Another example of corporate welfare run amok

Again and again, local and state governments have chosen to give millions in handouts to multi-national corporations so they will come and bring jobs. But repeatedly those efforts have failed.

The latest example is featured in a fine piece by The Washington Post looking at the practice in the Deep South, where the tax breaks have been large and the jobs have largely paid little. Workers there (and elsewhere) pay for these deals on the front end and then get screwed on the back end!

The article details the decision by Chinese company Golden Dragon Precise Copper Tube Group to build  and open a factory in Wilcox County, Ala. last year after much lobbying from local officials. Oh yeah, and approximately $200 million in corporate welfare tax breaks, infrastructure improvements and cash payments.

When the deal was announced in 2013, the average worker was expected to make $15 to $17 an hour. But even the company itself only places that rate at $13 an hour. Meanwhile, those throughout the state are paying the price, as the article explains:

Company executives visiting the region were greeted with imported Chinese tea and Mandarin video messages. Alabama’s state workforce team explained how, if chosen for the job, they would visit Golden Dragon’s Chinese headquarters, study the process, and make videos and training courses for the new U.S. employees. In Alabama, Golden Dragon wouldn’t pay taxes for 20 years; it would get free roads and land. 

Alabama also did something no other state was willing to try: Its legislature passed the “Made in Alabama” act, a tailored law that allowed the state to reimburse Golden Dragon for several prior years of tariffs. A version of the law had first been drafted by [company consultant Raymond] Cheng and a lawyer, according to Cheng and a lawmaker who sponsored the bill. 

Ultimately, the company was given the choice of the reimbursements or an extra $20 million in cash. Golden Dragon chose the cash.

This grand payout, mind you, takes place against the backdrop of a community that is undereducated and impoverished. And elected officials there seem to take advantage of this fact, as the Post noted:

In wide swaths of the Deep South, public schools struggle, turning out workers who lack basic skills. Agricultural work has long faded, while job opportunities in once-prosperous industries such as textiles and timber have been lost to cheaper options in Latin America or automation at home. Politicians say they must give freebies to lure companies here, or offer nothing at all and watch the region — which already lags behind the rest of the country on most measures of well-being — fall even further behind.

So what was the answer in the case of Golden Dragon? Workers late last year voted to unionize. Obviously, they must know that union jobs pay better and provide a real path towards a middle-class lifestyle.

The real solution, however, is to stop giving sweetheart deals to rich corporations. Investment in people, not the powerful.

How ALEC promotes a big government agenda to hurt taxpayers and democracy

The corporate dating service for lawmakers known as ALEC has a new director who is likely to follow her predecessors' big government, anti-taxpayer agenda.

You wouldn't know it from ALEC's propaganda, but the group is a coalition of corporations trying to control the government for their own purposes.

Some of the most hated corporations in America have belonged to ALEC, including McDonald's, Walmart and J.C. Penney, as well as private prison giants GEO Group and Corrections Corporation of America.

Their main reason for joining ALEC is to make money off the state. They do it by bribing state lawmakers with lavish secret vacations and political cash.

ALEC is especially fond of big government when it forces taxpayers to pay more for corporations to provide privatized services. Washington state residents now pay more for liquor than any other state in the country after it privatized its liquor services two years ago. Study after study shows that privatization costs taxpayers more money simply because corporations have to make a profit and government doesn't.

Here are just a few of the services ALEC has tried to bribe lawmakers to privatize:

• Foster care and adoption services
• Medicare
• Social Security
• Prisons
• Education
• Government research
• Public safety.

Privatization is not only expensive for taxpayers, it is profoundly undemocratic. Citizens can vote elected officials out of office if government does a lousy job picking up the trash or educating children. But they have no recourse when a government service is put under contract for decades. Chicagoans found that out to their regret after the city did a deal to let a Morgan Stanley consortium collect parking fees for 75 years. Too late they learned the city overpaid the bankers by $974 million.

Privatization is just one of the many ways ALEC tries to impose the heavy hand of the corporate-backed government on local communities. ALEC succeeded in taking away local school districts' freedom to decide what to teach children. At least four states -- Tennessee, Louisiana, Texas and South Dakota -- now force local school districts to teach that air pollution isn't harmful.

Citizens suffer in states that have blindly followed ALEC's agenda of cutting corporate taxes, raising taxes on the poor and middle class and slashing public services. The two most glaring examples are Wisconsin and Kansas. Both are badly lagging the country and their regions in creating new jobs.

So next time someone tries to tell you ALEC is for small government, just respond with a big 'BWAH-HAH-HAH.'

Today's Teamster News 06.07.2014

Teamster News
Descendants Of 1934's Teamster Strike Carry Proud Legacy  Twin Cities Daily Planet   ...The 10 or so people gathering in a 1920's home in St. Paul might have been meeting for the first time, but they forged an instant bond. Their parents or grandparents 80 years ago stood together and fought in the streets of Minneapolis for the right to organize a union during 1934's Teamsters strikes...
MetraPark Workers Will See Pay Raise Under New Contract  Billings Gazette   ...The Teamsters Local 190 and Yellowstone County have settled negotiations for MetraPark workers in a deal that calls for a five-year contract...
Union Representing JCPS Bus Drivers Puts Up Billboard  WHAS   ...When you drive down the Watterson Expressway you'll soon see something different. A new billboard is going up in an effort to protect Jefferson County Public School bus drivers...
Trade
Enormous, Humongous Trade Deficit Up In April  Trade Reform   ...Imagine American factories and other businesses receiving an additional $44.2 billion in orders last month, and every single month, and you can visualize the effect of this trade deficit. How many people would be hired due to an additional $44.2 billion in orders? How many suppliers would get a boost in orders? How many local businesses surrounding these thriving factories would be getting extra business?...
Statistics that Spin: Foreign Goods to Be Considered U.S. Goods?   Economic Policy Institute   ...the proposal, if adopted, would create a statistical fiction that companies that are American in name only, which outsource 100 percent of their production, assembly and services to other countries like China, will be deemed to be manufacturers...
USDA Approves Checkoff Advertisements Featuring “North American Beef”  Trade Reform   ...
“USDA is sanctioning consumer deception by approving government-mandated advertisements that mislead consumers into believing that their Wendy’s burger may have originated in El Salvador or Panama...
State Battles
Virginia DMV orders Lyft, Uber to stop operating  PilotOnLine.com   ...The Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles sent cease-and-desist orders Thursday to Lyft and Uber, telling the two taxi-like services they must stop operating in violation of state law or face fines against their drivers...
War On Workers
Wal-Mart: ‘Headed Toward a Dark Place’  Barron's   ...Shares of Wal-Mart have gained just 2.7% during the past 12 months, lagging the S&P 500′s 20% rise during the same period...
Walmart Plans Family Succession As Low-Wage Worker Plea Voted Down At Meeting  Forbes   ...something is wrong when the richest family in America pays hundreds of thousands of associates so little they cannot survive without relying on food stamps, on public health insurance, and on the charity of co-workers...
One Percent's Twisted New Heist  Salon.com   ...A new study from In the Public Interest, a think tank focused on how privatization, (shows) the routine practice of outsourcing government functions is another important reason why the middle class is shrinking as those at the very top reap more and more of the fruits of our economy...
Farm Workers' Low Wages Hinder San Joaquin Valley's Economy  NPR   ...If you look at the jobs picture across the U.S., one place stands out for high levels of unemployment: Central California's San Joaquin Valley. It's been called the Appalachia of the West...
Economy Added 217,000 Jobs In May; Unemployment Unchanged At 6.3 Percent  Think Progress   ...The economy added 217,000 jobs in May while the unemployment rate remained at 6.3 percent, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics...
Jobs Report Won't Juice Unemployment Situation  Huffington Post   ...Gersley Kendricks figures Congress has given up on him. Kendricks, 63, has been unemployed since early last year and without an income since Congress declined to renew long-term unemployment insurance at the end of December. He's one of nearly 3 million people who have missed out on compensation since then...
Taxes: Who Pays How Much In Eight Charts  Moyers and Company   ...Ideological arguments about whether taxes are too high or low miss the crucial question of who ends up bearing how much of the burden of financing our public sector...
What America Could Buy With Offshore Tax Money  Moyers and Company   ...The federal government forgoes billions of dollars in revenue each year due to corporate tax write-offs and loopholes enshrined in America's tax code...

Today's Teamster News 03.06.14

Teamster News
PA Teamsters Stand Against Paycheck Deception Bill  teamster.org   ...Teamster members and leaders joined with York County legislators to denounce what has been termed the ‘Paycheck Deception Bill’ (House Bill 1507) at a press conference yesterday...
Teamsters: Workers, Not the Rich, Need a Hand Up  teamster.org  ...The growing disparity in incomes between the “haves” and the “have nots” is a real problem for America, and one that is being felt in many corners of this country...
Deadline Rapidly Approaches for JRH Scholarship Applications  teamster.org   ...March 31st is the deadline to apply for the James R. Hoffa Memorial Scholarship that's been set up to benefit children or financially dependent grandchildren of Teamsters. For more details and downloadable materials, click here...
Trade
Is Japan Playing Ball with the US on the TransPacific Partnership?  naked capitalism   ...expect to hear the Trade Representative’s office to bray that considerable progress was made on the TPP as a result of Obama’s visit. Remember, in negotiating, the impression that progress is being made is critical. But anyone who has been following this beat and isn’t in the can for the Administration is certain to tell you otherwise...
USDA Ignores Food Safety, Hell Bent on Importing Brazilian Beef  Trade Reform   ...Brazil is to the U.S. beef industry what China is to the steel industry (and many other industries)… they are the goliath.  They are really big.  They will flood our market with potentially contaminated meat...
US: Administration outlines international trade goals  just-style   ....The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) has outlined the US President's international trade goals and policies for 2014 - which include completing TPP negotiations, continuing T-TIP talks and working on eliminating trade barriers...
Controversial anti-smuggling trade agreement between China and the United States renewed   Art Media Agency   ...A controversial anti-smuggling trade agreement established between China and the United States in 2009 has been renewed for five years...
State Battles
Highest Minimum-Wage State Washington Beats U.S. in Job Creation  Bloomberg News   ...When Washington residents voted in 1998 to raise the state’s minimum wage and link it to the cost of living, opponents warned the measure would be a job-killer. The prediction hasn’t been borne out. In the 15 years that followed, the state’s minimum wage climbed to the highest in the country while job growth continued above the national rate...
Indiana union petitions state Supreme Court to rule Right to Work unconstitutional  Beverly Hills Courier   ...As Right to Work battles continue to wage across the country, labor supporters in Indiana are looking at a decisive victory if the state Supreme Court rules in their favor...
State Supreme Court Moves to Consolidate Pension Law Challenges  NBC News   ...Four lawsuits from the Retired State Employee Association, the Illinois State Employee Association, the We Are One Illinois Coalition and a group of retired school teachers challenging the state's pension law reform will now be heard as one challenge, according to the ruling...|
What ALEC Has Planned For Ohio In 2014: Hurt School Districts And More Tax Cuts For The Wealthy  Plunderbund   ...Despite 40 years of empirical evidence showing that cutting taxes for those at the top does exactly nothing to help anybody else, and, in fact, has helped skyrocket wealth inequality to Gilded Age levels, this “tax reform” push is a top priority...
Federal investigators issue ‘scathing’ report on Indiana OSHA  Indianapolis Star   ...IOSHA failed to investigate an explosion at Indianapolis Power & Light in March 2013, even as the agency was negotiating a settlement with the utility company over an explosion seven months earlier that killed one worker and injured another...
War on Workers
Companies in U.S. Added Fewer Jobs Than Forecast in February  Bloomberg News   ...Companies added fewer workers than projected in February, a sign that U.S. employers were waiting for a pickup in demand before boosting headcount, a private report based on payrolls showed today...
A Depressingly Simple Explanation For The Weak Recovery  Business Insider   ...income gains have been mediocre for a broad swath of middle income households for some time, and borrowing temporarily masked the demand drag. In combination these factors have been a contributing factor to the slow recovery of U.S. consumption and economic growth...
Researchers Suggest Banks Might Be Rigging Gold Prices  truthout   ...the five banks that set the gold price have now been accused of price manipulation in a class-action lawsuit filed Monday in a U.S. federal court in New York...
Booming Business at Alabama Shipyard Fuels New Union Campaign  In These Times   ...Rapid business growth may be the key to finally unionizing shipbuilding workers in Mobile, Ala., where an Australia-based defense contractor has successfully fought union organizing for more than a decade...
More Than 2 Million Unemployed Workers Are Now Going Without Benefits  ThinkProgress   ...Congress is failing this 40-year nursing veteran (and 2 million others like her)...
New Democratic Strategy Goes After Koch Brothers  New York Times   ...On Thursday, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is starting a digital campaign that will use Internet ads and videos, as well as social media, to tie Republican Senate candidates to the policies and actions of the Koch brothers. Its slogan: “The G.O.P. is addicted to Koch” (pronounced coke)...
Imposing a Starvation Diet on Government Programs Needs to End (Opinion)  Huffington Post   ...As any dietician will attest, starving the body of vital nutrients in an effort to slim down is a recipe for failure. The same is true for federal government programs and services...
Miscellaneous   
Americans Shut Out of Home Market Threaten Recovery: Mortgages  Bloomberg   ...First-time homebuyers hurt by rising prices and tougher credit standards are disappearing from the market, slowing the pace of the three-year recovery. The decline of these buyers, many of whom are young and non-white, also threatens to widen the wealth gap between owners, who benefit from appreciation, and renters, said Thomas Lawler, a former Fannie Mae economist...
Bernanke’s $250,000 fee for speech puts him near top of food chain  Wall Street Journal   ...Former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s reported $250,000 for a speech in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday puts him in rarefied air of public speakers, experts said. With one speech, Bernanke exceeded his $199,700 annual salary as Fed chairman in 2013...
The Inverse of Oversight: CIA Spies On Congress  The Intercept   ... the CIA’s inspector general has asked for a criminal investigation into CIA monitoring of computers used by Senate aides who were investigating the agency’s prominent role in the Bush-era torture of detainees...
Rolls-Royce investigated in US over bribery claims  The Telegraph   ...Rolls-Royce is being investigated by the US Department of Justice (DoJ), following allegations that its executives bribed officials in Indonesia, China and India in order to win lucrative contracts...
BP fails to get out of compensating oil spill victims  Salon   ...An appeals court shut down the company's efforts to avoid paying damages...
Frigid U.S. Weather Means Highest Power Prices Since ’08: Energy  Bloomberg News   ...Freezing temperatures gripping the eastern U.S. will result in the highest electricity prices in six years for consumers in Boston, Dallas and San Francisco...
Scary Emerging Scientific Consensus: There's No Such Thing as Safe Plastic  Democracy Now!   ...There is new research suggesting that even BPA-free plastics contain chemicals that can act like estrogen in the body and cause disease. And the plastics industry has a big propaganda denial campaign in the works....

Today's Teamster News 03.01.14

Teamster News
Listen to Teamster Nation News  teamster.org  ...Introducing the inaugural episode of Teamster Nation News, the Teamster's new podcast. Teamster Nation News is your weekly stop for key Teamster news for working families. Thanks for listening and be sure to subscribe...
CEO's Lavish Pay Trimmed At McKesson, A Teamster Employer  TeamsterNation   ...McKesson CEO John Hammergren took a 'voluntary' $45 million cut to his pension after shareholders said 'no more' to his lavish wages at the company's annual meeting in August...
Teamsters, First Student in Seattle reach agreement  Seattle Times   ...After a daylong negotiation, Teamsters Local 174, which represents about 450 bus drivers for Seattle Public Schools, has reached a fully recommended tentative settlement with First Student, a private contractor that provides busing for the district. The agreement means that bus service will continue uninterrupted...
Teamsters back to work Sunday: Bay Valley strike ends  Sauk Valley Media   ...Dan Dring, vice president of human resources and operations for the Green Bay, Wis.-based company, said the workers of Teamsters Local 722 had voted earlier in the day to approve the contract...
Teamsters Airline Division Statement on GAO 2014 Aviation Workforce Report  teamster.org   ...Teamsters Airline Division Director Capt. David Bourne issued an official statement on the U.S. Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) 2014 Aviation Workforce report, “Current and Future Availability of Airline Pilots”…
Teamsters Celebrate Women’s History  teamster.org   ...March is Women’s History Month, a time to reflect upon and celebrate the contributions American women have made to society. Teamster women have made significant contributions to the work force over the years, bravely fighting for economic and social justice...
Teamsters: Single Mothers Struggling Even More To Support Families   teamster.org   ...Women trying to support a family on their own are having a harder time doing so, according to a new report that details the plight of the working poor. As this nation enters Women’s History Month, single mothers are disproportionately struggling to make ends meet, and the document shows conditions are getting worse for them, not better...
Trade
U.S. staring contest with Japan stretches out Pacific trade pact   Reuters  ...A standoff between the United States and Japan is holding up talks on a sweeping Pacific free trade pact and a lack of authority to push an eventual deal through the U.S. Congress without amendment may be undercutting Washington's hand...
How TPP Would Harm You at the Drug Store and on the Internet  Truthout   ...A law affecting content on the Internet that was rejected by Congress shows up in a trade agreement designed to bypass and override Congress. Small, innovative companies that manufacture low-cost, generic drugs find their products blocked...
EU-U.S. trade talks face growing hostility, ministers warn  Reuters   ...Free-trade talks between the United States and the European Union are in danger of being derailed by populist groups opposing everything from globalization to multinationals, EU ministers and business leaders said on Friday...
State Battles
Fifteen States Move to Curb Reckless Outsourcing  In the Public Interest   ...Lawmakers in Iowa, Kansas and Oregon join movement to improve transparency and accountability, keep taxpayer in control of their services...
State will lose if RTW passes (Opinion)  News-Leader   ...The Missouri House may pass “Right to Work” and may override Gov. Jay Nixon’s veto, but Missouri will be the loser. An example is the new Boeing passenger aircraft plant. Billions in lucrative concessions were given, but Boeing needed the skilled union workers available. Building huge passenger aircraft is entirely too risky to hire low-wage, unskilled laborers and train them to standards...
No sign of expansion at plant where UAW dealt loss   Associated Press   ...Friday marks the end of the two-week period within which U.S. Sen. Bob Corker promised Volkswagen would announce another line at its factory in Tennessee if workers there rejected representation by the United Auto Workers union...
Walker Supporter Says Governor Needs To 'Tell The Truth' About Emails  Wisconsin Public Radio   ...Seymer calls it a serious violation of Wisconsin's open records law to have a campaign making these decisions...
War on Workers
Poultry workers, industry take fight to Capitol Hill over proposal to speed processing lines  Washington Post   ...Poultry workers, chicken industry lobbyists and food-safety advocates have been converging on Capitol Hill in recent weeks with dueling efforts to either boost or kill a proposal to overhaul the way the $60 billion-a-year poultry industry operates processing plants...
A Third Of America’s Most Successful Corporations Pay Less Than A 10 Percent Income Tax Rate   ThinkProgress   ...The average effective income tax rate for giant, profitable companies from 2008 to 2012 was just 19.4 percent...
Thousands More New York City Workers Will Now Get Paid Sick Days  ThinkProgress   ...The New York City Council overwhelmingly passed an expansion of paid sick days...
5 'Good' Jobs that Require Lots of Education and Training and Shockingly Pay Little More than Minimum Wage  AlterNet   ...You will never guess which highly skilled professions pay poverty wages...
Medical Marijuana Workers Have The Same Labor Rights As Everyone Else, Feds Say  Huffington Post   ...The next time a pot shop gets a visit from the feds, it won't necessarily be from drug enforcement agents looking to shut the operation down. It might just come from workplace regulators making sure that labor laws are being followed...
Miscellaneous
Bank Allegedly Neglects Foreclosed Houses In Black And Latino Neighborhoods  ThinkProgress   ...Housing discrimination advocates filed a complaint against a fourth major bank for failing to maintain foreclosed homes in non-white neighborhoods...
U.S. Retail Chains See First Profit Decline Since Recession  Bloomberg   ...The results paint a grim picture of an industry hit hard by the sluggish job recovery and slow wage growth, which have turned U.S. consumers into a nation of penny pinchers...
Gold Fix Study Shows Signs of Decade of Bank Manipulation  Bloomberg   ...The London gold fix, the benchmark used by miners, jewelers and central banks to value the metal, may have been manipulated for a decade by the banks setting it, researchers say...
Citigroup reports fraud in Mexico unit, lowers 2013 results  Reuters   ... Citigroup Inc (C.N) said on Friday that it has discovered at least $400 million in fraudulent loans in its Mexico subsidiary and said employees may have been in on the crime...
Poorly Regulated, High-Speed 'Bomb Trains' Are One Crash Away from Devastating Towns in NYC Suburbs  AlterNet   ...Few residents of the city's bucolic 'burbs know of the huge risks whirring by at top speeds...
NSA surveillance hurting tech firms' business  USA Today   ...The National Security Agency, and revelations about its extensive surveillance operations — sometimes with the cooperation of tech firms — have undermined the ability of many U.S. companies to sell products in key foreign countries, creating a fissure with the U.S. government and prompting some to scramble to create "NSA-resistant" products...
Swiss Bank That Facilitated U.S. Tax Evasion Continues To Avoid Prosecution  Real News   ...Although Credit Suisse helped ultra-wealthy Americans evade taxes, the bank will face no prosecution due to Swiss bank secrecy laws and a heedless U.S. Justice department...

Today's Teamster News 02.19.14

Teamster News
Seattle School Bus Drivers Prepare for Strike  teamster.org   ...Teamsters Local 174 represents more than 450 school bus drivers who transport K-12 students for the Seattle School District and are preparing to strike over unfair labor practice charges after First Student broke off talks and walked away from negotiations...
Bay Valley workers hold rally as strike continues  saukvalley.com   ...The Teamsters Local 722 workers went on strike at 11 p.m. last Thursday, after their contract with Bay Valley Foods, a Green Bay-based company, expired Dec. 28....
Trade
TPP Trade Officials Received Hefty Bonuses From Big Banks  Republic Report   ...Michael Froman, the current U.S. Trade Representative, received over $4 million as part of multiple exit payments when he left CitiGroup...
State Battles
Catching Up: Ticketed Capitol singers preparing to turn tables on the state  Wisconsin State Journal   ...The state could soon face thousands of dollars in civil rights lawsuits stemming from hundreds of tickets issued to singing protesters at the Capitol last summer...
Business tax replacements doomed to fail (opinion)  Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette   ...Our governor and legislature have been calling for the elimination of the business personal property tax, which has led to panic among local government officials because of the $1 billion negative effect on local revenue...
After comment to Gov. McCrory, food store cook fired in Charlotte  Charlotte News & Observer   ...On Sunday afternoon, McCrory was shopping at Reid’s Fine Foods when Drew Swope, a 45-year-old cook, said he asked if he could help McCrory. After realizing he was speaking with the governor, whom he disagrees with politically, Swope said he told McCrory, “Thanks for nothing,” and walked away...
Workers Shouldn’t Be Stopped from Voting -- Ever  teamster.org   ...GOP lawmakers in Georgia are behind legislation that would tighten the early voting window for municipal elections in the state...
The War on Workers
More workers take second jobs to bridge income gap  Boston Globe   ...‘‘More people have actually entered and remained in the underground economy than we have seen before,’’ he said. Workers are trying to raise their income even as job growth is sluggish, he said. So while employed, they may also do handyman repairs, or tutor, or fix computers...
Low-Wage Workers Have Experienced Wage Erosion in Nearly Every State  Economic Policy Institute   ... Between 2009 and 2013, low-wage earners’ wages declined in every state except three (West Virginia, Mississippi and North Dakota). Real (i.e. inflation-adjusted) wage erosion was greatest in Maryland (-$1.24), Massachusetts (-$1.18), and New Jersey (-$1.16) during this period...
Homeland Security is seeking a national license plate tracking system  Washington Post   ...The Department of Homeland Security wants a private company to provide a national license-plate tracking system that would give the agency access to vast amounts of information from commercial and law enforcement tag readers, according to a government proposal that does not specify what privacy safeguards would be put in place...
How Big Banks Are Cashing In On Food Stamps  American Prospect   ...Many benefit programs have gone high tech with debit cards and J.P. Morgan Chase and others are making a pretty penny charging users fees...

Student debt may hurt housing recovery by hampering first-time buyers  Washington Post   ...loan applications for home purchases have slipped nearly 20 percent in the past four months compared with the same period a year earlier...
5 of the strangest lawsuits making headlines  Inside Counsel   ... the servers at several eastern Pennsylvania Red Robin restaurants had another uniform-related problem: They claim their employer illegally took deductions from employee paychecks to pay for uniforms...
Will a Minimum Wage Hike Really Cost Jobs?  The Nation   ...Several economists Tuesday, including Jason Furman and Betsy Stevenson at the White House, stressed that the CBO report doesn’t match the “consensus view” of economists...
Miscellaneous
Exclusive: Mega-donors plan GOP war council  Politico   ...A group of major GOP donors, led by New York billionaire Paul Singer, is quietly expanding its political footprint ahead of the midterm elections in an increasingly assertive effort to shape the direction of the Republican Party...
Angry Residents Wave Pitchforks, Torches In Protest Of Mayor's Crackdown On Homelessness  Huffington Post   ...An estimated 4,000 people sleep on the streets of Portland, Ore., on any given night and, since last summer, life has become increasingly difficult for them. So, a group of protesters descended upon Portland City Hall on Tuesday night carrying pitchforks and torches to "shame the mayor into action," ...
Train accidents stir worries about crude transport  Associated Press   ...Experts say recent efforts to improve the safety of oil shipments belie an unsettling fact: With increasing volumes of crude now moving by rail, it's become impossible to send oil-hauling trains to refineries without passing major population centers, where more lives and property are at risk...
JP Morgan Banker Jumps to his Death From Hong Kong Skyscraper  International Business Times   ...His death comes as a London coroner's office gathers evidence into the death of JP Morgan IT executive Gabriel Magee, who is thought to have leapt to his death from the roof of the investment bank's European headquarters in Canary Wharf last month. The incident also follows the apparent suicide of US JP Morgan banker Ryan Crane, who was found dead at his Connecticut home on February 3...

States spend more on corporate tax breaks than worker pensions

In 10 states,  the revenue lost to corporations through loopholes and tax breaks is bigger the current cost of pension benefits to state employees, according to a new report by Good Jobs First.

Philip Mattera, research director of  Good Jobs First, said politicians are balancing their budgets on the backs of public employees, though Wall Street caused their revenue shortfalls. And:

...our research shows that corporate interests are generally prioritized over teachers, firefighters, police officers, and thousands of other employees who dedicate their lives to public service. 

No shock there. What is shocking is the size of the corporate subsidies. In Pennsylvania, for example, corporate subsidies and loopholes cost $4 billion every year -- two-and-a-half times the cost of public pensions. 
Said Mattera: 

As a matter of honest accounting and fair budgeting, state leaders should examine all forms of spending before  they single out pensions or any other expense,” said Mattera. “Corporate tax breaks and loopholes are often poorly understood and little-noticed because they do not get debated as appropriations, nor do they often get sunsetted or audited. But over time they add up to hundreds of millions, or even billions, of dollars per year.

Good Jobs First studied 10 states where legislatures are trying to steal pensions underfunding pensions or elected officials are threatening to cut them. They are:

• Arizona
• California
• Colorado
• Florida
• Illinois
• Louisiana
• Michigan
• Missouri
• Oklahoma
• Pennsylvania. 

Read the whole thing here.

Today's Teamster News 12.06.13

TurboTax Discount for Teamsters  teamster.org   ...Teamster households now have access to a leading branch of tax preparation software, TurboTax, at a discount of up to $20 off the price of Federal products. Part of the purchase price is donated to the James R. Hoffa Memorial Scholarship Fund...
Give the Gift of Teamster Pride  teamster.org   ...If you are searching for that perfect gift for your favorite Teamster, check out the Teamster Store. Proceeds from these sales will help provide dozens of annual scholarships to children and grandchildren of Teamster members...
Bristol Twp., bus driver's union begin negotiations  Bucks County Courier Times   ...Negotiations have begun between officials of the Bristol Township School District and a union that now represents 32 district bus drivers...
ABF Closing 30 Terminals  Truckinginfo   ...Less-than-truckload carrier, ABF Freight System, is cutting its number of terminals from 277 to 247...
Nelson Mandela, South Africa's first black president, dies aged 95  The Guardian   ...Nelson Mandela, the towering figure of Africa's struggle for freedom and a hero to millions around the world, has died at the age of 95...
ALEC’s Extreme Legislative Agenda for 2014  Center for Media and Democracy   ...Opposing U.S. Consumers' Right to Know the Origin of Our Food...Undermining Workers' Rights...Undermining the Rights of Injured Americans to Hold Corporations Accountable...Undermining Public Education and Lining the Pockets of For-Profit School Companies...
US fast-food workers strike over low wages in nationwide protests  The Guardian   ...Thousands of fast food and retail workers went on strike across the US on Thursday in a signal of the growing clamour for action on income equality...
Pension Theft: Class War Goes to the Next Stage  Center for Economic Policy Research   ...in 21st century America, contracts and the rule of law apparently don't mean anything, at least not if the people at the other end are ordinary workers. So, rather than inconvenience all those rich folks at the Chicago Board of Trade or other highly successful businesses with a larger tax bill, the plan is to stiff the firefighters, the schoolteachers, and the people who collected garbage for 30 years...
Big Banks Don't Pay A Third Of Tellers Enough To Live On  Huffington Post   ...A staggering number of bank tellers in New York City use public assistance to get by, according to a report released Wednesday...
The Real People Whose Lives Will Be Turned Upside Down If Congress Doesn’t Act In The Next Three Weeks  ThinkProgress   ...Millions of people who have been out of work for 27 weeks or more will be cut off unless Congress acts by the end of the year...
UK government paves way for driverless cars  BBC News   ...The government has announced that it wants to make the UK a world centre for the development of driverless cars. It said it would conduct a review next year to ensure that the legislative and regulatory framework is in place for such vehicles to be incorporated on Britain's roads...
New Study Confirms that Lower Corporate Tax Rates Don’t Create Jobs  Naked Capitalism ...Corporate executives love to peddle the notion that they need to have their low tax payments reduced even further, even as the share of company profits is at unprecedentedly high levels...
The Fight Continues to Prevent Billions in International Money Laundering and Tax Shelters  Center for Public Integrity   ...Offshore havens are under attack again, but the tricky part is getting past toothless pronouncements...
Congress' Cushy Jobs: 239 Days Off While Workers Guaranteed Zero  AlterNet   ...In contrast to the rest of the developed world, American workers are not guaranteed paid holiday or vacation days...
JP Morgan warns customers of possible data theft after cyber hack  BBC News   ...The pre-paid cards were issued for corporations to pay employees and for government agencies to issue tax refunds, unemployment compensation and other benefits...
Mexican authorities find stolen truck containing radioactive material   The Guardian   ...Mexican police have found a truck containing radioactive material that was stolen as it was being transported from a hospital near Mexico City. Thieves who removed the cobalt-60, which is used in hospitals to treat some cancer, from its protective container have been exposed to potentially life-threatening levels of radiation, a Mexican nuclear safety official told a local TV station...
In Greece, 3.8m people at risk of poverty or social exclusion in 2012  Enet English   ...In 2012, 3.8m people in Greece – or 34.6% of the country's population – were at risk of poverty or social exclusion, compared with 31% in 2011 and 28.1% in 2008, the European Union's statistical arm said on Thursday...
As Boeing charts plans for a new airliner, doubts arise about where to build it  Washington Post   ...Judging from the early returns, the Boeing Company’s 777X will be a hit by combining fuel-efficient materials and technology with a popular existing-plane design. Now, comes the crucial question: Where will it be built?...
Nelson Calls Florida Absentee Ballot Directive Voter Suppression  Talking Points Memo   ...Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) said Tuesday that a new directive in Florida that limits where voters can drop off their absentee ballots is a form of voter suppression...
County social workers strike over pay, high caseloads  Los Angeles Times   ...Los Angeles County social workers took to the picket lines on Thursday, the first county strike in more than a decade and a sharp escalation of a labor dispute between the county and its biggest employee union...

NC Teamsters in biggest Moral Monday protest yet

Moral Monday protesters rallied against the anti-worker Legislature.

Teamsters were among the 10,000 Moral Monday protesters who marched through the streets of Raleigh, N.C., last night to voice their disgust for a slate of anti-worker initiatives approved by the Legislature this year.  It was the largest of the weekly protests that resulted in 925 arrests for civil disobedience.


Lawmakers gutted public education, cut taxes for corporations while raising them for working and middle-class families more and suppressed voting. They cut unemployment and Medicaid benefits. While elected officials disappeared after recessing for the year last week, demonstrators at the 13^th Moral Monday event met on the Statehouse grounds before marching downtown through the state capital. Organizers plan to take the show on the road with similar protests scheduled to be held across the state in the weeks to come. The first is planned for Asheville, N.C., on Monday.

Randy Conrad, a Teamsters Local 71 organizer in Charlotte, said several of his members were in attendance yesterday to express their outrage at the direction Gov. Pat McCrory and legislators are taking the state:

We are pretty upset, even those people who voted for them. I can’t wrap my head around what they are trying to accomplish.

Many protesters yesterday were teachers outraged about budget provisions that freeze their pay – already among the lowest in the nation – while ending tenure and taking away salary incentives for them to earn master’s degrees. Several said they could be forced to move elsewhere is search of fairer wages.

Forsyth County teacher Frankie Santoro, who attended the march with fellow teacher Sara Thompson, said:

Without a doubt, we are both thinking of leaving the state. And we believe there will be a mass exodus of teachers from North Carolina.

Denise Jordan, a Guilford County parent who came to the rally with several of her local teachers, said the Legislature went too far:

Enough is enough. You can’t make a state better if we’re going to totally destroy education.

Gov. McCrory and the Legislature are fulfilling the anti-worker agenda pushed by greedy billionaire Art Pope, an ALEC disciple and Benedict Arnold Koch brothers buddy who got himself appointed state budget director after financing a number of radical politicians’ campaigns.

However, Moral Monday organizers -- led by the NAACP’s state chapter -- said they are not backing down and will continue through next year’s election.

Next Moral Monday protest could be biggest ever

The Moral Monday protests rocking North Carolina will likely escalate next week as anger mounts over the Legislature's assault on voting rights, public education and middle-class pocketbooks.  Organizers of the Moral Monday rallies, which have so far resulted in 925 arrests for civil disobedience, are preparing for a huge turnout next week.


State lawmakers put the finishing touches on their anti-worker agenda last night when they backed final passage of  the worst voter suppression measure in the nation. During the now-ended session, legislators closely followed the corporate-empowerment  script prepared by ALEC and promoted by the state’s billionaire budget director, Art Pope.

As Twitter user Kdog-WNC tweeted:

Unfortunately the Pope has decreed that these things shall come to pass.

Residents will be out in force to protest voter repression bill.

North Carolina Teamsters have been contacting elected officials to voice their anger over bills that hinder voting by minorities, the disabled and working-class and senior citizens.   The Legislature also raised taxes on middle-class families and slashed public education funding. North Carolinians have been flocking to social media to express their disgust at the anti-worker platform approved by the GOP-led Legislature. Some sample tweets:

Education Votes ‏@edvotes 24 Jul

NC educators, parents, students & others to attend mass #MoralMonday on 7/29 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RYKiAB6liM&feature=youtu.be …. State lawmakers put on notice. #NCAE

Steve Brechbiel ‏@SteveBNC 20m 

Sad - a letter from an NC teacher who can no longer afford to teach. Why are we not ashamed? #NCLEG #ncgov http://bit.ly/1c91uxT 

Edward ‏@USMC_Liberal 1h

I was going to make a joke about #NCLEG inserting insane language into an unrelated bill but they've already used up all my material.

North Carolinians are not taking this lying down. They are pissed and planning to take to the streets in Raleigh Monday. Moral Monday organizers are calling out to all those against this anti-worker agenda to come to the Statehouse grounds to be heard:

Join us at Halifax Mall for a Mass Moral Monday March & Interfaith Social Justice Service as we strengthen our faith for the battle ahead and send every attendee from every part of the state back home to be a trumpet of conscience and agent of change.

Stay tuned.

Anti-worker agenda advances in North Carolina

Extremists in North Carolina, ignoring the turmoil caused by their anti-worker agenda, pushed forward yesterday with bills to empower corporations and savage the middle class. The House and Senate approved a budget that raises taxes on middle-class families and slashes public education funding, while the Senate approved a voter suppression bill that targets minorities, low-income residents, senior citizens and the disabled.


Protesters gather in Speaker Tillis' office.
 

The Legislature is set to adjourn today with its anti-worker agenda likely to pass. The voter suppression bill and the budget will head to Gov. Pat McCrory’s desk, and he is expected to sign both.

They are fulfilling the anti-worker agenda pushed by greedy billionaire Art Pope, an ALEC disciple and Benedict Arnold Koch brothers buddy who got himself appointed state budget director after financing a number of radical politicians’ campaigns.

The Legislature’s ALEC-inspired attacks on workers inspired a popular uprising that takes the form of weekly Moral Monday protests at the Statehouse. The demonstrations have resulted in 925 arrests for civil disobedience over the last 12 weeks. Organizers of the Moral Monday rallies are already promising to make their voices heard on Monday, during the next planned protest of the Legislature’s extreme anti-worker agenda.

The budget bill cuts $260 million from North Carolina’s public education budget, hampering teachers who are already among the nation’s lowest paid. It also ends tenure and will lead to more crowded classrooms.  The Raleigh News-Observer took the GOP to task for the cuts in an editorial, saying its own leaders don’t even understand the implications:

Take Phil Berger, Republican senator from Eden and that chamber’s president pro-tem. When pressed for the reasons he has crusaded for ending teacher tenure in North Carolina’s public schools, Berger just says he heard about a lot of incompetent teachers hanging on thanks to tenure.

… Teachers are the heart of the most noble thing this state and this nation do: provide an education to all. And yet Berger and other Republicans speak of public schools as if they were more a nuisance than a monument to enlightenment. They also seem to believe they can continue to make teachers a target of petty criticism, pay them poorly, offer them few benefits and still maintain a quality school system.

Six opponents of a voter suppression bill were arrested after entering the office of House Speaker Thom Tillis last night. They refused to leave until they spoke with him and he agreed to halt the legislation. They may have hope: The U.S. Justice Department could challenge North Carolina’s voter law, as it announced today it will take new restrictive state measures to court. 

Today's Teamster News 07.06.13

Yes, the Sequester Is Affecting the Job Market  New York Times   ... in the last few months, the defense-sensitive industries have been shedding jobs, while the rest of the country’s employers have been adding jobs over all...
The Fall of the American Worker  New Yorker   ...Without unions to support them, they are all at the mercy of indifferent employers and the harsh vagaries of the post-industrial economy...
Chinese Officials Ignored Safety Violations, Leading To The Industrial Fire That Killed 121 People Think Progress   ...Dozens of Chinese public officials were charged Friday with dereliction of duty for failing to inspect the site of a fire at the Jilin Baoyuanfeng Poultry Co. plant that killed 121 in June...
So-called free trade talks should be in the public, not corporate interest (opinion)  The Guardian   ... the goal is a managed trade regime – managed, that is, to serve the special interests that have long dominated trade policy in the west...
Pensioners at ‘breaking point’ because of austerity budgets  Independent.ie   ..."The feedback we received during our national consultation process in March (in Ireland) was shocking, with older people telling us how they were going to bed in the early evening to stay warm, using hot water bottles to stay warm rather than turning on their heating, or seriously considering the option of getting rid of their pet cat because they could no longer afford to feed it..."
Next week's Moral Mondays protest to focus on the numbers  News and Observer  ...Next week’s “Moral Mondays” protest by the NAACP will be about numbers. Each protest has focused on a theme. Monday’s theme will be about the number of people that the organization says have been harmed by Republican legislators’ economic actions, including ending some Medicaid funding and unemployment benefits...
Top Mich. court won't rule early on right-to-work  Associated Press   ...The Michigan Supreme Court on Friday unanimously decided not to step in early to decide the legality of the state's right-to-work law...
How Scott Walker strangled Wisconsin’s jobs recovery  Institute for Wisconsin's Future   ...The only ‘good news’ is that we’re not falling behind the nation quite as rapidly as we once were. But Wisconsin is still missing out on the national recovery. And our governor’s policies are largely to blame...
Alabama voters' photo ID law can now be implemented for 2014 elections  The Clarion   ...The U.S. Supreme Court voted to strike down Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, an act created to outlaw practices such as literacy tests and other discriminatory means that disenfranchised voters based on race or color...
Delaware Supreme Court weighs whether former Countrywide shareholders can pursue lawsuit Associated Press   ...The Delaware Supreme Court is considering whether former shareholders of Countrywide Financial Corp. should be allowed to pursue a federal lawsuit filed against leaders of the former mortgage lending giant before it was acquired by Bank of America in 2008...
American Airlines fires back against lawsuit to stop merger  Dallas Business Journal   ...American Airlines has returned fired against a lawsuit claiming the Fort Worth-based carrier's planned merger with US Airways Group will harm consumers, calling the suit baseless...
Calif. lawmakers approve bill to extend tax breaks as part of business incentive overhaul  Associated Press   ...The Senate and Assembly voted Wednesday to extend a sales tax exemption for manufacturing and research-and-development equipment to eight years. The credit would have expired for some businesses after 4 1/2 years...
Washington County to get workers comp refund check  Marietta Times   ...About 210,000 employers across the state will see refund checks form the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation in amounts ranging from $5 to more than $3 million...
New Jersey postpones surcharge on unemployment premiums in effort to boost job market  Press of Atlantic City   ...Lawmakers passed a bill that postponed a 10 percent insurance surcharge, which Gov. Chris Christie signed into law June 28. The increase was meant to fill a projected $300 million shortfall in the fund that provides unemployment benefits to the state's laid-off workers...
Rural/Metro union signals its intention to go on strike  Buffalo News   ...Teamsters Local 375 on Friday delivered 10-day notice signaling its intent to strike privately owned Rural/Metro Medical Services if progress is not made to fix a system in which, according to the union, first responders are paid below the city’s living wage...

151 arrested in latest NC Moral Monday protest

Police arrested 151 protesters during the fifth "Moral Monday" rally at the Statehouse in Raleigh yesterday, nearly doubling the number of those arrested at the previous four events combined.

In another sign of strength in the movement, organizers said the event drew 1,600, by far the best turnout to date. Originally started by the NAACP's state chapter, the protest has grown to include unions, the North Carolina Democratic Party, other political organizations and student groups. All are united in trying to stop legislation that would put the powerful before the people.

Protesters are fighting ALEC's agenda to empower billionaires and eradicate public education, suppress voting, weaken workers' rights and eliminate environmental protections. Last week, lawmakers unveiled three new bills last that would raise taxes on working families and lower them for rich corporations. Organizers said it is critical the middle class continues to push back.

Rev. William Barber, the NAACP's state chapter president, told attendees they are starting to be noticed:

The people are awake now, and we have decided to stand up. We are a movement. This is not a moment.

Protesters are rebelling against the anti-worker efforts of North Carolina state budget director Art Pope, a close ally of the Benedict Arnold Koch brothers. The Koch brothers help bankroll ALEC, an escort service matching state lawmakers with corporations.

Before assuming his position as state budget director, the multimillionaire Pope spent years touting tax policies that shift more payments to the middle and lower class and away from the wealthy. He helped get Gov. Pat McCrory elected last year, and now he is trying to make those tax policies the law.

While the 2014 elections are important, however, there is much that can be done right now. Let your state representatives and Gov. McCrory know that you oppose HB 998, SB 394 and SB 677. Tell them you should be setting the state's agenda, not ALEC.

Today's Teamster News 05.30.13

Smithfield Foods to be bought by Chinese firm  The Washington Post   ...Smithfield Foods, whose signature hams helped make it the world’s largest pork producer, is being taken over by a Chinese firm in a deal is the biggest takeover that might raise sensitive issues about Chinese involvement in the U.S. food supply...
Shell Admits Real Reason Coast Guard Had To Rescue Its Arctic Drilling Rig: Failed Tax Avoidance Scheme  ThinkProgress   ...The main reason an offshore oil rig ran aground off the coast of Alaska late last year was because oil company Royal Dutch Shell was trying to depart state waters to avoid paying millions in taxes...
Americans Now Know More About Often Pathetic Personal Finances  mni   ...Fewer than half, 41%, of Americans spend less than they make...
Case-Shiller Shows Home Prices Are Skyrocketing Back to the Bubble Years  Economic Populist ...The March 2013 S&P Case Shiller home price index shows a 10.9% price increase from a year ago for over 20 metropolitan housing markets and a 10.3% change for the top 10 housing markets from March 2012...
16 Countries Where People Work the Longest Hours  The Fiscal Times   ...When it comes to annual hours worked in 2010, the U.S. tied with Italy for 13th place among the OECD countries...
ALEC: Shining Sunlight on a Secretive Lobby Group  The Pilot   ...the Republican supermajority in the North Carolina General Assembly is getting many of its worst ideas for how to change our state from the Washington, D.C.-based American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). Every citizen needs to know more about ALEC and its stealth efforts to undermine our modern-day democracy...
House Democrats gear up for Affordable Care Act outreach  Politico   ...Democrats on Capitol Hill are beginning a significant outreach effort to get lawmakers prepared for Obamacare enrollment, which will begin Oct. 1...
The World's Richest 8% Earn Half of All Planetary Income  AlterNet   ...The top 1 per cent has seen its real income rise by more than 60 per cent over those two decades...
Income Inequality Gets Worse When You Slash Taxes On The Rich: Study  Huffington Post   ...The rich just keep getting richer -- not only by gobbling up more income, but also by paying less in taxes. That means less support for the poor, who are getting increasingly poorer relative to the top one percent...
Apple’s U.S. revenue should be taxed (opinion) Washington Post …The open secret of many global corporations’ success — and occasionally, downfall — is to fall between the cracks. Apple, which is based in Cupertino, Calif., created an Irish subsidiary with no employees, into which it funneled roughly $30 billion between 2009 and 2012 on which neither Ireland nor the United States levied taxes...
Switzerland Weighs Deal in Tax Cases   Deal Book   ...The Swiss government is considering a proposal to disclose bank client names and pay a multibillion-dollar fine to the United States to help resolve a long-running dispute between the two countries over the handling of tax-evasion cases...
Proposed law would allow state to check, freeze private bank accounts to recover overpayments to jobless  Wisconsin State Journal   ...A bill that is speeding through the state Legislature would require jobless people to provide more proof that they are seeking work, and make it easier for the state to recover overpayments — including those made because of government errors — by allowing officials to peek into unemployed people’s bank accounts...
County-by-county details: How badly Wisconsin trails the nation in job-creation  Institute for Wisconsin's Future   ...private-sector wages in Wisconsin falling at 2% a year, twice the national rate. Wisconsin ranked 44th out of 50 in wage growth...
Giants Fans Bring Their Own Lunches To Support Concessions Workers’ Strike  In These Times   ...After three years without a contract, and on one of the busiest weekends of the season, hundreds of concessions workers at the San Francisco Giants’ ballpark staged a one-day strike. As baseball fans arrived on Saturday afternoon to watch the Giants take on the Colorado Rockies, strikers asked them not to buy food and drink inside the stadium...
After going nowhere in 2013, supporters hope to bring “right to work” back next year  The Missouri Times   ...Though prevailing wage and “paycheck protection” bills passed both chambers, another labor-related topic that saw minimal action this session was the “right to work” issue...
No mere luxury: Liquor privatization is about much more  Pittsburgh Post-Gazette   ...Concern is rising in the General Assembly, particularly among Democrats, that House Republicans may be linking a bill to end the government's liquor monopoly with a measure to increase transportation funding...
Teamsters Power Consumer Electronics Show   IBT   ...Every year, Las Vegas is visited by an average of nearly 5 million conventioneers as the city plays host to more than 21,000 shows. Local 631 in Las Vegas represents more than 3,000 trade show and convention workers that help to keep shows on track and on time...
Teamsters Offer Free Disability Services to Military Veterans  Teamsters Joint Council 25  ...An offshoot of the national Helmets to Hardhats program, the Teamsters Military Assistance Program (TMAP) provides disability assistance for all military veterans and job placement opportunities for veterans in the construction industry...
Stop Cuts To Public Safety And Economic Growth  IBT   ...Sequestration is more than a confusing term being debated in Washington. There is immediate and future impact that many Americans will feel based on significant reductions in funding numerous government programs that touch the lives of all segments of our society...