabotaged Job Growth  ThinkProgress   ...New numbers released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that the economy added a mere 80,000 jobs in June. That’s down from an average of 150,000 jobs a month for the first part of the year, and far too little to keep up with population growth...
US State Legislators Spur 50-State Opposition to TPP  Trade Reform   ...While U.S. trade negotiators are meeting behind closed doors in San Diego, 130 state legislators from all 50 states and Puerto Rico have signed a letter ... warning that they will oppose the deal unless the administration alters its current approach...
Workingman’s Constitution (opinion)  New York Times   ...The Constitution on this account promises real equality of opportunity; it calls on all three branches of government to ensure that all Americans enjoy a decent education and livelihood and a measure of security against the hazards of illness, old age and unemployment — all so they have a chance to do something that has value in their own eyes and a chance to engage in the affairs of their communities and the larger society. Government has not only the authority but also the duty to underwrite these promises...
Banking scandal: 'the rot was widespread, the corruption endemic' (opinion)  The Guardian   ...We have been reminded, instead, that the rot was far more widespread. Incompetence, corruption and greed have been endemic in British banking...
Teamsters Applaud Signing of Surface Transportation Bill Into Law  IBT   ...The Teamsters Union applauds Congress and the President for enacting into law this vitally important legislation that will put hundreds of thousands of construction workers back on the task of repairing our deteriorating roads and bridges and improving our infrastructure so that commerce and the traveling public can move more efficiently...
Teamsters Rail Conference Applauds California Vote For High Speed Rail  IBT   ...The new rail system would be the largest public works project in the state and could potentially employ hundreds of unionized maintenance of way workers and locomotive engineers and trainmen who are members of the Teamsters Rail Conference...

Today's Teamster News 11.29.11

Knight: Teamsters’ strength stands up to power (opinion)  Pekin Daily Times   ...in less than a month, the union has shown that a determined few can stand up for themselves; with their union brothers and sisters they can stand up to the rich and powerful...
Walker Recall Effort Says 300,000 Signatures In  Associated Press   ...The United Wisconsin coalition needs 540,208 signatures by Jan. 17 to force a recall election sometime in 2012...
Rich James: Indiana doesn’t need right-to-work legislation (opinion)  Post-Tribune   ...there will be an unwarrated attack upon organized labor. The Republicans, who do the bidding of corporations and other businesses, will seek the passage of a right-to-work bill...
Voting Rights Advocate Held At Gunpoint By SWAT Team With No Warrant  Crooks and Liars   ...Last Monday, attorney Barbara Arnwine was rudely awakened by the sounds of a police raid on her home...
Euro zone crisis biggest threat to global economy-OECD  Reuters   ...The euro zone has already entered a mild recession but much worse could follow unless policy makers take decisive action to get ahead of the market...
Judge Blocks Citigroup Settlement With S.E.C.  New York Times   ... Taking a broad swipe at the Securities and Exchange Commission’s practice of allowing companies to settle cases without admitting that they had done anything wrong, a federal judge on Monday rejected a $285 million settlement between Citigroup and the agency...

TJI: New federal lawsuit claims anti-union bill violates 1st and 14th Amendments

This just in: Wisconsin unions just filed a lawsuit in federal court challenged the state's new anti-union bill as unconstitutional. The unions claim it's a violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendments.

The First Amendment protects thre freedom of speech and the freedom of assembly. The Fourteenth prohibits state and local governments from taking away life, liberty or property without due process and requires each state to provide equal protection under the law.

Here's the press release:

A broad coalition of Wisconsin unions, including the Wisconsin Education Association Council (WEAC), has filed a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the state’s Budget Repair Bill. The bill would gut collective bargaining rights for all but a select group of public workers who belong to unions that supported Gov. Scott Walker in the last election.

WEAC is an affiliate of the National Education Association. NEA worked to develop the lawsuit and will assist with its litigation. The lawsuit has been filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin.

“NEA stands in solidarity with WEAC in working to right the wrongs of Gov. Walker and his deep-pocketed allies,” said Dennis Van Roekel, president of NEA. “Under the guise of fixing the budget, the governor and his supporters railroaded opponents of their anti-worker agenda. This bill is an effort to silence the voices of working Wisconsinites, and it’s unconscionable.”

The lawsuit charges that the Budget Repair Bill violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution by stripping away basic rights to bargain, organize and associate to engage in union and political activity from most Wisconsin public sector employees. These rights have been in place for the last half century. Only employees working in job classifications, represented by the handful of unions that supported Gov. Walker in the last election, were spared from these punitive cutbacks.

“A stable middle class is essential to rebuilding our economy,” said Van Roekel. Union jobs were key in developing a vibrant middle class and now labor unions must work together to defeat the likes of Gov. Walker and the Koch brothers who appear to be set on a course to dismantle the middle class, one union worker at a time.”

The suit contends that it is a violation of the U.S. Constitution for a legislature to discriminate among classes of public employees, particularly when doing so does not advance legitimate policy objectives and instead simply rewards political allies and punishes political opponents.