Today's Teamster News 03.12.15

Teamsters
Teamsters hit FMCSA with lawsuit over move to open border for Mexican carriers  Overdrive   ...The Teamsters Union announced this week it has filed a lawsuit against the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s recent move to expand its cross-border trucking program with Mexico...
Teamsters Win Landslide Shareholder Vote At Hologic  teamster.org   ... A shareholder proposal sponsored by the Teamsters-affiliated GCC Benevolent Trust Fund secured an overwhelming majority vote of shareholders at last week’s Hologic Incorporated annual meeting. The proposal called on the Board of Directors to submit the adoption, maintenance or extension of any poison pill plan to a vote of the shareholders...
Hoffa: Film Tax Credits Are Worth Saving  Detroit News   ...Lawmakers on the campaign trail in Michigan have rightfully stressed the need for jobs in recent years. They say it is a top priority. But once within the cozy confines of the Statehouse in Lansing, too many seem to lose sight of the issue or its importance to their constituents. Case in point — a House committee’s decision last week to back legislation that ends some $50 million in annual tax credits to encourage films and television shows to shoot in the Great Lakes State...
Teamsters, RI Hospital Negotiations Stall  Rhode Island Public Radio   ...The Teamsters represent about 2500 nursing assistants, food service, and other workers at Rhode Island Hospital. They’ve threatened to strike if negotiators can’t agree on job protections and wage hikes, as well as improvements to their retirement plan...
Debate Over Fawn's Police Coverage Intensifies  Pittsburgh Tribune Review   ...Smith had a copy of a letter dated March 2, from Tom Huck, business agent for Teamsters Local 249 which represents the police, to supervisors chairman David Montanari. The supervisors and Teamsters negotiators were unable to come to a contract agreement for the police and the contract is headed to arbitration. In the letter, also sent to the Valley News Dispatch, Huck criticized the supervisors for allowing the shifts to go unmanned...
County Employees Receive Pay Hike  Ottumwa Courier   ...Employees in two different bargaining units were given identical pay increases by Wapello County Board of Supervisors Tuesday night. Teamsters Local 238 for the courthouse bargaining unit and Teamsters Local 238 for the sheriff's bargaining unit will receive a two percent increase on July 1, 2015, and July 1, 2016 and a two and half percent increase on July 1, 2017...
Trade
Push against investment rules in U.S. trade deals picks up  Reuters   ...Law professors from across the United States urged lawmakers to keep rules to protect foreign investors out of trade pacts on Wednesday, warning they would give big companies too much power...
Huckabee slams 'globalists,' free trade agreements  Politico   ...Expressing deep skepticism of proposed free trade agreements, Mike Huckabee warned in Iowa Saturday that the United States is becoming like communist China...
Unions To Fight Trade Pact By Freezing Political Donations  Wall Street Journal   ...The move is part of the unions’ campaign against the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, which the Obama administration is negotiating with 11 nations around the Pacific Ocean. The unions worry the trade agreement could send more jobs to low-wage countries, including Vietnam and Malaysia...
Paul Krugman: TPP At The NABE  New York Times   ...Why, exactly, should the Obama administration spend any political capital – alienating labor, disillusioning progressive activists – over such a deal?...
Health Impact Assessment: TPP Poses Risks To Affordable Medicines, Tobacco Control And Nutrition Labeling  Techdirt   ...The negotiations are still being conducted with a total lack of transparency -- especially compared to TAFTA/TTIP, where public pressure has led to the release of a large number of documents from the EU, though not from the US...
State Battles
Unions Challenge Wisconsin's New 'Right-To-Work' Law In Court  Reuters   ...The Wisconsin state AFL-CIO and two other unions filed suit on Tuesday challenging a new statute that lets private-sector employees avoid joining unions or paying dues even when covered by union-negotiated contracts...
Right-To-Work: NM Senate Panel Tables Bill  KOTA   ...A New Mexico Senate panel has voted along party lines to stop the advance of a bill that prohibits requiring workers to join a union and pay dues as a condition of employment...
War on Workers
Not a Puzzle—Wages Growth is Sluggish Because Employers Hold All the Cards  Economic Policy Institute   ...We’ve finally seen 12 consecutive months of job growth above 200,000, but wage growth shows little sign of accelerating. The question that everyone seems to be asking now is, when will wage growth pick up?...
Business Pushes for Delay, Litigation, and One-Sided Access in Union Elections  Economic Policy Institute   ... The NLRB is updating obsolete election rules that fail to recognize modern developments like e-mail, and which encourage excessive litigation and delay. Yet a panel stacked with anti-union lawyers attacked the rules as if they were ending American democracy...
How income fraud made the housing bubble worse  Science Daily   ... The researchers place the blame for falsified earnings listed on mortgage applications -- which the researchers call "buyer income overstatement" -- on brokers producing mortgages intended to be sold as securities...
Worker Electrocuted, Killed On South Tropical Trail  Space Coast Daily   ...A worker was killed Tuesday at about 2:45 p.m. while replacing power poles...

Today's Teamster News 02.27.15

Teamsters
Teamsters Seek To Unionize More Tech Shuttle Bus Drivers In Silicon Valley  San Jose Mercury News   ...Shuttle bus drivers for five prominent tech companies will decide whether to unionize on Friday in a vote that has the potential to dramatically expand organized labor's territory in Silicon Valley and embolden others in the tech industry's burgeoning class of service workers to demand better working conditions...
Teamsters-Represented Rail Traffic Controllers In Canada Ratify Labour Deal  RTT News   ...Canadian National Railway Co. announced that members of the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference-Rail Canada Traffic Controllers union have ratified a new labour agreement. The four-year agreement covers approximately 180 rail traffic controllers in Canada...
Roma Warehouse Workers In California Win Teamster Representation  teamster.org   …California warehouse workers at Roma Food, a Performance Food Group company, have voted by a 3-1 margin in favor of joining Teamsters Local 630 in Los Angeles, Calif. All 53 workers in the bargaining unit participated in the Feb. 25 election...
Bill To Eliminate Michigan's Film Incentives Gains Traction In House Committee  MLive   ...Unions and supporters of the film industry testified against the bill in the House Tax Policy Committee on Wednesday. "We took those jobs from Hollywood and brought them here," said Bill Black, Legislative Liaison for the Teamsters Local 337 in Michigan...
Swissport/Servisair YYZ Below-The-Wing Workers Pick Teamsters Over USW  Aviation Pros   ...Servisair and Swissport below-the-wing employees in Toronto chose the Teamsters over the United Steelworkers as their union, in a representational vote conducted by the CIRB...
Trade
The Trans-Pacific Partnership clause everyone should oppose (opinion)  Washington Post   ...The United States is in the final stages of negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a massive free-trade agreement with Mexico, Canada, Japan, Singapore and seven other countries. Who will benefit from the TPP? American workers? Consumers? Small businesses? Taxpayers? Or the biggest multinational corporations in the world?...
Elizabeth Warren’s next target: Trade deals  Politico   …The Massachusetts senator is stepping up her criticism of the administration’s proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership, a centerpiece of the president’s second-term agenda, saying it could allow multinational corporations to gut U.S. regulations and win big settlements funded by U.S. taxpayers but decided by an international tribunal...
White House sees China as trump card in trade debate  Reuters   ...The Obama administration is confident lawmakers will warm up to a proposed Pacific free trade deal on the grounds that it is a chance for America to dictate the rules of Asian trade rather than China, a top official said on Thursday...
Nurses sound a CODE BLUE in D.C. on Fast Track and TPP  Daily Kos   ...With the White House and some of the biggest multinational corporations lobbying Congress to “fast track" the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a massive trade deal between the United States and 11 other countries, National Nurses United today converged on the nation’s capital to explain that what’s good for investors’ balance sheets is not necessarily good for patients...
NAFTA’s Specter May Haunt Keystone Verdict  Politico   ...The 21-year-old free-trade pact allows foreign companies or governments to haul the U.S. in front of an international tribunal to face accusations of putting their investments at risk through regulations or other decisions. The CEO of Keystone developer TransCanada has raised the prospect as a potential last resort if Obama rejects the $8 billion project, although for now the company is focused on getting him to say yes...
State Battles
Walker: I took on unions, I can take on ISIS  The Hill   …Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) argued his fight with unions has prepared him to be commander in chief during his speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference. "If I can take on 100,000 protestors, I can do the same across the world," Walker said in response to a question about international terrorism...
Wisconsin, Workers and the 2016 Election  New York Times   ...In a nation where the long decline in unions has led to a pervasive slump in wages, Republicans’ support for anti-union legislation is at odds with their professed commitments to helping the middle class...
Wisconsin is poised to become the 25th right-to-work state  Los Angeles Times   ...Sometime in the next few weeks, Wisconsin will likely become the 25th state to get a right-to-work law, opposed by organized labor because it eliminates the requirement that workers must pay union fees...
House Passes Right-To-Work Bill On 37-30 Vote  Albuquerque Journal   ...A bruising political battle over whether to add New Mexico to the list of states with right-to-work laws is moving on to the Senate after the House voted 37-30 late Wednesday to approve the change in state labor laws...
‘Right-to-work’ clears House but faces tough battle in Senate Santa Fe New Mexican   ...Last week, both Senate Finance Committee Chairman John Arthur Smith of Deming and Senate President Pro Tem Mary Kay Papen of Las Cruces publicly committed not to helping Senate Republicans “blast” the bill to the Senate floor if the legislation gets stuck in a Senate committee, as expected. Without those two conservative Democrats, even backers of the bill say privately that this greatly hurts the chances of the bill to pass...
Logan County Becomes Right-To-Work  News-Democrat Leader   ...By passing a Right-to-Work ordinance, Logan County officially agrees with a law that prohibits union security agreements, or agreements between labor unions and employers, that govern the extent to which an established union can require employees’ membership, payment of union dues, or fees as a condition of employment, either before or after hiring...
Michigan Right To Work Law Would Extend To Police, Firefighters Under Midland Lawmaker's Proposal  MLive   ...A newly-elected state representative from Midland has drafted legislation to extend the reach of Michigan's Right to Work law to public safety personnel, the only union members exempt under the 2012 law...
Prevailing Wage Bill Clears First House Hurdle  West Virginia Metro News   ...The measure, which has passed the Senate, would transfer the responsibility of determining the wage from the Division of Labor to WorkForce West Virginia and business experts from West Virginia University and Marshall...
War on Workers
Why It's So Difficult to Repair Stuff: It's Made That Way   of two minds   ... once Corporate America books the sale, they're done with customers...
New York Couple Accused of Torturing Housekeeper Over Missing Jewelry  Gawker   …A couple in Bayside, Queens is accused of kidnapping their housekeeper at knifepoint, allegedly burning her body with a plumber's torch while questioning her about missing cash and jewelry...
Worker killed by lift at Sarasota mall  FOX 13 Tampa Bay   …Deputies say a man was crushed to death by a scissor lift at the Westfield Sarasota Square shopping mall...
Miscellaneous
FCC Approves Net Neutrality Rules For 'Open Internet'  NPR   ...The Federal Communications Commission approved the policy known as net neutrality by a 3-2 vote at its Thursday meeting, with FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler saying the policy will ensure "that no one — whether government or corporate — should control free open access to the Internet."...

Today's Teamster News 12.01.14

Trade
TPP Talks Likely to get Ugly  Hoosier Ag Today   ...One of the tough negotiations noted for New Zealand is promoting dairy exports into countries like Japan because the deal is so broad-based...
State Battles
Wells Fargo Accused of Predatory Lending in Chicago Area  Bloomberg   ...Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) targets black and Latino borrowers for more costly home loans than their white counterparts in the Chicago area, helping to prolong a local and national foreclosure crisis, the biggest county in Illinois said...
War on Workers
Tampa homeless program uses unpaid, destitute residents as steady labor force, revenue source  Tampa Bay Times   ...For years, New Beginnings founder and CEO Tom Atchison has sent his unpaid homeless labor crews to Tampa Bay Rays, Lightning and Bucs games, the Daytona 500 and the Florida State Fair. For their shelter, he's had homeless people work in construction, landscaping, telemarketing, moving, painting, even grant-writing...
Black Friday Fizzles With Consumers as Sales Tumble 11%  Bloomberg   ...Spending tumbled an estimated 11 percent over the weekend, the Washington-based National Retail Federation said yesterday. And more than 6 million shoppers who had been expected to hit stores never showed up...
“Cyber Monday” Will Ship Even More Wealth Overseas  Economy in Crisis   ...Thanks to our trade deficit, the money we spend on Christmas is basically shuttled directly overseas, bypassing most of our fellow Americans, while enriching an elite few. 70 percent of our economy is now comprised of consumer spending...
West Virginia Coal Country Sees New Era as Donald Blankenship Is Indicted  New York Times   ...Deadly coal mining disasters are nothing new to West Virginia, but a 2010 explosion is different in one important respect: A C.E.O., Donald L. Blankenship, is being charged over the 29 lives lost...
I quit: Miseries of an Uber driver  Salon   ...A terrible GPS system and crummy hourly rate while the company reaps huge profits? No more. I’m out...
ISIS-Linked Ansar Beit al-Maqdis Says It Killed U.S. Oil Worker William Henderson  NBC News   ...A militant organization with ties to ISIS claimed responsibility late Sunday for the death of an American oil worker in Egypt...
Miscellaneous
Suburban businesses cash in when Hollywood comes to town  Boston Globe   ...While the latest report from the state Department of Revenue indicated that most of the spending attributed to the Massachusetts film tax credit in 2012 went out of state, proponents of the initiative say that an increasing number of locally filmed productions have spread out beyond Boston, helping small businesses and tourism in the suburbs from Lincoln to Quincy to Saugus...
Oil at $40 Possible as Market Transforms Caracas to Iran  Bloomberg   ...Oil’s decline is proving to be the worst since the collapse of the financial system in 2008 and threatening to have the same global impact of falling prices three decades ago that led to the Mexican debt crisis and the end of the Soviet Union...
Online Sales for Girl Scout Cookies Are Approved  New York Times   ...Girl Scouts are adding digital marketing to their formidable arsenal of charm, cuteness and perseverance to sell millions of boxes of Thin Mints, Samoas and other longtime cookie favorites...

Worker power wins in California

Teamstesrs and Taylor Farms workers in Sacramento

Workers won important new laws in California over the past legislative session by telling lawmakers the truth about employers' abuse, the struggle to balance work and family and illegal but unenforced anti-union activities.

The California Federation of Labor describes how important laws for workers were passed because of the work of Teamsters, IATSE, SAG-AFTRA, LIUNA, Taylor Farms workers, OUR Walmart and more.

In the Labor's Edge blog, we learn how entertainment workers helped to keep television and film jobs in California with a tax incentive for the industry. We learn how Taylor Farms workers helped protect temporary workers by winning passage of a law that holds employers liable for temporary workers. And we learn how OUR Walmart workers got three paid sick days for nearly every employee in California.

Here's Labor's Edge:

Throughout the year, workers and union members gathered, worked, petitioned, called, rallied, lobbied, testified, protested at the Capitol for pro-worker legislation.  They engaged their coworkers in their fight for better jobs and a brighter future.  They took days off work and risked their jobs to tell their stories and to push for greater worker protections.

The loss of good film and television jobs to other states and countries is devastating families. Union members spent all year fighting for a solution in AB 1839, which invests in the industry.

Their activities culminated in a Mobilization Day in Sacramento where hundreds of union workers demonstrated their crafts through a make-up transformation, erection of a blue screen from the set of the TV hit Scandal and presentation of the crew, cast and talent of hit shows.  Every dollar of a film tax incentive investment goes to support a union job – with the Teamsters, IATSE, SAG-AFTRA, IBEW, LIUNA, AFM, DGA. Their collective efforts produced success – the Governor signed AB 1839 (Gatto/Bocangera), creating a $330 million film tax incentive for five years, on September 18. 

Two-thirds of Taylor Farms workers have little or no protection from wage theft or dangerous working conditions because they work for staffing agencies.

All this will change because Governor Brown signed AB 1897 into law on September 28. This landmark bill will hold employers responsible for the wages, health and safety, and workers compensation for contracted employees doing their work while on their premises. This bill was enacted because of the courage, the power, the voice of workers at Taylor Farms. Over and over again, Taylor Farms workers and the Teamsters would descend on the Capitol, speak their truth, testify in committee, bird dog corporate lobbyists, claim valuable real estate at “The Gate” where lobbyists can meet with legislators off the floor. Taylor Farms workers and Teamsters would line up in the hallway and flush out the corporate lobbyists. And it all worked!   

And here's how OUR Walmart won three sick days for nearly all California workers:

Members of the OUR Walmart campaign worked the stores, talking to associates about what it would take to make their jobs at Walmart better jobs. Resoundingly, the lack of paid sick days, being forced to work when they or their family member is sick…or else face discipline and the threat of losing their jobs is what they heard as a top priority for Walmart associates. OUR Walmart members from throughout the state gathered at the state Capitol in the final weeks of the legislative session to fight for paid sick days. They spent time on the doors lobbying for three paid sick days and gathered at the Senators entrance to the Senate floor to engage in valuable face time with legislators. Their efforts produced success – Gov. Jerry Brown signed AB 1522, creating three paid sick days for nearly all California workers on September 10. 

Great work everybody!

Today's Teamster News 02.21.14

Teamster News
Massachusetts Highway Workers Unanimously Ratify Contract  teamster.org   ...Workers with the Newbury Highway Department in Newbury, Mass., have voted unanimously to ratify a strong contract, securing wage increases and job protections. The highway workers, who are members of Teamsters Local 170 in Worcester, Mass., joined the union in December and quickly negotiated a solid agreement...
Baltimore City School Bus Workers Win $1.25 Million Wage Settlement  teamster.org   ...Baltimore school bus drivers and attendants have reached a $1.25 million wage settlement with their employer, Durham School Services, the transportation contractor for Baltimore City Public Schools...
Pleasanton-based Safeway in discussions to sell company  San Jose Mercury News   ...In a move poised to rattle the supermarket industry, one of the East Bay's largest employers, Safeway, announced Wednesday that it is in talks to sell the company...
Film tax credit bill goes live  Sacramento Business Journal   ...Democratic Assemblymembers Raul Bocanegra and Mike Gatto released a film tax credit bill Wednesday that supporters say will protect jobs by keeping film crews in California....
Why privatizing toll collection is a horrible idea  teamsternation   ...If the New Jersey Turnpike Commission privatizes toll collection, workers who have already taken enormous cuts to pay and benefits will suffer...
Eight lies ‘advocates’ told about carriage horses  New York Post   ...the carriage industry is well-regulated and safe. NYCLASS attacks us not with facts and well-reasoned arguments, but with emotional manipulation and outright lies...
Judge strikes down Nebraska law that allowed Keystone XL pipeline  Dallas Morning News   ...A Nebraska judge on Wednesday struck down a law that allowed the Keystone XL pipeline to proceed through the state, a victory for opponents who have tried to block the project that would carry oil from Canada to Texas refineries...
The War on Workers
GOP’s Social Security disaster: Conservatives just lost their chance to cut benefits  Salon   ...The president dropping Chained CPI from his budget is a reprieve for the left -- and a message to the right...
Federal Government Soon to Know Everywhere You've Driven  American Prospect   ...There are more license-plate cameras installed all the time. Now the government wants to put all the data together in one database...
Flu Deaths Rise Among Young and Middle-Aged U.S. Adults  Bloomberg   ...While influenza traditionally affects children and the elderly hardest, adults under age 65 accounted for 61 percent of hospitalizations so far this season, an increase from 35 percent last year, according to a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report...
New Report Exposes America's Highest Paid Government Workers  truthout   ...America’s highest paid "government" workers are not your local teachers, nurses, or sanitation workers. Rather, they are corporate executives who sign lucrative contracts to take over public services and then pay themselves and other executives eye-popping salaries...
Victoria's anti-protest laws pass lower house by one vote  The Guardian   ...Controversial new laws giving police unprecedented powers to disperse protests have passed Victoria’s lower house...
New Report: Port Trucking Companies Steal More Than $1 Billion in Wages From Drivers  In These Times   ...The port brings in close to $16 billion per year, but the drivers only see a tiny bit of that money. This is in large part because they're “misclassified” as independent contractors...
State Battles
Concerned Missourians Deliver More than 6,850 Letters Calling on Speaker To Drop ALEC's 'Right-To-Work' Legislation Attacks  Progress Missouri   ...“We need to be building an economy that works for everyone, not political attacks and favors to special interest donors...”
Employers could pay less in lawsuits over unpaid wages  Indianapolis Star   ...Long-sought changes limiting employers’ liability when being sued by workers for unpaid wages may come to pass under a House bill backed by the Indiana Chamber of Commerce. The bill also would set up a framework to allow employers to take money out of wages of employees — if they agree — to repay loans for work-related equipment and job training...
The Top Five Things You Need to Know about the John Doe Emails  Center for Media and Democracy   ... in 2010 while Walker was running for governor, he corresponded consistently with key campaign and county staff from a private account in the middle of the work day and apparently on the secret Wi-Fi system set up by top aide Tim Russell...
Scott Walker Ordered Doctor Fired Because She Was Once A Thong Model  Huffington Post   ... In April 2010, Scott Walker and his staff realized they had a potential problem on their hands that would require them to quietly fire a woman who appeared to be completely competent at her job. The issue was that she had what they perceived to be a "checkered" past: She used to be a thong model...
Chris Christie's Mansion Fund Collected Millions From Political Favor Seekers  Huffington Post   ...A review of IRS records and Drumthwacket donor lists, however, suggest that prospective donors saw the mansion as something more than just an altruistic investment. Contributions to Drumthwacket often coincided with the donors' attempts to win tax breaks, political appointments or other support from Christie and his appointees. In many cases, the donors, like the Strangfelds, got what they wanted...
SC guv says she wears heels to kick unions  teamsternation   ...South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley would rather let the people of her state go without jobs than let them get union jobs...
Trade
“Free Trade” Pacts Were Always About Weakening Nation-States to Promote Rule by Multinationals  naked capitalism   ...the idea behind getting rid of these barriers wasn’t about free trade, it was about reorganizing the world so that corporations could manage resources for “the benefit of mankind”...
Miscellaneous
Madoff said JPMorgan executives knew of his fraud: lawsuit  Reuters   ..."JPMorgan was uniquely positioned for 20 years to see Madoff's crimes and put a stop to them," the lawsuit said. "But faced with the prospect of shutting down Madoff's account and losing lucrative profits," it added, "JPMorgan - at its highest level - chose to turn a blind eye."...

Today's Teamster News 01.28.14

First Student School Bus Workers Join Teamsters Local 332  Drive Up Standards   ...School bus workers with First Student in Flint, Mich., have voted overwhelmingly in favor of representation by Teamsters Local 332...
Growing Film Industry Brought Record $358M to Illinois in 2013  Teamsters Joint Council 25   ...Illinois' Gov. Pat Quinn visits set of 'Chicago Fire,' thanks Teamsters for commitment to industry...
Pete Seeger, Songwriter and Champion of Folk Music, Dies at 94  New York Times   ...He toured the world, performing and collecting folk songs, in 1963, and returned to serenade civil rights advocates, who had made a rallying song of his “We Shall Overcome.”...
Pennsylvania AFL-CIO Will Be Holding a Press Conference and a Lobby Day on Tuesday, January 28, 2014 to Urge State Legislators to Oppose Bills that Would Silence the Voice of Pennsylvania’s Working Families  Pennsylvania AFL-CIO   ...The legislation threatens all workers’ ability to advocate for improved working conditions and safer jobs.  Workers attending the press conference will be talking to their State Representatives and State Senators urging them to oppose this legislation and any proposals that silence or weaken the voices of working men and women...
Life Is Worse In Right-To-Work States  Economic Policy Institute   ...According to Politico, 4 of the 5 best states to live in are non-right-to-work. In order, they are New Hampshire, Minnesota, Vermont, Utah, and Massachusetts. Right-to-work states account for 8 of the 10 worst states, and all 5 of the 5 worst states (in order, from 46th-50th: Alabama, Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississsippi)...
Tax-Free Gifts Quadrupled in US When Congress Raised Limit  Bloomberg News   ...Congress voted in December 2010 to let wealthy Americans make tax-free gifts of as much as $5 million, and the money flowed. U.S. taxpayers reported making $122 billion in nontaxable gifts on the returns they filed in 2012, more than four times the amount they made in each of the two previous years...
In Global Trade, China Plays by Its Own Rules  Epoch Times   ...China continues to impose duties on U.S. grain oriented flat-rolled electrical steel, resulting in a $247 million decrease in exports from the United States to China, falling from $250 million to $3 million a year...
Spy Agencies Tap Data Streaming From Phone Apps  New York Times   ...When a smartphone user opens Angry Birds, the popular game application, and starts slinging birds at chortling green pigs, spies could be lurking in the background to snatch data revealing the player’s location, age, sex and other personal information, according to secret British intelligence documents...

e New Jersey Turnpike Authority has scheduled a public hearing Tuesday on a plan to privatize toll collectors on the New Jersey Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway. The Christie administration contends it could save a significant amount of money, but the unions representing toll collectors disagree.

Read More: NJ Moves to Privatize Toll Collectors [POLL/AUDIO] | http://nj1015.com/nj-moves-to-privatize-toll-collectors-audio/?trackback=tsmclip

The New Jersey Turnpike Authority has scheduled a public hearing Tuesday on a plan to privatize toll collectors on the New Jersey Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway. The Christie administration contends it could save a significant amount of money, but the unions representing toll collectors disagree.

Read More: NJ Moves to Privatize Toll Collectors [POLL/AUDIO] | http://nj1015.com/nj-moves-to-privatize-toll-collectors-audio/?trackback=tsmclip

The new face of food stamps: working-age Americans  Associated Press   ...In a first, working-age people now make up the majority in U.S. households that rely on food stamps — a switch from a few years ago, when children and the elderly were the main recipients...
Killing the Economy  Economic Populist   ...John Williams writes that consumer inflation, if properly measured, is running around 9%, far above the 2% figure that is the Fed’s target and more in line with what consumers are actually experiencing. We have just had a 6.5% annual increase in the cost of a postage stamp...
Justice Department Inquiry Takes Aim at Banks’ Business With Payday Lenders  New York Times   ...Federal prosecutors are scrutinizing whether banks have allowed businesses to siphon billions of dollars from consumers’ accounts...
Rough Patch for Uber Service’s Challenge to Taxis  New York Times   ...Uber is being sued by its drivers, who say it is stealing their tips. Competitors are pressing it from all sides...
Kellogg's Delivers Memphis a Slap in the Face  Truthout   ...this February, workers at the Memphis Kellogg cereal plant face the prospect of spending Black History Month on the picket line after the company locked them out...
High court rules against steelworkers' claim   Associated Press   ...The Supreme Court says steelworkers do not have to be paid for time they spend putting on and taking off protective gear they wear on the job...
NJ Moves to Privatize Toll Collectors  New Jersey 101.5 Radio   ...The New Jersey Turnpike Authority has scheduled a public hearing Tuesday on a plan to privatize toll collectors on the New Jersey Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway. The Christie administration contends it could save a significant amount of money, but the unions representing toll collectors disagree...

Today's Teamster News 09.20.13

Strike, lockout possibilities for Darigold workers  KIRO TV   ...Workers at Darigold, who have worked without a contract since June 1, staged an informational picket line a couple of weeks ago with signs that read "just practicing." Now the members of Teamster Local 117 believe their company has set the stage for a lockout or strike...
Middle-Class Decline Mirrors The Fall Of Unions In One Chart  Huffington Post   ...This week the Census Bureau reported the latest depressing decline in middle-class incomes during the so-called economic recovery. But it may have missed an important factor in this story. As union membership declines, middle-class incomes shrink...
Income, Poverty, and Healthcare 2012: The Patient Did Not Get Worse But Remains Seriously Ill  Corrente   ...A comparison of real household income over the past five years showed an 8.3 percent decline since 2007, the year before the nation entered an economic recession, and a 9.0 percent decrease from the 1999 peak of $56,080...
The Era of Cheap Gasoline is Over  OilPrice   ...The last time the average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline in the United States was below $3.00, however, was the day before Christmas Eve 2010. AAA said that, on average, prices may never be that low again...
As President’s Export Council Meets, No Chance to Meet Obama’s Export Doubling Goal; Exports Fall Under Free Trade Agreements  Public Citizen   ...recent government data show it will be virtually impossible to meet Obama’s stated goal of doubling exports by the end of 2014. The same data shows that in 16 out of 16 months since the Korea “free trade” agreement (FTA) took effect last year, U.S. goods exports to Korea have fallen below the average export level in the year before the deal...
Pope Says Church Is ‘Obsessed’ With Gays, Abortion and Birth Control  New York Times   ...Six months into his papacy, Pope Francis sent shock waves through the Roman Catholic church on Thursday with the publication of his remarks that the church had grown “obsessed” with abortion, gay marriage and contraception, and that he had chosen not to talk about those issues despite recriminations from critics...
Search for L.A. film czar drags on at City Hall  Los Angeles Times   ....L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti is still searching for a film czar to serve as an industry advocate in City Hall and to help stop runaway production...
AAR: Rail Traffic increased in August  Calculated Risk   ...The Association of American Railroads (AAR) ... reported increased total U.S. rail traffic for the month of August 2013, with intermodal setting a new record and carload volume increasing overall compared with August 2012...
Union rep: Cutbacks cost lives in Navy Yard shooting  USA TODAY   ...A top union official for Washington Navy Yard police says he believes fewer lives would have been lost had the department not been understaffed during the attack that left the shooter and 12 of his victims dead...
Tensions Between BART and Unions Escalate, Transit Strike Looming  SF Weekly   ...After another full day of negotiations Wednesday, it's fair to say things between BART and its unions are getting worse, not better...
Labor to “play heavily” in state elections next year  People’s World   ...Organized labor, with its community allies, will "play heavily" in state gubernatorial and legislative races next year, its top two political operatives say...
Watch the growth of U.S. income inequality with this animated map  Washington Post   ...Here's a fascinating visualization of how inequality in the United States has evolved over the years...
Postmaster says USPS may need emergency rate hike  Associated Press   ...The Postal Service may need an emergency rate increase to stay afloat, according to Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe who says the agency’s cash balance next month likely will cover only five days of its average daily expenses...
The Monsanto Protection Act Is Back!  Huffington Post   ...The agrichemical companies may have the best lobbyists in town. Last May, the agrichemical giants -- Monsanto, Dow, Syngenta, Bayer, DuPont, BASF -- pulled off a stunning maneuver to protect their massive profits. These companies could have legal protection to continue selling their products even if the courts pulled the products from the market...
In JPMorgan case, a rare admission: bank broke the law  Los Angeles Times   ...The $920-million settlement JPMorgan Chase and Co. struck with regulators in the "London Whale" fiasco contains something rare: an admission the bank broke the law...
More Amazon Warehouse Workers Sue Retailer Over Unpaid Security Waits  Huffington Post   ...A growing number of Amazon.com warehouse workers are suing the online retail giant and its contractors for requiring them to undergo time-consuming and unpaid security screenings in order to do their jobs...
Misplaced Idea to Private the Tennessee Valley Authority Brings Unions, GOP Together  The We Party   ...The budget proposed by President Barack Obama in April floated an idea to privatize the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), a crown jewel of the New Deal. Labor unions expressing deep opposition to the idea are being joined by unlikely allies in the fight...
Ohio unions keep watchful eye on Right to Work legal challenge in Indiana  PR News Channel   ...Ohio union supporters are anxiously watching the developments in Indiana on the heels of the state’s controversial Right to Work law being ruled unconstitutional by a Lake County judge last week…
Wisconsin's Anti-Voting Law Heads to Federal Court  Huffington Post   ...With deceptively little fanfare or attention, a federal judge in Wisconsin is poised to preside over the first trial challenging a photo ID law under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act...
Florida Gov. Rick Scott seeks Supreme Court review of worker drug test  Associated Press   ...Florida Gov. Rick Scott plans to seek U.S. Supreme Court review of his executive order requiring random drug tests for thousands of state employees...
Senator: 'Flawed' bidding process led to privatization of prison food service  Lansing State Journal   ...A Republican senator told the Civil Service Commission on Wednesday that a flawed bidding process led to the state’s decision to privatize food service for 45,000 Michigan prisoners and eliminate about 370 state jobs...

Today's Teamster News 04.15.13

Foreclosure Settlement Shows 4.2 Million Borrowers Shafted in 2009-2010  Economic Populist   ...Close to 1.2 million borrowers, or about 30 percent of the more than 3.9 million households whose properties were foreclosed on by 11 leading financial institutions in 2009 and 2010, had to battle potentially wrongful efforts to seize their homes despite not having defaulted on their loans, being protected under a host of federal laws, or having been in good standing under bank-approved plans to either restructure their mortgages or temporarily delay required payments...
Is the Fed Handing Out Valuable Tips to Insiders?  Washington Blog   ...Congressman Grayson Asks for an Investigation into Federal Reserve’s FOMC leak...
The Terrifying Reality of Long-Term Unemployment  The Atlantic   ...It's an awful catch-22: employers won't hire you if you've been out of work for more than six months...
U.S., Guatemala reach deal to resolve labor dispute  Reuters   ...The new 18-point labor enforcement plan "reflects Guatemala's commitment to constructive engagement to meet its labor obligations under our trade agreement," Acting U.S. Trade Representative Demetrios Marantis said in a statement...
Margaret Thatcher the tax snatcher? Mystery of her £6m house with links to THREE tax havens  Mirror   ...“How can a former prime minister spend more than two decades living in a house in London that has been owned for many years by a company based in the British Virgin Islands? ... We all have a duty to pay our taxes, and that includes former politicians...
Portugal's fed-up youth pack and go as their nation slides into reverse  The Guardian   ...Job prospects are grim, health and education are in crisis and, with more austerity to come, emigration is increasingly the only solution...
U.S. grants Michigan permit to build 2nd Detroit-Canada bridge  Detroit Free Press   ...The U.S. State Department announced its issuance of a presidential permit to the state of Michigan for the New International Trade Crossing between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, moving the project an important step closer to completion...
After Courts Block GOP Laws, Wisconsin GOP Pushes Bill To Strip Most State Courts’ Power To Block Laws  ThinkProgress   ...Last November, Wisconsin was able to run a fair election unmarred by one of the Republican Party’s favorite voter suppression tactics because two lower courts struck down the state’s unconstitutional voter ID law, and the conservative state supreme court repeatedly refused requests to take up the case before it winds its way through the normal appeals process. Now, a group of Wisconsin Republicans are pushing legislation to ensure that something like this never happens again:...
Flaws Seen in Protection of Animals on the Set  New York Times   ...Trainers, who are already heavily regulated by state and federal officials, are particularly incensed by the idea that the (American Humane) association might seek to extend its authority beyond film sets, to include certification of those who house and supply animals — something they see as an attempt to bolster funds by tapping them for fees...

For film Teamsters, the days are long

Dorothy Thompson, a driver from Local 399 in Hollywood, works on the set of  "The Island" in  2005.

Teamsters are among the hardest working people in show business. Producer Gavin Polone explains just how hard in a recent post at Vulture.com:

Our transportation captain Ali Yeganhe — who dispatches drivers, manages the fleet of vehicles, including those used on-camera, and drives as well — was the most sanguine about the nature of his job, even though his department has the worst hours. When a show is on location, the drivers are the ones responsible for ferrying all the equipment back to the studio at the end of the day and making sure it's all set to go for the next one. “We’re talking about a fourteen-hour day if we’re local and as much as eighteen hours if we’re farther out. We have an eight-hour turnaround that is mandated by the department of transportation. It does take a toll on you as far as aging you. There is a high divorce rate in this business. Truthfully, I haven’t slept a whole night in three years. My wife and I were together before we got in this business. She was in wardrobe, so she knew.”

Today's Teamster News 07.06.11

Recall elections this month  Today's TMJ4   ...Wisconsin is one week away from the start of recall elections for nine state senators...
Developmentally disabled run over by Kasich’s budget bus  Plunderbund   ... sorry to those developmentally disabled kids of Twinsburg. Next time you should make sure you have the right lobbyist...
Once-growing movie business is now shrinking  Detroit Free Press   ...More than four months after Gov. Rick Snyder announced plans to drastically scale back generous incentives for moviemaking, Michigan's once rapidly expanding film industry is shrinking...
Voters angry about Minnesota shutdown give Republican lawmaker an earful at July Fourth parade  Associated Press   ...With neither side willing to budge, talks broke down Thursday night hours before the government shutdown. They have yet to resume...
With enemies like these, Chris Christie doesn't need to make friends  Capital New York   ...Only in New Jersey could it even possibly be a sign of a healthy, functioning political partnership when the president of the State Senate calls the governor "a rotten prick...
The Rock and the Hard Place on the Deficit (opinion)  New York Times   ... tax increases and spending cuts will tend to slow the recovery in the near term, but spending cuts will likely slow it more...