TEAMSTERS
Union Resubmits Proposals, Seeks Strong Comprehensive Agreement With Great Lakes Coca-Cola Local 727 ...Bargaining continued for a third day on Monday, November 2, as the Teamsters Local 727 Bargaining Committee resubmitted its non-economic proposals to Great Lake Coca-Cola Distribution management. Although GLCCD representatives have not yet offered any substantive movement on initial proposals, the union is making significant organizational progress throughout negotiations...
Drivers at three Port of Long Beach, Los Angeles carriers end strike Landline ...A strike by port drivers working for three port motor carriers at the twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach has ended. Labor organizers, however, say a dispute over the classification of drivers as independent contractors rolls on. A five-day driver strike and picket at XPO Logistics, Intermodal Bridge Transport and Gold Pint Transportation ended late last week according to Justice for Port Drivers organization, which is backed by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters...
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
Indian capital a mess as sanitation workers strike USA Today ...Delhi is a mess, and a worse one than usual. Since late last month sanitation workers here have been on strike, refusing to pick up garbage and even dumping piles of trash in the streets. Sanitation workers have one key demand: their salaries...
Petrobras Oil Output Cut as Workers Protest Austerity Bloomberg ...Petroleo Brasileiro SA said its oil and natural-gas production has been cut because of a strike by workers protesting job losses, spending reductions and asset sales at Brazil’s state-controlled producer. The biggest output cuts came on Monday, the second day of the strike, when production fell 273,000 barrels a day...
Policy fights await release of trade deal The Hill ...The Obama administration is preparing to release the text of the sweeping Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement, setting the stage for a host of policy fights that could threaten congressional approval of the president’s prized trade deal. Obama has little margin for error as his administration and supporters of the deal press lawmakers to back a 12-nation pact...
TPPA deal will be made public in 2 weeks, says minister Malaysian Insider ...The contents of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) will be made public in two weeks' time, Second International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Ong Ka Chuan said. He said as the government had concluded the TPP with the parties involved, the next step is to present the details to the people. It will then be brought before a special parliamentary session in January next year for debate and a vote by the 222 lawmakers...
Text Still Secret One Month After TPP Deal (opinion) Huffington Post ...Negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a 12 nation agreement seven years in the making, were finally concluded a month ago. Yet the Obama administration still has not released the text of the agreement. Not even to Congress, much less the public. But this has not stopped the United States Trade Representative (USTR), the office responsible for the negotiations, from making outlandish claims about how great the TPP is...
Political Expert Calls US-Initiated Trans-Pacific Partnership ‘Nonsense’ Sputnik ...The US invited Russia and China to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). According to political expert Alexei Skopin, the United States pursues its own goals creating such partnerships and does not always declare them openly. The Agreement on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which includes 12 countries so far, was reached on October 5 and is designed to create a free trade area (FTA) in the Asia-Pacific region...
An Urgent Warning Of What TTIP Has In Store Morning Star ...Canada is the most sued country in the “developed” world, and that should sound alarm bells in Britain. Several weeks ago hundreds of thousands of people across Europe and Britain marched to protest against the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), a massive planned new trade deal between Europe and the US...
Canada presses pause on austerity after Justin Trudeau’s election win The Guardian ...While Canada is hitting the pause button on austerity, the UK chancellor, is on fast-forward. George Osborne’s 2015 spending review will see a further £20bn cut from public spending to achieve balance by 2019, a move which follows a halving of the deficit over the course of the last parliament...
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Kentucky elects right-to-work governor Politico ...Tea Party Republican Matt Bevin beat Democrat Jack Conway for Kentucky’s governorship Tuesday night, an upset victory in one of the last strongholds for Democrats in the right-to-work South. Activists on both side of the right-to-work debate led aggressive outreach in the run-up to the election, and this loss surely stings for the AFL-CIO and its affiliate Working America...
GOP candidates for governor talk right-to-work, rural issues in first forum Columbia Missourian ...It didn't take Republican gubernatorial candidates long to hit their party's bread and butter Tuesday night. A full choir of supporters and GOP lawmakers at Missouri Farm Bureau headquarters applauded promises to ban mandatory union fees with a right-to-work law and resist Medicaid expansion...
Thanks To Virginia Reforms, These People Are Voting For The First Time In Decades Think Progress ...Before McAuliffe’s reforms, felons in Virginia had a particularly hard time becoming full citizens after their convictions. In most states, voting rights are automatically restored once a felon is released from prison. But in Virginia, felons were required to first get off parole or probation, then file a voting rights restoration application with the governor’s office, a process that was supposed to take 45 to 60 days but often took much longer...
Leading Fight Against Money in Politics, Maine Voters Back Clean Elections Common Dreams ...Maine voters on Tuesday reaffirmed their desire to keep the influence of big money out of politics by passing the Clean Elections Initiative, a move that campaigners say serves as a "flare to a nation" desperate to "reclaim control of our democracy" in the wake of the Citizens United Supreme Court decision. According to the Bangor Daily News, the Initiative passed 55 to 45 percent...
Scandal, Explicit Emails, Behind The Most Expensive Supreme Court Race In American History Think Progress ...$15,850,297. That’s how much candidates and interested groups have spent to influence the race for three seats on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, according to Justice At Stake, a watchdog group which tracks state judicial races. And that number is only likely to grow as it is based on records that have already been filed in this election...
SEIU starts competing effort to put minimum wage on California ballot SacBee ...California’s largest labor union on Tuesday unveiled its own bid to increase the statewide minimum wage, setting up dueling pay measures aimed for next year’s ballot amid persistent concerns over income inequality. The proposed initiative, supported by the Service Employees International Union’s state council, would boost the base wage to $15 per hour by 2020...
Portland, Maine, Rejects $15 Minimum Wage Huffington Post ...In a rare setback for living wage activists, voters in Portland, Maine, shot down a $15 minimum wage proposal on Tuesday, voting against a ballot measure that would have doubled the wage floor in just four years. Under the proposal, all employers with 500 or more workers would have had to pay at least $15 per hour by 2017...
The Puerto Rican Debt Crisis: Tax Breaks Offered to Rich While Austerity Measures Imposed on Poor Democracy Now ...The Obama administration recently warned Puerto Rico faces a humanitarian crisis unless Congress takes steps to address its crushing debt. The White House wants lawmakers to approve bankruptcy protection for the U.S. territory, expand Medicaid and impose a control board to oversee Puerto Rico’s finances...
U.S. LABOR
NLRB hearing to delay UAW election at Chattanooga's VW plant Times Free Press ...A union election planned for later this week at Volkswagen's Chattanooga plant is expected to be delayed due to a hearing over whether the 164 maintenance workers slated to vote are too small of a unit. Attorneys for VW and the United Auto Workers argued today at a National Labor Relations Board hearing in Chattanooga that will continue into Wednesday...
Slight majority support GM-UAW deal so far The Detroit News ...With about one-third of ballots cast, voting on General Motors Co.’s tentative agreement with the UAW is close, with a slight majority of workers supporting the deal. Voting results at some larger facilities have been tight and roughly two-thirds of the 52,600 hourly workers have not had the opportunity to vote yet. The union is expected to release final results as early as this weekend...
USW files additional unfair labor charges against ATI Business Times ...The United Steelworkers have filed a total of 18 unfair labor practice charges against Allegheny Technologies Inc., the union said in an update to its members Monday. The pending charges cover ATI's decision to lock out more than 2,000 union employees in August as well as the company's conduct at the bargaining table, according to the union...
The Uphill Battle For Strippers’ Rights Think Progress ...Some dancers flock to the industry in part because of perceived scheduling flexibility, but they often end up just as binding as many other jobs. Most clubs require a dancer to come in a minimum number of days a week and assign them to either a day or night shift. Some also tell dancers what time to show up – even charging them a fine if they’re late...
Wages for top earners soared in 2014: Fly top 0.1 percent, fly EPI ...After dipping slightly in 2013, annual earnings of the top 1.0 percent of wages earners grew 4.9 percent in 2014, and the top 0.1 percent’s earnings grew 8.9 percent, according to our analysis of the latest Social Security Administration wage data. This analysis provides the first look at the likely trend of the household incomes of the top 1.0 percent...
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
How Bathroom Fears Conquered Transgender Rights in Houston The Atlantic ...After a hard-fought campaign that drew national attention from Hollywood celebrities and presidential. candidates, voters rejected the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance, or Proposition 1, handing a victory to conservative critics who argued that its expansive protections for transgender people could endanger women and children...
Republicans Demonize Disabled Social Security Recipients in Latest Budget Alternet ...Having failed in numerous frontal assaults on Social Security, the Republican congressional leadership several years ago adopted a new strategy for dismantling the program: attack and demonize Disability Insurance, which they consider to be its soft underbelly. With last week’s passage of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, they drew blood...
New Study Shows Antarctic Melting Approaching 'Unstoppable' Tipping Point Common Dreams ...A new study published Monday warns that "unstoppable" melting in West Antarctica could make a three-meter increase in sea level "unavoidable." According to researchers at Germany's Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, the vulnerable Amundsen Sea sector of West Antarctica "has most likely been destabilized." They point to recent studies indicating that this area of the ice continent is "the first element in the climate system about to tip"...
How GOP & HMOs Undercut Obamacare's Nonprofit Option, Leaving 500K Uninsured Democracy Now ...As the Obamacare open enrollment period begins, it’s the end for many healthcare co-ops, leaving hundreds of thousands of people scrambling to find coverage. The co-ops were founded to offer a cheaper alternative on insurance exchanges after Democrats stopped demanding a public option. But since going live three years ago, the co-ops have faced major cutbacks from the Republican-controlled Congress...
Showing posts with label elections. Show all posts
Showing posts with label elections. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 4, 2015
Tuesday, April 21, 2015
Mile High aspirations -- three Local 17 members run for office
Chris Nevitt, Denver City Auditor
Chris Nevitt, a five-year member of the Local 17, has served as city councilman for District 7 since 2007. He has been a proven advocate for his Teamster brothers and sisters. As city auditor, Nevitt will continue to fight to protect Denver's working families. Nevitt has received the endorsement of the former auditor.
Danny Lopez, Denver City Council, District 2
Danny Lopez knows the challenges working men and women in Denver fact each day. A 15-year member of Local 17, Lopez is an employee for the Department of Public Works. Lopez hopes to give a voice to the voiceless and return Denver back to its citizens.
Chris Wedor, Denver City Council, District 10
Chris Wedor works in the Denver Auditor's Office which means he has a broad view of the challenges of working with Denver's government. If elected, Brother Wedor will focus on improving the quality of life for his constituents, developing the community and improve education.
Saturday, March 21, 2015
Today's Teamster News 03.21.15
Teamsters
Employees Vote On Whether They Want Teamsters Representation Fontana News Herald ...Ballots were mailed out last week to more than 15,000 San Bernardino county, city and agency employees to vote in an election for Teamsters representation. The workers, who are members of the San Bernardino Public Employees Association (SBPEA), will have the opportunity to vote in favor of affiliating with the Teamsters...
SEC to allow shareholder vote on Wal-Mart independent chairman Reuters ...Wal-Mart had argued that the proposal, submitted by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters General Fund, should be omitted because it was vague in its standard of independence...
Sysco, US Foods Seek Disclosure Of FTC Witness Identities JDSupra ...The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) went head-to-head last week with Sysco Corp. and US Foods Inc. over whether to make public the names of the declarants relied on by the FTC in its preliminary injunction to block Sysco and US Foods’ merger. Sysco and US Foods filed a motion in a Washington, D.C. federal district court on March 6 asking the judge to publicize the names, which the FTC quickly opposed...
Special Election 170th Legislative District: Dem. Sarah DelRicci Vs. Rep. Martina White Philadelphia Public Record ...The unions backing White are FOP Lodge 5; International Association of Fire Fighters Local 22; International Union of Painters & Allied Trades District Council 21; AFSCME DC 33; Teamsters Local 500; Gas Workers Local 686; Drywall Fitters Local 1955; International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Local 8; Glaziers Local 252; Sprinkler Fitters Local 692; Steamfitters Local 420; Painters 2011; and Plasterers Local 8...
In Sunset Park, Doubts About Development Plan Wall Street Journal ...The groups holding Sunday’s rally, at Uprose’s offices, include Neighbors Helping Neighbors, a tenant-advocacy group, and the Teamsters Local 812, which wants to preserve union port jobs. The developers are seeking a rezoning, which will require approval from the City Planning Commission and City Council...
Trade
DeLauro clashes with Obama trade officials over U.S. exports the ct mirror ...DeLauro, D-3rd District, was one of eight House Democrats who sent Froman a letter Thursday accusing him of inflating the number of U.S. exports and misleading Congress. The lawmakers also held a press conference challenging Froman’s calculations...
Dem: Trade officials ‘baffling’ lawmakers ‘with bullshit’ The Hill ...Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) on Thursday accused the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) of “baffling” Democrats “with bullshit” in an effort to advance President Obama's trade agenda...
Japan says difficult to reach Japan-U.S. trade deal without TPA Reuters ...Japanese Economy Minister Akira Amari said on Friday it would be difficult to reach an agreement in two-way trade talks between Japan and the United States unless U.S. lawmakers fast-tracked trade promotion legislation...
Fair trade is racial justice issue (opinion) Sky Valley Chronicle ...Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal could make matters worse in places like Ferguson, Mo...
State Battles
Wisconsin Lawmakers Go After Workers’ Weekends ThinkProgress ...Two Wisconsin state lawmakers have proposed a bill that would roll back the state’s requirement that companies give workers at least one day off every seven days...
Texas Senate considering bill that could financially kill public-sector unions Breitbart ...The bill, SB 1968, was filed at the very end of the bill filing period for this Legislative Session last Friday, and would end the practice of automatic payroll deductions for labor union dues for the majority of public-sector unions...
8 ways Nevada Republicans want to shift power from labor unions Reno Gazette-Journal ...Republican lawmakers have long been on a quest to eat away at the power local government employee unions have when negotiating the labor contracts that govern their salaries, benefits and working conditions...
Kansas Senate Committee Advances Bill On Public Sector Unions Wichita Eagle ...The Kansas Senate is headed for a fight with the state’s public sector unions after a committee advanced a bill limiting public employees’ collective bargaining power and changing the way unions collect dues. The bill would limit automatic paycheck deductions for public employee unions and other organizations such as charities. The head of United Way of the Plains called it “a kick in the teeth.”...
Wisconsin Judge Declines To Block New Right-To-Work Law Chicago Tribune ...Dane County Circuit Judge William Foust rejected the request by three unions to grant a temporary injunction blocking the law from being enforced pending the outcome of their legal challenge...
Illinois: Governor Tells Agencies To Divert Union Fees New York Times ...Gov. Bruce Rauner, dogged in his attempts to eliminate fees paid to unions by workers who choose not to join, has instructed state agencies to divert money from nonunion employee paychecks away from organized labor until a judge settles the matter...
War on Workers
OSHA Whistleblower Investigator Blows Whistle on Own Agency NBC Bay Area ...Employee says the federal whistleblower program isn’t protecting whistleblowers or the public...
Missing Citigroup Checks Spur Lawmaker to Call for Investigation Bloomberg ...Citigroup Inc.’s failure to pay 24,000 people owed money as part of a settlement with the government over foreclosure abuses has prompted a U.S. lawmaker to call for an investigation into whether banks missed other borrowers...
Congress sets up veto showdown with vote to roll back labor rule Los Angeles Times ...Setting up another veto showdown with President Obama, Congress on Thursday approved a measure that seeks to roll back a new labor rule that allows workers to conduct union elections more quickly...
House Passes Bill To Overturn Labor Board Rule Wall Street Journal ...The vote was 232-186. It followed Senate passage earlier this month of the measure, which uses a rarely invoked law that allows Congress to reverse certain agency actions. The White House has said Mr. Obama’s senior advisers would recommend that he veto the resolution...
Worker Killed: Electrocuted, Struck By Motorcycles Space Coast Daily ...A man working on a utilities truck that was cleaning storm drains along S. Harbor City Boulevard was killed Thursday night as a result of an unusual chain of events...
Tolland DPW Truck Hits And Kills Worker Patching Potholes WVIT ...A veteran Tolland public works employee died after he was hit by one of his own trucks while patching potholes in town on Thursday, according to state police...
Employees Vote On Whether They Want Teamsters Representation Fontana News Herald ...Ballots were mailed out last week to more than 15,000 San Bernardino county, city and agency employees to vote in an election for Teamsters representation. The workers, who are members of the San Bernardino Public Employees Association (SBPEA), will have the opportunity to vote in favor of affiliating with the Teamsters...
SEC to allow shareholder vote on Wal-Mart independent chairman Reuters ...Wal-Mart had argued that the proposal, submitted by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters General Fund, should be omitted because it was vague in its standard of independence...
Sysco, US Foods Seek Disclosure Of FTC Witness Identities JDSupra ...The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) went head-to-head last week with Sysco Corp. and US Foods Inc. over whether to make public the names of the declarants relied on by the FTC in its preliminary injunction to block Sysco and US Foods’ merger. Sysco and US Foods filed a motion in a Washington, D.C. federal district court on March 6 asking the judge to publicize the names, which the FTC quickly opposed...
Special Election 170th Legislative District: Dem. Sarah DelRicci Vs. Rep. Martina White Philadelphia Public Record ...The unions backing White are FOP Lodge 5; International Association of Fire Fighters Local 22; International Union of Painters & Allied Trades District Council 21; AFSCME DC 33; Teamsters Local 500; Gas Workers Local 686; Drywall Fitters Local 1955; International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Local 8; Glaziers Local 252; Sprinkler Fitters Local 692; Steamfitters Local 420; Painters 2011; and Plasterers Local 8...
In Sunset Park, Doubts About Development Plan Wall Street Journal ...The groups holding Sunday’s rally, at Uprose’s offices, include Neighbors Helping Neighbors, a tenant-advocacy group, and the Teamsters Local 812, which wants to preserve union port jobs. The developers are seeking a rezoning, which will require approval from the City Planning Commission and City Council...
Trade
DeLauro clashes with Obama trade officials over U.S. exports the ct mirror ...DeLauro, D-3rd District, was one of eight House Democrats who sent Froman a letter Thursday accusing him of inflating the number of U.S. exports and misleading Congress. The lawmakers also held a press conference challenging Froman’s calculations...
Dem: Trade officials ‘baffling’ lawmakers ‘with bullshit’ The Hill ...Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) on Thursday accused the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) of “baffling” Democrats “with bullshit” in an effort to advance President Obama's trade agenda...
Japan says difficult to reach Japan-U.S. trade deal without TPA Reuters ...Japanese Economy Minister Akira Amari said on Friday it would be difficult to reach an agreement in two-way trade talks between Japan and the United States unless U.S. lawmakers fast-tracked trade promotion legislation...
Fair trade is racial justice issue (opinion) Sky Valley Chronicle ...Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal could make matters worse in places like Ferguson, Mo...
State Battles
Wisconsin Lawmakers Go After Workers’ Weekends ThinkProgress ...Two Wisconsin state lawmakers have proposed a bill that would roll back the state’s requirement that companies give workers at least one day off every seven days...
Texas Senate considering bill that could financially kill public-sector unions Breitbart ...The bill, SB 1968, was filed at the very end of the bill filing period for this Legislative Session last Friday, and would end the practice of automatic payroll deductions for labor union dues for the majority of public-sector unions...
8 ways Nevada Republicans want to shift power from labor unions Reno Gazette-Journal ...Republican lawmakers have long been on a quest to eat away at the power local government employee unions have when negotiating the labor contracts that govern their salaries, benefits and working conditions...
Kansas Senate Committee Advances Bill On Public Sector Unions Wichita Eagle ...The Kansas Senate is headed for a fight with the state’s public sector unions after a committee advanced a bill limiting public employees’ collective bargaining power and changing the way unions collect dues. The bill would limit automatic paycheck deductions for public employee unions and other organizations such as charities. The head of United Way of the Plains called it “a kick in the teeth.”...
Wisconsin Judge Declines To Block New Right-To-Work Law Chicago Tribune ...Dane County Circuit Judge William Foust rejected the request by three unions to grant a temporary injunction blocking the law from being enforced pending the outcome of their legal challenge...
Illinois: Governor Tells Agencies To Divert Union Fees New York Times ...Gov. Bruce Rauner, dogged in his attempts to eliminate fees paid to unions by workers who choose not to join, has instructed state agencies to divert money from nonunion employee paychecks away from organized labor until a judge settles the matter...
War on Workers
OSHA Whistleblower Investigator Blows Whistle on Own Agency NBC Bay Area ...Employee says the federal whistleblower program isn’t protecting whistleblowers or the public...
Missing Citigroup Checks Spur Lawmaker to Call for Investigation Bloomberg ...Citigroup Inc.’s failure to pay 24,000 people owed money as part of a settlement with the government over foreclosure abuses has prompted a U.S. lawmaker to call for an investigation into whether banks missed other borrowers...
Congress sets up veto showdown with vote to roll back labor rule Los Angeles Times ...Setting up another veto showdown with President Obama, Congress on Thursday approved a measure that seeks to roll back a new labor rule that allows workers to conduct union elections more quickly...
House Passes Bill To Overturn Labor Board Rule Wall Street Journal ...The vote was 232-186. It followed Senate passage earlier this month of the measure, which uses a rarely invoked law that allows Congress to reverse certain agency actions. The White House has said Mr. Obama’s senior advisers would recommend that he veto the resolution...
Worker Killed: Electrocuted, Struck By Motorcycles Space Coast Daily ...A man working on a utilities truck that was cleaning storm drains along S. Harbor City Boulevard was killed Thursday night as a result of an unusual chain of events...
Tolland DPW Truck Hits And Kills Worker Patching Potholes WVIT ...A veteran Tolland public works employee died after he was hit by one of his own trucks while patching potholes in town on Thursday, according to state police...
Friday, March 13, 2015
Congressional GOP takes aim at NLRB reforms that speed union elections
The Republican-dominated Congress is set to overturn a new National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) rule to make it harder for employers to thwart union elections.
On March 4, the Senate voted 53-46 along party lines on a resolution to kill the new NLRB rule. The House of Representatives will likely do the same before it takes effect on April 14, 2015.
The NLRB rule requires employers to share email addresses and phone numbers with a union seeking an election and ends the 25-day delay between the time employees file an election petition and the election itself.
The Teamsters strongly support the changes because they will make elections fairer. In a formal statement to the NLRB, Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa called the current election rules "unfair, confusing, outdated and susceptible to abuse by unscrupulous employers seeking to prevent their workers from exercising their right to organize by obstructing and delaying the process."
President Obama has not said he will veto the resolution. The White House, however, stated its strong opposition to an attempt in 2012 to overturn the rule, saying the NLRB had adopted "commonsense measures."
According to Blooomberg BNA,
On March 4, the Senate voted 53-46 along party lines on a resolution to kill the new NLRB rule. The House of Representatives will likely do the same before it takes effect on April 14, 2015.
The NLRB rule requires employers to share email addresses and phone numbers with a union seeking an election and ends the 25-day delay between the time employees file an election petition and the election itself.
The Teamsters strongly support the changes because they will make elections fairer. In a formal statement to the NLRB, Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa called the current election rules "unfair, confusing, outdated and susceptible to abuse by unscrupulous employers seeking to prevent their workers from exercising their right to organize by obstructing and delaying the process."
President Obama has not said he will veto the resolution. The White House, however, stated its strong opposition to an attempt in 2012 to overturn the rule, saying the NLRB had adopted "commonsense measures."
According to Blooomberg BNA,
The White House said that if the 2012 measure reached the president's desk, “senior advisers” would have recommended that he veto it.Ross Eisenbrey, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute, attended a House committee hearing on the issue. He reported that a nurse was the only person allowed to testify in favor of the new rule. Wrote Eisenbrey:
Brenda Crawford, the registered nurse who testified, said her employer bombarded employees with e-mails and texts in the weeks before the election, in addition to daily anti-union messages at work, including captive audience meetings where nurses were called away from patient care to hear anti-union harangues. When she tried to put out union literature in the employee break room, it was removed. She testified that the company’s ability to campaign throughout the workday, and electronically when the workday ended, overwhelmed the nurses and their union, who had no way to respond.Eisenbrey reported that Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., defended the NLRB rules during the hearing:
... delay in holding elections is associated with increases in unfair labor practices, which can be vicious and intimidating, and for which there is no effective remedy under the law—no fines or penalties, no criminal prosecution, just partial back pay for employees who endure years of litigation to get their jobs back after being fired.The Senate resolution says:
Congress disapproves the rule submitted by the National Labor Relations Board relating to representation case procedures (published at 79 Fed. Reg. 74308 (December 15, 2014)), and such rule shall have no force or effect.
Saturday, February 28, 2015
Today's Teamster News 02.28.15
Teamsters
Drivers For Apple, Yahoo, EBay, Zynga, Genentech and Amtrak Join Teamsters teamster.org … Drivers who transport employees for six big Silicon Valley companies have voted overwhelmingly 104 to 38 in favor of representation by Teamsters Local 853 in San Leandro, Calif...
CDT Workers Ratify First Union Contract teamster.org ...Nine months after emphatically voting to join Teamsters Local 727, nearly 700 paratransit drivers, garage attendants, dispatchers and customer service representatives at Cook DuPage Transportation (CDT) in Chicago have ratified their first union contract...
Shaw’s fights Teamsters’ effort to unionize Maine pharmacists Bangor Daily News ...Shaw’s Supermarkets is fighting an effort by the Teamsters union to organize the chain’s pharmacists at 16 stores in Maine, arguing its pharmacy managers are supervisors and therefore are not able to join a labor union...
Trade
Trade critics take to Senate floor — Cutler: U.S., Japan close to deal — Anti-TPP group threatens Wyden with primary Politico ...A group of President Barack Obama’s fellow Democrats took to the Senate floor Thursday to oppose his flagship trade initiative, the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, which they said would lead to big job losses and give big corporations too much power over public health and safety laws...
Sen. Elizabeth Warren Kicks Off Assault Against Secret Trade Agreement Crooks and Liars ...Elizabeth Warren is going after the TPP (yay!) and the White House is saying, oh, you misunderstood. But we've already seen the kind of insane copyright protections this administration wants - the kind that makes it impossible for other countries to make generic copies of needed medication, for instance...
TTIP: Transatlantic Trade Deal Text Leaked To BBC BBC News ...The trade union Unite said "real risks" remained because of the dispute resolution mechanism TTIP is expected to include. The union's Scottish regional secretary, Pat Rafferty said: "Last week Lord Livingston tried to pull the wool over the eyes of the Scottish people...
Canada Won't Take 'No' For An Answer On Keystone XL Forbes ...Canada’s leadership, including its prime minister, Stephen Harper, has repeatedly made clear its annoyance with the Obama administration’s Hamlet-like deliberations over the pipeline, suggesting that American rejection of the proposed project — which requires a special permit from the White House to cross the border — was simply not an option...
State Battles
WV Senate Leader Says Right-To-Work Bill Dead This Session Associated Press …Senate Majority Leader Mitch Carmichael said a push to make West Virginia a right-to-work state is dead this session...
No One in Wisconsin Asked to Kill Unions Except Special Interests The Daily Beast ...This death warrant for unions wasn’t drafted in Wisconsin though. The fingerprints of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a right-wing special-interest group, were found all over the bill. Nevertheless, Governor Scott Walker is ready to sign it after dealing unions a mortal wound in 2011 by ending the right to collective bargaining for public employees...
Construction Workers Rally Against Eliminating Prevailing Wage Las Vegas Sun ...Union and nonunion workers overwhelmed hallways and committee rooms. They marched outside, waved banners and filled committee rooms to watch lawmakers vet SB119, one of the most controversial bills in this year's legislative session...
Maine Shows That Publicly Financed Elections Really Can Work Moyers and Company ...It worked well for several cycles. Hundreds of candidates were able to run and win office without prostrating themselves before big donors and lobbyists. Farmers, waitresses, and others who usually can’t make their voice heard in politics were able to go to Maine’s state capital Augusta and represent their constituents free from the influence of special interest cash...
War on Workers
How One Community Is Kicking The Koch Brothers' Harmful Black Dust Out Of Their Neighborhood Huffington Post ...It’s not easy to take on a wealthy, multi-national corporation and win. Especially for residents of Chicago’s struggling southeast side. But that’s exactly what's happening on the banks of the Calumet River, where the steel plants that used to give residents of a mostly Hispanic neighborhood access to a middle-class lifestyle were replaced, nearly two years ago, with black dust called petroleum coke (“petcoke”) piled five or six stories tall...
Oil Train Wrecks Increase Pressure For Tougher Safety Rules Philadelphia Inquirer ...Fiery wrecks of trains hauling crude oil have intensified pressure on the Obama administration to approve tougher standards for railroads and tank cars despite industry complaints that it could cost billions and slow freight deliveries...
Railroads Want One-Man Crews On Massive Freight Trains NBC News ...Railroads have proposed eliminating the job of on-board conductor on most trains, leaving just an engineer aboard. The workers argue that one-person crews will mean more out-of-control trains, like the runaway that caused the Lac-Mégantic disaster in 2013...
L&I Probing Death Of Mabton Dairy Worker Yakima Herald Republic ...State workplace safety officials are investigating the drowning in a manure lagoon Wednesday of a 27-year-old old dairy employee...
Miscellaneous
Gas’s Drop Drives U.S. Into Deflation Territory Wall Street Journal ...Driven by a tumble in oil prices since mid-2014, the consumer-price index fell 0.1% in January from a year earlier, the Labor Department said Thursday. It was the first year-over-year decrease since October 2009. Prices fell 0.7% from December...
Drivers For Apple, Yahoo, EBay, Zynga, Genentech and Amtrak Join Teamsters teamster.org … Drivers who transport employees for six big Silicon Valley companies have voted overwhelmingly 104 to 38 in favor of representation by Teamsters Local 853 in San Leandro, Calif...
CDT Workers Ratify First Union Contract teamster.org ...Nine months after emphatically voting to join Teamsters Local 727, nearly 700 paratransit drivers, garage attendants, dispatchers and customer service representatives at Cook DuPage Transportation (CDT) in Chicago have ratified their first union contract...
Shaw’s fights Teamsters’ effort to unionize Maine pharmacists Bangor Daily News ...Shaw’s Supermarkets is fighting an effort by the Teamsters union to organize the chain’s pharmacists at 16 stores in Maine, arguing its pharmacy managers are supervisors and therefore are not able to join a labor union...
Trade
Trade critics take to Senate floor — Cutler: U.S., Japan close to deal — Anti-TPP group threatens Wyden with primary Politico ...A group of President Barack Obama’s fellow Democrats took to the Senate floor Thursday to oppose his flagship trade initiative, the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, which they said would lead to big job losses and give big corporations too much power over public health and safety laws...
Sen. Elizabeth Warren Kicks Off Assault Against Secret Trade Agreement Crooks and Liars ...Elizabeth Warren is going after the TPP (yay!) and the White House is saying, oh, you misunderstood. But we've already seen the kind of insane copyright protections this administration wants - the kind that makes it impossible for other countries to make generic copies of needed medication, for instance...
TTIP: Transatlantic Trade Deal Text Leaked To BBC BBC News ...The trade union Unite said "real risks" remained because of the dispute resolution mechanism TTIP is expected to include. The union's Scottish regional secretary, Pat Rafferty said: "Last week Lord Livingston tried to pull the wool over the eyes of the Scottish people...
Canada Won't Take 'No' For An Answer On Keystone XL Forbes ...Canada’s leadership, including its prime minister, Stephen Harper, has repeatedly made clear its annoyance with the Obama administration’s Hamlet-like deliberations over the pipeline, suggesting that American rejection of the proposed project — which requires a special permit from the White House to cross the border — was simply not an option...
State Battles
WV Senate Leader Says Right-To-Work Bill Dead This Session Associated Press …Senate Majority Leader Mitch Carmichael said a push to make West Virginia a right-to-work state is dead this session...
No One in Wisconsin Asked to Kill Unions Except Special Interests The Daily Beast ...This death warrant for unions wasn’t drafted in Wisconsin though. The fingerprints of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a right-wing special-interest group, were found all over the bill. Nevertheless, Governor Scott Walker is ready to sign it after dealing unions a mortal wound in 2011 by ending the right to collective bargaining for public employees...
Construction Workers Rally Against Eliminating Prevailing Wage Las Vegas Sun ...Union and nonunion workers overwhelmed hallways and committee rooms. They marched outside, waved banners and filled committee rooms to watch lawmakers vet SB119, one of the most controversial bills in this year's legislative session...
Maine Shows That Publicly Financed Elections Really Can Work Moyers and Company ...It worked well for several cycles. Hundreds of candidates were able to run and win office without prostrating themselves before big donors and lobbyists. Farmers, waitresses, and others who usually can’t make their voice heard in politics were able to go to Maine’s state capital Augusta and represent their constituents free from the influence of special interest cash...
War on Workers
How One Community Is Kicking The Koch Brothers' Harmful Black Dust Out Of Their Neighborhood Huffington Post ...It’s not easy to take on a wealthy, multi-national corporation and win. Especially for residents of Chicago’s struggling southeast side. But that’s exactly what's happening on the banks of the Calumet River, where the steel plants that used to give residents of a mostly Hispanic neighborhood access to a middle-class lifestyle were replaced, nearly two years ago, with black dust called petroleum coke (“petcoke”) piled five or six stories tall...
Oil Train Wrecks Increase Pressure For Tougher Safety Rules Philadelphia Inquirer ...Fiery wrecks of trains hauling crude oil have intensified pressure on the Obama administration to approve tougher standards for railroads and tank cars despite industry complaints that it could cost billions and slow freight deliveries...
Railroads Want One-Man Crews On Massive Freight Trains NBC News ...Railroads have proposed eliminating the job of on-board conductor on most trains, leaving just an engineer aboard. The workers argue that one-person crews will mean more out-of-control trains, like the runaway that caused the Lac-Mégantic disaster in 2013...
L&I Probing Death Of Mabton Dairy Worker Yakima Herald Republic ...State workplace safety officials are investigating the drowning in a manure lagoon Wednesday of a 27-year-old old dairy employee...
Miscellaneous
Gas’s Drop Drives U.S. Into Deflation Territory Wall Street Journal ...Driven by a tumble in oil prices since mid-2014, the consumer-price index fell 0.1% in January from a year earlier, the Labor Department said Thursday. It was the first year-over-year decrease since October 2009. Prices fell 0.7% from December...
Thursday, December 4, 2014
Today's Teamster News 12.04.14
Teamster News
Lackluster Support For de Blasio’s Horse Carriage Ban New York Post ...A majority of council members told The Post on Monday that they’re either undecided on the measure or don’t agree that the plan to offer a green-taxi permit — worth about $6,000 — in exchange for a horse-drawn carriage license is fair...
ICS Workers Vote To Join Teamsters Local 117 teamster.org ...Workers at Industrial Container Services (ICS) have voted, via an NLRB election, to join Teamsters Local 117! The vote took place on December 1st at the company's facility in Seattle. ICS is one of the largest suppliers of reusable containers in the U.S...
NetJets Slammed By Teamsters Union In Contract Fight ValueWalk ...Teamsters Local 284 in Columbus, Ohio is duking it out with fractional aircraft ownership company Netjets in a compensation and benefits contract dispute...
Former GCC General Counsel Pens Novel about Teamsters teamster.org ...“Cannons for the Cause,” a novel written by Martin R. Ganzglass, who for 40 years was General Counsel to what is today the Graphic Communications Conference of the Teamsters Union, was recently published by Peace Corps Worldwide and is available from Amazon...
Trade
TTIP: One million protestors sign petition against controversial EU and US trade deal International Business Times ...The World Development Movement (WDM) has raked in over a million online and "hard copy" signatures urging EU member states to stop the TTIP negotiations, as public concern grows over the protection of the NHS, employment rights, and a provision in the small print that would allow investors to sue governments...
Strange Bedfellows Are Blocking The McConnell-Obama Trade Deal Huffington Post ...Prior to 2011, it was rare for a Republican Congress to block government perks for major corporations. But tea party-backed members have bucked the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, along with the lobbying group's top congressional supporters, McConnell and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), almost as a matter of routine...
Tea Party Takes Aim at Obama-Republican Accord on Trade Policy Bloomberg News ...The Tea Party is aiming to stop one of the few initiatives President Barack Obama and Republicans in Congress say they both want in the coming year: more free trade...
President Obama Presses Democrats to Support Trade Deals Wall Street Journal ...Efforts in Congress to move legislation that would smooth passage of an agreement—a measure known as fast track or trade promotion authority—foundered in January after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) eschewed a bill hammered out by committee leaders in the House and Senate and supported by Mr. Obama. Since then, Republican leaders, who support the administration’s trade policy, have criticized Mr. Obama for not doing more to get support from Democratic lawmakers...
State Battles
Legislator To Introduce Right-To-Work Legislation Associated Press ...A Republican lawmaker promised Tuesday to introduce a right-to-work bill, prompting warnings from a Democratic leader that the state could see a round of protests reminiscent of the massive demonstrations against Gov. Scott Walker’s law stripping public workers of their union rights...
Florida's Minimum Wage Will Rise To $8.05 On Jan. 1 Sun Sentinel ...The state's minimum wage will increase to $8.05, up 12 cents from $7.93 in 2014. For tipped employees, the minimum wage required is at least $5.03 an hour...
Gov. Scott Walker To Blame For Budgetary Problems (opinion) Badger Herald ...We will be eight years removed from the last recession and due for another when the disastrous effects of Walker’s inane budgeting will manifest, leaving Wisconsin with nothing to absorb the shock of potential revenue shortfalls...Walker and company still have a $1.4 billion deficit to deal with...
Nikki Haley Wants To Know What Medicines You’re Taking Fits News ...Onetime Tea Party darling Nikki Haley is endorsing a plan that would require doctors to provide state government with their patients’ prescription records – part of her administration’s efforts to combat so-called “rampant prescription drug abuse” in South Carolina...
Proposal To Rig The Electoral College Triggers Backlash From Michigan Residents Think Progress ...Today, the Republican-controlled state legislature held a second hearing on a bill that would change the way the state’s 16 electoral votes are awarded, giving more to the candidate that loses the popular vote in a presidential race...
War on Workers
An Assortment of Data Shows a Resurgent U.S. Economy, but Wages Continue to Lag Reuters ...The nation’s private businesses added workers at a fairly brisk clip in November and the services sector grew strongly, suggesting a slowing global economy is having a limited impact on domestic activity. Strengthening labor market conditions, however, have yet to spur faster wage growth...
Airport Workers At 10 Airports To Join With $15 Hour Fast Food Strikers December 4 Forbes ...Airport workers at 10 major airports – including JFK, LaGuardia, Newark, Boston, Philadelphia, Atlanta and Seattle – have written to the CEOs of the six major US Airlines – Delta, American, JetBlue, United, Southwest and Alaska – stating that “as airport workers we have pledged to stand together with people who work in home care and fast food to fight for $15 an hour wages...
Debt Collectors Paying To Use Prosecutors’ Letterheads To Get People To Pay Consumerist ...There are programs around the country through which for-profit debt collectors can be allowed to use prosecutors’ letterhead in correspondence with consumers about debts or allegations of writing bad checks...
Middle Class Families Will Have The Hardest Time Paying Off Holiday Debt FiveThirtyEight ...When they first got married in 2008, Deacon and Kim Hayes were carried away by their holiday shopping. With two incomes from their sales and teaching jobs, the Arizona couple wasn’t worried about finances — which is how they ended up with holiday debt that took months to pay off...
Striking FairPoint Workers Go Without Paychecks for 7 Weeks NECN ...As of Dec. 2, it's been 47 days since more than 2,000 FairPoint workers in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont walked off the job. The striking workers haven't seen a paycheck in seven weeks and the company cut off their health care benefits at the end of Oct...
Transit workers and riders, unite! AlJazeera America ...U.S. cities are facing tight budgets in maintaining their networks of buses, trains and light rail. As with other publicly funded services, such as education, city managers and elected officials are trying to scapegoat public employees rather than fight to secure the resources needed to protect both quality public service and living-wage jobs...
Farm Worker Dies In Grain Bin Accident Dexter Daily Statesman ...A farm worker died Tuesday afternoon after being buried in a grain bin on property north of Idalia in Stoddard County...
Construction worker struck and killed on Route 422 in Chester County WPVI TV ...Police say 60-year-old Lee Boyer of Liberty, Pennsylvania was helping set cones for a lane closure when he was struck by a Jeep Liberty SUV...
Miscellaneous
End is near for red light cameras in New Jersey WPVI TV ...During the five years of the red light camera pilot program, drivers have complained bitterly about yellow lights that are so short you couldn't help but run the red...
Lackluster Support For de Blasio’s Horse Carriage Ban New York Post ...A majority of council members told The Post on Monday that they’re either undecided on the measure or don’t agree that the plan to offer a green-taxi permit — worth about $6,000 — in exchange for a horse-drawn carriage license is fair...
ICS Workers Vote To Join Teamsters Local 117 teamster.org ...Workers at Industrial Container Services (ICS) have voted, via an NLRB election, to join Teamsters Local 117! The vote took place on December 1st at the company's facility in Seattle. ICS is one of the largest suppliers of reusable containers in the U.S...
NetJets Slammed By Teamsters Union In Contract Fight ValueWalk ...Teamsters Local 284 in Columbus, Ohio is duking it out with fractional aircraft ownership company Netjets in a compensation and benefits contract dispute...
Former GCC General Counsel Pens Novel about Teamsters teamster.org ...“Cannons for the Cause,” a novel written by Martin R. Ganzglass, who for 40 years was General Counsel to what is today the Graphic Communications Conference of the Teamsters Union, was recently published by Peace Corps Worldwide and is available from Amazon...
Trade
TTIP: One million protestors sign petition against controversial EU and US trade deal International Business Times ...The World Development Movement (WDM) has raked in over a million online and "hard copy" signatures urging EU member states to stop the TTIP negotiations, as public concern grows over the protection of the NHS, employment rights, and a provision in the small print that would allow investors to sue governments...
Strange Bedfellows Are Blocking The McConnell-Obama Trade Deal Huffington Post ...Prior to 2011, it was rare for a Republican Congress to block government perks for major corporations. But tea party-backed members have bucked the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, along with the lobbying group's top congressional supporters, McConnell and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), almost as a matter of routine...
Tea Party Takes Aim at Obama-Republican Accord on Trade Policy Bloomberg News ...The Tea Party is aiming to stop one of the few initiatives President Barack Obama and Republicans in Congress say they both want in the coming year: more free trade...
President Obama Presses Democrats to Support Trade Deals Wall Street Journal ...Efforts in Congress to move legislation that would smooth passage of an agreement—a measure known as fast track or trade promotion authority—foundered in January after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) eschewed a bill hammered out by committee leaders in the House and Senate and supported by Mr. Obama. Since then, Republican leaders, who support the administration’s trade policy, have criticized Mr. Obama for not doing more to get support from Democratic lawmakers...
State Battles
Legislator To Introduce Right-To-Work Legislation Associated Press ...A Republican lawmaker promised Tuesday to introduce a right-to-work bill, prompting warnings from a Democratic leader that the state could see a round of protests reminiscent of the massive demonstrations against Gov. Scott Walker’s law stripping public workers of their union rights...
Florida's Minimum Wage Will Rise To $8.05 On Jan. 1 Sun Sentinel ...The state's minimum wage will increase to $8.05, up 12 cents from $7.93 in 2014. For tipped employees, the minimum wage required is at least $5.03 an hour...
Gov. Scott Walker To Blame For Budgetary Problems (opinion) Badger Herald ...We will be eight years removed from the last recession and due for another when the disastrous effects of Walker’s inane budgeting will manifest, leaving Wisconsin with nothing to absorb the shock of potential revenue shortfalls...Walker and company still have a $1.4 billion deficit to deal with...
Nikki Haley Wants To Know What Medicines You’re Taking Fits News ...Onetime Tea Party darling Nikki Haley is endorsing a plan that would require doctors to provide state government with their patients’ prescription records – part of her administration’s efforts to combat so-called “rampant prescription drug abuse” in South Carolina...
Proposal To Rig The Electoral College Triggers Backlash From Michigan Residents Think Progress ...Today, the Republican-controlled state legislature held a second hearing on a bill that would change the way the state’s 16 electoral votes are awarded, giving more to the candidate that loses the popular vote in a presidential race...
War on Workers
An Assortment of Data Shows a Resurgent U.S. Economy, but Wages Continue to Lag Reuters ...The nation’s private businesses added workers at a fairly brisk clip in November and the services sector grew strongly, suggesting a slowing global economy is having a limited impact on domestic activity. Strengthening labor market conditions, however, have yet to spur faster wage growth...
Airport Workers At 10 Airports To Join With $15 Hour Fast Food Strikers December 4 Forbes ...Airport workers at 10 major airports – including JFK, LaGuardia, Newark, Boston, Philadelphia, Atlanta and Seattle – have written to the CEOs of the six major US Airlines – Delta, American, JetBlue, United, Southwest and Alaska – stating that “as airport workers we have pledged to stand together with people who work in home care and fast food to fight for $15 an hour wages...
Debt Collectors Paying To Use Prosecutors’ Letterheads To Get People To Pay Consumerist ...There are programs around the country through which for-profit debt collectors can be allowed to use prosecutors’ letterhead in correspondence with consumers about debts or allegations of writing bad checks...
Middle Class Families Will Have The Hardest Time Paying Off Holiday Debt FiveThirtyEight ...When they first got married in 2008, Deacon and Kim Hayes were carried away by their holiday shopping. With two incomes from their sales and teaching jobs, the Arizona couple wasn’t worried about finances — which is how they ended up with holiday debt that took months to pay off...
Striking FairPoint Workers Go Without Paychecks for 7 Weeks NECN ...As of Dec. 2, it's been 47 days since more than 2,000 FairPoint workers in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont walked off the job. The striking workers haven't seen a paycheck in seven weeks and the company cut off their health care benefits at the end of Oct...
Transit workers and riders, unite! AlJazeera America ...U.S. cities are facing tight budgets in maintaining their networks of buses, trains and light rail. As with other publicly funded services, such as education, city managers and elected officials are trying to scapegoat public employees rather than fight to secure the resources needed to protect both quality public service and living-wage jobs...
Farm Worker Dies In Grain Bin Accident Dexter Daily Statesman ...A farm worker died Tuesday afternoon after being buried in a grain bin on property north of Idalia in Stoddard County...
Construction worker struck and killed on Route 422 in Chester County WPVI TV ...Police say 60-year-old Lee Boyer of Liberty, Pennsylvania was helping set cones for a lane closure when he was struck by a Jeep Liberty SUV...
Miscellaneous
End is near for red light cameras in New Jersey WPVI TV ...During the five years of the red light camera pilot program, drivers have complained bitterly about yellow lights that are so short you couldn't help but run the red...
Friday, August 29, 2014
Today's Teamster News 08.29.14
Teamster News
MV Transportation Drivers Unanimously Choose Teamsters Union IBT ...MV Transportation drivers have voted unanimously, 67-0, to join Teamsters Local 890 in Salinas, Calif., to improve their working conditions. The 91 drivers provide adult paratransit services, shuttle and tourist trolley routes in Salinas and Monterey...
Calif. Senate Approves Bill To Protect Temporary Workers IBT ...The California Senate approved AB 1897 Wednesday evening. The bill will hold companies accountable for serious violations of the rights of workers on their premises that are committed by their own labor suppliers...
Uber Drivers In Southern California Form Association With Teamsters Local 986 IBT ...The California App-Based Drivers’ Association (CADA) met in El Monte, California on Tuesday, to formalize its affiliation with Teamsters Local 986...
How One Union Is Playing For Both Sides In The Battle Between Uber And Taxis BuzzFeed ...As the bitter divide between ride-sharing and taxi companies continues to grow, one union is trying to unite all the drivers, no matter who they work for...
Trade
TTIP Will Sacrifice Food Safety For Faster Trade, Warn NGOs EurActiv ...The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) will irreversibly put EU consumers and animals at risk, the European Commission will be warned today...
Kristen Marshall: Reject the TPP (opinion) DailyCamera ...“Why are we relying on WikiLeaks for information about TPP?”; and “What about Congress?”...
State Battles
Ballot Initiatives Become Pricey Playgrounds Of Parties And Corporations Washington Post ...For the first time in history, spending on the approximately 125 ballot questions facing voters in 41 states is likely to top $1 billion in campaign spending this year — and perhaps much more: Oil and gas companies in Alaska spent more than $170 for every vote they won in a successful campaign to reject higher taxes earlier this month...
The End Of The Scott Walker Experiment? Slate ...the biggest national test taking place in Wisconsin is a test of the Walker Hypothesis, which held that a politician who enacted conservative policies and didn’t shrink from the resulting controversy would be rewarded by a wide range of voters—conservatives, but also swing voters. ... With each new poll showing a close race, that hypothesis grows weaker...
DOR: Fiscal year revenue comes in $281.2 million below projections WisPolitics Budget Blog ...The largest shortfall came in income taxes, where the state collected $178.7 million less than expected. Corporate tax collections were also significantly lower, coming in $97.7 million behind projections...
War On Workers
You're Losing $18,000 A Year Because Of Income Inequality Huffington Post ..."Stagnant growth at the middle is just the flip side of fast growth at the top," Elise Gould, the author of the paper and EPI’s director of health policy research, told The Huffington Post...
When Do We Start Calling This “The Greater Depression”? Washington Center for Equitable Growth ...Between the start of 2005 and the end of 2007 U.S. real GDP grew at 3.1%/year. The recession trough in 2009 saw the U.S. real GDP level 11% lower than the 2005-2007 trend. Today it stands 16% below...
Most Americans Think The Economy Is Permanently Damaged Huffington Post ..."Looking at the aftermath of the recession, it is clear that the American landscape has been significantly rearranged," Rutgers professor Cliff Zukin said in a press release. "With the passage of time, the public has become convinced that they are at a new normal of a lower, poorer quality of life."...
For Every Education Level, Real Wages Have Gone Down So Far This Year Bloomberg Businessweek ...From the first half of 2007 to the first half of this year, real wages declined 4.9 percent for workers with a high school degree and 2.5 percent for workers with a college degree. Workers with advanced degrees registered an increase of only 0.2 percent over those seven years...
In Corporations, It’s Owner-Take-All (opinion) Washington Post ...Lazonick looked at the 449 companies listed every year on the S&P 500 from 2003 to 2012. ... That’s a total of 91 percent of their profits that America’s leading corporations targeted to their shareholders, leaving a scant 9 percent for investments, research and development, expansions, cash reserves or, God forbid, raises...
Sheriff releases name of Kalispell Walmart worker killed in fall Missoulian ...Larry Wurtz has been identified as the Kalispell Walmart employee who died after falling from a movable staircase in a back room of the store last week...
Worker hit and killed by SF city truck in the Bayview SF Gate ...A San Francisco Department of Public Works garbage truck struck and killed a crew member Thursday morning, city officials said...
Miscellaneous
Boomer Wealth Dented by Mortgages Poses U.S. Risk Bloomberg ...The share of Americans 65 and older with mortgage debt rose to 30 percent in 2011 from 22 percent in 2001, according to a May analysis by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau based on the latest available figures...
MV Transportation Drivers Unanimously Choose Teamsters Union IBT ...MV Transportation drivers have voted unanimously, 67-0, to join Teamsters Local 890 in Salinas, Calif., to improve their working conditions. The 91 drivers provide adult paratransit services, shuttle and tourist trolley routes in Salinas and Monterey...
Calif. Senate Approves Bill To Protect Temporary Workers IBT ...The California Senate approved AB 1897 Wednesday evening. The bill will hold companies accountable for serious violations of the rights of workers on their premises that are committed by their own labor suppliers...
Uber Drivers In Southern California Form Association With Teamsters Local 986 IBT ...The California App-Based Drivers’ Association (CADA) met in El Monte, California on Tuesday, to formalize its affiliation with Teamsters Local 986...
How One Union Is Playing For Both Sides In The Battle Between Uber And Taxis BuzzFeed ...As the bitter divide between ride-sharing and taxi companies continues to grow, one union is trying to unite all the drivers, no matter who they work for...
Trade
TTIP Will Sacrifice Food Safety For Faster Trade, Warn NGOs EurActiv ...The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) will irreversibly put EU consumers and animals at risk, the European Commission will be warned today...
Kristen Marshall: Reject the TPP (opinion) DailyCamera ...“Why are we relying on WikiLeaks for information about TPP?”; and “What about Congress?”...
State Battles
Ballot Initiatives Become Pricey Playgrounds Of Parties And Corporations Washington Post ...For the first time in history, spending on the approximately 125 ballot questions facing voters in 41 states is likely to top $1 billion in campaign spending this year — and perhaps much more: Oil and gas companies in Alaska spent more than $170 for every vote they won in a successful campaign to reject higher taxes earlier this month...
The End Of The Scott Walker Experiment? Slate ...the biggest national test taking place in Wisconsin is a test of the Walker Hypothesis, which held that a politician who enacted conservative policies and didn’t shrink from the resulting controversy would be rewarded by a wide range of voters—conservatives, but also swing voters. ... With each new poll showing a close race, that hypothesis grows weaker...
DOR: Fiscal year revenue comes in $281.2 million below projections WisPolitics Budget Blog ...The largest shortfall came in income taxes, where the state collected $178.7 million less than expected. Corporate tax collections were also significantly lower, coming in $97.7 million behind projections...
War On Workers
You're Losing $18,000 A Year Because Of Income Inequality Huffington Post ..."Stagnant growth at the middle is just the flip side of fast growth at the top," Elise Gould, the author of the paper and EPI’s director of health policy research, told The Huffington Post...
When Do We Start Calling This “The Greater Depression”? Washington Center for Equitable Growth ...Between the start of 2005 and the end of 2007 U.S. real GDP grew at 3.1%/year. The recession trough in 2009 saw the U.S. real GDP level 11% lower than the 2005-2007 trend. Today it stands 16% below...
Most Americans Think The Economy Is Permanently Damaged Huffington Post ..."Looking at the aftermath of the recession, it is clear that the American landscape has been significantly rearranged," Rutgers professor Cliff Zukin said in a press release. "With the passage of time, the public has become convinced that they are at a new normal of a lower, poorer quality of life."...
For Every Education Level, Real Wages Have Gone Down So Far This Year Bloomberg Businessweek ...From the first half of 2007 to the first half of this year, real wages declined 4.9 percent for workers with a high school degree and 2.5 percent for workers with a college degree. Workers with advanced degrees registered an increase of only 0.2 percent over those seven years...
In Corporations, It’s Owner-Take-All (opinion) Washington Post ...Lazonick looked at the 449 companies listed every year on the S&P 500 from 2003 to 2012. ... That’s a total of 91 percent of their profits that America’s leading corporations targeted to their shareholders, leaving a scant 9 percent for investments, research and development, expansions, cash reserves or, God forbid, raises...
Sheriff releases name of Kalispell Walmart worker killed in fall Missoulian ...Larry Wurtz has been identified as the Kalispell Walmart employee who died after falling from a movable staircase in a back room of the store last week...
Worker hit and killed by SF city truck in the Bayview SF Gate ...A San Francisco Department of Public Works garbage truck struck and killed a crew member Thursday morning, city officials said...
Miscellaneous
Boomer Wealth Dented by Mortgages Poses U.S. Risk Bloomberg ...The share of Americans 65 and older with mortgage debt rose to 30 percent in 2011 from 22 percent in 2001, according to a May analysis by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau based on the latest available figures...
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, August 6, 2014
Today's Teamster News 08.06.14
Teamster News
Teamsters Back John Liu For NY Senate New York Daily News ...“John Liu is a true friend of New York workers who has time and again put himself on the line to be their voice in government,” said Teamsters Joint Council 16 President George Miranda in a campaign statement Monday...
UVM, Teamsters Reach Two-Year Settlement Insurance News Net ...The University of Vermont has successfully completed negotiations on a two-year contract with the Chauffeurs, Teamsters, Warehousemen and Helpers Union No. 597. The union represents full-time and regular part-time police officers, service officers, and dispatchers employed by the university...
Simplot Employees Vote To Strike Jamestown Sun ...After a day-long union meeting, employees of J.R. Simplot went on strike, picketing outside the potato processing plant in Grand Forks about 6 p.m. Monday...
Mediators Seek Deal In Philadelphia Transit Case Philadelphia Inquirer ...SEPTA has been in federally supervised mediation with that union as well as the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers since 2010. Engineers are seeking raises of at least 14.5 percent over five years, about 3 percentage points more than SEPTA has offered...
Trade
Samsung Chops Order To China Supplier That Used Child Labor CNET ...Samsung will significantly reduce orders to one of its mobile parts suppliers after uncovering the use of child labor at a Chinese facility...
Congress Sends Obama Letter on TPP and Vietnam Human Rights Trade Reform ...Thirty five Congress men and women from both parties sent President Obama a letter last week expressing serious concerns about including Vietnam in Trans Pacific Partnership talks. Vietnam is a serial abuser of human rights...
TPP Talks In Ottawa: Brunei’s Brutal Sharia Law Raises Questions About Future Of Trade Deals Trade Reform ...One of the 12 countries involved in the talks is Brunei. The tiny petro-state of half a million people on the southeast Asian island of Borneo recently adopted harsh new Sharia laws, including the death penalty, by stoning, for adultery, gay sex and insulting the Koran. Other elements of the law include prison sentences for pregnancy outside of wedlock or failing to pray on Friday, and amputations or whipping for theft and drinking alcohol...
State Battles
Scott Walker Is Reeling As Wisconsin Governor’s Race Is A Dead Heat Politicus USA ...A new poll of Wisconsin brings more bad news for Gov. Scott Walker as the Wisconsin Republican is locked in tie with Democrat Mary Burke 47%-47%...
Mackinac Center offers teachers form to withdraw from MEA during 'August window' MLive ...The Mackinac Center, a vocal opponent of the Michigan Education Association, is giving disgruntled teachers a form letter to use in voicing their desire to leave the union during the "August window..."
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel Cuts Schools, Pensions While Preserving Fund For Corporate Subsidies International Business Times ...Months after Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said budget constraints forced him to push for pension cuts and mass school closures, an analysis of government documents reveals the city has $1.71 billion in special accounts often used to finance corporate subsidies...
Protests Greet Lawmakers, Corporate Officials Gathering In Dallas As New Arm of ALEC Is Announced Truthout ...More than 98 percent of the organization's funding comes from corporations and corporate foundations, with the infamous petrochemical billionaire brothers, Charles and David Koch of Koch Industries, serving as some of the organization's largest donors...
ALEC's Jeffersonian Project Pushes to Amend the Constitution truthout ...ALEC is urging state legislators to pass state resolutions calling for a constitutional convention in order to pass a federal balanced budget amendment...
War On Workers
CEO exit pay under attack among Fortune 500 Forbes ...The latest example: McKesson shareholders narrowly failed to pass a resolution calling for the company to sharply reduce the massive exit pay package in store for its handsomely compensated CEO...
Poll Finds Widespread Economic Anxiety Wall Street Journal ...A new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll found that despite the steady pace of hiring in recent months, 76% of adults lack confidence that their children's generation will have a better life than they do—an all-time high...
Mays Orders End To Kellogg Lock-Out Memphis Daily News ...U.S. District Judge Samuel “Hardy” Mays has ordered an end to the lock-out of union workers at the Memphis Kellogg plant....
Walgreen Decides Not to Pursue Overseas Tax Inversion Wall Street Journal ...Walgreen Co. has decided not to relocate its corporate headquarters, people familiar with the matter said, amid complications in pulling off the transaction and a backdrop of heavy political pressure from Washington to end the controversial tax-avoidance move...
After breaking labor laws, LinkedIn is ordered to pay $6 million in lost wages and damages Pando ...LinkedIn and the Department of Labor have reached a settlement that requires the professional social network to pay $6 million to 359 current and former employees in lost wages and damages. This comes after a DoL investigation found that LinkedIn failed to document and compensate workers for overtime hours, in a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act...
Miscellaneous
KSU President Gives Up Over $90,000 Of His Salary To Boost Lowest-Paid Campus Employees Lexington Herald-Ledger ...Raymond Burse, interim president of Kentucky State University, has given up more than $90,000 of his salary so university workers earning minimum wage could have their earnings increased to $10.25 an hour...
Teamsters Back John Liu For NY Senate New York Daily News ...“John Liu is a true friend of New York workers who has time and again put himself on the line to be their voice in government,” said Teamsters Joint Council 16 President George Miranda in a campaign statement Monday...
UVM, Teamsters Reach Two-Year Settlement Insurance News Net ...The University of Vermont has successfully completed negotiations on a two-year contract with the Chauffeurs, Teamsters, Warehousemen and Helpers Union No. 597. The union represents full-time and regular part-time police officers, service officers, and dispatchers employed by the university...
Simplot Employees Vote To Strike Jamestown Sun ...After a day-long union meeting, employees of J.R. Simplot went on strike, picketing outside the potato processing plant in Grand Forks about 6 p.m. Monday...
Mediators Seek Deal In Philadelphia Transit Case Philadelphia Inquirer ...SEPTA has been in federally supervised mediation with that union as well as the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers since 2010. Engineers are seeking raises of at least 14.5 percent over five years, about 3 percentage points more than SEPTA has offered...
Trade
Samsung Chops Order To China Supplier That Used Child Labor CNET ...Samsung will significantly reduce orders to one of its mobile parts suppliers after uncovering the use of child labor at a Chinese facility...
Congress Sends Obama Letter on TPP and Vietnam Human Rights Trade Reform ...Thirty five Congress men and women from both parties sent President Obama a letter last week expressing serious concerns about including Vietnam in Trans Pacific Partnership talks. Vietnam is a serial abuser of human rights...
TPP Talks In Ottawa: Brunei’s Brutal Sharia Law Raises Questions About Future Of Trade Deals Trade Reform ...One of the 12 countries involved in the talks is Brunei. The tiny petro-state of half a million people on the southeast Asian island of Borneo recently adopted harsh new Sharia laws, including the death penalty, by stoning, for adultery, gay sex and insulting the Koran. Other elements of the law include prison sentences for pregnancy outside of wedlock or failing to pray on Friday, and amputations or whipping for theft and drinking alcohol...
State Battles
Scott Walker Is Reeling As Wisconsin Governor’s Race Is A Dead Heat Politicus USA ...A new poll of Wisconsin brings more bad news for Gov. Scott Walker as the Wisconsin Republican is locked in tie with Democrat Mary Burke 47%-47%...
Mackinac Center offers teachers form to withdraw from MEA during 'August window' MLive ...The Mackinac Center, a vocal opponent of the Michigan Education Association, is giving disgruntled teachers a form letter to use in voicing their desire to leave the union during the "August window..."
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel Cuts Schools, Pensions While Preserving Fund For Corporate Subsidies International Business Times ...Months after Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said budget constraints forced him to push for pension cuts and mass school closures, an analysis of government documents reveals the city has $1.71 billion in special accounts often used to finance corporate subsidies...
Protests Greet Lawmakers, Corporate Officials Gathering In Dallas As New Arm of ALEC Is Announced Truthout ...More than 98 percent of the organization's funding comes from corporations and corporate foundations, with the infamous petrochemical billionaire brothers, Charles and David Koch of Koch Industries, serving as some of the organization's largest donors...
ALEC's Jeffersonian Project Pushes to Amend the Constitution truthout ...ALEC is urging state legislators to pass state resolutions calling for a constitutional convention in order to pass a federal balanced budget amendment...
War On Workers
CEO exit pay under attack among Fortune 500 Forbes ...The latest example: McKesson shareholders narrowly failed to pass a resolution calling for the company to sharply reduce the massive exit pay package in store for its handsomely compensated CEO...
Poll Finds Widespread Economic Anxiety Wall Street Journal ...A new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll found that despite the steady pace of hiring in recent months, 76% of adults lack confidence that their children's generation will have a better life than they do—an all-time high...
Mays Orders End To Kellogg Lock-Out Memphis Daily News ...U.S. District Judge Samuel “Hardy” Mays has ordered an end to the lock-out of union workers at the Memphis Kellogg plant....
Walgreen Decides Not to Pursue Overseas Tax Inversion Wall Street Journal ...Walgreen Co. has decided not to relocate its corporate headquarters, people familiar with the matter said, amid complications in pulling off the transaction and a backdrop of heavy political pressure from Washington to end the controversial tax-avoidance move...
After breaking labor laws, LinkedIn is ordered to pay $6 million in lost wages and damages Pando ...LinkedIn and the Department of Labor have reached a settlement that requires the professional social network to pay $6 million to 359 current and former employees in lost wages and damages. This comes after a DoL investigation found that LinkedIn failed to document and compensate workers for overtime hours, in a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act...
Miscellaneous
KSU President Gives Up Over $90,000 Of His Salary To Boost Lowest-Paid Campus Employees Lexington Herald-Ledger ...Raymond Burse, interim president of Kentucky State University, has given up more than $90,000 of his salary so university workers earning minimum wage could have their earnings increased to $10.25 an hour...
Thursday, July 24, 2014
Today's Teamster News 07.24.14
Teamster News
Teamsters Back Rubain Dorancy for Central Brooklyn Senate Seat New York Observer ...Council 16 of the union representing drivers of various trades decided to back the education activist in his primary race against Mr. Adams’ former aide Jesse Hamilton and Community Board 9 member Demetrius Lawrence. ...
Bus Strike: GET Board Meets To Consider Union Proposal KBFX ...Golden Empire Transit District board members first met in open session to take public input, then they held a closed meeting to consider the proposal from the Teamsters...
Servisair Inc. and Teamsters reach new collective agreement CNW ...Today, the Honourable Dr. K. Kellie Leitch, Minister of Labour and Minister of Status of Women, congratulated Servisair Inc. and Teamsters Local 419 on ratifying a collective agreement for members working at Toronto Pearson International Airport...
Trade
Senate advances bill to end tax breaks for outsourcing The Hill ...The Senate voted 93-7 on Wednesday to advance a bill that would end tax breaks for companies that send jobs overseas...
The Trans-Pacific Partnership and “Police Militarization”: The Coming Calamity, The Coming Resistance Centre For Research On Globalization ...While many praise the Trans-Pacific Partnership as free trade, one must be wary not only due to the geopolitical aspects, but also due to it being so secret that “often times, members of Congress and Parliament are denied access to them, even though the agreement will set out legal obligations that these elected officials will be expected to meet.”...
State Battles
Lake County judge strikes down Indiana right-to-work ban on union fees in 2nd blow to law The Republic ...Lake County Circuit Court Judge George Paras determined the law violates the state constitution by forcing unions to provide services to workers without payment...
Sealed Air jobs leaving the area Racine Journal Times ...All of the approximately 300 local Sealed Air jobs will leave the Racine area within the next three years, with the moves starting next year...
'Brain Drain' Continues As More Young Graduates Leave Wisconsin Wisconsin Public Radio ...UW Professor Says State Loses 14K College Graduates Per Year, Most Of Them Between Ages Of 21 And 29...
Unemployment up in Wisconsin's largest cities Associated Press ...The state Department of Workforce Development reported Wednesday that unemployment rates in June increased in all of the state's 32 largest cities. Unemployment rates went up in 61 of 72 counties and remained unchanged in the other 11...
Scott Walker Gets Very Little Money From The Little People Cap Times ...Of the $8.2 million the governor raised in the first six months of the year, only $1.3 million – less than one sixth – came from such donors giving $75 or less. Nearly as much came from the 106 donors who gave him the maximum contribution of $10,000, and nearly twice as much – $2.47 million – came from donors who gave at least $5,000. Most of Walker’s money, $4.7 million, came from those who gave at least $1,000...
War On Workers
United Airlines' Outsourcing Jobs To Company That Pays Near-Poverty Wages Is Shameful Huffington Post ...On October 1, United Airlines is planning to outsource 630 gate agent jobs at 12 airports to companies that pay near-poverty level wages. The airports affected include Salt Lake City; Charlotte, North Carolina; Pensacola, Florida; Detroit and Des Moines, Iowa. As a result hundreds of employees who formerly made middle-class, living wages will be forced to transfer to other cities, take early retirement or seek employment elsewhere...
Postal Workers Protest Staples In Chicago NBC Chicago ...Hundreds of members of the American Postal Workers Union protested outside a Staples in Chicago Tuesday in hopes to keep mini-post offices from opening up inside the business...
ODOT Worker Killed During Workplace Accident In Eastern Oregon KATU ...A 54-year-old Oregon Department of Transportation worker was killed on the job Tuesday, the agency said...
Koch Brothers Back 'Creepy Carenival' Where Clowns Deter Millennials From Obamacare Forbes Magazine ...Creepy Uncle Sam is back. This time, he’s bringing you to a “Creepy Carenival” – an anti-Obamacare spectacle backed by the billionaire Koch brothers where smirking clowns choose patients’ surgeries by throwing knives at a revolving wheel, insurance premiums explode and a “Dropped Coverage” game dunks millennials into a “High-Risk Pool.”...
Miscellaneous
60 Percent Of Incoming College Football Players Support Unions, Says Survey SB Nation ...60 percent of the 2015 recruiting class is in favor of unionization for college athletes, and more than 86 percent are in favor of athletes receiving some sort of stipend...
Teamsters Back Rubain Dorancy for Central Brooklyn Senate Seat New York Observer ...Council 16 of the union representing drivers of various trades decided to back the education activist in his primary race against Mr. Adams’ former aide Jesse Hamilton and Community Board 9 member Demetrius Lawrence. ...
Bus Strike: GET Board Meets To Consider Union Proposal KBFX ...Golden Empire Transit District board members first met in open session to take public input, then they held a closed meeting to consider the proposal from the Teamsters...
Servisair Inc. and Teamsters reach new collective agreement CNW ...Today, the Honourable Dr. K. Kellie Leitch, Minister of Labour and Minister of Status of Women, congratulated Servisair Inc. and Teamsters Local 419 on ratifying a collective agreement for members working at Toronto Pearson International Airport...
Trade
Senate advances bill to end tax breaks for outsourcing The Hill ...The Senate voted 93-7 on Wednesday to advance a bill that would end tax breaks for companies that send jobs overseas...
The Trans-Pacific Partnership and “Police Militarization”: The Coming Calamity, The Coming Resistance Centre For Research On Globalization ...While many praise the Trans-Pacific Partnership as free trade, one must be wary not only due to the geopolitical aspects, but also due to it being so secret that “often times, members of Congress and Parliament are denied access to them, even though the agreement will set out legal obligations that these elected officials will be expected to meet.”...
State Battles
Lake County judge strikes down Indiana right-to-work ban on union fees in 2nd blow to law The Republic ...Lake County Circuit Court Judge George Paras determined the law violates the state constitution by forcing unions to provide services to workers without payment...
Sealed Air jobs leaving the area Racine Journal Times ...All of the approximately 300 local Sealed Air jobs will leave the Racine area within the next three years, with the moves starting next year...
'Brain Drain' Continues As More Young Graduates Leave Wisconsin Wisconsin Public Radio ...UW Professor Says State Loses 14K College Graduates Per Year, Most Of Them Between Ages Of 21 And 29...
Unemployment up in Wisconsin's largest cities Associated Press ...The state Department of Workforce Development reported Wednesday that unemployment rates in June increased in all of the state's 32 largest cities. Unemployment rates went up in 61 of 72 counties and remained unchanged in the other 11...
Scott Walker Gets Very Little Money From The Little People Cap Times ...Of the $8.2 million the governor raised in the first six months of the year, only $1.3 million – less than one sixth – came from such donors giving $75 or less. Nearly as much came from the 106 donors who gave him the maximum contribution of $10,000, and nearly twice as much – $2.47 million – came from donors who gave at least $5,000. Most of Walker’s money, $4.7 million, came from those who gave at least $1,000...
War On Workers
United Airlines' Outsourcing Jobs To Company That Pays Near-Poverty Wages Is Shameful Huffington Post ...On October 1, United Airlines is planning to outsource 630 gate agent jobs at 12 airports to companies that pay near-poverty level wages. The airports affected include Salt Lake City; Charlotte, North Carolina; Pensacola, Florida; Detroit and Des Moines, Iowa. As a result hundreds of employees who formerly made middle-class, living wages will be forced to transfer to other cities, take early retirement or seek employment elsewhere...
Postal Workers Protest Staples In Chicago NBC Chicago ...Hundreds of members of the American Postal Workers Union protested outside a Staples in Chicago Tuesday in hopes to keep mini-post offices from opening up inside the business...
ODOT Worker Killed During Workplace Accident In Eastern Oregon KATU ...A 54-year-old Oregon Department of Transportation worker was killed on the job Tuesday, the agency said...
Koch Brothers Back 'Creepy Carenival' Where Clowns Deter Millennials From Obamacare Forbes Magazine ...Creepy Uncle Sam is back. This time, he’s bringing you to a “Creepy Carenival” – an anti-Obamacare spectacle backed by the billionaire Koch brothers where smirking clowns choose patients’ surgeries by throwing knives at a revolving wheel, insurance premiums explode and a “Dropped Coverage” game dunks millennials into a “High-Risk Pool.”...
Miscellaneous
60 Percent Of Incoming College Football Players Support Unions, Says Survey SB Nation ...60 percent of the 2015 recruiting class is in favor of unionization for college athletes, and more than 86 percent are in favor of athletes receiving some sort of stipend...
Friday, March 21, 2014
Today's Teamster News 03.21.14
Teamster News
Striking VT Teamsters Fend Off Binding Arbitration, Enjoy Support of Local Community, Gov’t
The We Party ...In Burlington, Vermont nearly 70 bus drivers have gone on strike hoping to receive a fair contract from management. The drivers are represented by Teamsters Local 597 and work for the Chittenden County Transportation Authority (CCTA). Chittenden County is Vermont’s most populated county...
Trade
Conn. suffers losses under U.S.-Korea trade treaty Stamford Advocate ...U.S. monthly net exports to Korea of helicopters -- Connecticut's second largest export -- have plummeted 81 percent on average under the FTA...
Tech Companies Urge Senator Wyden to Reject Fast Track and Bring Transparency to TPP Electronic Frontier Foundation ...More than 25 leading technology companies have joined a public letter urging Senator Ron Wyden, the newly appointed Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, to firmly oppose any form of "fast track" authority for trade agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)...
In Trade Talks, It's Countries vs. Companies Bloomberg ...to many people, arbitration looks profoundly undemocratic. Countries that sign the treaties give away a lot: The arbitration panels are unelected tribunals of three experts (usually lawyers, one chosen by each side and one picked by mutual consent or a third party) that are empowered to overrule a nation’s highest authorities. The panels have come under attack from environmental groups, labor unions, and developing nations including Venezuela, Ecuador, and South Africa....
Rights group alarmed by Colombian port killings Associated Press ... illegal armed groups have forcibly disappeared scores if not hundreds of people in Colombia's main Pacific port of Buenaventura in the past two years, killing and dismembering some in so-called "chop-up houses."… the situation is among the most alarming it has seen in years…
State Battles
New York law makes it illegal to misclassify truckers Land Line ...Employers who misclassify truckers in New York face civil and criminal penalties under a new law that takes effect April 10. Classification has ramifications not only for employee drivers but also for owner-operators and leased operators...
Judge: Arizona can require proof of citizenship from new voters Capitol Media Services ...A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the Election Assistance Commission to require would-be Arizona voters to provide proof of citizenship when they register...
Governors siphoning mortgage settlement money: It's disgusting Los Angeles Times ...Gov. Jerry Brown diverted more than $350 million from California's share of the 2012 national mortgage settlement with the banking industry to reduce the state's 2013 budget deficit. A coalition of homeownership advocates and religious organizations has filed suit against the state to force Brown to restore the money...
Md. Senate chair seeks pay raise for workers who care for developmentally disabled Washington Post ...The chairman of a key Maryland Senate Committee said Wednesday that he does not plan to act on a bill to raise the minimum wage until a related issue is resolved involving the way the state reimburses workers who care for the developmentally disabled...
Michigan Plan Would Allow Students to Attend College 'For Free' Newsmax ...Students would be able to initially attend college for free under a new plan introduced recently in the Michigan Legislature, but they would have to pay for it down the road...
Pennsylvania among states to block food stamp cuts Pittsburgh Tribune-Review ...Pennsylvania will join more than a half-dozen states and the District of Columbia to block as much as $1.2 billion in food stamp cuts, relying on a wrinkle in federal law to preserve aid for millions of people...
Wisconsin Poised to Pass ALEC's Deadly Asbestos Bill Center for Media and Democracy ...Wisconsin could become the latest state to narrow access to the courts for asbestos victims in a bill up for a vote on March 20, joining a national coordinated effort that can be traced back to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce...
Gov Haley fires back after machinists union opens office for Boeing employees WCSC News 5 ...South Carolina's Governor Nikki Haley responds to a machinists union opening an office in North Charleston to educate workers at Boeing...
War on Workers
Koch Group, Spending Freely, Hones Attack on Government New York Times ...Americans for Prosperity — the group backed by David H. and Charles G. Koch that has been pouring millions of dollars into competitive Senate races...
Google Sued For Data-Mining Kids' Emails in Its Education App Alternet ...Google admitted in a sworn statement that it scans millions of students’ email messages to compile keywords for advertisements, despite not displaying any visual ads on its app...
Just 11% of US long-term unemployed find jobs Associated Press ...The number of people unemployed for more than six months has tripled since the recession began at the end of 2007...
This J.C. Penney Worker Was Fired For Telling The Truth About Its 'Fake' Prices Huffington Post ...J.C. Penney is going to war against a former employee who outed the department store for its questionable discounting practices...
Chicago voters support raising minimum wage The Chicago Reporter ...A symbolic victory on the non-binding referendum gives advocates and progressive aldermen the boost needed to press for an ordinance raising Chicago's minimum wage...
Walmart workers in China blockade store in protest at closure plan USI ...Nearly 150 workers have been picketing a Walmart store in the central Chinese city of Changde for two weeks, after management announced 4 March that the store would close down on 19 March...
Miscellaneous
New Report: Fortune 100 Companies Have Received $1.2 Trillion in Corporate Welfare Recently AlterNet ..Military contractors, oil companies and banks are the biggest 'welfare queens' around...
Starbucks to expand evening beer and wine service Guardian ...The chain first offered beer and wine after 4pm at one of its Seattle cafes in 2010. The drinks are now in about 26 cafes, with plans to reach 40 by the end of the year...
Residents Still Not Drinking Tap Water Two Months After West Virginia Spill Truthout ...It was a harsh start to 2014 for West Virginia, though in this state, events over the last two months have been only the latest twists in a long and familiar story...
NSA: Tech Companies Knew About PRISM The Whole Time Huffington Post ...Since leaked documents revealed that Internet companies like Apple, Facebook and Google were giving the National Security Agency vast access to people's online information under a scheme codenamed PRISM, those Silicon Valley titans have taken pains to deny participation in such a program. But now, the NSA's top lawyer says that just isn't true...
Bad news about American retirement McCook Daily Gazette ...How much do you have put away for retirement? A million dollars? Five hundred thousand? Five hundred dollars? If you're like a third of Americans, the final answer is closer to the truth...
Striking VT Teamsters Fend Off Binding Arbitration, Enjoy Support of Local Community, Gov’t
The We Party ...In Burlington, Vermont nearly 70 bus drivers have gone on strike hoping to receive a fair contract from management. The drivers are represented by Teamsters Local 597 and work for the Chittenden County Transportation Authority (CCTA). Chittenden County is Vermont’s most populated county...
Trade
Conn. suffers losses under U.S.-Korea trade treaty Stamford Advocate ...U.S. monthly net exports to Korea of helicopters -- Connecticut's second largest export -- have plummeted 81 percent on average under the FTA...
Tech Companies Urge Senator Wyden to Reject Fast Track and Bring Transparency to TPP Electronic Frontier Foundation ...More than 25 leading technology companies have joined a public letter urging Senator Ron Wyden, the newly appointed Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, to firmly oppose any form of "fast track" authority for trade agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)...
In Trade Talks, It's Countries vs. Companies Bloomberg ...to many people, arbitration looks profoundly undemocratic. Countries that sign the treaties give away a lot: The arbitration panels are unelected tribunals of three experts (usually lawyers, one chosen by each side and one picked by mutual consent or a third party) that are empowered to overrule a nation’s highest authorities. The panels have come under attack from environmental groups, labor unions, and developing nations including Venezuela, Ecuador, and South Africa....
Rights group alarmed by Colombian port killings Associated Press ... illegal armed groups have forcibly disappeared scores if not hundreds of people in Colombia's main Pacific port of Buenaventura in the past two years, killing and dismembering some in so-called "chop-up houses."… the situation is among the most alarming it has seen in years…
State Battles
New York law makes it illegal to misclassify truckers Land Line ...Employers who misclassify truckers in New York face civil and criminal penalties under a new law that takes effect April 10. Classification has ramifications not only for employee drivers but also for owner-operators and leased operators...
Judge: Arizona can require proof of citizenship from new voters Capitol Media Services ...A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the Election Assistance Commission to require would-be Arizona voters to provide proof of citizenship when they register...
Governors siphoning mortgage settlement money: It's disgusting Los Angeles Times ...Gov. Jerry Brown diverted more than $350 million from California's share of the 2012 national mortgage settlement with the banking industry to reduce the state's 2013 budget deficit. A coalition of homeownership advocates and religious organizations has filed suit against the state to force Brown to restore the money...
Md. Senate chair seeks pay raise for workers who care for developmentally disabled Washington Post ...The chairman of a key Maryland Senate Committee said Wednesday that he does not plan to act on a bill to raise the minimum wage until a related issue is resolved involving the way the state reimburses workers who care for the developmentally disabled...
Michigan Plan Would Allow Students to Attend College 'For Free' Newsmax ...Students would be able to initially attend college for free under a new plan introduced recently in the Michigan Legislature, but they would have to pay for it down the road...
Pennsylvania among states to block food stamp cuts Pittsburgh Tribune-Review ...Pennsylvania will join more than a half-dozen states and the District of Columbia to block as much as $1.2 billion in food stamp cuts, relying on a wrinkle in federal law to preserve aid for millions of people...
Wisconsin Poised to Pass ALEC's Deadly Asbestos Bill Center for Media and Democracy ...Wisconsin could become the latest state to narrow access to the courts for asbestos victims in a bill up for a vote on March 20, joining a national coordinated effort that can be traced back to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce...
Gov Haley fires back after machinists union opens office for Boeing employees WCSC News 5 ...South Carolina's Governor Nikki Haley responds to a machinists union opening an office in North Charleston to educate workers at Boeing...
War on Workers
Koch Group, Spending Freely, Hones Attack on Government New York Times ...Americans for Prosperity — the group backed by David H. and Charles G. Koch that has been pouring millions of dollars into competitive Senate races...
Google Sued For Data-Mining Kids' Emails in Its Education App Alternet ...Google admitted in a sworn statement that it scans millions of students’ email messages to compile keywords for advertisements, despite not displaying any visual ads on its app...
Just 11% of US long-term unemployed find jobs Associated Press ...The number of people unemployed for more than six months has tripled since the recession began at the end of 2007...
This J.C. Penney Worker Was Fired For Telling The Truth About Its 'Fake' Prices Huffington Post ...J.C. Penney is going to war against a former employee who outed the department store for its questionable discounting practices...
Chicago voters support raising minimum wage The Chicago Reporter ...A symbolic victory on the non-binding referendum gives advocates and progressive aldermen the boost needed to press for an ordinance raising Chicago's minimum wage...
Walmart workers in China blockade store in protest at closure plan USI ...Nearly 150 workers have been picketing a Walmart store in the central Chinese city of Changde for two weeks, after management announced 4 March that the store would close down on 19 March...
Miscellaneous
New Report: Fortune 100 Companies Have Received $1.2 Trillion in Corporate Welfare Recently AlterNet ..Military contractors, oil companies and banks are the biggest 'welfare queens' around...
Starbucks to expand evening beer and wine service Guardian ...The chain first offered beer and wine after 4pm at one of its Seattle cafes in 2010. The drinks are now in about 26 cafes, with plans to reach 40 by the end of the year...
Residents Still Not Drinking Tap Water Two Months After West Virginia Spill Truthout ...It was a harsh start to 2014 for West Virginia, though in this state, events over the last two months have been only the latest twists in a long and familiar story...
NSA: Tech Companies Knew About PRISM The Whole Time Huffington Post ...Since leaked documents revealed that Internet companies like Apple, Facebook and Google were giving the National Security Agency vast access to people's online information under a scheme codenamed PRISM, those Silicon Valley titans have taken pains to deny participation in such a program. But now, the NSA's top lawyer says that just isn't true...
Bad news about American retirement McCook Daily Gazette ...How much do you have put away for retirement? A million dollars? Five hundred thousand? Five hundred dollars? If you're like a third of Americans, the final answer is closer to the truth...
Sunday, June 9, 2013
Today's Teamster News 06.09.13
The Most Dishonest Words in American Politics: 'Right to Work' AlterNet ...Right-to-work measures appeal to freedom and choice, but they're all about busting unions...
Striking Worker and Bangladesh Activist Address Thousands at Walmart Shareholder Meeting The Nation... A striking retail worker and a Bangladesh labor activist made their case from the floor of Walmart’s shareholder meeting, addressing thousands of workers and stock-owners and countering what was otherwise a highly scripted celebration of the largest private company in the world...
Taxpayers' loss on GM bailout looks to be about $10 billion Chicago Tribune ...The U.S. Treasury’s deal to sell 30 million shares of General Motors Co. will recoup taxpayers another $1 billion of the bailout money the government put into the automaker back in 2009...
Oklahoma Sweatshop Tells One Story of Labor's Challenge Huffington Post ...Temperatures would hit levels higher than 120 degrees. Because there was no air conditioning, bosses placed high-powered fans throughout the concrete facility. Management chain smoking cigars in the shop while reminding workers of the non-smoking policy. Promised pay increases never materialized, even with business on the upswing. This only begins to describe the horrendous working conditions at this workplace...
'No' votes take lead on measure to privatize trash service in Fresno, California Reuters ...Votes against a measure that would privatize garbage service in Fresno to raise revenue for the cash-strapped California city took a slim lead on Friday as election officials continued counting ballots...
Transamerica Among 11 Insurers in $763 Million Settlement Bloomberg News ...Aegon NV’s Transamerica and New York Life Insurance Co. are among 11 insurers that will pay a combined total of as much as $763 million to resolve a multistate probe into whether the firms held funds that should have gone to beneficiaries...
Scott signs foreclosure bill Sun Sentinel ...Gov. Rick Scott signed a bill Friday designed to speed up foreclosures in Florida, but critics say the measure is unfair to homeowners...
Union files unfair labor practice complaints against 6 Logan contractors Boston Globe ...The union trying to organize airport contract employees has charged six aviation services companies at Logan International Airport with unfair labor practices, including restricting free speech, spying on a union meeting, and firing an employee for speaking out about working conditions...
UAW's King: Progressive groups must stand together Lansing State Journal ...Now more than ever, organized labor must stand shoulder-to-shoulder with other progressive groups as it fights for collective bargaining rights and other civil rights causes, United Auto Workers President Bob King said...
ALEC says its communications with Wisconsin lawmakers are private Wisconsin State Journal ...The American Legislative Exchange Council, better known as ALEC, is being challenged for using Internet drop boxes and broad new assertions of privacy to shield from public view the discussions of elected officials and corporate leaders it brings together to write model legislation for state governments...
LA Labor Remains Strong, United After Mayoral Race (opinion) Huffington Post ...those who attach too sweeping an analysis to the outcomes -- or suggest that labor's role in this city has declined -- are sadly off the mark...
Academy Award Maker Denies Earned Benefits to Workers IBT ...R.S. Owens, the Chicago company that’s produced Hollywood’s coveted Oscar statues for decades, is refusing to compensate its former workforce for nearly a year of earned vacation benefits...
Striking Worker and Bangladesh Activist Address Thousands at Walmart Shareholder Meeting The Nation... A striking retail worker and a Bangladesh labor activist made their case from the floor of Walmart’s shareholder meeting, addressing thousands of workers and stock-owners and countering what was otherwise a highly scripted celebration of the largest private company in the world...
Taxpayers' loss on GM bailout looks to be about $10 billion Chicago Tribune ...The U.S. Treasury’s deal to sell 30 million shares of General Motors Co. will recoup taxpayers another $1 billion of the bailout money the government put into the automaker back in 2009...
Oklahoma Sweatshop Tells One Story of Labor's Challenge Huffington Post ...Temperatures would hit levels higher than 120 degrees. Because there was no air conditioning, bosses placed high-powered fans throughout the concrete facility. Management chain smoking cigars in the shop while reminding workers of the non-smoking policy. Promised pay increases never materialized, even with business on the upswing. This only begins to describe the horrendous working conditions at this workplace...
'No' votes take lead on measure to privatize trash service in Fresno, California Reuters ...Votes against a measure that would privatize garbage service in Fresno to raise revenue for the cash-strapped California city took a slim lead on Friday as election officials continued counting ballots...
Transamerica Among 11 Insurers in $763 Million Settlement Bloomberg News ...Aegon NV’s Transamerica and New York Life Insurance Co. are among 11 insurers that will pay a combined total of as much as $763 million to resolve a multistate probe into whether the firms held funds that should have gone to beneficiaries...
Scott signs foreclosure bill Sun Sentinel ...Gov. Rick Scott signed a bill Friday designed to speed up foreclosures in Florida, but critics say the measure is unfair to homeowners...
Union files unfair labor practice complaints against 6 Logan contractors Boston Globe ...The union trying to organize airport contract employees has charged six aviation services companies at Logan International Airport with unfair labor practices, including restricting free speech, spying on a union meeting, and firing an employee for speaking out about working conditions...
UAW's King: Progressive groups must stand together Lansing State Journal ...Now more than ever, organized labor must stand shoulder-to-shoulder with other progressive groups as it fights for collective bargaining rights and other civil rights causes, United Auto Workers President Bob King said...
ALEC says its communications with Wisconsin lawmakers are private Wisconsin State Journal ...The American Legislative Exchange Council, better known as ALEC, is being challenged for using Internet drop boxes and broad new assertions of privacy to shield from public view the discussions of elected officials and corporate leaders it brings together to write model legislation for state governments...
LA Labor Remains Strong, United After Mayoral Race (opinion) Huffington Post ...those who attach too sweeping an analysis to the outcomes -- or suggest that labor's role in this city has declined -- are sadly off the mark...
Academy Award Maker Denies Earned Benefits to Workers IBT ...R.S. Owens, the Chicago company that’s produced Hollywood’s coveted Oscar statues for decades, is refusing to compensate its former workforce for nearly a year of earned vacation benefits...
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