Finally, more retailers are being thankful for their employees

The good news is that it seems more and more retailers are getting the message that workers should be able to spend Thanksgiving Day with their families, not toiling away at work.

The bad news? Some companies still aren't complying and probably never will. Paging Walmart ...

Anyway, employees of Costco, T.J. Maxx, Nordstrom, Crate and Barrel, American Girl, Burlington Coat Factory, The Home Depot, Marshalls and Staples won't have to be on the job next Thursday. REI, meanwhile, is doing one better -- closing Thanksgiving Day as well as Friday. They're even paying their workers too!

Walmart still refuses to close on Thanksgiving.

But that good cheer is not being extended to employees of Walmart, Target, Macy's, Best Buy, Toys R Us, Kmart or Kohl's. They still are putting financial gains above time with family. Or so they think.

The real kick in the pants is that opening for a few hours on Thanksgiving does not even yield more profits for companies. They're just taking in funds that they would have earned eventually during the holiday shopping season anyway. So thousands of workers give up their holiday for nothing.

As The Street noted:

Labor groups have pushed back on big chains forcing employees to come in for the holiday, while consumer groups have called for shoppers to boycott going out on Thanksgiving 

And stores have started to answer -- though likely more because the strategy of opening on Thanksgiving doesn't add to the bottom line, rather than for workers' morale. Indeed, retailers are finding that being open on Thanksgiving isn't necessarily boosting holiday sales, but rather that Thursday's sales are simply coming at the expense of those on Black Friday.

Whatever the reason, it's the right call. It's time for others to do the same.

Today's Teamster News 09.13.14

Teamster News
Con-Way Freight Workers in Texas Join Teamsters Local 657  teamster.org   ...On September 12, 2014, drivers and dockworkers at Con-Way Freight in Laredo, Texas voted to join Teamsters Local 657...There are 113 workers in the bargaining unit...
Teamsters file lawsuit to halt Quinn layoffs  Chicago Tribune   ...The Teamsters filed a lawsuit today to block the layoffs of dozens of workers Gov. Pat Quinn’s administration decided to let go...
Teamsters Push For FedEx Freight Union Vote In Indianapolis  Memphis Business Journal   ...The Teamsters union, as part of a national push to unionize FedEx Corp. employees, could soon ask for a secret vote in Indianapolis, Indiana...
Reading Of LRB Ruling Differs  Richmond News   ...Anita Dawson, who represents the 300 or so workers belonging to Teamsters Local 213, said talks resumed with the Swedish furniture giant Monday, and bargaining is expected to carry over into next week...
Teamsters Local 371 Endorse Anderson  Aledo Times Record   ...State Senate Candidate Neil Anderson (Rock Island) is honored to announce that the Teamsters Local 371 has endorsed his candidacy for the 36th District...
Trade
Outrage as EU blocks democratic challenge to US trade deal (opinion)  politics.co.uk   ...There is something rotten in the state of Europe when an unelected, unaccountable EU body can glibly inform millions of us that we no longer have the right to question its most dangerous and unpopular policies...
Sachs on TPP: "This is a NAFTA Treaty Writ Large"  Public Citizen   ..."These (trade deals) are largely industry- and lobby-driven activities. They are not yet in any way proved to be in the interest of American people, and this is a matter of significant concern...
State Battles
Federal appeals court reinstates voter ID law  Wisconsin State Journal   ...In a stunningly fast decision, a federal appeals court in Chicago reinstated Wisconsin’s voter photo identification law on Friday — just hours after three Republican-appointed judges heard arguments on reactivating the hotly debated law in time for the November election...
Uber Ride-Share Service Hits D.M. Today; Officials Balk  Des Moines Register   ...A popular ride-sharing service will debut today in Des Moines despite opposition from officials who say the company is not welcome unless it goes through the city's permitting process...
In The South, Workers Choosing To Unite And Triumph (opinion)  Raleigh News Observer   ...According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the five states last year with the most growth in union membership were all in the South...
NJ AFL-CIO files ethics complaint alleging pay-to-play in pension investment decisions by Christie Administration  NJ Politicker   ...New Jersey State AFL-CIO President Charles Wowkanech highlighted reports exposing what he sees as a disturbing pattern of big contributions to Christie for Governor or Republican organizations by firms handpicked to manage hundreds of millions in state pension funds...
War On Workers
Employers Are Stealing Billions Of Dollars A Year From Their Workers  New Republic   ...If wage theft is as prevalent in the rest of the United States as it is in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, then it costs workers more than $50 billion a year...
This Chart Shows How Meager U.S. Minimum Wage Truly Is  New Republic   ...minimum wage workers can buy much less with their wages than minimum wage workers in other developed countries...
A Showdown on the Pay Gap (opinion)  New York Times   ...The key vote, which will decide whether the Paycheck Fairness Act is allowed an up-or-down vote on the floor, is expected to occur on Monday....
Temporary foreign worker dies in freak accident, leaves chilling testimony  CBC News   ...A video uncovered by Radio-Canada paints a grim picture of the working conditions one temporary foreign worker allegedly experienced on an Ormstown, Que., farm...
Markets and Morality: Koch brothers foundation bankrolls Hope College student group  MLive   ...The Charles Koch Foundation supports more than 300 colleges and universities across the U.S., ranging from large public research institutions like Ohio State University to small private religious schools...
America's Poor, Deeper in Debt Than Ever  Bloomberg   ...More ominous is a steady increase in installment debt, a category that includes both student and auto loans -- areas that have recently seen a lot of questionable lending to lower-income borrowers...
It’s disgusting, and it’s still about race: Southern Republicans simply don’t want minorities to vote  Salon   ...the Republicans are actually creating the machinery for a carefully organized campaign to intimidate voters and to frighten members of minority groups from casting their ballots on November 3rd...
Miscellaneous
Wash. State Eyes WHL Teams Over Child Labor Laws  USA Today   ...Matt Erlich, a spokesman for the Washington Department of Labor and Industries, said that a 2013 complaint to the department pointed to how much money the players were paid in relation to time worked. The allegation hinted that it might be below the state's minimum wage...

Today's Teamster News 09.12.14

Teamster News
Possible Teamster strike could hit Fred Meyer  Puget Sound Business Journal   ...According to the union, contract talks between its 400 warehouse workers and Fred Meyer broke off last night, with no more talks scheduled. The contract expired on July 12...
Bargaining Between Teamsters And Fred Meyer Breaks Off In Seattle  teamster.org   ...Key issues in bargaining are health care and Fred Meyer’s insistence on language that would allow the company to outsource the workers’ jobs to a third-party subcontractor...
The Link Between Tracy Morgan's Tragic Accident And Trucker Pay  Think Progress   ...International Brotherhood of Teamsters Legislative Director Fred McLuckie explained in an interview. “In a lot of cases compensation isn’t that good, it’s fairly low, so they need their hours behind the wheel to make a living,” he said...
City Council Wavers On De Blasio's Horse-Carriage Ban  Wall Street Journal   ...Demos Demopoulos, secretary-treasurer for Teamsters Local 553, the union that represents the drivers, said the job losses would be severe. "It's 300 hundred people, 300 families will lose their livelihoods," he said...
The Teamsters of New York Are Speaking Out About Climate Change  Huffington Post   ... Drought, rising sea levels, and superstorms like Hurricane Sandy have shown us that climate change is here, and the people hit hardest are workers...
Trade
TISA, the newest bad trade deal, threatens US public and commercial services workers  TeamsterNation   ... TISA is a mega-deal involving many countries. It could lower wages and working conditions for workers who provide services, such as locomotive engineers, airline pilots, bus drivers, truck drivers and warehouse workers. Worse, the TISA could take away their jobs...
Millions (including 67 Teamster affiliates) tell Sen. Wyden to say 'no' to Fast Track  TeamsterNation   ... Congress should not rubber stamp trade deals negotiated in secret, a key U.S. senator was told today in a letter signed by 600 organizations (including 67 Teamsters affiliates and the IBT, of course) representing tens of millions of Americans...
Chances Of A TPP Agreement By Year’s End Fading  The Diplomat   ...As negotiations stand right now there is little chance of the TPP being finalized by the end of the year, and quite possibly for much longer...
US Military Bans 'Made In China' American Flags  Business Insider   ...California Rep. Mike Thompson, a Vietnam War veteran and Purple Heart recipient, wrote the legislation that requires any flag purchased by the Defense Department to be 100-percent made in America...
State Battles
Atlanta Taxi Drivers File Lawsuit Against Uber  WXIA   ...A group of Atlanta taxi drivers is lashing out in a lawsuit naming specific Uber drivers and the company as a whole...
Maine Hard Hit As Stagnant Wages Leave Average Workers Behind (opinion)  Portland Press Herald   ...The recovery, though, is not universal, not yet. Even if the overall signs trend positive, the average worker, particularly here in Maine, is being left behind...
N.J. Rating Cut by S&P as Christie Gets Record Downgrade  Bloomberg   ...New Jersey had its credit rating cut one step by Standard & Poor’s, handing Chris Christie his eighth downgrade, the most ever for a Garden State governor...
Michigan's 'Foreclosure King' Is Trying to Win a Seat in Congress  New Republic   ...The ad dubbed Trott the “foreclosure king,” and criticized him for evicting 101-year-old Texana Hollis, throwing her out into rainy streets at night and tossing her medication in a dumpster...
Executive behind voter fraud billboards sought Scott Walker advice  Milwaukee Journal Sentinel   ..."As we've seen throughout the criminal investigation of Scott Walker's administration and campaign, he is front and center and directing the operations," Ross said. "The email shows Scott Walker was involved from the start in the voter intimidation billboard effort financed by his campaign co-chair..."
War On Workers
Senate Republicans Quash Citizens United Amendment  Progress Illinois   ...Republicans in the Senate stopped a constitutional amendment on Thursday that would have effectively overturned the U.S. Supreme Court's Citizens United decision on political spending...
Conservatives want taxpayers to subsidize low-wage employers  The Hill   ...The EITC is a tax-payer financed subsidy that enables some employers to pay wages so low that workers are forced into poverty. In fact, the EITC helps employers who pay low wages in another way as well. The supplement to workers’ pay acts as an incentive for more workers to be willing to take low wage jobs. That increases the labor supply and drives down the wages of low-paid workers...
House collapse that killed 19-year-old worker involved underpinning  Toronto Star   ...The house was undergoing a type of basement renovation called “underpinning” that has caused other downtown houses to tumble down in recent years...
Switching Sides   East Bay Express   ...California Deputy Attorney General Benjamin Diehl's job was to prosecute banks for defrauding the public. Now he works for them...
Some Retail Workers Find Better Deals With Unions  New York Times   ...So what makes this Macy’s store so different? Its employees are represented by a union, which has insisted on stability in scheduling for its members. (Union workers enjoy similar scheduling arrangements at the Bloomingdale’s, H&M and Modell’s Sporting Goods stores in Manhattan.)...
Walmart Imposes New Employee Dress Code, Suggests Where To Shop For It  Al Jazeera America   ...Effective September 29, Walmart retail workers, or sales "associates," will have to put some of their meager hourly pay toward new clothes...
Chipotle Workers Shut Down Store Over 'Borderline Sweatshop Conditions'  Huffington Post   ...A Chipotle near Pennsylvania State University shut down on Wednesday after managers reportedly quit over brutal work hours and understaffing. A sign posted on the door to the eatery said that most employees resigned in protest of their "borderline sweatshop conditions." Below the message read: “People over profits.”...
U.S. threatened massive fine to force Yahoo to release data  Washington Post   ...The U.S. government threatened to fine Yahoo $250,000 a day in 2008 if it failed to comply with a broad demand to hand over user communications — a request the company believed was unconstitutional — according to court documents unsealed Thursday that illuminate how federal officials forced American tech companies to participate in the National Security Agency’s controversial PRISM program...

Today's Teamster News 08.29.14

Teamster News
MV Transportation Drivers Unanimously Choose Teamsters Union  IBT   ...MV Transportation drivers have voted unanimously, 67-0, to join Teamsters Local 890 in Salinas, Calif., to improve their working conditions. The 91 drivers provide adult paratransit services, shuttle and tourist trolley routes in Salinas and Monterey...
Calif. Senate Approves Bill To Protect Temporary Workers   IBT   ...The California Senate approved AB 1897 Wednesday evening. The bill will hold companies accountable for serious violations of the rights of workers on their premises that are committed by their own labor suppliers...
Uber Drivers In Southern California Form Association With Teamsters Local 986  IBT   ...The California App-Based Drivers’ Association (CADA) met in El Monte, California on Tuesday, to formalize its affiliation with Teamsters Local 986...
How One Union Is Playing For Both Sides In The Battle Between Uber And Taxis  BuzzFeed   ...As the bitter divide between ride-sharing and taxi companies continues to grow, one union is trying to unite all the drivers, no matter who they work for...
Trade
TTIP Will Sacrifice Food Safety For Faster Trade, Warn NGOs  EurActiv   ...The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) will irreversibly put EU consumers and animals at risk, the European Commission will be warned today...
Kristen Marshall: Reject the TPP  (opinion)   DailyCamera   ...“Why are we relying on WikiLeaks for information about TPP?”; and “What about Congress?”...
State Battles
Ballot Initiatives Become Pricey Playgrounds Of Parties And Corporations  Washington Post   ...For the first time in history, spending on the approximately 125 ballot questions facing voters in 41 states is likely to top $1 billion in campaign spending this year — and perhaps much more: Oil and gas companies in Alaska spent more than $170 for every vote they won in a successful campaign to reject higher taxes earlier this month...
The End Of The Scott Walker Experiment?  Slate   ...the biggest national test taking place in Wisconsin is a test of the Walker Hypothesis, which held that a politician who enacted conservative policies and didn’t shrink from the resulting controversy would be rewarded by a wide range of voters—conservatives, but also swing voters. ... With each new poll showing a close race, that hypothesis grows weaker...
DOR: Fiscal year revenue comes in $281.2 million below projections  WisPolitics Budget Blog   ...The largest shortfall came in income taxes, where the state collected $178.7 million less than expected. Corporate tax collections were also significantly lower, coming in $97.7 million behind projections...
War On Workers
You're Losing $18,000 A Year Because Of Income Inequality  Huffington Post   ..."Stagnant growth at the middle is just the flip side of fast growth at the top," Elise Gould, the author of the paper and EPI’s director of health policy research, told The Huffington Post...
When Do We Start Calling This “The Greater Depression”?  Washington Center for Equitable Growth   ...Between the start of 2005 and the end of 2007 U.S. real GDP grew at 3.1%/year. The recession trough in 2009 saw the U.S. real GDP level 11% lower than the 2005-2007 trend. Today it stands 16% below...
Most Americans Think The Economy Is Permanently Damaged  Huffington Post   ..."Looking at the aftermath of the recession, it is clear that the American landscape has been significantly rearranged," Rutgers professor Cliff Zukin said in a press release. "With the passage of time, the public has become convinced that they are at a new normal of a lower, poorer quality of life."...
For Every Education Level, Real Wages Have Gone Down So Far This Year  Bloomberg Businessweek   ...From the first half of 2007 to the first half of this year, real wages declined 4.9 percent for workers with a high school degree and 2.5 percent for workers with a college degree. Workers with advanced degrees registered an increase of only 0.2 percent over those seven years...
In Corporations, It’s Owner-Take-All (opinion)  Washington Post   ...Lazonick looked at the 449 companies listed every year on the S&P 500 from 2003 to 2012. ... That’s a total of 91 percent of their profits that America’s leading corporations targeted to their shareholders, leaving a scant 9 percent for investments, research and development, expansions, cash reserves or, God forbid, raises...
Sheriff releases name of Kalispell Walmart worker killed in fall  Missoulian   ...Larry Wurtz has been identified as the Kalispell Walmart employee who died after falling from a movable staircase in a back room of the store last week...
Worker hit and killed by SF city truck in the Bayview  SF Gate   ...A San Francisco Department of Public Works garbage truck struck and killed a crew member Thursday morning, city officials said...
Miscellaneous
Boomer Wealth Dented by Mortgages Poses U.S. Risk  Bloomberg   ...The share of Americans 65 and older with mortgage debt rose to 30 percent in 2011 from 22 percent in 2001, according to a May analysis by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau based on the latest available figures...

Today's Teamster News 08.14.14

Teamster News
BLET organizes Illinois Railway short line workers  teamster.org   ...The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) scored a short line organizing victory last week as a majority of workers at Illinois Railway voted to make the BLET their designated collective bargaining representative...
Teamster at US Foods Seeks Information About Merger  teamster.org   ...Frank Rinetti, a Teamster member and employee of US Foods, recently sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) seeking information about the proposed Sysco-US Foods merger and he also outlines his concerns about the merger's impact on jobs...
Union teamsters met Wednesday, will vote Thursday  KERO Bakersfield   ...GET union employees met Wednesday to discuss the proposal from GET...
Trade
Five Tests Walmart Must Pass to Show its 'Made In America' Street Cred  manufacture this   ...If Walmart is truly serious about its pledge to help American manufacturers, the corporation will slash its imports into the U.S...
Country-Of-Origin-Labeling Dispute Threatens U.S. Exports, Jobs  The Hill   ...A long list of U.S.-manufactured goods and agricultural products are being threatened by a trade dispute about whether U.S. Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) requirements discriminate against our bordering countries’ meat products. Absent quick action to settle the dispute, the governments of Canada and Mexico—currently the two largest markets for U.S. exports—could impose $2 billion in retaliatory tariffs that would endanger thousands of American jobs...
State Battles
Corporate front groups pushing laughable “National Employee Freedom Week” and other anti-union effort  eclectablog   ... “National Employee Freedom Week”... encourages union members to become freeloaders by leaving their unions while the unions continue to bargain for on their behalf for better wages, better working conditions, and better benefits...
Floridians tried to stop gerrymandering, and Republicans gerrymandered anyways. We’re about to see who wins.  Washington Post   ...If it passes muster with the courts in anything like its present form, it will have been a pretty major victory for the GOP in overcoming the so-called Fair Districts amendments -- and an equally large setback for redistricting reformers seeking to rein in partisan gerrymandering...
Christie: GOP governors to spend millions in Maine  Associated Press   ...New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie returned to Maine on Tuesday to help raise money for Gov. Paul LePage and predicted that the Republican Governors Association would spend millions of dollars in the state this fall to help LePage win a second term...
Record number of labor candidates prep to run for public office at New Jersey State AFL-CIO Labor Candidates School  Politicker NJ   ...A record-sized class of rank-and-file union members representing 23 local unions from across all sectors of the labor movement took part in the New Jersey State AFL-CIO Labor Candidates School August 9-10, 2014, at the Rutgers University Inn and Conference Center in New Brunswick...
The Big Money Behind Walker’s Campaign  Express Milwaukee   ...Walker returned to the deep pockets of his recall mega-contributors, including Las Vegas gambling billionaire Sheldon Adelson and his wife, Miriam. Adelson donated $250,000 to Walker in 2012...
Labor and small businesses team up on California franchising law  MSNBC   ...the theory appears to be that protecting franchisors against the threat of closure will make it easier for them to do things like raise workers’ wages...
War On Workers
Electric Worker Hit By Train, Killed In Edmond  KWTV   ...The train was traveling southbound when it hit and killed Edmond Electric Worker, Bob Waterson Tuesday evening. Edmond city officials say Waterson was with the company for more than 34 years...
Rail CEOs to Investors: "Bomb Trains" Safe At Almost Any Speed  DeSmog Blog   ...Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) recently said it would proceed with plans to increase speeds for oil-by-rail unit trains in Devil’s Lake, N.D. to 60 MPH from 30 MPH, despite opposition from local officials...
What’s Lost in the Market Basket Stories  Economic Policy Institute   ...they have succeeded by taking a distinctly high-road approach: the company takes care of its workers, paying decent wages, offering benefits to full- and part-time staff, and providing employees with a profit-sharing plan. At the same time, Market Basket still offers prices lower than its competitors, Walmart included...
Union Workers In Maine Join Protest Of FairPoint Outsourcing Plans  Portland Press Herald   ...Hundreds of unionized FairPoint Communications Inc. workers in Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire staged “informational protests” Tuesday to educate customers about the negative impact of company plans to boost outsourcing, union representatives said...
For Largest U.S. Companies, Jobs Growth Has Lagged Profits, Revenues  Reuters   ...From 2001 to 2013, inflation-adjusted revenue at 100 of the largest publicly traded companies grew 71 percent and inflation-adjusted operating profit rose 150 percent. Global headcount reported in company financial filings rose 31 percent...
Los Angeles To Vote On Killing Major Wall Street Deal As City Drowns In Financial Fees  International Business Times   ...Los Angeles lawmakers were expected to vote Wednesday on a proposal to renegotiate or terminate an interest rate swap deal from the mid-2000s that critics say now costs the city millions of dollars a year in fees. If successful, the initiative could make the city the nation's largest to challenge ballooning Wall Street levies that accompany similar interest rate swap deals throughout the nation...
Front and center: Amendment 3 pushes teacher tenure into the spotlight  Southeast Missourian   ...if teachers have been teaching in the same district for five years, they're granted due process rights by statute. "Before that, they're at-will," Meyer said. Five years, she said, is probably the longest probationary period used around the country...
Miscellaneous
Does Your Boss Know You’re Reading This? Surveillance Technology Boosts Efficiency But Creates Workplace Issues  Atlanta Journal-Constitution   ...There are few laws and court cases to help companies or workers understand the limits, leaving some gray areas for protection of employees’ privacy...

Today's Teamster News 05.30.14

Teamster News
MORENO VALLEY: Union vote nixed at food company  Press Enterprise   ...An Inland-based Teamsters local attempting to organize workers at a Moreno Valley food distribution center has canceled an election that had been scheduled for today, claiming that the company continues to threaten and intimidate employees...
Teamsters target Florida West International Airways  teamster.org   ... Today, the Teamsters Airline Division announced the start of a new initiative to organize pilots at Florida West International Airways (FWIA), a cargo airline based out of Miami International Airport. The pilots fly routes throughout the U.S., Latin America and the Caribbean...
Teamsters ratify 4 contracts with Pekin  Journal Star   ...The Teamsters represent four units that work for the city — the street department, the wastewater plant workers, solid waste department workers and a general unit that represents bus drivers, mechanics, secretaries, clerks and others...
Trade
EU Elections Pose New Threat To Trade Deal  Financial Times   ...EU and US officials are increasingly concerned about the impact on transatlantic trade talks of a surge in support for anti-establishment parties in European elections, raising the prospect for delays as they adapt to a new political reality...
State Battles
Fort Wayne Moves To End Collective Bargaining  WSBT   ...Indiana's second-largest city is poised to end collective bargaining with all city employees except police and firefighters under a measure a union official said is being pushed by "far-right politicians" to the detriment of hundreds of hard-working public employees...
Why Is The Wall Street Journal Livid That Scott Walker Wants A John Doe Settlement  PR Watch   ...Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's campaign is reportedly negotiating a settlement with prosecutors in the long-running "John Doe" criminal campaign finance probe -- and the editorial board, which for months has attacked prosecutors and portrayed the investigation as baseless, is livid...
Seattle City Council panel OKs $15 minimum wage  Associated Press   ... City Council members approved a delay to the implementation of the ordinance, from Jan. 1, 2015 to April 1, 2015...
An End to Sweatshop-Made City Workers’ Uniforms in Chicago?  In These Times   ...the people who make those same uniforms are unlikely to have any protections from the wage theft, locked fire exit doors and precarious buildings they could be facing on the job. A new ordinance introduced in the Chicago City Council on May 28 aims to fix that inconsistency. If the ordinance is passed, Chicago will join Los Angeles, St. Louis, Milwaukee, Boston and Seattle in attempting to enforce labor rights for factory workers…
War On Workers
U.S. Economy Shrinks For The First Time In 3 Years  Huffington Post   ...The U.S. economy contracted for the first time in three years as it buckled under the weight of a severe winter, but there are signs activity has since rebounded...
Walmart Moms’ Walkout Starts Friday  In These Times   ... hundreds of mothers who work at Walmart stores throughout the country will begin walking off the job on Friday, a week before the company's shareholders meet in Bentonville, Arkansas. The action will culminate in a nationwide strike on Wednesday, June 4...
Few workers confident of easy retirement  USA Today   ...Only 28% of U.S. workers are "very" or "extremely" confident that they'll one day fully retire with a comfortable lifestyle; a third are somewhat confident...
In New Orleans, Major School District Closes Traditional Public Schools For Good  Washington Post   ...The second-graders paraded to the Dumpster in the rear parking lot, where they chucked boxes of old work sheets, notebooks and other detritus into the trash, emptying their school for good. Benjamin Banneker Elementary closed Wednesday as New Orleans’s Recovery School District permanently shuttered its last five traditional public schools this week...
Northwestern And Its Football Players May Have To Wait For Clarity About Unionizing  Chicago Business Journal   ...When the Northwestern football team starts practice for the 2014 season in early August, will there be clarity about whether the team has the right to unionize? Frankly, it's unclear at this point. But here is what is known about where things stand right now...
Here's What Corporate America Really Thinks About You  Huffington Post   ...If you are an American human being today, ... what you really are is a sadly predictable agglomeration of demographic traits and buying habits. This is just how the world works, according to our many "data brokers," who pretty much know everything. These are companies that tirelessly scour the Internet, government records and anyplace else we might leave a mark on this mortal coil and then use the information they glean to help companies sell crap to you...
Miscellaneous
Harry Reid's Attacks On Koch Brothers Send GOP Donors Into The Shadows  Washington Post   ...Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid's relentless attacks on the billionaire Koch brothers are having an unforeseen impact--spurring other wealthy GOP donors to give more money to groups that keep their supporters' names secret...
The Wal-Mart Free City  The New Yorker   ...In October, the city council of Portland, Oregon, ... adopted a resolution banning Walmart—and Walmart alone— from the city’s investment portfolio. The resolution, unanimously approved, cited an anonymous executive who was quoted in Charles Fishman’s 2006 book, “The Wal-Mart Effect,” saying, “They have killed free-market capitalism in America.”...

Today's Teamster News 05.08.14

Teamster News
Richmond Ikea Labor Dispute Heads Into Year Two--With No End In Sight  The Province   ...The seasons and the calendar may have changed, but the labor dispute at Ikea's Richmond store remains as workers get set to mark a year on the picket line. About 300 members of Teamsters Local 213 have been surviving on strike pay...
York City approves new Teamsters contract  York Dispatch   ..."Both parties made concessions. Both parties got things," said Tom Ray, the city's deputy business administrator for human resources. According to the city's 2014 budget, 58 of the city's 364 employees are members of the Teamsters union...
Trade
Hollywood Boycott Threatens Trans Pacific Partnership  Huffington Post   ...A Hollywood boycott is threatening the Obama administration's Trans Pacific Partnership agreement. The southeast Asian nation of Brunei, a would be member of the TPP, is under fire from Hollywood...
State Battles
Koch Brothers And Big Utilities Campaign To Unplug Solar Power  Los Angeles Times   ...The Koch brothers have a new ploy to protect the traditional energy business that helped make them the planet's fifth and sixth richest humans...
State Ad Campaign Spreads Word Of Wage Theft  The California Report   ...Waiters earning only tips. Car wash workers not paid until customers drive up. Farm workers paid for fruit picked, rest breaks not included. Most of us have a sense this thing happens a lot--but it's not legal...
Conflicting Rulings Cloud Wisconsin Campaign Finance Inquiry  New York Times   ...An investigation into possible campaign finance violations involving conservative groups in Wisconsin and Gov. Scott Walker’s campaign committee has become entangled in back-to-back federal court rulings on whether it should continue...
War On Workers
U.S. Companies Often Assume Black Job Applicants Do Drugs  Huffington Post   ...More than any other group, black applicants are being turned away by U.S. companies under the implicit assumption that they are using illegal drugs, according to a new study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)...
Last year, 25 hedge fund managers earned more than double every kindergarten teacher combined  Vox   ...it's good to be a successful hedge fund manager: the top 25 earned a collective $21.1 billion this year...
Former NFL Cheerleader Sues Jets, Alleging Wage Theft  Al-Jazeera   ...The New York Jets have become the fourth National Football League (NFL) team to be sued by former cheerleaders alleging wage-theft and other labor-law violations...
CEOs Are Spending More And More Of Their Company's Money On Vacations Think Progress   ...Corporate CEOs are back to using company jets for personal travel after the practice dipped briefly following the financial crisis, Bloomberg reports. "Non-business travel expenses" increased for the third straight year...
Charter Schools Are Cheating Your Kids: New Report Reveals Massive Fraud, Mismanagement, Abuse  Salon.com   ...Just in time for National Charter School Week, there's a new report highlighting the predictable perils of turning education into a poorly regulated business...
Miscellaneous
Wide Majorities Losing Faith In John Roberts' Supreme Court, Want Term Limits  Huffington Post   ...An overwhelming majority of voters would support sweeping reforms to the Supreme Court, as trust and confidence in the institution has eroded in recent years, according to a new survey...

Today's Teamster News 03.28.14

Teamster News
Council Votes To Encourage End To CCTA Strike  WPTZ   ...The Burlington City Council has voted to encourage management with the Chittenden County Transportation Authority and the bus drivers' union, represented by the Teamsters, to end the nearly two-week strike as soon as possible...
Victory at Pasco County, Florida for Teamsters Local 79  teamster.org   ...More than 1,100 Pasco County, Florida public employees will soon be voting on a first Teamster contract now that Local 79, Tampa and the county have agreed on a tentative contract. According to the local union, such issues as seniority, break time, overtime pay, holidays, uniforms and more are addressed in the contract...
Teamsters: The Deadline To Apply For A James R. Hoffa Scholarship Is March 31  teamster.org   ...The Fund will award $800,000 in scholarships this year to children and financially dependent grandchildren of Teamster members...
A Brief Glimpse of Human Rights Advances In The Teamsters  teamster.org   ...Women and minorities have always been active in the labor movement. Much of the crit­ical legislation that has been passed over the years started as grassroots movements from within one or more of these groups, even though they frequently did not receive credit or recognition for their efforts. View the full post, here...
March Madness: Brought to You by the Teamsters  Counterpunch   ...This (NLRB) ruling (which applies only to private colleges and universities, and not public institutions) ... gives college basketball players the right to unionize as well.  Just think about that.  March Madness, brought to you by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters!  Is this a great country, or what?...
Trade
U.S. Steelmakers Accuse South Korea Of Dumping  Independent Business Journal   ...U.S. Steel Corp., the largest U.S. producer of the metal by volume, said South Korea is dumping steel pipes and tubes in the U.S...
NAFTA at 20  AFL-CIO   ...NAFTA pushed small Mexican farmers off their lands, increasing the flow of desperate undocumented migrants...
State Battles
Still No Wage Agreement In Annapolis  Baltimore Sun ...The standoff in Annapolis over raising the minimum wage intensified Tuesday...
Missouri Union Members Rally Against Right To Work  Associated Press   ...About a thousand Missouri union members rallied at the state Capitol to combat legislation that would prohibit labor contracts from requiring that all employees pay union fees...
Minnesota Unions Come To Dakotas' Aid  Twin Cities Daily Planet   ...With more than 20,000 job openings and the nation's lowest unemployment rate, North Dakota is desperately seeking skilled workers to build infrastructure that keeps pace with its oil boom. Despite the conservative state's laws unfriendly to organized labor, six Minnesota-based trade unions are stepping up to help...
Mississippi Senate Gives Final Approval To 3 Anti-Union Bills  Associated Press   ...Bills that aim to restrict union organizing and picketing practices in Mississippi, as well as limit governments' abilities to pressure employers to use unionized workers, are on their way to Gov. Phil Bryant...
Hidden Cameras Catch Lobbyists, AZ Lawmakers Wining And Dining  CBS 5 News   ...CBS 5 Investigates rolled hidden cameras during a membership drive for one of the country's most secretive and controversial organizations. Lobbyists and state lawmakers mingled over steaks and drinks in a private room at the Valley's exclusive Donovan's Steakhouse, an event put on by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)...
Wisconsin GOP Heads Off Criminal Probe Into Corporate Election Spending By Trying To Make It Legal  ThinkProgress   ...Wisconsin’s State Senate Majority Leader, who is reportedly under investigation for his role in a possibly illegal campaign finance scheme, has come up with a novel way to shut down the criminal probe: changing the state law to legalize the activity in question...
War on Workers
The 67 People As Wealthy As The World's Poorest 3.5 Billion  Forbes   ...Each of the 67 is on average worth the same as 52 million people from the bottom of the world’s wealth  pyramid...
Northwestern Football Players Win First Round In Union Battle  Huffington Post ...Football players at Northwestern University have cleared the first major hurdle in their closely watched unionization effort, with an official of the National Labor Relations Board determining that the players are employees and thus eligible to vote in a union election...
GOP States Are The Most Dependent On Government  Huffington Post ...If we learned nothing else during the 2012 election, it is that some of us are makers, hard-working folk solely responsible for America's prosperity, and others are takers, who want the federal government to pay for luxuries like food and health care...
Feds Tally Rollovers Of Payday Loans  The Columbus Dispatch ...About half of all payday loans are made to people who extend the loans so many times that they end up paying more in fees than the original amount they borrowed, a report by a federal watchdog has found...
Walmart Admits Profits Depend Heavily On Corporate Welfare  ZeroHedge   ...It appears that Walmart has admitted the potentially severe adverse impact a reduction in food stamp payments could have on its bottom line...
Hundreds of Students & Faculty Occupy College Campus to Fight Cuts to Public Higher Ed  Real News   ...hundreds of students, faculty, and supporters rallied at University of Southern Maine against the announced layoffs of 20 full-time faculty members...
Miscellaneous
Labor unions saved Ford in our 'darkest' hour: Bill Ford  CNBC   ...the UAW helped the entire industry "get back on its feet..."
US Seniors Shafted By Inflation That Is 170 Percent In Excess Of Savings' Interest  Truthout   ...Lost in the coverage of America's tale of two economies (the 1% who have received 95 percent of the financial gains since they busted the economy in 2008 -- and the rest of us), is that seniors are especially hard hit by the disparity between so-called savings account interest and inflation...
A Government Computer Glitch Forced Thousands Of Families To Go Hungry  Huffington Post   ...Thousands in North Carolina had enough to worry about before a computer glitch began to fray the basic part of the social safety net..
Caterpillar To Cooperate With Tax Investigation  GateHouse Media Illinois   ...Caterpillar Inc. plans to cooperate with a U.S. Senate investigative panel looking into whether the company may have improperly avoided U.S. taxes by moving profits outside the country...
A Massive Chemical Plant Is Poised To Wipe This Louisiana Town Off The Map  Mother Jones   ...SASOL's proposed facility may spell the end for a 224-year-old community founded by freed slaves...

Today's Teamster News 03.20.14

Teamster News
CCTA Strike Continues, Management Awaits Offer  Vermont Public Radio   ...Two days into their strike, Chittenden County Transportation Authority bus drivers represented by Teamsters Local 597 said Tuesday they have prepared a counter-offer for management...
Amboy School District Workers Ratify Teamster Contract  Teamsters Joint Council 25   ...Secretaries, aides, cooks and custodians with Amboy Community School District 272 in central Illinois, who are members of Teamsters Local 722, recently ratified a new three-year agreement that includes better wages, paid holidays and stronger contract language...
Teamsters Union: Hernando violated hiring process for fire chief   Hernando Today   ...Dan Oliver, a steward for Teamsters Local 79, said Hernando County violated its own hiring policy by not posting a job opening for public safety director in-house before seeking outside candidates...
Teamsters Union: More rail workers needed to solve grain transportation backlog  The Canadian Press   ...A cold winter and a record crop have been blamed for a grain transportation backlog, but a Teamsters spokesman says that’s not the whole story...
Trade
Obama's Trans-Pacific Partnership Deal Would Deepen Income Divide  Truthout   ...“Those at the top have never done better,” President Obama ruefully acknowledged in his January 28 State of the Union speech. “But average wages have barely budged. Inequality has deepened.”...
China Keeps Moving Forward While America Falls Behind – and We Are Doing Nothing About It!  Trade Reform   ...Our political leaders often deemphasize the downturn in American manufacturing by touting a focus on areas such as new, high tech manufacturing and alternative energy, but it appears China has the same goals and is taking targeted steps to meet them...
Korea Trade Agreement – Exports Actually Decrease  Trade Reform ...Michael Froman, the U.S. Trade Representative, never talks about balance of trade. But the USTR is embarrassed that our exports to Korea actually decreased since the Korea trade and global government agreement was passed. Yes. Exports (not net exports) decreased...
State News
“Right to Work” bill trying to gain steam in Missouri  KBIA   "...I’ve seen folks go down to parts of Mississippi and were working for $12 an hour, union jobs, while up in Missouri they’re making $28 an hour at the time..."
Right-to-work is dangerous fraud (Opinion)  St. Louis Post-Dispatch   ..The right-to-work proposal being considered in the Missouri Legislature is a dangerous fraud.As American citizens, we already have the right to seek employment and to work. But under a right-to-work law, we would continue to work — for less money and fewer benefits than we already have...
Gov. Cuomo Signs Bill Extending Effective Date of New Independent Contractor Law in New York  Independent Contractor Compliance   ...After months of uncertainty, the law of independent contractor misclassification in New York State will change on April 10, 2014. The new law affects transportation and delivery companies in New York that classify certain drivers that deliver commercial goods in the state as independent contractors...
Thirty-nine Moral Monday Georgia activists arrested in daylong Medicaid expansion protests at the Gold Dome  Creative Loafing   ...Nearly 40 Moral Monday Georgia activists today were arrested for interrupting proceedings throughout the Georgia Capitol in an effort to urge Gov. Nathan Deal to expand Medicaid - and block legislation that would strip him of the authority to do so...
Wisconsin Republican Legislator Tears Into His Own Party For Voter Suppression  ThinkProgress   ...it ought to be abundantly clear to everybody in this state that there is no massive voter fraud. The only thing that we do have in this state is we have long lines of people who want to vote. And it seems to me that we should be doing everything we can to make it easier, to help these people get their votes counted...
Costly Loans Are Drawing Attention From States  New York Times   ...States are increasing efforts to shield vulnerable Americans from short-term loans with interest rates that can exceed 300 percent...
Minnesota GOP Lawmaker Says Sick Leave, Equal Pay Bills Make Women 'Look Like Whiners' Huffington Post   ...A package of bills in Minnesota that would enhance women's economic security by raising the minimum wage, providing paid family and sick leave and addressing the gender pay gap makes women "look like whiners," said State Rep. Andrea Kieffer (R) last week...
War on Workers
McDonald's Reviews Wage Theft Claims As Workers In 30 Cities Protest For Overtime Pay  Forbes   ...Tuesday’s protest in midtown Manhattan was one of dozens planned in 30 cities across the U.S., coming as McDonald’s faces class-action lawsuits in New York, California and Michigan for what workers describe as “wage theft...”
Fast-food workers get new ally in New York City fight for fair pay  The Guardian   ...A hotline for fast-food workers to anonymously report allegations of illegal or unjust pay practices by their bosses would be set up in New York under plans to build on a national campaign to improve conditions for American workers...
Supremes Could Decide Sky's the Limit for Campaign Donations  Public News Service   ...Another major Supreme Court decision on campaign finance could come as early as next week. In McCutcheon v. Federal Elections Commission, Alabama businessman Shaun McCutcheon said his First Amendment rights are violated when he cannot give a $2,600 donation to as many parties and candidates for federal office as he pleases. Many groups working to get money out of politics hope the high court rules against McCutcheon...
Reports of the Death of a National License-Plate Tracking Database Have Been Greatly Exaggerated  The Intercept   ... the databases are growing at a furious pace due to rapidly improving technology and ample federal grant money for more cameras and more computers. Tens if not hundreds of millions of observations per month are streaming into bulging electronic archives, often remaining there indefinitely, for a vast array of clients in both the public and private sector...
Expand Overtime Pay? GOP Says No  In These Times   ...Republicans apparently don’t believe that Americans who work longer hours should get paid more...
Meet the ‘Missing Workers’  In These Times   ...More than 5 million Americans have given up hope of a job. Who are they?...
7-11 Clerk Says She Was Fired For Giving Freezing Homeless Man A $1 Cup Of Coffee ThinkProgress   ...The worker felt compelled to help him after her own recent brush with homelessness...
Woman Whose Boss Told Her ‘It’s Best You Go Home With Your Babies’ Won’t Get Discrimination Trial  ThinkProgress   ...Angela Ames was on her first morning back from maternity leave and couldn’t gain access to the lactation room when her department head told her, “I think it’s best that you go home to be with your babies,” handing her a pen and paper and dictating the contents of a resignation letter...
Hershey Investors Suing Over Child Labor Can Pursue Files  Bloomberg   ...Hershey Co., the largest chocolate maker in the U.S., was ordered to face a lawsuit by investors seeking to force it to turn over records about cocoa from African farms that may use illegal child labor...
The Law that Launched a Boondoggle: Gold for Executives, Contempt for Taxpayers  CounterPunch   ...Jamie Dimon took high heat over his 74% mega-raise, but he’s not at fault. The blame goes to a 1993 boondoggle for bigwigs—a boondoggle that’s cost taxpayers by the billions ever since. Congress should call a halt, and the country’s mood could push it to do just that...
Miscellaneous
IRS says security breach affected 20,000 employees, but no taxpayer records  Reuters   ...The personal data of about 20,000 U.S. Internal Revenue Service employees going back to 2007 or earlier may have been exposed on the Internet, but no general taxpayer information or records were part of the security breach, the agency said on Tuesday...
Toyota and Justice Department said to reach $1.2 billion settlement in criminal case  Los Angeles Times   ...Toyota Motor Co. and the Justice Department have agreed on a $1.2-billion settlement to close a criminal probe into whether the automaker handled cases of sudden acceleration...
Google Won’t Face Group E-Mail Privacy Lawsuit: Judge  Bloomberg News   ...Google Inc. won a major victory in its fight against claims it illegally scanned private e-mail messages to and from Gmail accounts, defeating a bid to unify lawsuits in a single group case on behalf of hundreds of millions of Internet users...

Today's Teamster News 01.25.14

Teamsters allow Friday voting on YRC contract offer  Kansas City Star   ...Drivers’ work schedules have prompted the Teamsters union to allow some members to vote Friday on a new contract proposal from YRC Worldwide Inc., a union notice said...
Armed robbery at Fairview Shopping Centre: The Teamsters Union is already on it  Teamsters Canada   ...The Teamsters Union is already working on improving safety for the armoured car industry workers and the general public...
NTSB calls for tougher standards on trains carrying crude oil  NTSB   ...The NTSB issued three recommendations to the Federal Railroad Administration and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, the first would require expanded hazardous materials route planning for railroads to avoid populated and other sensitive areas...
Strong Evidence Emerges on Right to Work's Political Activity  OpenSecrets   ...Newly released emails and audio recordings show top officials from the National Right to Work Committee, a politically active nonprofit that is strongly opposed to labor unions, were extensively involved with a massive off-the-books mass mailing operation for state candidates in 2010. The activities directly contradict statements made to the Internal Revenue Service and may have involved violations of state law.,,
Who Backs the TPP and a ‘NAFTA on Steroids’? ALEC  The Nation   ...The multinational corporations that cover the group’s expenses, and help to define every aspect of its agenda, have long embraced an approach that allows them to move factories and jobs from country-to-country in order to lower wages and avoid labor, environmental and human rights regulations...
Uber rival accuses car service of dirty tactics  CNN Money   ...Gett, which allows users to order cars with a smartphone app, claims that Uber employees in New York ordered and canceled over a hundred of its cars during a span of three days last week...
How NBA Owners Claimed Poverty, Locked Out Players, And Made Off Like Bandits  ThinkProgress   ...New data from Forbes shows that two years after the NBA lockout, the league and its teams are in the best financial health they've ever known...
"If I Didn't Sell Drugs, I'd Be Dead": What It's Like to Lose Unemployment Benefits  Mother Jones   ...1.3 million Americans lost their unemployment benefits last month. Here are stories from five of them...
No progress on UI in Senate  Politico   ...A proposal to extend expired jobless benefits that can garner 60 votes in the Senate continues to elude lawmakers involved in bipartisan negotiatons...
JPMorgan Chase's Jamie Dimon Gets a Raise After Bank Paid $20 Billion in Fines for Breaking Laws AlterNet   ...In 2013, JP Morgan Chase paid billions in fines, but bank's chief is still living large...
BP Still Struggling to Put Gulf Spill Behind It  New York Times   ...Robert W. Dudley, the chief executive, says BP is ready to move on from the disaster, focusing on exploration and deal-making...
Wall Street’s Frightening New Plan To Become America’s Landlord  ThinkProgress   ...Financial companies seem poised to turn the rental housing market into the same sort of high-risk cash mill that created the last financial collapse...
New York City Pantries Ran Out Of Food After Food Stamps Were Cut  ThinkProgress   ...After food stamps were reduced at the beginning of November, New York City food pantries and soup kitchens ran out of food, turned people away, and reduced the meals they handed out after experiencing a surge of demand...
Holder: Feds to set rules for banks and pot money  Politico   ...he Obama administration will soon announce regulations to make it easier for banks to do business with legal marijuana sellers, Attorney General Eric Holder said Thursday...
At ‘NATO 3′ Trial, Undercover Cop Defends Chicago Police Spying on Activist Communities Fire Dog Lake  ...A female undercover police officer, who has been on the stand for multiple days in the trial of the “NATO 3″ in Chicago, was confronted by the first of multiple defense attorneys that contend she was part of an operation to encourage defendants to engage in criminal acts they never had any intent to commit...
Union Growth Should Serve as Signal to Elected Officials (opinion)  teamster.org   ...The union movement is growing. In the last year, thousands of workers took to the streets to protest low pay and their lack of ability to organize...

Today's Teamster News 01.03.14

Teamsters Local 553 Fights to Protect NYC Horse-Drawn Carriages  CNN   ...Teamsters Local 553 leads the fight against a proposed ban of one of the city's most recognized and beloved attractions. See the video here...
Billionaires Worth $3.7 Trillion Surge as Gates Wins 2013  Bloomberg News   ...The richest people on the planet got even richer in 2013, adding $524 billion to their collective net worth, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, a daily ranking of the world’s 300 wealthiest individuals...
Court Beefs Up Protections for Workers Injured By Chemicals  Mother Jones   ...Last week, a federal court issued a ruling strengthening protections for Americans injured by chemicals on the job...
Senate Democrats plan to reinstate lost unemployment benefits  The Guardian   ...Democratic leaders in the Senate are planning to fast-track legislation to extend unemployment insurance, a move that would provide a lifeline to more than a million Americans who lost their benefits last week...
Public service unions brace for coming showdown over sick leave  Ottawa Citizen   ...A big issue in the Conservative government’s upcoming showdown with federal unions over a plan to eliminate accumulated sick leave is what to do with the $5.2 billion in unused leave that public servants have already banked and rolled over...
Home, Sweet (Privatized Military) Home  Truthout   ...The goals of faster and cheaper military housing may have been achieved through privatization, but problems including unreliable builders and an unwillingness to fix persistent problems including mold has led to legal action by tenants...
The “middle class” myth: Here’s why wages are really so low today  The Salon   ...Want to understand the failures of the "free market" and the key to getting a decent wage? Here's the real story...
Home Depot Founder: Pope Francis’ Criticism Of Capitalism Will Scare Away Rich People  ThinkProgress   ...Ken Langone, the billionaire founder of Home Depot, is worried Pope Francis’ recent criticism of the wealthy and capitalism will be a “hurdle” for rich donors...
Retirement unlikely for some Americans  Associated Press   ...Whether they work on the farm or at a blue collar job, baby boomers worry that Social Security won't be enough to allow them to retire...
Loan Monitor Is Accused of Ruthless Tactics on Student Debt  New York Times   ...As the Educational Credit Management Corporation fights borrowers who file for bankruptcy on federal loans, there is growing concern over its collection practices...
Congress just let 55 tax breaks expire  The Washington Post   ...There are 55 tax breaks for individuals and businesses that expired at the end of 2013. Read up on the tax breaks so you don’t miss out when you file this year...
Walmart Recalls Donkey Meat In China Because It Contained Fox  Reuters   ...Wal-Mart Stores Inc, the world's largest retailer, has recalled donkey meat sold at some outlets in China after tests showed the product contained the DNA of other animals, the U.S. company said...
Fiat shares jump after deal to buy rest of Chrysler, but unions worry about jobs in Italy  Associated Press   ...Shares in Fiat soared on Thursday on the news the Italian automaker will take full ownership of Chrysler, but some Italian unions worried what the deal will mean for jobs and investments in the country...
In Cambodia, pressure from labor disputes mounts on a longtime leader  Reuters   ...Labor strikes in Cambodia have taken on a new significance and are presenting a rare challenge to one of the world's longest-serving leaders...
Bangladesh shipbuilder sets benchmark in health and safety standards  The Guardian   ...Chittagong shipyard partners with German firm to promote better workplace health and safety practices and reduce accidents...
Workers In A Third State Can Now Take Paid Family Leave  ThinkProgress   ...Rhode Island's new paid family leave law went into effect as the new year arrived, making it the third state (along with California and New Jersey) that has such a program...

Today's Teamster News 12.05.13

Teamsters, firefighters drop proposals to help Leamington  Windsor Star   ...Unionized employees with the Town of Leamington have overwhelmingly ratified new collective agreements after withdrawing virtually all of their proposals in the wake of last month’s announcement that the town’s Heinz plant would close next summer...
Allegheny court employees union files unfair labor practice lawsuit  Pittsburgh Tribune-Review   ...Teamsters Local 249, which represents more than 550 court employees, filed an unfair labor practice charge on Tuesday alleging Allegheny County withheld annual payments that act as Christmas bonuses to some of the county's lowest paid workers...
Conservative group ALEC pushes stealth tax on homeowners who install solar panels  The Guardian   ...An alliance of corporations and conservative activists is mobilising to penalise homeowners who install their own solar panels – casting them as “freeriders” – in a sweeping new offensive against renewable energy, the Guardian has learned...
It’s not just fast-food workers who are underpaid  Reuters   ...While conventional fast-food companies like McDonald’s are receiving the bulk of public opprobrium for paying their workers a less-than-living wage, the reality is that what are perceived as more upscale businesses are not doing much better by many of their employees...
Austerity is Americanizing European labor markets  Salon   ...Workers throughout Europe are losing their rights as their nations race to reduce the costs of labor...
Thousands of children unvaccinated, aid organisation warns  EnetEnglish   ...Thousands of children in Greece have been left unvaccinated because they and their parents have no health insurance, the Greek section of an international humanitarian aid organisation has said....
Austerity has eroded human rights, Council of Europe study says  Enet English   ..."Many governments in Europe imposing austerity measures have forgotten about their human rights obligations, especially the social and economic rights of the most vulnerable, the need to ensure access to justice, and the right to equal treatment," said the Council of Europe's human rights commissioner, at the launch of the research paper, entitled Safeguarding human rights in times of economic crisis...
Right-to-work battle brewing  Canadian  HR Reporter   ...The right-to-work movement that started south of the border is trying to march north. Whether it successfully clears customs and establishes a foothold could hinge, in large part, on the outcome of the next Ontario election…
12 Corporate Espionage Tactics Used Against Leading Progressive Groups, Activists and Whistleblowers  AlterNet   ...Corporate spies for Dow, Kraft and others have tried to discredit, shame and infiltrate civic groups using an array of dirty tricks...
Tax breaks for CEOs pay for million-dollar salaries  The Guardian   ...CEOs' salaries are ballooning thanks to tax breaks that turn bonuses into government subsidies for corporate America...
Wal-Mart pays legal fees in bribery probe  Reuters   ...Wal-Mart Stores is paying for lawyers to represent more than 30 of its executives involved in a foreign corruption investigation, according to people familiar with the matter...
NSA tracking cellphone locations worldwide, Snowden documents show  Washington Post   ...The National Security Agency is gathering nearly 5 billion records a day on the whereabouts of cellphones around the world, according to top-secret documents and interviews with U.S. intelligence officials, enabling the agency to track the movements of individuals — and map their relationships — in ways that would have been previously unimaginable...
2 Million Stolen Facebook, Yahoo And Google Passwords Posted Online  Huffington Post   ...More than 2 million passwords for sites including Facebook, Yahoo, LinkedIn, Twitter and Google have been stolen and posted online, BCC reports...
Whistle-blower tries to shed light on private-equity transaction fees  Crain's New York Business   ...In the past 10 years, private-equity firms have collected $2 billion in transaction fees, which essentially are bonuses the firms take for conducting their business of buying, managing and selling companies...
Exclusive: Corporate cronyism under fire, faces existential threat  Salon   ...In Indiana, a private toll road operator refused to let state troopers shut down a toll road due to a snowstorm. In Florida, the Palm Beach Post found that three out of six private prisons saved taxpayers no money. In Chicago, a 75-year contract signed in 2009 restricts the government from adding bicycle lanes or sidewalk space because of the potential impact on private parking meter profits...
Truck with radioactive load stolen  Associated Press   ...A cargo truck hauling used medical equipment with extremely dangerous radioactive material was stolen from a gas station in central Mexico, and authorities have put out an alert in six central states and the capital to find it...

ALEC lies again, tries to hold on to shrinking membership

Yesterday we told you about leaked internal documents that show the secretive lobbying group ALEC is bleeding members and money. Well, it’s also been lying to the public in an effort to hide its likely tax code violations.

ALEC lying? What a shocker!

But unlike its lies about how great right-to-work-for-less laws are and why suppressing workers’ voting rights is such a swell idea, ALEC’s lies about its tax status suggest the corporate legislative clearinghouse is in real trouble.

Documents released by the Guardian yesterday reveal that ALEC has formed the “Jeffersonian Project,” a new 501(c)(4) group established to shield ALEC from IRS investigations into its current 501(c)(3) charitable status.

But that’s not what ALEC told reporters just before it created the “Jeffersonian Project.” PR Watch reports:

In December of last year, ALEC spokesperson Kaitlyn Buss told Bloomberg News "we have no current plans to operate a 501(c)(4) in the near future.”

When Buss said "the near future" and "current plans," she apparently meant "next week."

Just eight days after the Bloomberg story ran, ALEC formed the 501(c)(4) "Jeffersonian Project," according to a certificate of incorporation obtained by the Center for Media and Democracy. (ALEC also failed to mention to Bloomberg that it had incorporated another 501(c)(4), "ALEC NOW" in July of 2012; that entity was dissolved earlier this year.)

ALEC hopes the more flexible lobbying ability of the "Jeffersonian Project" will "provide greater legal protection" and "lessen ethics concerns."

But as our friends at the Center for Media and Democracy point out, this desire sounds like ALEC's admission of what we've known all along: ALEC lobbies way too much to be called a "charity."

ALEC's charitable status had allowed its corporate members to write-off their ALEC membership dues -- which are essentially lobbying expenses -- as tax-deductible charitable contributions.

"In forming a 501(c)(4) arm, it appears that ALEC is on notice that it's not going to get away with abusing our nation's charitable tax laws much longer," said [Steve] Spaulding, [Staff Counsel at Common Cause].

Yesterday's leaked documents also show that ALEC has been lying to its own legislative members about the group's dwindling number of corporate backers. But hey, at least they're considering a "loyalty" pledge to keep ALEC lawmakers subservient to that shrinking body of corporate masters. Yep, the Guardian documents reveal:

[There] is a plan to have the legislators who serve as ALEC State Chairs sign a pledge of "loyalty" and agree to "put the interests of [ALEC] first." This proposal underscored concerns that some ALEC politicians have been putting the interests of ALEC (and its corporate backers) ahead of their constituents, and ahead of their commitment to upholding their state constitution.  

This week ALEC is having its "State & Nation Policy Summit" in Washington, DC. Given all the news about ALEC's lies to cover up IRS trouble and its schemes to survive amid lost members and money, we can't imagine the meetings are going too well.

So workers and activists plan to liven things up tomorrow by crashing the summit with a rally and march against ALEC.

Its been precisely the work of activists and workers that have helped weaken ALEC's war against workers and democracy. So let's keep it up!