Today's Teamster News 03.10.15

Teamsters
Hoffa: Right-To-Work In Wisconsin Is Another Step Down The Wrong Road For Working Families  teamster.org   ...“Today, Gov. Scott Walker ignored the will of Wisconsin’s working families, signing a right-to-work bill into law that was fast tracked through the state legislature...
40 hurt when Amtrak train slams into truck in Halifax County  WRAL.com   ...Dozens of passengers were injured Monday when an Amtrak train traveling from Charlotte to New York derailed in Halifax County after slamming into a tractor-trailer that apparently got stuck at an intersection, authorities said...
Apple Gives Shuttle Bus Drivers A Raise  San Jose Mercury News   ...Last week, Apple announced it would hire many of its contract security guards as full-time employees entitled to the same benefits as other workers, echoing a similar step made last year by Google. What's more, shuttle bus drivers for popular Silicon Valley contractors Loop Transportation and Compass Transportation have joined the Teamsters union, which is negotiating for better pay and benefits...
Handi-Van Management, Drivers' Union At Odds Over Customer Complaint Calls  KHNL   ...The disagreement centers over a small card that the Hawaii Teamsters Local 996 distributed to its drivers to give to their passengers, which includes the phone numbers for the offices of the mayor, city manager and transportation. The drivers started giving out the cards last November, a month after the city changed the HandiVan reservation system, resulting in long waits and irate customers...
Sysco Extends Merger Pact With U.S. Foods To May  Wall Street Journal   ...The food-distributor said the termination date for the accord, initially reached in December 2013, was moved to May 7 from March 8, in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Court hearings are set to begin May 5 on the Federal Trade Commission’s antitrust lawsuit against the merger of Sysco and U.S. Foods, the nation’s two largest food distributors...
Trade
Secret Treaties: Why I'm Against the TPP  Huffington Post   ...The TPP masquerades as a "free-trade" agreement when in reality its designed to make it even easier for colossal corporations to ship American jobs overseas by dismantling organized labor, undercutting workers' rights and shirking environmental regulations...
State Battles
Scott Walker Signs Right-To-Work Bill  Milwaukee Journal Sentinel   ...Gov. Scott Walker has signed the right-to-work legislation passed last week by the state Legislature...
Senate Committee Pushes Vote On Labor Bills To Tuesday  Santa Fe New Mexican   ...The weekslong debate over whether New Mexico should outlaw compulsory union fees will go on for at least two more days...
Raimondo To Seek Minimum Wage Hike  Providence Journal   ...Governor Raimondo campaigned for office on a promise to back an increase in the state's minimum wage to $10.10 an hour. On Monday, she will call on state lawmakers to help her fulfill that campaign pledge by raising the minimum wage from $9 to $10.10 an hour in 2016...
Bills On Workers' Comp Bias And Ride-Sharing Safety Are Resurrected  Los Angeles Times   ...Lawmakers once again are grappling with complaints from injured workers that insurers unfairly slash their disability payments. A bill by Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego) would partially address the problem of alleged bias against women hurt on the job. The bill has strong backing from labor unions...
War on Workers
The 21st century has been terrible for working Americans  Washington Post   ...Of all the scary stats you've heard about the U.S. economy over the last few years, this might be the scariest: Almost two-thirds of American households earn less money today than they did in 2002...
Poll: Fox News most trusted network  Politico   ...In comparison rankings, 29 percent responded that they trust Fox News the most. CNN follows with 22 percent, CBS News and NBC News are at 10 percent, ABC News at 8 percent and MSNBC at 7 percent...
Wrecks Hit Tougher Oil Railcars  Wall Street Journal   ...In a string of recent oil train derailments in the U.S. and Canada, new and sturdier railroad tanker cars being built to carry a rising tide of crude oil across the continent have failed to prevent ruptures...
NYCHA Employee Dies After Plunge While On Job At Coney Island Public Housing Complex  New York Daily News   ...A New York City Housing Authority employee died in a Coney Island public housing complex building Saturday — the victim of an apparent fall, cops said...
Miscellaneous
Credit-Reporting Giants Agree To Overhaul  Wall Street Journal   ...Under an agreement announced Monday with New York state, Equifax Information Services LLC, Experian Information Solutions Inc. and TransUnion LLC will be more proactive in resolving disputes over information contained in credit reports—a process federal watchdogs and consumer advocates have long decried as being stacked against individuals...

Today's Teamster News 02.23.13

Court Scoffs at Light Sentence for CEO's Fraud  Courthouse News Service   ...The seven-day sentence given to a former CEO whose money-laundering scheme cost investors more $18 million was as "unreasonably low," the 6th Circuit ruled...
New Jersey sues Sandy relief fund  USA Today   ...Operators of a Sandy relief group diverted more than $17,000 in donated money to eat out, pay credit card bills and shop online while storm victims received just $1,650 in aid, an ongoing state investigation has found...
Detroit Anti-Eviction Campaign Keeping Families in Their Homes  The Real News   ...In Detroit, Michigan, the city many consider the epicenter of the nation's subprime and foreclosure crisis, banks continue to evict residents from their homes at an alarming pace. But over the past year, a growing grassroots movement has blocked evictions and kept families in their homes...
The American Trucking Industry Had Its Best January Ever  Business Insider   ...The American Trucking Associations’ advanced seasonally adjusted (SA) For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index increased 2.9% in January after jumping 2.4% in December. ... Tonnage has surged at least 2.4% every month since November, gaining a total of 9.1% over that period...
Ford announces re-shoring of engine manufacturing jobs  manufacture this   ...Ford announced this week that it would begin manufacturing EcoBoost engines for the North American market in Ohio. Previously workers in Spain built these engines. This move means 450 new manufacturing jobs for Cleveland...
UK loses top AAA credit rating for first time since 1978   BBC News   ...The ratings agency Moody's became the first to cut the UK from its highest rating, to Aa1. Moody's said the government's debt reduction programme faced significant "challenges" ahead. Chancellor George Osborne said the decision was "a stark reminder of the debt problems facing our country"... 
Right to work, prevailing wage debate for nought  The Daily Independent   ...The House Committee on Labor and Industry Thursday heard discussion on bills sponsored by Rep. Jim DeCesare, R-Bowling Green, which would make Kentucky a right-to-work state and repeal the prevailing wage law for public projects ...But at DeCesare’s request, there was no vote on either of the bills...
State Lawmakers Move to Restrict Living Wages, Sick Leave Ordinances  Florida Center for Investigative Reporting   ...This week, a bill that would remove local ordinances requiring companies to pay living wages passed through a committee in the Florida Legislature. The bill is aimed at cracking down on local laws in Orlando, Miami Beach and Gainesville that ask certain employers to pay employees slightly more than the minimum wage...
Bullock jobs bill tabled in legislative committee  Associated Press   ...A Republican-led committee is rejecting Gov. Steve Bullock's plan to increase the mandatory hiring percentage of Montana workers on public-works projects in the state...
Corbett: Challenge on lottery rejection is coming  The Morning Call   ... Corbett likely will file his challenge directly with the state Supreme Court...
Lawmakers make step toward privatization at MARTA  The Atlanta Journal-Constitution   ...Legislation was passed by state representatives that required the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority to privatize major functions — from payroll and cleaning to paratransit services. The reform also requires moving new employees from a pension to a 401(k) retirement plan and capping the heavily indebted agency’s bond debt at 35 percent of sales tax collections...
Aberdeen Man Among UPS Drivers Honored for 25 Accident-Free Years  Matawan-Aberdeen Patch   ...An Aberdeen man is one of 50 United Parcel Service drivers from New Jersey being honored for 25 years or more of accident-free driving...
Some Teamsters get pay raises during state contract negotiations  Gatehouse News Service   ...About 1,500 unionized workers at the Illinois Department of Transportation and other agencies received raises last month, even though their union is still negotiating a new contract with the state...

Today's Teamster News 01.27.11

Lebanon employees seek to unionize (Local 340)  Journal Tribune   ...Town hall employees are considering joining Teamsters Union 340 after cutbacks in hours and a staff layoff last year...
Firefighters OK pact that saves Appleton money (Local 662)  Post Crescent   ...Fourteen other contracts must still come before the council...Teamsters Local 662 represents 264 workers in 10 different units...
N.J. toll collectors prepared to offer millions in concessions to avoid privatization  (Local 97)  The Record   ...Turnpike toll collectors may ...make as much as $14 million or more in concessions – including $2.4 million in salary rollbacks...
Railroads trim payrolls in December  Journal of Commerce   ...The seven largest freight railroads trimmed 642 positions from their combined U.S. workforce in December, for the first reduction since August...
Railroads Post Big Profit Increases, Resume Hiring   Wall Street Journal ...The largest North American railroads hauled more of most everything in the fourth quarter, spurring new hiring...
Montana Files Lawsuit Over Video Late Fees  Associated Press   ...People who didn't return movies to Hollywood Video and Movie Gallery before they closed their doors for good last year may run into credit trouble when looking to take out a mortgage or finance a car...
Illinois Plan for Pensions Questioned  New York Times   ...The Securities and Exchange Commission has said it has a special team devoted to investigating public pensions, and last year it brought its first case ever against a state, accusing New Jersey of securities fraud for claiming to have pension assets that did not really exist...
UPS to close billing center in Des Moines  Des Moines Register   ...The shutdowns are part of a UPS plan ... to reduce U.S. billing centers from 10 to eight...
Keystone link to Gulf finds enough producers  The Globe and Mail   ...TransCanada Corp. has signed up enough customers to proceed with its 150,000 barrel-per-day pipeline from Oklahoma to the Gulf Coast...
Illinois manufacturers have high hopes after Obama promises access to high-speed rail, infrastructure repair  The Medill Report   ...With a goal of putting 35 million people within a three-hour trip to Chicago, the Midwest High Speed Rail Association advocates building four bullet train routes...
Senate GOP proposing NH public pension reforms  Associated Press   ...Republicans are proposing raising the retirement age for public safety workers...
A Reservist in a New War, Against Foreclosure  New York Times   ...In violation of a law intended to protect active military personnel from creditors, agents of Deutsche Bank foreclosed on his small Michigan house, forcing Sergeant Hurley’s wife, Brandie, and her two young children to move out...

Credit problems for 22% of people with bank account in past 2 years

This is what we mean when we say the middle class is being destroyed. One out of five Americans with a bank account had credit problems in 2007-09. You can guess the reasons -- unemployment or shrunken income.

Below are the kinds of problems they're dealing with, according to a consumer lending survey by the Deloitte accounting firm:

These are scary, scary numbers. They suggest that millions of working families are struggling to survive on wages that are at or near poverty level.   

For these families -- and for many of us -- the recession is far from over. Friday's frightening unemployment numbers made that clear. Here's a chart from the New York Times that shows the abysmal rate of job creation during this "recovery," compared to the others in the past 30 years.

8 million Americans quit using credit cards last year

Some didn't do it voluntarily, according to credit reporting agency TransUnion. The banks shut down Visa, Mastercard, American Express or Discover cards because people fell behind in their payments. Others stopped using credit cards because cardholders aren't buying as much or are paying down their balances.

The decline in credit card usage is steep. It fell 11 percent -- from 70 million to 62 million -- in the July-to-September period in 2010 from the same period in 2009.

Either way, consumers are stressed, said Ezra Becker, vice president of research and consulting in TransUnion's financial services business unit. Becker told the Associated Prss that carrying a credit card balance before the recession was more of a lifestyle decision reflecting spending choices.

Now it's out of necessity. In times of financial distress, nobody wants to carry a balance. Where people can afford to pay things down, they do.

Here's one reason people are feeling poorer (in addition to high unemployment and declining wages): housing prices are still falling.  The Census Bureau reported that prices for new homes fell a whopping 13.9 percent from September to October.

Priceless.