Teamsters
Teamsters Call On SFMTA To Adopt Labor Harmony Resolution Teamster.org ...Teamsters and drivers for Bauer’s Intelligent Transportation held an action next to the Mission Street BART station last week, urging SFMTA pass the labor harmony resolution that was unanimously adopted by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in March...
Salary Hike For Montco Correctional Officers The Intelligencer ...The county’s correctional officers in December 2013 voted to be represented by a union. The vote was 120-82 in favor of representation by Teamsters Local Union 384 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters...
Flexjet Pilots Win Jobs Back, Made Whole for Company's Labor Law Violations Teamster.org ...In a decision by distinguished arbitrator Joshua Javits, three pilots with Flexjet, LLC, have been reinstated to their positions with the carrier and made whole for their terminations. The arbitrator found the terminations were without cause and that the pilots’ terminations resulted from retaliation for protected union activity in violation of federal labor law...
Global Labor & Trade
Turkey In Political Crisis As Violence Spirals Huffington Post ...Gunmen opened fire on Turkish police outside an Istanbul palace and eight soldiers were killed in a bomb attack in the southeast on Wednesday, heightening a sense of crisis as the country's political leaders struggle to form a new government...
German Parliament Overwhelmingly Approves Greek Bailout Huffington Post ...Germany's parliament overwhelmingly approved a third bailout for Greece on Wednesday, removing a key hurdle to providing new loans to the country and keeping it from defaulting on its debts in as little as 24 hours...
EC's Transparency Spin Falls Flat As TTIP Made Even More Secretive Huffington Post ...The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is the biggest trade deal ever negotiated. Yet all British MPs know about it is what little the European Commission (EC) decides to tell them -- and that's about to become a lot less. Last week German website Correct!v revealed that one of the only sources of information for what happens in secret TTIP negotiations will end...
South Sudanese President’s Chilling Threat Against The Lives Of Journalists Think Progress ...The pressure to sign a civil-war ending peace agreement may be getting to South Sudanese President Salva Kiir. On Sunday, the embattled leader threatened to kill journalists reporting “against the country.”...
State & Living Wage Battles
Ohio Lawmaker: Now Is Time For Right To Work Cincinnati.com ...The proposal, which is being drafted, would prohibit mandatory union membership at workplaces. The change would give employees the choice to opt out of unions and their dues, said Brinkman, R-Mount Lookout. Twenty-five states have right-to-work laws, including recently passed proposals in Wisconsin, Michigan and Indiana...
Obama's Paid-Leave Policies Make Progress In Cities USA Today ...In his State of the Union Address in January, President Obama said he would go around Congress if necessary and push states to adopt paid-leave laws. Eight months later, only one state — Oregon — has passed such a law. But 17 cities have...
Compromise On Raising Bangor Minimum Wage Fails, Talks To Continue Bangor Daily News ...The City Council’s Business and Economic Development Committee failed Tuesday to move forward a proposed compromise on a local minimum-wage increase...
U.S. Labor
Transportation Secretary And New Jersey Officials Meet To Discuss Hudson River Rail Tunnels New York Times ...After Mr. Foxx met with Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey and the state’s two Democratic senators, Cory A. Booker and Robert Menendez, the officials signaled a new level of cooperation on the project. The four released a joint statement calling the meeting “substantive and productive,” and indicated that they would work to obtain “a substantial federal grant contribution” and other funding options for the plan, known as the Gateway Project...
One-Quarter Of Mothers Return To Work Less Than 2 Weeks After Giving Birth, Report Finds Huffington Post ...The researchers looked at a survey of 2,852 workers who took leave in 2012, honing in on the 93 women who took time off to care for a new baby. Of those women, nearly 12 percent took a week or less; another 11 percent took between one and two weeks off, according to the analysis. Among college graduates, longer leaves ruled the day: Eighty percent of the women who took at least six weeks leave had a degree. Only 54 percent of women without a degree were able to do so...
Amazon's Brutal Workplace Is An Indicator Of An Inhumane Economy Los Angeles Times ...What, ultimately, is the point of all this high-intensity labor, 16 hours a day most days of the year? If it is to make men such as Bezos extremely rich, it has done that, but what is in it for the workers who devote their lives to his vision for two or three years and then wearily stumble away from the company? Have they built something important and soul-enriching? Or did they just shave some minutes off the time it takes to fill the shopping carts of impatient, lazy consumers? Shouldn’t there be a little more to life than that?...
A Simple Practice Can Transform The Lives Of First Responders Huffington Post ...Firefighters are known for their physical strength and bravery, but they also face an immense amount of emotional stress and pressure. And just as first responders train for fitness, so too should they work on sharpening and preparing their minds, according to neuroscientist Amishi Jha...
Social Justice & Other News
As Immigration Judges' Working Conditions Worsen, More May Choose Retirement Los Angeles Times ...“I just really didn't like telling these young kids they had to go back to this situation. It really was very stressful for me and distressing,” she said. “I started out my career representing people with asylum claims, and a lot of those were Central American. I didn't want to sign my name on something and send someone back somewhere where they could potentially lose their life.”...
Americans Back Federal Funds To Planned Parenthood For Health Services, Poll Shows Huffington Post ...Support for federal funding of Planned Parenthood itself to provide those women's health services was even stronger, according to the Reuters/Ipsos released on Wednesday...
These Former Debt Collectors Decided To Ditch The Industry, Buy Up Medical Debt And Forgive It Truthout ...When Paola Gonzalez received a phone call from RIP Medical Debt, she was certain what she heard was a mistake. A prank, maybe. The caller said a $950 hospital bill had been paid for in full: It would not affect her credit and she wouldn't have to worry about it again. "They wanted to pay a bill for me," she said. "I was just speechless."...
How Black Lives Matter Moved From A Hashtag To A Real Political Force Washington Post ...Black Lives Matter has evolved well beyond a hashtag attached to sometimes-smart and often-snarky posts about policing, jailing and racial disparities in the United States. Black Lives Matter, it would seem, has evolved into a social movement with political aims, policy demands and a disparate set of individuals motivated to push those issues into the 2016 campaign...
Confederate Flag Controversy: More US Schools Consider Bans On Display Of Southern Symbol As Charleston Unveils New Policy International Business Times ...Weeks after a white gunman opened fire in a historic black church in South Carolina, the Charleston County School District this week updated its code of conduct for the 2015-2016 school year, which began Monday, to include a ban on the Confederate flag. The policy prohibits students from wearing clothing, jewelry or other apparel featuring images of the rebel banner...
Science Isn’t Broken FiveThirtyEight ...If we’re going to rely on science as a means for reaching the truth — and it’s still the best tool we have — it’s important that we understand and respect just how difficult it is to get a rigorous result. I could pontificate about all the reasons why science is arduous, but instead I’m going to let you experience one of them for yourself. Welcome to the wild world of p-hacking...
Showing posts with label correctional officers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label correctional officers. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 19, 2015
Friday, June 12, 2015
Today's Teamster News 06.12.15
Teamsters
Hoffa Calls on House to Vote Down Flawed Trade Adjustment Assistance Bill Teamster.org ...Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa challenged House representatives to vote down a severely flawed Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) bill in a letter delivered this morning. Hoffa questioned the lack of funding and protection for public service workers in the TAA bill...
Teamsters Corrections Employees Picket, Protest Threat Of Washington State Government Shutdown Teamster.org ...Teamster corrections employees picketed at the Monroe Correctional Complex in Monroe and the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla on Thursday to demand that the legislature pass a budget that funds their contract and prevents a costly government shutdown. Picketers at both facilities held signs that read: DOC Corrections Employees – Keeping our Communities Safe – and they urged the public to support them...
Teamsters get back into Convention Center Philly.com ...In yet another complicated twist to the Pennsylvania Convention Center saga, members of the Teamsters local that had lost the right to work in the building are back in the building working. In May 2014, two of the six unions that worked in the building setting up trade shows lost jurisdiction when their leaders failed to sign a new customer satisfaction agreement by a management-imposed deadline.
Global Labor & Trade
Obama’s Trade Bills Face Tough Battle Against House Democrats New York Times ...President Obama’s ambitious push to expand his trade negotiating powers faces a final congressional showdown on Friday, but lawmakers in his own party — pressed hard by organized labor, environmental groups and liberal activists — are threatening to bring down the entire package of trade bills...
Could liberals bring down Obama’s big trade agenda? Washington Post ...President Obama’s trade agenda is really hanging in the balance right now, as the bill giving him Fast Track authority to negotiate the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal appears balanced on the edge of a knife in the House of Representatives...
Backlash Against TPP Grows as Leaked Text Reveals Increased Corporate Control of Public Health Democracy Now ...As the Obama administration praises the benefits of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), backlash continues to grow against the deal. WikiLeaks has just published another section of the secret text — this one about public healthcare and the pharmaceutical industry. Newly revealed details of the draft show the TPP would give major pharmaceutical companies more power...
Trade Bill in Jeopardy as Democrats Hold Back National Journal ...The fate of President Obama's fast-track trade bill remained uncertain Thursday afternoon even after clearing a key hurdle, as Democrats expressed growing concern with the slice of the package that helps train workers who lose their jobs as a result of a future trade deal. The Trade Adjustment Assistance bill—a key provision for Democrats—is vital to passing Trade Promotion Authority, legislation that gives Congress and up-or-down vote on trade deals negotiated by the president...
Republicans Tie Their Favorite Causes to the Trade Agreement New York Times ...For Representative F. James Sensenbrenner, Republican of Wisconsin, there is language promising that no trade deals can compel the United States to address climate change. For anti-immigrant firebrand Steve King, Republican of Iowa, another provision would prohibit future trade deals from loosening immigration laws or expanding visa access...
Why the Founding Fathers Would Oppose Fast Track Eyes on Trade ...Morrison warns in a letter to Congress that the TPP’s proposed expansion of a controversial parallel legal system for foreign corporations, known as “investor-state dispute settlement” (ISDS), “improperly removes a core judicial function from the federal courts and therefore violates Article III of the Constitution.” TPP’s expansion of ISDS would newly empower thousands of foreign corporations to bypass the entire U.S. legal system...
Obama’s trade deal is a Trojan horse (opinion) MSNBC ...President Barack Obama has ditched his renowned cool to go on the warpath against Democratic senators, small business leaders, American unions, and faith, environmental and health organizations that oppose the massive Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement he wants to enact. Improbably, Obama is united with the Wall Street titans, big business interests and Republican congressional leaders who tried to keep him out of office to revive a Nixon-era procedure called “fast track” that could railroad the TPP through Congress...
Child Labor Stems from Lack of Good Jobs for Adults Solidarity Center ...Some 168 million children remain trapped in child labor—11 percent of the world’s child population—even as 200 million youth in 2012 were working but earning less than $2 per day, according to an International Labor Organization (ILO) report released this week. “Both child labor and the youth decent work deficit are symptomatic of the general lack of sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth in the global economy and in developing economies in particular,” according to the report.
State & Living Wage Battles
Virginia Democrats sue over voter ID law Associated Press ...Virginia Democrats are trying to strike down the state’s voter ID law, joining efforts in two other swing states to challenge voting laws ahead of the 2016 presidential election. The Democratic Party of Virginia said it filed a federal lawsuit Thursday against the State Board of Elections seeking to undo the state’s voter photo ID provision...
There Is No Budget Surplus in Wisconsin PR Watch ...Walker does not have a surplus. He has a $2.2 billion deficit and a big problem. With his budget committee now caught up in a hot debate over how to fund the Bucks’ new arena and bankroll new road-building, Joint Finance is stuck, with no new meetings scheduled. The standoff could delay Walker’s much-anticipated announcement as a candidate for president...
“Something is rotten in Michigan”: Poisoned water supplies, dissolved school districts and a massive unraveling of American democracy Salon ...If you’re thinking, “Who cares?” since what happens in Michigan stays in Michigan, think again. The state’s aggressive balance-the-books style of governance has already spread beyond its borders. In January, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie appointed bankruptcy lawyer and former Detroit emergency manager Kevyn Orr to be a “legal adviser” to Atlantic City...
The Koch Brothers Usually Have Scott Walker's Back. Not This Time. Mother Jones ...The Koch brothers and their political machine have long been key allies of Wisconsin governor and presumptive 2016 hopeful Scott Walker. With the GOP presidential field getting more crowded by the day and political observers wondering who will win the Koch Primary—and the financial backing of these billionaires and their donor network—Walker has sparked a controversy in his home state in which and he and Team Koch are on opposite sides...
Why Scott Walker is Even More of a Menace Than He Seems Counterpunch ...Having gutted public sector unions in Wisconsin, attacking organized labor in one of its proudest strongholds, Governor Scott Walker now has his sights set on another of his state’s glories, the University of Wisconsin. His target is the entire university and college system, but what sets him off most is Wisconsin’s “flagship” campus in Madison...
Emanuel to rely on worker complaints to enforce higher minimum wage Chicago Tribune ...en the minimum wage in Chicago increases to $10 an hour July 1, Mayor Rahm Emanuel will rely mainly on workers filing complaints against their bosses to make sure thousands of businesses big and small comply with the new standards. Emanuel was out Wednesday reminding people about the $1.75-an-hour wage hike, casting the bump in pay for about 200,000 workers in human terms for struggling families...
Chris Christie Suggests College Students Should Sell Themselves To Investors To Pay Tuition Think Progress ...Christie also mentioned income share agreements, which allow students to essentially issue stock in themselves. It allows people to invest in college students, or to “own human capital contracts,” which means that an investor could pay a portion of the student’s tuition to attend college in exchange for that student giving the investor a certain percentage of their income for so many years...
U.S. Labor
USW Ratifies New Contract at Hawesville, Kentucky Smelter MarketWatch ...Century Aluminum of Kentucky General Partnership (the "Company"), a subsidiary of Century Aluminum Company, announced today that a new, five-year collective bargaining agreement was ratified by the United Steelworkers Local 9423 on June 11, 2015 for the Company's Hawesville, Kentucky smelter. The new contract is effective today through April 1, 2020...
Hayward, SEIU Local 1021 reach tentative contract agreement Contra Costa Times ...The city reached a tentative contract agreement with the union representing its clerical and maintenance, ending a lengthy labor dispute. The agreement with SEIU Local 1021 was announced Thursday following a 12-hour negotiating session Wednesday. Details of the agreement were not available pending a vote by union members...
Better Enforcement of Farmworker Heat Rules as UFW and Brown Administration Settle Lawsuit Huffington Post ...Timelier, more effective, and more consistent inspections of farm and other outdoor worksites under California's recently improved heat-illness-prevention regulations will follow the settlement of two lawsuits between the Jerry Brown administration's work-safety agency and farmworkers partnering with the United Farm Workers (UFW)...
AFSCME members continue to voice displeasure with contract negotiations at rally State Journal-Register ...Members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees continued their string of protests against Gov. Bruce Rauner on Thursday at the Old State Capitol. An AFSCME bulletin obtained by The State Journal-Register in May states the governor wants a salary freeze, reduced vacation time and cuts to health insurance...
New DC JWJ Report Reveals Unfair Scheduling Practices in DC DC Jobs with Justice ...In line with previous research, it finds that “just in time” approaches to scheduling negatively impact many D.C. employees’ lives, often resulting in erratic and unpredictable hours for the women and men who serve our food, stock our shelves and sweep our floors. Employees are granted too few hours on too short notice, resulting in unpredictable incomes and work schedules that make it hard to budget, arrange childcare, continue with education or hold down a second job to try to make ends meet...
National labor board says tribal sovereignty trumps NLRB protection in Chickasaw casino case Tulsa World ...Tribal sovereignty trumps federal protection by a national labor board in a case of union-organizing complaints at the state’s largest casino, the board found this month.
The June 4 opinion by the National Labor Relations Board contradicts a recent appeals court decision regarding a similar dispute with another tribe and its casino...
Miscellaneous
Iceland Jailed Bankers and Rejected Austerity—and It’s Been a Success TruthDig ...When the global economic crisis hit in 2008, Iceland suffered terribly—perhaps more than any other country. Now, less than a decade later, the nation’s economy is booming. That’s because it took a different approach. Instead of imposing devastating austerity measures and bailing out its banks, Iceland let its banks go bust and focused on social welfare policies...
Big Pharma's Hidden Hand In Rise of Antibiotic-Resistant Superbugs Common Dreams ...From the World Health Organization to the National Academy of Sciences, scientists are warning that rising antibiotic resistance poses a public health threat across the world. Now, a new report from consumer advocacy group Sum Of Us examines an often-overlooked factor behind this crisis: the complicity of pharmaceutical giants in the dangerous dumping of drug waste throughout the supply chain...
Hoffa Calls on House to Vote Down Flawed Trade Adjustment Assistance Bill Teamster.org ...Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa challenged House representatives to vote down a severely flawed Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) bill in a letter delivered this morning. Hoffa questioned the lack of funding and protection for public service workers in the TAA bill...
Teamsters Corrections Employees Picket, Protest Threat Of Washington State Government Shutdown Teamster.org ...Teamster corrections employees picketed at the Monroe Correctional Complex in Monroe and the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla on Thursday to demand that the legislature pass a budget that funds their contract and prevents a costly government shutdown. Picketers at both facilities held signs that read: DOC Corrections Employees – Keeping our Communities Safe – and they urged the public to support them...
Teamsters get back into Convention Center Philly.com ...In yet another complicated twist to the Pennsylvania Convention Center saga, members of the Teamsters local that had lost the right to work in the building are back in the building working. In May 2014, two of the six unions that worked in the building setting up trade shows lost jurisdiction when their leaders failed to sign a new customer satisfaction agreement by a management-imposed deadline.
Global Labor & Trade
Obama’s Trade Bills Face Tough Battle Against House Democrats New York Times ...President Obama’s ambitious push to expand his trade negotiating powers faces a final congressional showdown on Friday, but lawmakers in his own party — pressed hard by organized labor, environmental groups and liberal activists — are threatening to bring down the entire package of trade bills...
Could liberals bring down Obama’s big trade agenda? Washington Post ...President Obama’s trade agenda is really hanging in the balance right now, as the bill giving him Fast Track authority to negotiate the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal appears balanced on the edge of a knife in the House of Representatives...
Backlash Against TPP Grows as Leaked Text Reveals Increased Corporate Control of Public Health Democracy Now ...As the Obama administration praises the benefits of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), backlash continues to grow against the deal. WikiLeaks has just published another section of the secret text — this one about public healthcare and the pharmaceutical industry. Newly revealed details of the draft show the TPP would give major pharmaceutical companies more power...
Trade Bill in Jeopardy as Democrats Hold Back National Journal ...The fate of President Obama's fast-track trade bill remained uncertain Thursday afternoon even after clearing a key hurdle, as Democrats expressed growing concern with the slice of the package that helps train workers who lose their jobs as a result of a future trade deal. The Trade Adjustment Assistance bill—a key provision for Democrats—is vital to passing Trade Promotion Authority, legislation that gives Congress and up-or-down vote on trade deals negotiated by the president...
Republicans Tie Their Favorite Causes to the Trade Agreement New York Times ...For Representative F. James Sensenbrenner, Republican of Wisconsin, there is language promising that no trade deals can compel the United States to address climate change. For anti-immigrant firebrand Steve King, Republican of Iowa, another provision would prohibit future trade deals from loosening immigration laws or expanding visa access...
Why the Founding Fathers Would Oppose Fast Track Eyes on Trade ...Morrison warns in a letter to Congress that the TPP’s proposed expansion of a controversial parallel legal system for foreign corporations, known as “investor-state dispute settlement” (ISDS), “improperly removes a core judicial function from the federal courts and therefore violates Article III of the Constitution.” TPP’s expansion of ISDS would newly empower thousands of foreign corporations to bypass the entire U.S. legal system...
Obama’s trade deal is a Trojan horse (opinion) MSNBC ...President Barack Obama has ditched his renowned cool to go on the warpath against Democratic senators, small business leaders, American unions, and faith, environmental and health organizations that oppose the massive Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement he wants to enact. Improbably, Obama is united with the Wall Street titans, big business interests and Republican congressional leaders who tried to keep him out of office to revive a Nixon-era procedure called “fast track” that could railroad the TPP through Congress...
Child Labor Stems from Lack of Good Jobs for Adults Solidarity Center ...Some 168 million children remain trapped in child labor—11 percent of the world’s child population—even as 200 million youth in 2012 were working but earning less than $2 per day, according to an International Labor Organization (ILO) report released this week. “Both child labor and the youth decent work deficit are symptomatic of the general lack of sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth in the global economy and in developing economies in particular,” according to the report.
State & Living Wage Battles
Virginia Democrats sue over voter ID law Associated Press ...Virginia Democrats are trying to strike down the state’s voter ID law, joining efforts in two other swing states to challenge voting laws ahead of the 2016 presidential election. The Democratic Party of Virginia said it filed a federal lawsuit Thursday against the State Board of Elections seeking to undo the state’s voter photo ID provision...
There Is No Budget Surplus in Wisconsin PR Watch ...Walker does not have a surplus. He has a $2.2 billion deficit and a big problem. With his budget committee now caught up in a hot debate over how to fund the Bucks’ new arena and bankroll new road-building, Joint Finance is stuck, with no new meetings scheduled. The standoff could delay Walker’s much-anticipated announcement as a candidate for president...
“Something is rotten in Michigan”: Poisoned water supplies, dissolved school districts and a massive unraveling of American democracy Salon ...If you’re thinking, “Who cares?” since what happens in Michigan stays in Michigan, think again. The state’s aggressive balance-the-books style of governance has already spread beyond its borders. In January, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie appointed bankruptcy lawyer and former Detroit emergency manager Kevyn Orr to be a “legal adviser” to Atlantic City...
The Koch Brothers Usually Have Scott Walker's Back. Not This Time. Mother Jones ...The Koch brothers and their political machine have long been key allies of Wisconsin governor and presumptive 2016 hopeful Scott Walker. With the GOP presidential field getting more crowded by the day and political observers wondering who will win the Koch Primary—and the financial backing of these billionaires and their donor network—Walker has sparked a controversy in his home state in which and he and Team Koch are on opposite sides...
Why Scott Walker is Even More of a Menace Than He Seems Counterpunch ...Having gutted public sector unions in Wisconsin, attacking organized labor in one of its proudest strongholds, Governor Scott Walker now has his sights set on another of his state’s glories, the University of Wisconsin. His target is the entire university and college system, but what sets him off most is Wisconsin’s “flagship” campus in Madison...
Emanuel to rely on worker complaints to enforce higher minimum wage Chicago Tribune ...en the minimum wage in Chicago increases to $10 an hour July 1, Mayor Rahm Emanuel will rely mainly on workers filing complaints against their bosses to make sure thousands of businesses big and small comply with the new standards. Emanuel was out Wednesday reminding people about the $1.75-an-hour wage hike, casting the bump in pay for about 200,000 workers in human terms for struggling families...
Chris Christie Suggests College Students Should Sell Themselves To Investors To Pay Tuition Think Progress ...Christie also mentioned income share agreements, which allow students to essentially issue stock in themselves. It allows people to invest in college students, or to “own human capital contracts,” which means that an investor could pay a portion of the student’s tuition to attend college in exchange for that student giving the investor a certain percentage of their income for so many years...
U.S. Labor
USW Ratifies New Contract at Hawesville, Kentucky Smelter MarketWatch ...Century Aluminum of Kentucky General Partnership (the "Company"), a subsidiary of Century Aluminum Company, announced today that a new, five-year collective bargaining agreement was ratified by the United Steelworkers Local 9423 on June 11, 2015 for the Company's Hawesville, Kentucky smelter. The new contract is effective today through April 1, 2020...
Hayward, SEIU Local 1021 reach tentative contract agreement Contra Costa Times ...The city reached a tentative contract agreement with the union representing its clerical and maintenance, ending a lengthy labor dispute. The agreement with SEIU Local 1021 was announced Thursday following a 12-hour negotiating session Wednesday. Details of the agreement were not available pending a vote by union members...
Better Enforcement of Farmworker Heat Rules as UFW and Brown Administration Settle Lawsuit Huffington Post ...Timelier, more effective, and more consistent inspections of farm and other outdoor worksites under California's recently improved heat-illness-prevention regulations will follow the settlement of two lawsuits between the Jerry Brown administration's work-safety agency and farmworkers partnering with the United Farm Workers (UFW)...
AFSCME members continue to voice displeasure with contract negotiations at rally State Journal-Register ...Members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees continued their string of protests against Gov. Bruce Rauner on Thursday at the Old State Capitol. An AFSCME bulletin obtained by The State Journal-Register in May states the governor wants a salary freeze, reduced vacation time and cuts to health insurance...
New DC JWJ Report Reveals Unfair Scheduling Practices in DC DC Jobs with Justice ...In line with previous research, it finds that “just in time” approaches to scheduling negatively impact many D.C. employees’ lives, often resulting in erratic and unpredictable hours for the women and men who serve our food, stock our shelves and sweep our floors. Employees are granted too few hours on too short notice, resulting in unpredictable incomes and work schedules that make it hard to budget, arrange childcare, continue with education or hold down a second job to try to make ends meet...
National labor board says tribal sovereignty trumps NLRB protection in Chickasaw casino case Tulsa World ...Tribal sovereignty trumps federal protection by a national labor board in a case of union-organizing complaints at the state’s largest casino, the board found this month.
The June 4 opinion by the National Labor Relations Board contradicts a recent appeals court decision regarding a similar dispute with another tribe and its casino...
Miscellaneous
Iceland Jailed Bankers and Rejected Austerity—and It’s Been a Success TruthDig ...When the global economic crisis hit in 2008, Iceland suffered terribly—perhaps more than any other country. Now, less than a decade later, the nation’s economy is booming. That’s because it took a different approach. Instead of imposing devastating austerity measures and bailing out its banks, Iceland let its banks go bust and focused on social welfare policies...
Big Pharma's Hidden Hand In Rise of Antibiotic-Resistant Superbugs Common Dreams ...From the World Health Organization to the National Academy of Sciences, scientists are warning that rising antibiotic resistance poses a public health threat across the world. Now, a new report from consumer advocacy group Sum Of Us examines an often-overlooked factor behind this crisis: the complicity of pharmaceutical giants in the dangerous dumping of drug waste throughout the supply chain...
Thursday, April 9, 2015
Today's Teamster News 04.09.15
Teamsters
Teamster Correctional Officers in Washington State Earn Community Support Local 117 ...Over the last few weeks, members at Clallam Bay Corrections Center (CBCC) have talked with dozens of local, small business owners, and over 50 businesses have pledged their support for getting our DOC contract funded...
New Bethlehem Township Contracts Give Raises, Increase Benefits Contributions Lehigh Valley Express-Times ...Bethlehem Township on Monday approved new contracts with 35 union employees, giving them 2 percent raises for two years and a 3 percent raise in 2017...
New York City Carriage Horses Are Stress-Free Even After Long Day Of Trotting, Academic Says New York Daily News ...A California academic who specializes in equine medicine conducted an intensive study of stress levels on Big Apple carriage horses and found them completely angst-free – even after a long day trotting in Central Park...
Union Demands Independent Autopsy After Worker Dies Using NYCHA Hoist New York Daily News ...Greg Floyd, president of Teamsters Local 237, questioned the city’s findings. “The position that she was found in, the head wound, the trauma was not addressed,” he said. “I’m calling for an independent autopsy by somebody who does not have a political interest to tell us what killed Toni Jackson.”...
Global Labor & Trade
US Congress continues TPP fast-track negotiations as presidential race heats up ABC Rural ...It's crunch time for the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the ambitious and controversial attempt to create a free trade bloc for the Asia-Pacific. But as talks enter the final stages, there's growing concern the deal could stall because of domestic politics in the US...
As Fast Track/TPP Becomes New Third Rail, Where Is Clinton? Huffington Post ...The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) has become a new "third rail" for progressives and the activist Democratic "base." The thing is that more and more people are seeing it. And more and more people are asking Hillary Clinton to lead the fight against it...
Saving Seeds: Farmers Rise Up Against Industry-Backed Laws Common Dreams ...In Ghana, a coalition of students, trade unions, and small scale farmer organizations have mobilized against a pending Plant Breeders' Rights Bill, that would place aggressive legal restrictions against a farmer's use of seeds...
Exploited and Sexually Abused Qatari Migrant Workers Forced to Run Marathon Alternet ...Migrants who work under severe conditions often akin to slavery were forced to participate in a state-sponsored “megamarathon” in Doha, Qatar. Qatar is on schedule to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup. The International Trade Union Confederation has estimated that 4,000 migrant workers will die during construction...
State & Living Wage Battles
Right To Work In Ohio? Niche Panel Will Consider Cincinnati.com ...A niche legislative panel will consider adding right to work to the Ohio constitution, although the proposal – submitted by an Ohio citizen and obtained by The Enquirer – appears unlikely to pass...
Sweeping Collective Bargaining Reform Gets Legislative Hearing Las Vegas Review Journal ...A bill that would allow local governments to opt out of the state’s collective bargaining law was heard Tuesday in the Assembly Government Affairs Committee, where local government officials said it would give them flexibility to handle tight budgets and union representatives said it would gut recruitment and retention and jeopardize public safety...
Alabama Bill Would Increase Workers' Comp Benefits For Amputees NPR ...Alabama lawmakers have introduced a bill that would nearly triple the maximum compensation for workers who suffer amputations on the job. The bill, filed April 2, comes less than a month after a ProPublica and NPR investigation showed that Alabama had the lowest such benefits in the country...
Kansas Welfare Bill Would Cut Into Benefits With ATM Fees FiveThirtyEight ...Under the new rules, if someone receiving benefits plans to use her money to make a $600 rent payment, she’ll need to start withdrawing money and setting it aside 24 days in advance. So over 24 days, this hypothetical woman would lose $24 in fees; she’d need to start one day earlier to make her rent payment...
U.S. Labor
NLRB hits Postal Service over response to cyber breach Washington Post ...The National Labor Relations Board has filed a complaint calling on the U.S. Postal Service to negotiate with employee groups over how quickly to tell personnel about cyber attacks that affect their personal data...
New Union Election Rules Set Amid Court Challenges CBS News ...The National Labor Relations Board on Monday issued guidance from its general counsel on implementing the rules, adopted by the agency last year and set to take effect April 14, which shorten the time between a union filing a petition to represent workers and an election...
Growers Move to Gut California’s Farm Labor Law Capital & Main ...Gerawan Farming, one of the country’s largest growers, with 5,000 people picking its grapes and peaches, is challenging the California law that makes farm workers’ union rights enforceable. Lining up behind Gerawan are national anti-union think tanks...
Miscellaneous
Follow the Money: Invisible Investors Seek Big Bucks in Mass Incarceration Truthout ...Whether it be health care, food services or telecommunications, private equity firms rake in those big bucks by cutting corners on services, slashing jobs and wages, and taking advantage of pro-incarceration policy measures, from realignment to the war on drugs...
Living The High Life After Congress Huffington Post ...This is what ex-members of Congress and their staffs do nowadays. Rarely do they follow the example of ancient Rome's Cincinnatus and go back to the farm -- or take that teaching job at the local university or join a hometown law practice. They stay in DC to reap the bountiful harvest that comes from Capitol Hill experience and good old fashioned cronyism...
The Big Chill: How Big Money Is Buying Off Criticism Of Big Money (opinion) Huffington Post ...Our democracy is directly threatened when the rich buy off politicians. But no less dangerous is the quieter and more insidious buy-off of institutions democracy depends on to research, investigate, expose, and mobilize action against what is occurring...
Teamster Correctional Officers in Washington State Earn Community Support Local 117 ...Over the last few weeks, members at Clallam Bay Corrections Center (CBCC) have talked with dozens of local, small business owners, and over 50 businesses have pledged their support for getting our DOC contract funded...
New Bethlehem Township Contracts Give Raises, Increase Benefits Contributions Lehigh Valley Express-Times ...Bethlehem Township on Monday approved new contracts with 35 union employees, giving them 2 percent raises for two years and a 3 percent raise in 2017...
New York City Carriage Horses Are Stress-Free Even After Long Day Of Trotting, Academic Says New York Daily News ...A California academic who specializes in equine medicine conducted an intensive study of stress levels on Big Apple carriage horses and found them completely angst-free – even after a long day trotting in Central Park...
Union Demands Independent Autopsy After Worker Dies Using NYCHA Hoist New York Daily News ...Greg Floyd, president of Teamsters Local 237, questioned the city’s findings. “The position that she was found in, the head wound, the trauma was not addressed,” he said. “I’m calling for an independent autopsy by somebody who does not have a political interest to tell us what killed Toni Jackson.”...
Global Labor & Trade
US Congress continues TPP fast-track negotiations as presidential race heats up ABC Rural ...It's crunch time for the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the ambitious and controversial attempt to create a free trade bloc for the Asia-Pacific. But as talks enter the final stages, there's growing concern the deal could stall because of domestic politics in the US...
As Fast Track/TPP Becomes New Third Rail, Where Is Clinton? Huffington Post ...The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) has become a new "third rail" for progressives and the activist Democratic "base." The thing is that more and more people are seeing it. And more and more people are asking Hillary Clinton to lead the fight against it...
Saving Seeds: Farmers Rise Up Against Industry-Backed Laws Common Dreams ...In Ghana, a coalition of students, trade unions, and small scale farmer organizations have mobilized against a pending Plant Breeders' Rights Bill, that would place aggressive legal restrictions against a farmer's use of seeds...
Exploited and Sexually Abused Qatari Migrant Workers Forced to Run Marathon Alternet ...Migrants who work under severe conditions often akin to slavery were forced to participate in a state-sponsored “megamarathon” in Doha, Qatar. Qatar is on schedule to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup. The International Trade Union Confederation has estimated that 4,000 migrant workers will die during construction...
State & Living Wage Battles
Right To Work In Ohio? Niche Panel Will Consider Cincinnati.com ...A niche legislative panel will consider adding right to work to the Ohio constitution, although the proposal – submitted by an Ohio citizen and obtained by The Enquirer – appears unlikely to pass...
Sweeping Collective Bargaining Reform Gets Legislative Hearing Las Vegas Review Journal ...A bill that would allow local governments to opt out of the state’s collective bargaining law was heard Tuesday in the Assembly Government Affairs Committee, where local government officials said it would give them flexibility to handle tight budgets and union representatives said it would gut recruitment and retention and jeopardize public safety...
Alabama Bill Would Increase Workers' Comp Benefits For Amputees NPR ...Alabama lawmakers have introduced a bill that would nearly triple the maximum compensation for workers who suffer amputations on the job. The bill, filed April 2, comes less than a month after a ProPublica and NPR investigation showed that Alabama had the lowest such benefits in the country...
Kansas Welfare Bill Would Cut Into Benefits With ATM Fees FiveThirtyEight ...Under the new rules, if someone receiving benefits plans to use her money to make a $600 rent payment, she’ll need to start withdrawing money and setting it aside 24 days in advance. So over 24 days, this hypothetical woman would lose $24 in fees; she’d need to start one day earlier to make her rent payment...
U.S. Labor
NLRB hits Postal Service over response to cyber breach Washington Post ...The National Labor Relations Board has filed a complaint calling on the U.S. Postal Service to negotiate with employee groups over how quickly to tell personnel about cyber attacks that affect their personal data...
New Union Election Rules Set Amid Court Challenges CBS News ...The National Labor Relations Board on Monday issued guidance from its general counsel on implementing the rules, adopted by the agency last year and set to take effect April 14, which shorten the time between a union filing a petition to represent workers and an election...
Growers Move to Gut California’s Farm Labor Law Capital & Main ...Gerawan Farming, one of the country’s largest growers, with 5,000 people picking its grapes and peaches, is challenging the California law that makes farm workers’ union rights enforceable. Lining up behind Gerawan are national anti-union think tanks...
Miscellaneous
Follow the Money: Invisible Investors Seek Big Bucks in Mass Incarceration Truthout ...Whether it be health care, food services or telecommunications, private equity firms rake in those big bucks by cutting corners on services, slashing jobs and wages, and taking advantage of pro-incarceration policy measures, from realignment to the war on drugs...
Living The High Life After Congress Huffington Post ...This is what ex-members of Congress and their staffs do nowadays. Rarely do they follow the example of ancient Rome's Cincinnatus and go back to the farm -- or take that teaching job at the local university or join a hometown law practice. They stay in DC to reap the bountiful harvest that comes from Capitol Hill experience and good old fashioned cronyism...
The Big Chill: How Big Money Is Buying Off Criticism Of Big Money (opinion) Huffington Post ...Our democracy is directly threatened when the rich buy off politicians. But no less dangerous is the quieter and more insidious buy-off of institutions democracy depends on to research, investigate, expose, and mobilize action against what is occurring...
Wednesday, August 13, 2014
Today's Teamster News 08.13.14
Teamster News
Working Families Party opposing Bill de Blasio's proposed horse carriage ban New York Daily News ...The influential party staked out its position in a letter to City Council members — a rare instance of a key de Blasio ally opposing him on one of his signature issues...
Wisconsin Teamsters Endorse Rockwood Urban Milwaukee ...Teamsters Joint Council 39 has officially endorsed Chris Rockwood‘s campaign to become the United States Representative to Wisconsin’s 5th Congressional District. Teamsters Joint Council 39 comprises all of the local Teamsters Unions in Wisconsin. The endorsement cites Rockwood’s “consistent shared commitment to organized labor, the collective bargaining process and the ongoing fight for worker’s rights.”...
Teamsters Turn Down Contract With Transit Contractor KRNV ...Members of Teamsters Union Local 533 voted down a contract offer from MV Transportation, the Texas-based contractor paid to manage the Regional Transportation Commission of Washoe County transit system...
MA Charter School Association Skeptical Of Teachers Unionizing Go Local Worcester ...After the historic decision by the teachers and guidance councilors of the Advanced Math and Science Academy Charter School (AMSA) to join the Teamsters Local 170 in Worcester, many of the major stakeholders were full of comment and emotion...
Doc Teamsters Resoundingly Reject State's Proposal Local 117 ...Washington State correctional employees, represented by Teamsters Local 117, have voted by an overwhelming margin to reject the State’s Last, Best, and Final proposal for their 2015-2017 collective bargaining agreement...
Trade
TTIP: It's Not About Trade Atlantic Community ...The pursuit of free trade is just a cover for the real agenda of the TTIP. The deal is about imposing a regulatory structure to be enforced through an international policing mechanism that likely would not be approved through the normal political processes in each country...
The De-industrialization of America Paul Craig Roberts ...Between October 2008 and July 2014 the working age population grew by 13.4 million persons, but the US labor force grew by only 1.1 million. In other words, the unemployment rate among the increase in the working age population during the past six years is 91.8%...
State Battles
With Burke’s win, the three biggest months of Scott Walker’s political career begin Washington Post ...Walker, a national conservative star, faces a tough reelection campaign. The general election officially kicked off for him Tuesday with ex-state commerce secretary Mary Burke's easy win in the Democratic primary...
Report: Wage gap growing rapidly in Indy area Indianapolis Star ...Wage inequality grew twice as rapidly in the Indianapolis metro area as in the rest of the nation since the recession, according to a new report by the U.S. Conference of Mayors. The primary culprit: Jobs recovered in the U.S. since 2008 pay $14,000 less on average than the 8.7 million jobs lost since then...
Another Poll Shows Sam Brownback Trails Paul Davis The Pitch ...It's difficult to imagine a more troubling campaign year for Gov. Sam Brownback. State finances look more grim with each passing month, two credit rating agencies have downgraded the Kansas bond ratings on the account of the eroding state balance sheet, an FBI probe has targeted one of Brownback's closest associates, and roughly 100 current and former Republican officeholders annoyed with the governor have thrown their support behind Democratic challenger Paul Davis...
Corporate Lobby Sets Its Sights On Your Garbage Man Bloomberg Businessweek ...The American Legislative Exchange Council, a corporate-funded nonprofit that promotes a free-market agenda through state legislatures, has spawned an offshoot to press its case through local governments...
War On Workers
A Main Street Lobby Group Gets Closer To Big Business Bloomberg Businessweek ...The National Federation of Independent Business has been linked to a right-leaning organization with corporate backers. Again...
Jimmy John's Accused of 'Systematic Wage Theft' Huffington Post ...In their lawsuit filed Friday in federal court, Karolis Kubelskas and Emily Brunner claim that they were forced to regularly work off the clock because of unreasonably low payroll budgets provided to individual Jimmy John's stores, leading to minimum wage and overtime violations...
Crisis stalks Europe again as deflation deepens, Germany stalls The Telegraph ...Portugal has crashed into deep deflation and Italy’s inflation rate has fallen to zero as the eurozone flirts with recession, automatically pushing these countries further towards a debt compound spiral...
Japan's economy shrinks after sales tax rise BBC News ...Japan's economy contracted by an annualised 6.8% in the second quarter of the year, the biggest fall since 2011 when it was devastated by an earthquake and tsunami...
U.S. Bank Profits Near Record Levels Wall Street Journal ...U.S. banks posted $40.24 billion in net income during the second quarter, the industry's second-highest profit total in at least 23 years, according to data from research firm SNL Financial. The latest profits are just below the record $40.36 billion recorded in the first quarter of 2013...
Even the Upper Middle Class Struggles to Save Money Bloomberg ...Just 45 percent of upper-middle-class households (income from $75,000 to $99,999) saved anything in 2012, according to the Fed study. That means the other 55 percent didn’t save for a house, retirement, or education...
Feds Quietly Stop Reporting Some Hospital Errors DC Medical Malpractice & Patient Safety Blog ...“The federal government this month quietly stopped publicly reporting when hospitals leave foreign objects in patients' bodies or make a host of other life-threatening mistakes,”...
Hopewell highway worker killed in Farmington crash WHEC Rochester ...A 56-year-old who works for the Hopewell town highway department was killed in Tuesday afternoon’s crash in Farmington, Ontario County Sheriff’s deputies stated in a release early Tuesday evening...
Working Families Party opposing Bill de Blasio's proposed horse carriage ban New York Daily News ...The influential party staked out its position in a letter to City Council members — a rare instance of a key de Blasio ally opposing him on one of his signature issues...
Wisconsin Teamsters Endorse Rockwood Urban Milwaukee ...Teamsters Joint Council 39 has officially endorsed Chris Rockwood‘s campaign to become the United States Representative to Wisconsin’s 5th Congressional District. Teamsters Joint Council 39 comprises all of the local Teamsters Unions in Wisconsin. The endorsement cites Rockwood’s “consistent shared commitment to organized labor, the collective bargaining process and the ongoing fight for worker’s rights.”...
Teamsters Turn Down Contract With Transit Contractor KRNV ...Members of Teamsters Union Local 533 voted down a contract offer from MV Transportation, the Texas-based contractor paid to manage the Regional Transportation Commission of Washoe County transit system...
MA Charter School Association Skeptical Of Teachers Unionizing Go Local Worcester ...After the historic decision by the teachers and guidance councilors of the Advanced Math and Science Academy Charter School (AMSA) to join the Teamsters Local 170 in Worcester, many of the major stakeholders were full of comment and emotion...
Doc Teamsters Resoundingly Reject State's Proposal Local 117 ...Washington State correctional employees, represented by Teamsters Local 117, have voted by an overwhelming margin to reject the State’s Last, Best, and Final proposal for their 2015-2017 collective bargaining agreement...
Trade
TTIP: It's Not About Trade Atlantic Community ...The pursuit of free trade is just a cover for the real agenda of the TTIP. The deal is about imposing a regulatory structure to be enforced through an international policing mechanism that likely would not be approved through the normal political processes in each country...
The De-industrialization of America Paul Craig Roberts ...Between October 2008 and July 2014 the working age population grew by 13.4 million persons, but the US labor force grew by only 1.1 million. In other words, the unemployment rate among the increase in the working age population during the past six years is 91.8%...
State Battles
With Burke’s win, the three biggest months of Scott Walker’s political career begin Washington Post ...Walker, a national conservative star, faces a tough reelection campaign. The general election officially kicked off for him Tuesday with ex-state commerce secretary Mary Burke's easy win in the Democratic primary...
Report: Wage gap growing rapidly in Indy area Indianapolis Star ...Wage inequality grew twice as rapidly in the Indianapolis metro area as in the rest of the nation since the recession, according to a new report by the U.S. Conference of Mayors. The primary culprit: Jobs recovered in the U.S. since 2008 pay $14,000 less on average than the 8.7 million jobs lost since then...
Another Poll Shows Sam Brownback Trails Paul Davis The Pitch ...It's difficult to imagine a more troubling campaign year for Gov. Sam Brownback. State finances look more grim with each passing month, two credit rating agencies have downgraded the Kansas bond ratings on the account of the eroding state balance sheet, an FBI probe has targeted one of Brownback's closest associates, and roughly 100 current and former Republican officeholders annoyed with the governor have thrown their support behind Democratic challenger Paul Davis...
Corporate Lobby Sets Its Sights On Your Garbage Man Bloomberg Businessweek ...The American Legislative Exchange Council, a corporate-funded nonprofit that promotes a free-market agenda through state legislatures, has spawned an offshoot to press its case through local governments...
War On Workers
A Main Street Lobby Group Gets Closer To Big Business Bloomberg Businessweek ...The National Federation of Independent Business has been linked to a right-leaning organization with corporate backers. Again...
Jimmy John's Accused of 'Systematic Wage Theft' Huffington Post ...In their lawsuit filed Friday in federal court, Karolis Kubelskas and Emily Brunner claim that they were forced to regularly work off the clock because of unreasonably low payroll budgets provided to individual Jimmy John's stores, leading to minimum wage and overtime violations...
Crisis stalks Europe again as deflation deepens, Germany stalls The Telegraph ...Portugal has crashed into deep deflation and Italy’s inflation rate has fallen to zero as the eurozone flirts with recession, automatically pushing these countries further towards a debt compound spiral...
Japan's economy shrinks after sales tax rise BBC News ...Japan's economy contracted by an annualised 6.8% in the second quarter of the year, the biggest fall since 2011 when it was devastated by an earthquake and tsunami...
U.S. Bank Profits Near Record Levels Wall Street Journal ...U.S. banks posted $40.24 billion in net income during the second quarter, the industry's second-highest profit total in at least 23 years, according to data from research firm SNL Financial. The latest profits are just below the record $40.36 billion recorded in the first quarter of 2013...
Even the Upper Middle Class Struggles to Save Money Bloomberg ...Just 45 percent of upper-middle-class households (income from $75,000 to $99,999) saved anything in 2012, according to the Fed study. That means the other 55 percent didn’t save for a house, retirement, or education...
Feds Quietly Stop Reporting Some Hospital Errors DC Medical Malpractice & Patient Safety Blog ...“The federal government this month quietly stopped publicly reporting when hospitals leave foreign objects in patients' bodies or make a host of other life-threatening mistakes,”...
Hopewell highway worker killed in Farmington crash WHEC Rochester ...A 56-year-old who works for the Hopewell town highway department was killed in Tuesday afternoon’s crash in Farmington, Ontario County Sheriff’s deputies stated in a release early Tuesday evening...
Wednesday, April 9, 2014
Today's Teamster News 04.09.13
Teamster News
Teamsters seek "pay parity" raises for prison staff The Florida Current ...Dozens of correctional officers converged on Florida's capitol Tuesday to lobby legislators for a pay raise, saying their jobs guarding convicted felons are just as dangerous as those of the cops who put them there...
Hoffa: So-Called Right to Work Is Still Wrong for Workers Huffington Post ...ALEC and the Koch Brothers falsely preach that right to work (for less) gives workers more freedom. But all it guarantees is that hard-working Americans will work more for less if states continue to approve such bad laws...
Trade
The Trans-Pacific Partnership Is Terrible For Public Health Huffington Post ...Fifteen years ago, basic AIDS drugs cost more than $10,000 per person, per year. Many of the people who needed them the most, especially those living in poor countries, couldn't pay...
Japan, Australia Trade Agreement Could Make TPP Completion Harder Farm Futures ...Australia and Japan have completed negotiations on a Free Trade Agreement that at least one U.S. Ag group says will have implications on agricultural trade and the ongoing discussions surrounding the Trans-Pacific Partnership...
State Battles
Missouri doesn’t need divisive ‘right-to-work’ law (opinion) Kansas City Star ...Apart from the Missouri Chamber of Commerce, there is no hue and cry for right-to-work in Missouri. Nor is there valid evidence that union-busting tactics bring more jobs to states...
Outside Special Interests Lean on MO Legislators to Push ALEC’s Anti-Worker Agenda PR Watch ... Grover Norquist tweeted that the Missouri House would vote on and pass Right to Work, as if he had a crystal ball -- or more likely -- a hotline to the Speaker….Just a few months ago, Grover Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform (acting under the absurd name "Center for Worker Freedom") was the leading group trying to stop workers at Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga...
Deal voted down in Rhode Island pension overhaul Associated Press ...A proposed settlement that would end the legal fight over Rhode Island’s 2011 landmark pension overhaul, which has been a model for other states looking to rein in runaway pension costs, was rejected by one of the groups voting on it, officials announced Monday. The parties were ordered back into mediation...
VW considering tossing election results and accepting UAW union, group says Chattanooga Times Free Press ...An anti-union group said today that Volkswagen is considering disregarding the February election results over United Auto Workers representation at the Chattanooga plant and accepting authorization cards the union claims to have collected last year...
UConn Basketball Player Speaks Of 'Hungry Nights,' Going To Bed 'Starving' Huffington Post ...His on-court skills have generated a lot of money, but University of Connecticut basketball player Shabazz Napier says there are nights he can't afford food...
War on Workers
SEC Goldman Lawyer Says Agency Too Timid on Wall Street Misdeeds Bloomberg ...A trial attorney from the Securities and Exchange Commission said his bosses were too “tentative and fearful” to bring many Wall Street leaders to heel after the 2008 credit crisis, echoing the regulator’s outside critics...
Rich people rule! Washington Post ...“economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy, while mass-based interest groups and average citizens have little or no independent influence...”
If 97% Percent of Americans Sold Everything They Owned and Spent It on Congressional Elections, They Still Couldn't Max Out AlterNet ...Learn the scary new math of political fundraising...
Mike Lofgren: Can't We Just Say the Roberts Court Is Corrupt? Truthout ...Even in the absence of what Justice Roberts narrowly defines as "quid pro quo corruption," a court that consistently decides all relevant cases on behalf of corporate interests - most recently McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission - undermines its own legitimacy as well as the Constitution...
Miscellaneous
Citigroup To Pay $1.13 Billion Over Sketchy Mortgage Practices Associated Press ...Citigroup has agreed to pay $1.13 billion to settle claims by investors seeking that the lender buy back billions in residential mortgage-backed securities...
USDA estimates that 31% of the food supply is lost and uneaten US Food Policy ...In the United States, 31 percent—or 133 billion pounds—of the 430 billion pounds of the available food supply at the retail and consumer levels in 2010 went uneaten...
Teamsters seek "pay parity" raises for prison staff The Florida Current ...Dozens of correctional officers converged on Florida's capitol Tuesday to lobby legislators for a pay raise, saying their jobs guarding convicted felons are just as dangerous as those of the cops who put them there...
Hoffa: So-Called Right to Work Is Still Wrong for Workers Huffington Post ...ALEC and the Koch Brothers falsely preach that right to work (for less) gives workers more freedom. But all it guarantees is that hard-working Americans will work more for less if states continue to approve such bad laws...
Trade
The Trans-Pacific Partnership Is Terrible For Public Health Huffington Post ...Fifteen years ago, basic AIDS drugs cost more than $10,000 per person, per year. Many of the people who needed them the most, especially those living in poor countries, couldn't pay...
Japan, Australia Trade Agreement Could Make TPP Completion Harder Farm Futures ...Australia and Japan have completed negotiations on a Free Trade Agreement that at least one U.S. Ag group says will have implications on agricultural trade and the ongoing discussions surrounding the Trans-Pacific Partnership...
State Battles
Missouri doesn’t need divisive ‘right-to-work’ law (opinion) Kansas City Star ...Apart from the Missouri Chamber of Commerce, there is no hue and cry for right-to-work in Missouri. Nor is there valid evidence that union-busting tactics bring more jobs to states...
Outside Special Interests Lean on MO Legislators to Push ALEC’s Anti-Worker Agenda PR Watch ... Grover Norquist tweeted that the Missouri House would vote on and pass Right to Work, as if he had a crystal ball -- or more likely -- a hotline to the Speaker….Just a few months ago, Grover Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform (acting under the absurd name "Center for Worker Freedom") was the leading group trying to stop workers at Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga...
Deal voted down in Rhode Island pension overhaul Associated Press ...A proposed settlement that would end the legal fight over Rhode Island’s 2011 landmark pension overhaul, which has been a model for other states looking to rein in runaway pension costs, was rejected by one of the groups voting on it, officials announced Monday. The parties were ordered back into mediation...
VW considering tossing election results and accepting UAW union, group says Chattanooga Times Free Press ...An anti-union group said today that Volkswagen is considering disregarding the February election results over United Auto Workers representation at the Chattanooga plant and accepting authorization cards the union claims to have collected last year...
UConn Basketball Player Speaks Of 'Hungry Nights,' Going To Bed 'Starving' Huffington Post ...His on-court skills have generated a lot of money, but University of Connecticut basketball player Shabazz Napier says there are nights he can't afford food...
War on Workers
SEC Goldman Lawyer Says Agency Too Timid on Wall Street Misdeeds Bloomberg ...A trial attorney from the Securities and Exchange Commission said his bosses were too “tentative and fearful” to bring many Wall Street leaders to heel after the 2008 credit crisis, echoing the regulator’s outside critics...
Rich people rule! Washington Post ...“economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy, while mass-based interest groups and average citizens have little or no independent influence...”
If 97% Percent of Americans Sold Everything They Owned and Spent It on Congressional Elections, They Still Couldn't Max Out AlterNet ...Learn the scary new math of political fundraising...
Mike Lofgren: Can't We Just Say the Roberts Court Is Corrupt? Truthout ...Even in the absence of what Justice Roberts narrowly defines as "quid pro quo corruption," a court that consistently decides all relevant cases on behalf of corporate interests - most recently McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission - undermines its own legitimacy as well as the Constitution...
Miscellaneous
Citigroup To Pay $1.13 Billion Over Sketchy Mortgage Practices Associated Press ...Citigroup has agreed to pay $1.13 billion to settle claims by investors seeking that the lender buy back billions in residential mortgage-backed securities...
USDA estimates that 31% of the food supply is lost and uneaten US Food Policy ...In the United States, 31 percent—or 133 billion pounds—of the 430 billion pounds of the available food supply at the retail and consumer levels in 2010 went uneaten...
Thursday, November 21, 2013
Today's Teamster News 11.21.13
Cook County Corrections Officers Vote to Remain Teamsters teamstersjc25.com ...Officers at the Cook County Department of Corrections voted last week to remain members of Teamsters Local 700, the strongest union in Cook County...
Why Port Truckers Are Striking: 12-Hour Shifts, Noxious Fumes and $12.90 Paychecks In These Times ...The drivers have filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board charging that the company retaliated against them for pushing forward with a drive to join the International Brotherhood of Teamsters...
Wall Street Boom Doesn’t Lessen Workers’ Gloom teamster.org ...A key Wall Street indicator, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, crossed above 16,000 for the first time this week. But for Teamsters and other working Americans concerned about economic security, the news meant damn near nothing...
CEOs With Massive Retirement Fortunes Push Social Security Cuts The Nation ...“I find it hypocritical to see CEOs sitting on massive retirement fortunes of their own saying that the solution to the country’s fiscal challenge is to put an even greater burden on retirees, many of whom already struggling,”...
Inequality is (Literally) Killing America The Nation ...“The lower people’s income, the earlier they die and the sicker they live,”...
Fact Check: Social Security Does Not Increase the Deficit Alternet ...Bought politicians and pundits continue to spread nonsense about America's best-loved program...
Poll: Voters want Social Security expanded, not cut Salon ...A new poll from the Democratic-aligned Public Policy Polling (PPP) and MoveOn.org has found that by overwhelming margins, voters want Social Security expanded — not cut...
Meet the Koch funded “stink tanks” that are influencing policy Salon ...By disguising corporate propaganda as legitimate research they're pushing a hard-right agenda...
In an Attack Ad, an Alaskan Voter Is Really an Actress From Maryland New York Times ...In a tough new advertisement from the Koch brothers-backed Americans for Prosperity, an unnamed woman looks directly into the camera and upbraids Senator Mark Begich, Democrat of Alaska...
Gov't finds merit in labor claims against Wal-Mart Associated Press ...Federal officials said Monday they are prepared to file formal complaints against Wal-Mart for allegedly violating the legal rights of protesting workers last year...
How can you study when you can’t eat? The invisible problem of hunger on campus Salon ...Thousands of students around the country are homeless or hungry, and their classmates and colleges might never know...
David Beats Goliath!: How the Little Guy Beat A Mega-Corporation AlterNet ...Target publicly announced it would “ban the box” on all its employment applications nationwide. This is great news for hundreds of thousands of job seekers across the country who have criminal histories, people who, in this economy, need access to jobs more than ever...
Man claims Bank of America gave him heart attack, files lawsuit WSOC-TV ...A man is suing Bank of America claiming the bank gave him a heart attack. He said their mistake caused him stress and he collapsed in a local branch and had to be rushed to the hospital...
US to advise Puerto Rico on economy Associated Press ... The U.S. government is sending a team of federal officials to help Puerto Rico manage an economic crisis as the U.S. territory braces for its eighth year of recession...
Hundreds of Chinese workers protest after Microsoft Nokia deal Reuters ...Hundreds of workers shouted slogans on Wednesday outside a Nokia factory in southern China to protest against what they called nfair compensation after the company sold its mobile telephones business to Microsoft Corp...
The reality of hungry schoolchildren EnetEnglish ...Based on a sample of 16,000 (Greek) households last year, research funded by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation found that 60% faced food insecurity, while 23% were experiencing food insecurity accompanied by hunger...
Supreme court prosecutor says former finance minister should face criminal charges EnetEnglish ...Former finance minister George Papaconstantinou should be tried by a special court over his handing of the so-called Lagarde list of over 2,000 suspected Greeks with undeclared cash deposits in a Swiss bank, a supreme court prosecutor recommended on Wednesday...
Japan Pitches Its High-Speed Train With An Offer To Finance New York Times ...They are trying to bring a maglev train to the crowded Northeast Corridor that will cruise between New York and Washington at more than twice the 150-mile-an-hour top speed of Amtrak’s Acela, the fastest train in the United States. Maglev trains could make the journey in an hour, compared with just under three hours, on a good day, for Acela...
Anheuser-Busch provides relief to tornado victims Packaging Digest ...Anheuser-Busch is providing 2,156 cases of emergency drinking water-or 51,744 cans-for use by residents affected by the recent storms in Washington, Pekin and East Peoria, IL...
Utah town forgets to hold election — again Salt Lake City Tribune ..."Wallsburg never advertised or prepared for an election this year, so no one signed up," said Wasatch County Clerk Brent Titcomb. "They’re going to have to appoint the current mayor and council for two more years and they’ll advertise and have people elected [in 2015]."...
Detroit accused of exaggerating $18bn debts in push for bankruptcy The Guardian ...A Demos thinktank report ... lays the blame for the city's woes at the feet of falling revenues, Wall Street banks and "extreme assumptions" calculated to make its problems worse than they are...
How Wall Street — not pensioners — wrecked Detroit Salon ...Detroit’s bankruptcy was primarily caused by a severe decline in revenue and exacerbated by complicated Wall Street deals that put its ability to pay its expenses at greater risk...
Non-Union Contractors Hit with $400k Fine in Deadly Philly Building Collapse The Building Trades ...Because of the lack of safety procedures in place by Campbell Construction and S&R Contracting, the demolition project of a vacant four-story structure went disastrously wrong; resulting in a large masonry wall collapsing onto an adjacent Salvation Army store next door to the project...
Ohio Senate votes to reduce days for early voting, eliminate so-called 'Golden Week" Cleveland Plain Dealer ...In a party-line vote, the Ohio Senate on Wednesday approved a bill to shorten early voting to eliminate the so-called “Golden Week” that allowed people to both register to vote and cast early in-person absentee ballots at the same time...
Why Port Truckers Are Striking: 12-Hour Shifts, Noxious Fumes and $12.90 Paychecks In These Times ...The drivers have filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board charging that the company retaliated against them for pushing forward with a drive to join the International Brotherhood of Teamsters...
Wall Street Boom Doesn’t Lessen Workers’ Gloom teamster.org ...A key Wall Street indicator, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, crossed above 16,000 for the first time this week. But for Teamsters and other working Americans concerned about economic security, the news meant damn near nothing...
CEOs With Massive Retirement Fortunes Push Social Security Cuts The Nation ...“I find it hypocritical to see CEOs sitting on massive retirement fortunes of their own saying that the solution to the country’s fiscal challenge is to put an even greater burden on retirees, many of whom already struggling,”...
Inequality is (Literally) Killing America The Nation ...“The lower people’s income, the earlier they die and the sicker they live,”...
Fact Check: Social Security Does Not Increase the Deficit Alternet ...Bought politicians and pundits continue to spread nonsense about America's best-loved program...
Poll: Voters want Social Security expanded, not cut Salon ...A new poll from the Democratic-aligned Public Policy Polling (PPP) and MoveOn.org has found that by overwhelming margins, voters want Social Security expanded — not cut...
Meet the Koch funded “stink tanks” that are influencing policy Salon ...By disguising corporate propaganda as legitimate research they're pushing a hard-right agenda...
In an Attack Ad, an Alaskan Voter Is Really an Actress From Maryland New York Times ...In a tough new advertisement from the Koch brothers-backed Americans for Prosperity, an unnamed woman looks directly into the camera and upbraids Senator Mark Begich, Democrat of Alaska...
Gov't finds merit in labor claims against Wal-Mart Associated Press ...Federal officials said Monday they are prepared to file formal complaints against Wal-Mart for allegedly violating the legal rights of protesting workers last year...
How can you study when you can’t eat? The invisible problem of hunger on campus Salon ...Thousands of students around the country are homeless or hungry, and their classmates and colleges might never know...
David Beats Goliath!: How the Little Guy Beat A Mega-Corporation AlterNet ...Target publicly announced it would “ban the box” on all its employment applications nationwide. This is great news for hundreds of thousands of job seekers across the country who have criminal histories, people who, in this economy, need access to jobs more than ever...
Man claims Bank of America gave him heart attack, files lawsuit WSOC-TV ...A man is suing Bank of America claiming the bank gave him a heart attack. He said their mistake caused him stress and he collapsed in a local branch and had to be rushed to the hospital...
US to advise Puerto Rico on economy Associated Press ... The U.S. government is sending a team of federal officials to help Puerto Rico manage an economic crisis as the U.S. territory braces for its eighth year of recession...
Hundreds of Chinese workers protest after Microsoft Nokia deal Reuters ...Hundreds of workers shouted slogans on Wednesday outside a Nokia factory in southern China to protest against what they called nfair compensation after the company sold its mobile telephones business to Microsoft Corp...
The reality of hungry schoolchildren EnetEnglish ...Based on a sample of 16,000 (Greek) households last year, research funded by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation found that 60% faced food insecurity, while 23% were experiencing food insecurity accompanied by hunger...
Supreme court prosecutor says former finance minister should face criminal charges EnetEnglish ...Former finance minister George Papaconstantinou should be tried by a special court over his handing of the so-called Lagarde list of over 2,000 suspected Greeks with undeclared cash deposits in a Swiss bank, a supreme court prosecutor recommended on Wednesday...
Japan Pitches Its High-Speed Train With An Offer To Finance New York Times ...They are trying to bring a maglev train to the crowded Northeast Corridor that will cruise between New York and Washington at more than twice the 150-mile-an-hour top speed of Amtrak’s Acela, the fastest train in the United States. Maglev trains could make the journey in an hour, compared with just under three hours, on a good day, for Acela...
Anheuser-Busch provides relief to tornado victims Packaging Digest ...Anheuser-Busch is providing 2,156 cases of emergency drinking water-or 51,744 cans-for use by residents affected by the recent storms in Washington, Pekin and East Peoria, IL...
Utah town forgets to hold election — again Salt Lake City Tribune ..."Wallsburg never advertised or prepared for an election this year, so no one signed up," said Wasatch County Clerk Brent Titcomb. "They’re going to have to appoint the current mayor and council for two more years and they’ll advertise and have people elected [in 2015]."...
Detroit accused of exaggerating $18bn debts in push for bankruptcy The Guardian ...A Demos thinktank report ... lays the blame for the city's woes at the feet of falling revenues, Wall Street banks and "extreme assumptions" calculated to make its problems worse than they are...
How Wall Street — not pensioners — wrecked Detroit Salon ...Detroit’s bankruptcy was primarily caused by a severe decline in revenue and exacerbated by complicated Wall Street deals that put its ability to pay its expenses at greater risk...
Non-Union Contractors Hit with $400k Fine in Deadly Philly Building Collapse The Building Trades ...Because of the lack of safety procedures in place by Campbell Construction and S&R Contracting, the demolition project of a vacant four-story structure went disastrously wrong; resulting in a large masonry wall collapsing onto an adjacent Salvation Army store next door to the project...
Ohio Senate votes to reduce days for early voting, eliminate so-called 'Golden Week" Cleveland Plain Dealer ...In a party-line vote, the Ohio Senate on Wednesday approved a bill to shorten early voting to eliminate the so-called “Golden Week” that allowed people to both register to vote and cast early in-person absentee ballots at the same time...
Thursday, August 22, 2013
Today's Teamster News 08.22.13
Teamsters Sue Florida Governor And State Agencies IBT ...Teamsters Local 2011, the bargaining agent for 19,000 officers employed by the Florida Department of Corrections, has filed a law suit in Leon County Circuit Court that seeks to stop the state from forfeiting time accrued by correctional officers for work performed on statutorily-established state holidays throughout the year...
Reinstated Teamster corrections officers will get back pay The Daily Herald ...Teamsters Local 117 won $350,000 in back pay and benefits to three recently reinstated Washington State Reformatory corrections officers and a demoted sergeant who were unfairly disciplined after their coworker, Jayme Biendl, was killed by an inmate in 2011...
Teamsters, City of Kelso agree to new contract with raises Longview Daily News ...The city of Kelso and Teamsters Local 58 in Vancouver, Washington, have negotiated a contract that includes pay raises in each of the next three years for nine city library and clerical workers...
Sen. Clark to visit families Daily Times Chronicle ...Massachusetts State Sen. Katherine Clark, who has been endorsed by unions, including Teamsters Local 25, has had enough of a Congress that doesn't care about the issues affecting women and families. She is launching a kitchen table tour to talk to voters about the family issues and listen to their concerns...
Councilwoman Schipske Picks Up Endorsement From Teamsters Everything Long Beach ...The Teamsters Joint Council 42, representing over 200,000 workers, announced that it was throwing its support behind Gerrie Schipske, who is running for Mayor of Long Beach, Calif...
Organized Labor Throws Support behind March Washington Informer ...Bill Lucy wasn’t among the more than 250,000 people who took part in the 1963 March on Washington, but on the 50th anniversary of the seminal civil rights event, he said organized labor would be well represented...
Unions, public pension funds file formal objections to Detroit bankruptcy MSNBC ...Wall street and bondholders are on a collision course with unions and 21,000 retired pension holders in Detroit, most of them elderly. Yesterday the unions and two public pension funds filed formal objections to Detroit's bankruptcy filing ahead of a midnight deadline...
The Wisconsin Uprising Is Coming Back Huffington Post ...Erwin's strategies of chilling dissent aren't working, just as Walker's so-called "job creation" proposals are still falling short of the national average...
For retailers, low wages aren’t working out (opinion) Washington Post ...This Wal-Mart low-prices, low-wages thing isn’t working out so well — even for Wal-Mart...
Walmart board chairman target of protests The Californian ...This weekend, former Walmart employees and supporters passed out flyers at the Salinas store in Salinas about Rob Walton, chairman of the board. “The Waltons are a very rich family and there is nothing wrong with that. But when … your employees have to look for a second job, because their pay rate is too low, that is injustice,” said Tony Barrera, a Salinas City Councilman...
Greece's Golden Dawn: A Wake-up Call for Europe truthout ...For the first time since WWII, many Greeks are faced with hunger, homelessness and a lack of basic health care...
Warren asks DOJ to explain 'timid' FHA settlement The Hill ...Warren wondered if a portion of a broad government settlement with mortgage servicers amounted to a drop in the bucket, and a sign of the government's "timid enforcement strategy" when it comes to chasing bad actors in the financial sector...
Port of Oakland Terminal Reopens After Trucker Protest Transport Topics ...The Port of Oakland, Calif., said Wednesday there are no protesters in the area and terminals are open, after protesting truck drivers had shut down a terminal Monday...
NSA Can Tap Three-Fourths Of Domestic U.S. Internet Traffic, Wall Street Journal Reports Huffington Post ...The National Security Agency has developed surveillance programs that reach more Internet communications of Americans than have publicly been disclosed, according to current and formal officials cited in a Wall Street Journal article posted online Tuesday night...
The Business Community Finally Realizes Republicans Are Screwing Them Over PoliticusUSA ...Guess who’s sorry they fell for the Koch brothers baloney? Oh, none other than the “U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Federation of Independent Business, and other business interests”. See, it turns out that what is good for the Koch brothers isn’t necessarily good for the rest of the business community, the country or Wall Street...
Welfare Can Pay More Than That Entry-Level Job National Journal ...Welfare programs pay more than minimum wage in 35 states. That's according to a new study released this week. Here is something to chew on: In 11 states, these programs pay more annually than the average teacher after his or her first year on the job...
The Three Factors That Put Lower-Income Americans At Greater Risk From Extreme Weather Think Progress ...As extreme weather batters communities across the country, a new report from the Center for American Progress details how these events disproportionately harm middle and lower-income Americans because they simply have fewer resources to prepare for and recover from such disasters...
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker to address Alabama Republicans on Friday Huntsville Times ...Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who ignited a political firestorm when he moved to eliminate collective-bargaining rights for teachers and public employees, will the keynote speaker at the Alabama Republican Party's 2013 summer fundraising dinner...
Colorado Internet tax jumps hurdle Associated Press ...A federal appeals court has ruled Colorado's law requiring large online retailers to collect millions of dollars in state taxes on Internet sales is legal. The court ruled Tuesday a lower court overstepped its jurisdiction in tossing out the law last year...
Reinstated Teamster corrections officers will get back pay The Daily Herald ...Teamsters Local 117 won $350,000 in back pay and benefits to three recently reinstated Washington State Reformatory corrections officers and a demoted sergeant who were unfairly disciplined after their coworker, Jayme Biendl, was killed by an inmate in 2011...
Teamsters, City of Kelso agree to new contract with raises Longview Daily News ...The city of Kelso and Teamsters Local 58 in Vancouver, Washington, have negotiated a contract that includes pay raises in each of the next three years for nine city library and clerical workers...
Sen. Clark to visit families Daily Times Chronicle ...Massachusetts State Sen. Katherine Clark, who has been endorsed by unions, including Teamsters Local 25, has had enough of a Congress that doesn't care about the issues affecting women and families. She is launching a kitchen table tour to talk to voters about the family issues and listen to their concerns...
Councilwoman Schipske Picks Up Endorsement From Teamsters Everything Long Beach ...The Teamsters Joint Council 42, representing over 200,000 workers, announced that it was throwing its support behind Gerrie Schipske, who is running for Mayor of Long Beach, Calif...
Organized Labor Throws Support behind March Washington Informer ...Bill Lucy wasn’t among the more than 250,000 people who took part in the 1963 March on Washington, but on the 50th anniversary of the seminal civil rights event, he said organized labor would be well represented...
Unions, public pension funds file formal objections to Detroit bankruptcy MSNBC ...Wall street and bondholders are on a collision course with unions and 21,000 retired pension holders in Detroit, most of them elderly. Yesterday the unions and two public pension funds filed formal objections to Detroit's bankruptcy filing ahead of a midnight deadline...
The Wisconsin Uprising Is Coming Back Huffington Post ...Erwin's strategies of chilling dissent aren't working, just as Walker's so-called "job creation" proposals are still falling short of the national average...
For retailers, low wages aren’t working out (opinion) Washington Post ...This Wal-Mart low-prices, low-wages thing isn’t working out so well — even for Wal-Mart...
Walmart board chairman target of protests The Californian ...This weekend, former Walmart employees and supporters passed out flyers at the Salinas store in Salinas about Rob Walton, chairman of the board. “The Waltons are a very rich family and there is nothing wrong with that. But when … your employees have to look for a second job, because their pay rate is too low, that is injustice,” said Tony Barrera, a Salinas City Councilman...
Greece's Golden Dawn: A Wake-up Call for Europe truthout ...For the first time since WWII, many Greeks are faced with hunger, homelessness and a lack of basic health care...
Warren asks DOJ to explain 'timid' FHA settlement The Hill ...Warren wondered if a portion of a broad government settlement with mortgage servicers amounted to a drop in the bucket, and a sign of the government's "timid enforcement strategy" when it comes to chasing bad actors in the financial sector...
Port of Oakland Terminal Reopens After Trucker Protest Transport Topics ...The Port of Oakland, Calif., said Wednesday there are no protesters in the area and terminals are open, after protesting truck drivers had shut down a terminal Monday...
NSA Can Tap Three-Fourths Of Domestic U.S. Internet Traffic, Wall Street Journal Reports Huffington Post ...The National Security Agency has developed surveillance programs that reach more Internet communications of Americans than have publicly been disclosed, according to current and formal officials cited in a Wall Street Journal article posted online Tuesday night...
The Business Community Finally Realizes Republicans Are Screwing Them Over PoliticusUSA ...Guess who’s sorry they fell for the Koch brothers baloney? Oh, none other than the “U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Federation of Independent Business, and other business interests”. See, it turns out that what is good for the Koch brothers isn’t necessarily good for the rest of the business community, the country or Wall Street...
Welfare Can Pay More Than That Entry-Level Job National Journal ...Welfare programs pay more than minimum wage in 35 states. That's according to a new study released this week. Here is something to chew on: In 11 states, these programs pay more annually than the average teacher after his or her first year on the job...
The Three Factors That Put Lower-Income Americans At Greater Risk From Extreme Weather Think Progress ...As extreme weather batters communities across the country, a new report from the Center for American Progress details how these events disproportionately harm middle and lower-income Americans because they simply have fewer resources to prepare for and recover from such disasters...
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker to address Alabama Republicans on Friday Huntsville Times ...Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who ignited a political firestorm when he moved to eliminate collective-bargaining rights for teachers and public employees, will the keynote speaker at the Alabama Republican Party's 2013 summer fundraising dinner...
Colorado Internet tax jumps hurdle Associated Press ...A federal appeals court has ruled Colorado's law requiring large online retailers to collect millions of dollars in state taxes on Internet sales is legal. The court ruled Tuesday a lower court overstepped its jurisdiction in tossing out the law last year...
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
Today's Teamster News 08.14.13
Teamsters, St. James heading to mediation Billings Gazette ...The Teamsters Union and St. James Healthcare will start labor contract mediation on Aug. 20. Members of the union, one of three at the hospital, have been working without a contract for over a year, according to Dan Doogan, secretary-treasurer for the Teamsters regional district...
37.5-hour work week proposed for union members Times Leader ...With six union contracts expiring at the end of the year, Luzerne County Council members in Pennsylvania are trying to set pay and benefit goals they want negotiated into new collective bargaining agreements for workers, including members represented by Teamsters Local 401...
Justice Dept, states challenge proposed airline merger between US Airways, American Associated Press ...The federal government is challenging the proposed merger of US Airways and American Airlines, a deal between two of the largest airlines that it says would result in “substantial harm to consumers” in the form of higher fares and fees...
Police arrest 20 protesters at Wisconsin Capitol WBAY ...Police have arrested more protesters in the Wisconsin Capitol rotunda. Protesters have been showing up in the rotunda almost every noon hour for more than two years to sing songs against Republican Governor Scott Walker...
At March on Washington, organized labor gave MLK a hand The Republic ...Fifty years ago this month, Hank Lacayo, an up-and-coming labor leader in Southern California, received a call instructing him to come to Washington, D.C. Something big was in the works. The phone call was placed at the direction of Walter Reuther, the legendary national president of the UAW. The big thing on the horizon was a planned March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom planned Aug. 28...
Inequality is hindering economic growth Baltimore Sun ...Our economy has grown at roughly the same rate as other advanced industrial economies. But unlike other countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, our growth has overwhelmingly benefited the well off...
Higher wages won’t increase unemployment! Salon ...Conservatives on the right contend that higher salaries mean fewer jobs. A wealth of research suggests otherwise...
5 Reasons Congress Should Be Deeply Ashamed About Jobs AlterNet ...Congress has not only made the job search more difficult for average Americans, but has also impeded the process...
New Jersey Republicans Nominate Koch Brothers Operative For Senate Think Progress ...The New Jersey Republicans voted Tuesday — in a low-turnout primary — to nominate Steve Lonegan for the remainder of the late Sen. Frank Lautenberg’s (D) term. Lonegan, the former New Jersey head for the Koch Brothers’ Americans for Prosperity, will face Newark Mayor Corey Booker (D) in an October 16 special election...
U.S. automakers praise G-20 for opposing currency manipulation Detroit News ...U.S. automakers on Sunday praised a group of 20 major nations for recognizing the harm caused to the global trading system by countries like Japan, who are manipulating their currencies to gain a competitive advantage for their exporters...
Two Minnesota public employee unions ratify new contracts Star Tribune ...About 32,000 unionized state employees have ratified contracts that call for pay hikes of 3 percent per year, the biggest increases they’ve received since the national economy nosedived in 2007-08...
Minimum wage in CT will increase to $9 an hour The Shelton Herald ...The minimum wage in Connecticut will increase by 75 cents during the next year and a half. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy signed legislation that hikes the minimum wage in two stages — from the current $8.25 an hour to $8.70 on Jan. 1, 2014, and then to $9 on Jan. 1, 2015...
BART, unions resume talks as senators add pressure Associated Press ...Bay Area Rapid Transit's management and employee unions resumed contract negotiations Thursday as California's two senators urged the parties resolve the labor dispute and head off a crippling transit strike...
Hillary Clinton: NC Voter ID Bill 'Reads Like The Greatest Hits Of Voter Suppression' (Video) Huffington Post ...Hillary Clinton denounced recent voter identification legislation in a speech at the American Bar Association's annual conference on Monday. Clinton criticized the Supreme Court decision that she believes "stripped out the pre-clearance formula that made [the Voting Rights Act] so effective..."
'Disney Princesses For Equal Pay' Is Brilliant, Hilarious And Informative Huffington Post ...All women want equal pay -- even Disney princesses. Jenny Joslin and Annette Mia Flores of the production company Texpats came up with a hilarious and creative way to raise awareness about the wage gap. Because who doesn't like Disney?...
State must pay $500,000 to end court fight over overtime pay for prison guards Patriot News ...A federal judge has approved a settlement requiring the state to pay $500,000 to end a class-action lawsuit filed by 247 Pennsylvania state prison corrections officers who claimed they were illegally denied overtime pay...
Billions in federal transportation funds riding on California's new pension law Sacramento Bee ...Less than a year after California lawmakers mandated sweeping changes for state and local government pensions, federal officials are poised to cut off billions of dollars in transportation funding because of the new laws. The Teamsters and two other unions have backed a measure that would exclude 20,000 mass transit workers statewide from the pension-change law...
37.5-hour work week proposed for union members Times Leader ...With six union contracts expiring at the end of the year, Luzerne County Council members in Pennsylvania are trying to set pay and benefit goals they want negotiated into new collective bargaining agreements for workers, including members represented by Teamsters Local 401...
Justice Dept, states challenge proposed airline merger between US Airways, American Associated Press ...The federal government is challenging the proposed merger of US Airways and American Airlines, a deal between two of the largest airlines that it says would result in “substantial harm to consumers” in the form of higher fares and fees...
Police arrest 20 protesters at Wisconsin Capitol WBAY ...Police have arrested more protesters in the Wisconsin Capitol rotunda. Protesters have been showing up in the rotunda almost every noon hour for more than two years to sing songs against Republican Governor Scott Walker...
At March on Washington, organized labor gave MLK a hand The Republic ...Fifty years ago this month, Hank Lacayo, an up-and-coming labor leader in Southern California, received a call instructing him to come to Washington, D.C. Something big was in the works. The phone call was placed at the direction of Walter Reuther, the legendary national president of the UAW. The big thing on the horizon was a planned March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom planned Aug. 28...
Inequality is hindering economic growth Baltimore Sun ...Our economy has grown at roughly the same rate as other advanced industrial economies. But unlike other countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, our growth has overwhelmingly benefited the well off...
Higher wages won’t increase unemployment! Salon ...Conservatives on the right contend that higher salaries mean fewer jobs. A wealth of research suggests otherwise...
5 Reasons Congress Should Be Deeply Ashamed About Jobs AlterNet ...Congress has not only made the job search more difficult for average Americans, but has also impeded the process...
New Jersey Republicans Nominate Koch Brothers Operative For Senate Think Progress ...The New Jersey Republicans voted Tuesday — in a low-turnout primary — to nominate Steve Lonegan for the remainder of the late Sen. Frank Lautenberg’s (D) term. Lonegan, the former New Jersey head for the Koch Brothers’ Americans for Prosperity, will face Newark Mayor Corey Booker (D) in an October 16 special election...
U.S. automakers praise G-20 for opposing currency manipulation Detroit News ...U.S. automakers on Sunday praised a group of 20 major nations for recognizing the harm caused to the global trading system by countries like Japan, who are manipulating their currencies to gain a competitive advantage for their exporters...
Two Minnesota public employee unions ratify new contracts Star Tribune ...About 32,000 unionized state employees have ratified contracts that call for pay hikes of 3 percent per year, the biggest increases they’ve received since the national economy nosedived in 2007-08...
Minimum wage in CT will increase to $9 an hour The Shelton Herald ...The minimum wage in Connecticut will increase by 75 cents during the next year and a half. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy signed legislation that hikes the minimum wage in two stages — from the current $8.25 an hour to $8.70 on Jan. 1, 2014, and then to $9 on Jan. 1, 2015...
BART, unions resume talks as senators add pressure Associated Press ...Bay Area Rapid Transit's management and employee unions resumed contract negotiations Thursday as California's two senators urged the parties resolve the labor dispute and head off a crippling transit strike...
Hillary Clinton: NC Voter ID Bill 'Reads Like The Greatest Hits Of Voter Suppression' (Video) Huffington Post ...Hillary Clinton denounced recent voter identification legislation in a speech at the American Bar Association's annual conference on Monday. Clinton criticized the Supreme Court decision that she believes "stripped out the pre-clearance formula that made [the Voting Rights Act] so effective..."
'Disney Princesses For Equal Pay' Is Brilliant, Hilarious And Informative Huffington Post ...All women want equal pay -- even Disney princesses. Jenny Joslin and Annette Mia Flores of the production company Texpats came up with a hilarious and creative way to raise awareness about the wage gap. Because who doesn't like Disney?...
State must pay $500,000 to end court fight over overtime pay for prison guards Patriot News ...A federal judge has approved a settlement requiring the state to pay $500,000 to end a class-action lawsuit filed by 247 Pennsylvania state prison corrections officers who claimed they were illegally denied overtime pay...
Billions in federal transportation funds riding on California's new pension law Sacramento Bee ...Less than a year after California lawmakers mandated sweeping changes for state and local government pensions, federal officials are poised to cut off billions of dollars in transportation funding because of the new laws. The Teamsters and two other unions have backed a measure that would exclude 20,000 mass transit workers statewide from the pension-change law...
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Today's Teamster News 07.10.13
The recovery: Not jobless, but full of McJobs manufacture this ...195,000 new jobs would be great if they were the kind on which you could build a recovery. But they aren’t. Roughly a third of those jobs are in the leisure and hospitality sector; another 37,000 of them are in the retail sector. And these jobs don’t pay well. In fact, they pay even less than they did only a few years ago...
Ensure that American infrastructure is repaired with American materials and by American workers. White House Petitions ...The Verrazano Bridge in New York city is going to be repaired with Steel made in China...
The secret weapon that could save the Voting Rights Act MSNBC ...Voting rights advocates are testing whether a little-used provision of the Voting Rights Act could limit the damage of the Supreme Court ruling that struck down a key part of the landmark civil rights law...
Shocker: Only 1% of So Called Terrorists Nabbed by the FBI Were Real Alternet ... there has yet to be a case of some Al-Qaeda operative providing the means for a wannabe terrorist to do an act of terrorism. It’s only the FBI that’s providing the means through these sting operations...
Walmart Threatening to Pull Plans for D.C. Stores NBC Washington ...Walmart, Inc. is threatening to pull its plans to build three urban stores in Washington, D.C. if Mayor Vincent Gray signs a new living wage bill into law that would force the large retailer to pay its employees and subcontractors at least $11.75 per hour...
Canadian train disaster sharpens debate on oil transportation Washington Post ...The railroad put the small lakeside town of Lac-Mégantic on the map. And over the weekend, the railroad wiped part of the town off the map Saturday when an oil-laden train bound for a Saint John refinery derailed and exploded, leaving at least 13 dead and dozens unaccounted for...
Unions turn up the heat on lawmakers as first furlough week arrives Huntsville Times ...A coalition of 20 unions that represents federal workers is turning up the heat on lawmakers in an effort to stave off the 20 percent pay cut that will hit Department of Defense workers in the next three months...
Anonymous Exposes US' Biggest Private Prison Company as a Bad Financial Investment Huffington Post ...The oldest and largest for-profit prison company is not what it would have you believe, at least according to Anonymous. A recently released report concludes that the publicly traded prison operator Corrections Corporation of America is not an efficient, profitable free-market solution -- but a bad investment for shareholders...
Judge Says Capitol Free Speech Restrictions “Create Extraordinary Chilling Effect” ACLU of Wisconsin ...A federal judge yesterday granted a preliminary injunction in the Capitol free speech case, allowing groups of up to 20 people to gather without a permit inside the Capitol...
Indiana working families not advancing on path to prosperity NWI Times ... nearly half of Indiana children and altogether 2.24 million Hoosiers are officially "low income" -- earning less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level, which is $22,980 for an individual or $47,100 for a family of four...
30,000 California prisoners refuse meals in apparent hunger strike Los Angeles Times ...Officials said 30,000 California inmates refused meals Monday at the start of a prison strike involving two-thirds of the state's 33 lockups, as well as four out-of-state facilities...
Nikki Haley Takes Heat After Report Blows Up 'Bogus' Voter Fraud Claims In South Carolina Huffington Post ...For years, South Carolina Republicans have complained about the names of dead voters being used to cast ballots in a broad voter fraud scheme. Now that a recent report by the State Law Enforcement Division has blown up those claims, unable to find a single example of a "zombie voter" committing fraud, one Democrat is demanding that Gov. Nikki Haley (R) apologize for her party's "bogus" crusade...
Local 690 Fights Hard to Win Back Public Employee’s Job IBT ...Local 690 recently came to the defense of one of its public defenders and won her reinstatement complete with back pay, benefits, and sick leave...
Arbitrator Orders DOC to Reinstate Four Monroe Correctional Employees IBT ...An arbitrator has issued a stinging rebuke to the Department of Corrections in a ruling that favors four correctional employees at the Monroe Correctional Complex, who were disciplined by the DOC after the murder of Officer Jayme Biendl in the prison chapel in January 2011...
Rural/Metro pledges to continue EMS service if strike occurs Buffalo Business First ...With a strike set to begin in a little over a week, executives at Rural/Metro Medical Services of Western New York are hoping to avoid a work stoppage but plan to continue coverage of emergency medical services...
Dignity Memorial Solicits Striking Employee To Apply For Funeral Director Job IBT ...Striking Funeral Director Lawrence Mandel was surprised that Dignity Memorial would bother offering him an “opportunity” to become a strikebreaker...
City, Teamsters Local 251 Reach Tentative Contract Deal Cranston Patch ...The city of Cranston (Rhode Island) and the Teamsters Local 251 have reached a tentative deal on a new contract that will run through 2015 and gives municipal workers raises each year...
Have you signed up for the 2013 Teamster Women's Conference yet? IBT ...There is still time left to register for the Teamster Women’s Conference, scheduled for September 19-21, 2013 in New Orleans. Join your Teamster Brothers and Sister for this dynamic gathering...
Ensure that American infrastructure is repaired with American materials and by American workers. White House Petitions ...The Verrazano Bridge in New York city is going to be repaired with Steel made in China...
The secret weapon that could save the Voting Rights Act MSNBC ...Voting rights advocates are testing whether a little-used provision of the Voting Rights Act could limit the damage of the Supreme Court ruling that struck down a key part of the landmark civil rights law...
Shocker: Only 1% of So Called Terrorists Nabbed by the FBI Were Real Alternet ... there has yet to be a case of some Al-Qaeda operative providing the means for a wannabe terrorist to do an act of terrorism. It’s only the FBI that’s providing the means through these sting operations...
Walmart Threatening to Pull Plans for D.C. Stores NBC Washington ...Walmart, Inc. is threatening to pull its plans to build three urban stores in Washington, D.C. if Mayor Vincent Gray signs a new living wage bill into law that would force the large retailer to pay its employees and subcontractors at least $11.75 per hour...
Canadian train disaster sharpens debate on oil transportation Washington Post ...The railroad put the small lakeside town of Lac-Mégantic on the map. And over the weekend, the railroad wiped part of the town off the map Saturday when an oil-laden train bound for a Saint John refinery derailed and exploded, leaving at least 13 dead and dozens unaccounted for...
Unions turn up the heat on lawmakers as first furlough week arrives Huntsville Times ...A coalition of 20 unions that represents federal workers is turning up the heat on lawmakers in an effort to stave off the 20 percent pay cut that will hit Department of Defense workers in the next three months...
Anonymous Exposes US' Biggest Private Prison Company as a Bad Financial Investment Huffington Post ...The oldest and largest for-profit prison company is not what it would have you believe, at least according to Anonymous. A recently released report concludes that the publicly traded prison operator Corrections Corporation of America is not an efficient, profitable free-market solution -- but a bad investment for shareholders...
Judge Says Capitol Free Speech Restrictions “Create Extraordinary Chilling Effect” ACLU of Wisconsin ...A federal judge yesterday granted a preliminary injunction in the Capitol free speech case, allowing groups of up to 20 people to gather without a permit inside the Capitol...
Indiana working families not advancing on path to prosperity NWI Times ... nearly half of Indiana children and altogether 2.24 million Hoosiers are officially "low income" -- earning less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level, which is $22,980 for an individual or $47,100 for a family of four...
30,000 California prisoners refuse meals in apparent hunger strike Los Angeles Times ...Officials said 30,000 California inmates refused meals Monday at the start of a prison strike involving two-thirds of the state's 33 lockups, as well as four out-of-state facilities...
Nikki Haley Takes Heat After Report Blows Up 'Bogus' Voter Fraud Claims In South Carolina Huffington Post ...For years, South Carolina Republicans have complained about the names of dead voters being used to cast ballots in a broad voter fraud scheme. Now that a recent report by the State Law Enforcement Division has blown up those claims, unable to find a single example of a "zombie voter" committing fraud, one Democrat is demanding that Gov. Nikki Haley (R) apologize for her party's "bogus" crusade...
Local 690 Fights Hard to Win Back Public Employee’s Job IBT ...Local 690 recently came to the defense of one of its public defenders and won her reinstatement complete with back pay, benefits, and sick leave...
Arbitrator Orders DOC to Reinstate Four Monroe Correctional Employees IBT ...An arbitrator has issued a stinging rebuke to the Department of Corrections in a ruling that favors four correctional employees at the Monroe Correctional Complex, who were disciplined by the DOC after the murder of Officer Jayme Biendl in the prison chapel in January 2011...
Rural/Metro pledges to continue EMS service if strike occurs Buffalo Business First ...With a strike set to begin in a little over a week, executives at Rural/Metro Medical Services of Western New York are hoping to avoid a work stoppage but plan to continue coverage of emergency medical services...
Dignity Memorial Solicits Striking Employee To Apply For Funeral Director Job IBT ...Striking Funeral Director Lawrence Mandel was surprised that Dignity Memorial would bother offering him an “opportunity” to become a strikebreaker...
City, Teamsters Local 251 Reach Tentative Contract Deal Cranston Patch ...The city of Cranston (Rhode Island) and the Teamsters Local 251 have reached a tentative deal on a new contract that will run through 2015 and gives municipal workers raises each year...
Have you signed up for the 2013 Teamster Women's Conference yet? IBT ...There is still time left to register for the Teamster Women’s Conference, scheduled for September 19-21, 2013 in New Orleans. Join your Teamster Brothers and Sister for this dynamic gathering...
Thursday, July 4, 2013
Today's Teamster News 07.04.13
Privacy issue hinders U.S-E.U. trade talks Washington Post ...European leaders tell citizens not to patronize U.S. companies due to concerns over privacy...
New Study: The Wealthy are more Unethical Economic Populist ...Seven studies using experimental and naturalistic methods, reveal that upper-class individuals behave more unethically than lower-class individuals...
U.S. Postal Service Logging All Mail for Law Enforcement New York Times ...postal mail is subject to the same kind of scrutiny that the National Security Agency has given to telephone calls and e-mail...
Arizona firefighters lacked a proper escape route Los Angeles Times ...The 19 wildland firefighters killed in Arizona appeared not to have established an escape route to a safe site large enough for the entire group, a forestry official said. Safety protocols require crews to have a place to go in case fire overtakes them. That did not happen in the Yarnell Hill fire...
Truckers Are Losing Sleep Over 70-Hour Work Limit Wall Street Journal ...The changes—the most significant overhaul of rules governing truck-driver hours in a decade—shorten the workweek, restrict how many nights truckers can be on the road and require rest breaks during the day...
Critics sue to block American-US Airways merger Associated Press ...Opponents of the proposed merger of American Airlines and US Airways filed a lawsuit Tuesday to block the deal, claiming it would hurt consumers by driving up airfares...
Supreme Court Rejects Cablevision Request To Block NLRB Trial In Union Dispute Deadline New York ...The National Labor Relations Board can go ahead with its administrative trial this month on charges that Cablevision resorted to intimidation, bribery and harassment to stop some of its workers in the Bronx from joining the Communications Workers of America (CWA)...
Eurozone crisis: Portugal sends stock markets tumbling The Guardian ...Stock markets were spooked by Portugal's descent into political chaos on Wednesday as the threat of a government collapse sent the country's borrowing costs into critical territory and threatened a new phase in the eurozone crisis...
West Virginia’s food sales tax eliminated this week Morgan Messenger ...The West Virginia sales tax on food was completely eliminated Monday, July 1, in the final step of a food tax reduction plan that went into effect in 2005...
Rhode Island to Become Third State With Paid Family Leave Opposing Views ...The Rhode Island House voted on Tuesday to provide paid time off to care for a new child or sick family member, a bill activists believe will be signed by Gov. Lincoln Chafee and make Rhode Island the third state to provide paid family leave...
Progress made in SF Bay Area transit talks Associated Press ...Negotiators for Bay Area Rapid Transit and its striking train workers made progress during overnight contract talks, officials said Wednesday, raising hope that a deal might be struck when talks resume later in the day...
Teamsters File Challenge Against State of Florida IBT ...Teamsters Local 2011, which represents 17,000 officers of the Florida Department of Corrections (FDOC), filed a formal complaint against the state with the Florida Public Employees Relations Commission (PERC), alleging that the state committed an unfair labor practice by trying to force illegal working conditions on corrections officers – taking away officers’ earned, paid time off...
Corrections workers ratify collective bargaining contract with New Hampshire Associated Press ...Teamsters Local 633, which represents more than 300 Department of Corrections' employees, has ratified a new two-year contract that provides workers with their first pay increase in five years...
Strike ends at Austintown beverage distributor WFMJ News ...Union members vote to end their strike of beverage distributor R.L. Lipton. The members of Teamsters Local 377 accepted a modified wage agreement during voting yesterday afternoon. They'll return to work on Monday...
New Study: The Wealthy are more Unethical Economic Populist ...Seven studies using experimental and naturalistic methods, reveal that upper-class individuals behave more unethically than lower-class individuals...
U.S. Postal Service Logging All Mail for Law Enforcement New York Times ...postal mail is subject to the same kind of scrutiny that the National Security Agency has given to telephone calls and e-mail...
Arizona firefighters lacked a proper escape route Los Angeles Times ...The 19 wildland firefighters killed in Arizona appeared not to have established an escape route to a safe site large enough for the entire group, a forestry official said. Safety protocols require crews to have a place to go in case fire overtakes them. That did not happen in the Yarnell Hill fire...
Truckers Are Losing Sleep Over 70-Hour Work Limit Wall Street Journal ...The changes—the most significant overhaul of rules governing truck-driver hours in a decade—shorten the workweek, restrict how many nights truckers can be on the road and require rest breaks during the day...
Critics sue to block American-US Airways merger Associated Press ...Opponents of the proposed merger of American Airlines and US Airways filed a lawsuit Tuesday to block the deal, claiming it would hurt consumers by driving up airfares...
Supreme Court Rejects Cablevision Request To Block NLRB Trial In Union Dispute Deadline New York ...The National Labor Relations Board can go ahead with its administrative trial this month on charges that Cablevision resorted to intimidation, bribery and harassment to stop some of its workers in the Bronx from joining the Communications Workers of America (CWA)...
Eurozone crisis: Portugal sends stock markets tumbling The Guardian ...Stock markets were spooked by Portugal's descent into political chaos on Wednesday as the threat of a government collapse sent the country's borrowing costs into critical territory and threatened a new phase in the eurozone crisis...
West Virginia’s food sales tax eliminated this week Morgan Messenger ...The West Virginia sales tax on food was completely eliminated Monday, July 1, in the final step of a food tax reduction plan that went into effect in 2005...
Rhode Island to Become Third State With Paid Family Leave Opposing Views ...The Rhode Island House voted on Tuesday to provide paid time off to care for a new child or sick family member, a bill activists believe will be signed by Gov. Lincoln Chafee and make Rhode Island the third state to provide paid family leave...
Progress made in SF Bay Area transit talks Associated Press ...Negotiators for Bay Area Rapid Transit and its striking train workers made progress during overnight contract talks, officials said Wednesday, raising hope that a deal might be struck when talks resume later in the day...
Teamsters File Challenge Against State of Florida IBT ...Teamsters Local 2011, which represents 17,000 officers of the Florida Department of Corrections (FDOC), filed a formal complaint against the state with the Florida Public Employees Relations Commission (PERC), alleging that the state committed an unfair labor practice by trying to force illegal working conditions on corrections officers – taking away officers’ earned, paid time off...
Corrections workers ratify collective bargaining contract with New Hampshire Associated Press ...Teamsters Local 633, which represents more than 300 Department of Corrections' employees, has ratified a new two-year contract that provides workers with their first pay increase in five years...
Strike ends at Austintown beverage distributor WFMJ News ...Union members vote to end their strike of beverage distributor R.L. Lipton. The members of Teamsters Local 377 accepted a modified wage agreement during voting yesterday afternoon. They'll return to work on Monday...
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Today's Teamster News 06.13.13
Inequality In U.S. Is Scarily High, Rising (INFOGRAPHIC) Huffington Post ...Half of the U.S. population is now considered poor or low-income...
The Trade Deal Scam Truthout ...There are two key facts people should know about these proposed trade deals. First, they are mostly not about trade. Second they are not intended to boost the economy in a way that will help most of us...
How Costco saves taxpayers money CNNMoney ...The discount retail chain has remained steadfast on giving decent pay and benefits for its rank and file, saving the company--and U.S. taxpayers--plenty of money in the process...
How Spy Agency Contractors Have Already Abused Their Power The Nation ...Two years ago, a batch of stolen e-mails revealed a plot by a set of three defense contractors (Palantir Technologies, Berico Technologies and HBGary Federal) to target activists, reporters, labor unions and political organizations...
Behind Cry for Help From China Labor Camp New York Times ...In interviews with more than a dozen people who were imprisoned at Masanjia and other camps around the country, they described a catalog of horrific abuse, including frequent beatings, days of sleep deprivation and prisoners chained up in painful positions for weeks on end...
Darrell Issa joins Democrats’ push on foreclosure review Politico ... Democrats and consumer advocates pushing federal banking regulators to release more details about an abandoned review of past foreclosure abuses have a new ally: Darrell Issa...
Greek state TV, radio broadcasts going off the air Associated Press ...Greek state TV and radio have begun going off the air, hours after the government said it would temporarily close all state-run broadcasts, with the loss of about 2,500 job, due to austerity cuts...
North Carolina Is the New Wisconsin The Nation ...Republicans have imported a slew of ALEC-inspired policies in an attempt to turn the New South back into the Old Confederacy...
City Council grapples with looming budget shortfall, union concerns Fort Wayne News-Sentinel ...Fort Wayne City Council on Tuesday decided to hold for another week an ordinance that, if passed as currently written, would strip the ability of unions to collectively bargain aspects of health insurance coverage with the city...
Montana attorney general forms coalition to oppose Internet sales tax bill in Congress Great Falls Tribune ...Montana Attorney General Tim Fox on Wednesday announced the formation of a multi-state coalition opposed to a proposed federal Internet sales tax bill that would force businesses to collect sales tax for other states, counties and cities...
Iowa law closes sales tax loophole for online sellers Sioux City Journal ...Gov. Terry Branstad signed legislation to close a loophole that lets out-of-state online retailers offer customers a purchase price without collecting the state’s sales tax...
Massachusetts Minimum Wage Hearing Draws Crowd WTIC 1080 ...Advocates for a higher Massachusetts minimum wage packed a Statehouse hearing Tuesday, saying an increase is a matter of fairness and would boost the economy...
Hoffa: Congress Needs to Take Action to Keep College Affordable IBT ...Working people struggle and fight to form unions so their children can have better lives than they do. For many, that means sending their sons and daughters to college. Higher education has long been the stepping stone to a better life. But that stone is being swept away by a tide of student debt...
Leslie Marshall Show Discusses Our Victory Against Knives on Planes IBT ...The Teamsters Airline Division, as part of the Coalition of Flight Attendant Unions, claimed a big victory last week with the TSA’s decision to disallow knives on planes...
Teamsters, Community Leaders Speak Before Rhinebeck School Board IBT ...School bus drivers and monitors, along with Teamsters Local 445 and New York State United Teachers (NYSUT)leaders, spoke out at Tuesday night’s Rhinebeck School Board meeting about their ongoing fight for a fair contract from Durham School Services...
Teamsters Complaint Results In $600,000 Settlement For Correctional Officers IBT ...The U.S. Department of Labor is overseeing the award of a $603,237 settlement to current and retired employees of the State Prison Facility in Raiford after finding that more than 700 corrections officers were not being properly compensated...
The Trade Deal Scam Truthout ...There are two key facts people should know about these proposed trade deals. First, they are mostly not about trade. Second they are not intended to boost the economy in a way that will help most of us...
How Costco saves taxpayers money CNNMoney ...The discount retail chain has remained steadfast on giving decent pay and benefits for its rank and file, saving the company--and U.S. taxpayers--plenty of money in the process...
How Spy Agency Contractors Have Already Abused Their Power The Nation ...Two years ago, a batch of stolen e-mails revealed a plot by a set of three defense contractors (Palantir Technologies, Berico Technologies and HBGary Federal) to target activists, reporters, labor unions and political organizations...
Behind Cry for Help From China Labor Camp New York Times ...In interviews with more than a dozen people who were imprisoned at Masanjia and other camps around the country, they described a catalog of horrific abuse, including frequent beatings, days of sleep deprivation and prisoners chained up in painful positions for weeks on end...
Darrell Issa joins Democrats’ push on foreclosure review Politico ... Democrats and consumer advocates pushing federal banking regulators to release more details about an abandoned review of past foreclosure abuses have a new ally: Darrell Issa...
Greek state TV, radio broadcasts going off the air Associated Press ...Greek state TV and radio have begun going off the air, hours after the government said it would temporarily close all state-run broadcasts, with the loss of about 2,500 job, due to austerity cuts...
North Carolina Is the New Wisconsin The Nation ...Republicans have imported a slew of ALEC-inspired policies in an attempt to turn the New South back into the Old Confederacy...
City Council grapples with looming budget shortfall, union concerns Fort Wayne News-Sentinel ...Fort Wayne City Council on Tuesday decided to hold for another week an ordinance that, if passed as currently written, would strip the ability of unions to collectively bargain aspects of health insurance coverage with the city...
Montana attorney general forms coalition to oppose Internet sales tax bill in Congress Great Falls Tribune ...Montana Attorney General Tim Fox on Wednesday announced the formation of a multi-state coalition opposed to a proposed federal Internet sales tax bill that would force businesses to collect sales tax for other states, counties and cities...
Iowa law closes sales tax loophole for online sellers Sioux City Journal ...Gov. Terry Branstad signed legislation to close a loophole that lets out-of-state online retailers offer customers a purchase price without collecting the state’s sales tax...
Massachusetts Minimum Wage Hearing Draws Crowd WTIC 1080 ...Advocates for a higher Massachusetts minimum wage packed a Statehouse hearing Tuesday, saying an increase is a matter of fairness and would boost the economy...
Hoffa: Congress Needs to Take Action to Keep College Affordable IBT ...Working people struggle and fight to form unions so their children can have better lives than they do. For many, that means sending their sons and daughters to college. Higher education has long been the stepping stone to a better life. But that stone is being swept away by a tide of student debt...
Leslie Marshall Show Discusses Our Victory Against Knives on Planes IBT ...The Teamsters Airline Division, as part of the Coalition of Flight Attendant Unions, claimed a big victory last week with the TSA’s decision to disallow knives on planes...
Teamsters, Community Leaders Speak Before Rhinebeck School Board IBT ...School bus drivers and monitors, along with Teamsters Local 445 and New York State United Teachers (NYSUT)leaders, spoke out at Tuesday night’s Rhinebeck School Board meeting about their ongoing fight for a fair contract from Durham School Services...
Teamsters Complaint Results In $600,000 Settlement For Correctional Officers IBT ...The U.S. Department of Labor is overseeing the award of a $603,237 settlement to current and retired employees of the State Prison Facility in Raiford after finding that more than 700 corrections officers were not being properly compensated...
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