Today's Teamster News 11.17.14

Trade
Critics challenge US plans for the TPP  Al Jazeera America   ..."I personally, as an American citizen, find it puzzling that the Obama administration is pushing for an economic policy abroad which will increase the cost of health care, reduce access, where at the same time, one of his signature presidential legacies is supposed to be affordable care," Professor Susan Sell at George Washington University told Al Jazeera...
No rush in TPP talks  Japan Times   ...Top leaders of countries taking part in the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade negotiations last Monday in Beijing failed to set a time frame for a final agreement. In doing so they abandoned the earlier goal of completing a broad agreement by year’s end...
State Battles
How Local Governments Are (or Aren’t) Examining Economic Development Dollars  Governing   ...A new survey provides a detailed portrait of how local governments use business incentives, finding many lack basic accountability measures...
War on Workers
Court orders strip club to pay $10M in back wages to dancers  CNN   ...More than 2,000 current and former exotic dancers in New York City were awarded $10 million in a class-action lawsuit they brought against their employer, Rick's Cabaret. The federal judge's order came on Friday, four years after the dancers filed their lawsuit alleging the company cheated them out of wages...
This Fed President is Correctly Worried About a 1937-Style Slump  Wall Street on Parade   ...The reference to 1937 relates to the fact that as the U.S. economy was showing signs of improvement from the conditions of the Great Depression of the 1930s, the Federal government and the Federal Reserve overreacted to inflationary concerns with contractive measures in 1937, sending the economy into a sharp slump in late 1937 and 1938...
Plant where workers died reported recent violations  Texas Tribune   ...State records show that in the last five years, the plant has been cited at least two-dozen of times by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality for violating state law...
Miscellaneous
Democrat-led Senate set to finally vote this week on Keystone, in odd turn of political events  FOX News   ...The Democrat-controlled Senate is expected to take a long-awaited vote Tuesday on approving the Keystone XL oil pipeline -- in an unexpected and politically-charged turn of events for legislation that has languished in the upper chamber for roughly six years...

Today's Teamster News 03.10.13

Wells Fargo Typo Victim Dies in Court  LA Weekly   ...Larry Delassus' heart stopped as he watched his attorney argue his negligence and discrimination case against banking behemoth Wells Fargo. His death came more than two years after Wells Fargo mistakenly mixed up his Hermosa Beach address with that of a neighbor in the same condo complex. The bank's typo led Wells Fargo to demand that Delassus pay $13,361.90...
And yet the labor force participation rate is still falling  Marginal Revolution   ...The number of multiple jobholders rose by 340,000 this month, to 7.26 million ... Which means that one way of looking at this report is to say that all of the new jobs created were second or third jobs, going to people who were already employed elsewhere...
Trans Pacific Partnership: A new Constitution  Angry Bear   ... This document is the constitution of a new world order...
Locked Out: Disrepair Forces Closure of Vital Shipping Lane  der Spiegel   ...The Kiel Canal, one of Europe's most vital shipping lanes, was shut down this week when two neglected locks broke down. The closure threatens to cause major disruption to shipping in Northern Europe, but Germany's Transport Ministry has promised rapid repairs...
Don’t Cut Social Security, Expand It (opinion)  Bloomberg News   ...Private saving for retirement is woeful. This typical near-retirement household has just $42,000 in retirement accounts and $18,300 in other financial assets...
Fired ACORN Worker Wins $100,000 Settlement From Republican Con-Artist James O'Keefe  The Brad Blog   ...Federal criminal James O'Keefe agrees to settle with San Diego ACORN employee fired after being illegally videotaped in phony "pimp" hoax...
Feds Question Boeing’s Tests of Lithium-Ion Batteries in Dreamliners  Wired   ...Federal authorities investigating what caused a lithium-ion battery aboard a 787 Dreamliner to catch fire are questioning the testing performed by suppliers and Boeing, pointing to a lack of a thorough test of the battery and its charging system as a complete system, either in a lab or aboard an airplane...
Bill aims to restrict Ohio ballot referendums  Toledo Blade   ...A Republican-backed bill making it tougher to use the ballot box to overturn laws and amend the Ohio Constitution soon could find itself before voters...
JobsOhio has a lot of explaining to do regarding how it conducts its business: letter to the editor  Cleveland Plain Dealer   ...We really don't know how JobsOhio operates. Where it gets its money is becoming clearer: secret appropriations, private donations and soon the sweet deal with the state liquor agency. But how it uses its money internally?...