TPP is a big, bad deal for workers

Rep. Marcy Kaptur called out TPP as bad for workers this morning.

Several House members gathered on Capitol Hill this morning to let the public know seeing isn't believing when it comes to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

Lawmakers rolled out a copy for the 12-nation Pacific Rim trade deal on a dolly -- all 5,600 pages of it -- and said it will take more than 90 days for lawmakers to fully dissect and digest the agreement. But they added what they've read thus far is worse than they imagined.

When it comes to American jobs, trade deficits, expanded rights for foreign investors and food safety, the TPP is a loser for everyday Americans, elected officials stated. It's time for the U.S. to learn from past history on trade deals, Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) said:

The Trans-Pacific Partnership is more of the great sucking sound of jobs out of this country. Not a single one has resulted in a trade balance...We are going to lose even more jobs. TPP is just more of the same.

House members said bipartisan opposition to the deal is growing on Capitol Hill. Now that the document is public, lawmakers can delve into it to get the details of the pact. And many are not liking what they read.

The TPP document in all its largeness.

For example, the agreement will allow members to challenge food safety checks made when goods are imported into the U.S. Given the concerns many have raised about seafood brought in from Vietnam and Malaysia, for example, that is not good news for consumers.

TPP also does nothing to curtail currency manipulation, which would lead to even larger U.S. trade deficits with member countries. And investor-state dispute resolution language actually gives investors a great ability to sue these Pacific Rim countries to have their laws overturned.

As Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) said, TPP is "too big to pass," given that only five chapters of the agreement even deal with trade. It's just another attempted corporate takeover sanctioned by member governments.

That's why Congress needs to say no to the TPP.

Today Teamster News 06.26.15

Teamsters
SEIRPC board OKs Teamsters contract   The Hawk Eye  ...The Southeast Iowa Regional Planning Commissions approved a three-year contract with the Chauffeurs, Teamsters and Helpers Local Union No. 238, affiliated with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, at Wednesday's executive board meeting in West Burlington. The contract will need final approval by the full board at its July meeting. The contract includes a 3 percent increase in wages for each of the next three years for SEIBUS drivers and a maintenance manager...
GOP measure would permit longer tandem trucks  Associated Press  ...Over the objections of safety advocates, the Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday approved a trucking industry bid to allow longer tandem trucks on the nation's highways. Pushing the measure were large trucking operations that stand to profit from lower costs. In opposition were unions such as the Teamsters, many states and local governments, and safety advocates. Many smaller trucking companies were against it as well...
Teamster Officers Training Being Held in Missouri  Teamster.org  ...A Teamsters officers’ training is being held today and Friday, June 26, at the Teamsters Complex in Kansas City, Mo. More than 50 Teamster officers are gathered to take part in the program that is hosted by Teamsters Joint Council 56 and Joint Council 56 President Jim Kabell and coordinated by the IBT Training and Development Department...

Global Labor & Trade
House completes Obama’s trade items as Pacific pact looms  Washington Post  ...The Republican-led Congress rounded out President Barack Obama’s trade package Thursday, overwhelmingly passing a worker training program just weeks after it was stymied. The House voted 286 to 138 to renew the program for workers displaced by international trade. Obama had said he wanted to sign that bill alongside the “fast track” negotiating authority that Congress approved a day earlier...
Congress approves assistance for workers who lose jobs to trade  LA Times  ...Congress gave final approval Thursday to a program that provides funds for retraining workers who lose their jobs to overseas trade, a key component of President Obama's trade agenda. The Trade Adjustment Assistance bill, which is now on its way to the White House, became tangled in a political debate over giving the administration fast-track authority to negotiate trade deals...
Obama Bolsters His Leverage With Trade Victory, but at a Cost  New York Times ...President Obama’s success in rescuing his high-priority trade legislation from a rebellion by fellow Democrats strengthens his hand internationally and paves the way for completion of the most expansive economic agreement in generations. While the turbulent process was embarrassing for the president and deeply confusing for foreign negotiating partners, Mr. Obama now has the leverage he sought to force the final concessions needed to wrap up a free-trade pact...
Democrats Mend Fences After Bloody Trade Fight  National Journal  ...After weeks of all-out fighting over President Obama's trade agenda—and a bitter defeat for its Democratic opponents—the combatants in the House Democratic Caucus are ready to bury the hatchet. That doesn't mean Democrats are done fighting over trade. TPA prevents Congress from amending the pending Trans-Pacific Partnership, but members will still get an up-or-down vote when the 12-nation trade deal is completed...
Sen. Stabenow Calls for Voluntary Country-of-Origin Labels on Meat  Wall Street Journal  ...U.S. lawmakers are weighing the fate of country-of-origin labels, known as COOL, after the World Trade Organization said in May that the existing requirement discriminates against animals from Canada and Mexico. Following their win at the WTO, both Canada and Mexico are now threatening retaliatory measures totaling more than a combined $3 billion. Canada has threatened trade restrictions on a range of U.S. products...
The Fight for Fair Trade: How Far We've Come, How Much Further We Will Go  (opinion) Huffington Post  ...After a long, arduous fight, Congress passed legislation that will put harmful trade pacts on the fast track. Now our job is to put aside this momentary loss, build on the incredible momentum we have created in the fight for fair and responsible trade, and shift focus to the even bigger fights ahead. We must now focus on defeating the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)...
In China, Walmart Is Unionized, But Workers Have No Power on the Job  In These Times  ...Walmart has succeeded in meeting the Chinese government’s demands that the company allow unions to be formally established, but this has not translated into any effective collective bargaining power for some 107,000 workers at the company’s 411 Chinese stores, says Han Dongfang, Executive Director of the Hong Kong-based China Labour Bulletin...

State & Living Wage Battles
New Mexico Will Make It Even Harder To Get Food Stamps  Think Progress  ...With an unemployment rate well above the national average and more than one in four of its children on the brink of hunger, New Mexico is poised to make it harder to get food stamps. Like most other states, New Mexico has waived federal work requirements tied to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) since about 2009. The work rules are designed to lapse when the unemployment is severe, since requiring people to find work or starve makes little sense when there’s no work to be had...
Connecticut Just Passed a Law Requiring Bosses Who Steal Workers’ Wages to Pay Them Back Double  In These Times  ...For many employers, wage theft makes good business sense. The probability of getting caught refusing to pay a worker overtime, shaving hours off their check or paying less than the minimum wage is low. This Wednesday, Connecticut Governor Dan Malloy signed into law Senate Bill 914, a measure that will allow victims of wage theft to collect double the amount due them...
W.Va. governor: No prevailing wage July 1 due to lawmakers  Herald-Dispatch  ...Blaming inaction by state lawmakers, Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin's administration says the state's prevailing wage will disappear July 1 for a short-term lapse that is creating uncertainty for the construction industry. On Thursday, the Democratic governor's spokesman, Chris Stadelman, said WorkForce West Virginia couldn't calculate the rate for public construction projects by July 1...
Lawsuit aims to declare Nevada minimum wage unconstitutional  Las Vegas Review-Journal  ...Several Nevada businesses are asking a federal judge to declare the state’s minimum wage law unconstitutional. According to a recent fact sheet prepared by a Legislative Counsel Bureau researcher, an amendment to the Nevada Constitution to raise the minimum wage paid to employees was approved by voters in 2004 and was reaffirmed in 2006. The 2006 voter-approved amendment requires the minimum wage to be recalculated each year...
Maine House members launching push to impeach LePage  Bangor Daily News  ...Six lawmakers said Thursday they will attempt to launch impeachment proceedings against Republican Gov. Paul LePage for his alleged role in pushing Democratic House Speaker Mark Eves out of a new job at Good Will-Hinckley School. The House of Representatives has “sole power of impeachment” according to Article 4 of the Maine Constitution...

U.S. Labor
Truckers end protest over terminal wait time at Port of New Orleans  NOLA.com  The independent truck drivers who protested outside the Port of New Orleans this week returned to work Thursday morning (June 25) after reaching an agreement with terminal operators and local trucking companies that satisfied part of their demands. As part of the deal, drivers said the local trucking companies that hire them have agreed to pay them $40 to transport each damaged shipping container to a repair facility...
More Than 9,000 Santa Clara County SEIU Union Workers Vote to Strike Over "Unfair Labor" Practices  NBC  ...More than 9,000 Santa Clara County union workers voted on Wednesday to authorize a strike next week over what they say are unfair labor practices – the first time in more than four decades. SEIU 521 spokeswoman Khanh Weinberg said that 97 percent of the union members comprising of 911 dispatchers, janitors, librarians and nurses, voted to authorize the strike on Tuesday. Workers voted to hold an "open-ended" strike with no end date...
Ford, UAW talking in advance of contract talks  NWI Times  ...Ford and the United Auto Workers union have been talking before upcoming contract negotiations, which should officially start next month. The UAW represents about 5,000 workers locally at the Chicago Assembly Plant in Hegewisch and the Chicago Stamping Plant in Chicago Heights. The union hopes to boost pay and eliminate a two-tier system where newer workers make less to do the same job as more senior employees...
State, AFSCME OK ongoing talks without lockout or strike  News & Observer  ...Negotiations on a contract with Illinois' largest public employee union will continue without the possibility of a strike or lockout for one month after the contract expires next week. Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner's office and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Council 31, released a statement Thursday about the agreement. The idea is to let both sides negotiate in July without the threat of disruption of public services. The statement says "all legal and contractual" rights will be preserved...

Showing Solidarity with Ink Master Workers  AFL-CIO  ...Workers at "Ink Master" voted overwhelmingly for a union last year. Since then, Original Media, the master behind "Ink Master," has refused to bargain in good faith with the Writers Guild of America, East, AFL-CIO. Original Media is being investigated currently by the National Labor Relations Board for failing to bargain in good faith...
Inside the Growing Movement to Unionize Charter Schools  The American Prospect  ...The labor struggle happening in Los Angeles mirrors a growing number of efforts taking place at charter schools around the country, where most teachers work with no job security on year-to-year contracts. For teachers, unions, and charter school advocates, the moment is fraught with challenges. Traditional unions are grappling with how they can both organize charter teachers and still work politically to curb charter expansion...
Diversifying labor ‘one way or the other’  St. Louis American  ...Attendees gave a nod to union members at the Communications Workers of America (CWA), who passed a “Black Lives Matter” resolution at their national convention on June 10 to address the issues of “systematic racism” in the United States. “Part of our goal in passing the resolution is to start active members of CWA talking about these issues,” said Bradley Harmon, president of the CWA Local 6355. “That has already started. I think it deepened our commitment towards working for racial justice”...

Miscellaneous
Senate Recommends $1.7 Billion In Education Cuts  Think Progress  ...The Senate Appropriations Committee advanced a labor, health and education bill for the next fiscal year out of committee Thursday. The U.S. Department of Education would lose $1.7 billion in the Senate spending bill compared to its current funding levels. Those cuts were significantly less than the House Appropriations Committee, which cut the department by $2.8 billion...
In Surprise Decision, SCOTUS Rules Against Discriminatory Housing Practices  Common Dreams  ...In a decision applauded by housing and civil rights groups on Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Fair Housing Act (FHA) allows people to pursue lawsuits when a housing practice has a discriminatory effect, even if that practice wasn't intended to discriminate—an effect known as "disparate impact"...
Gay marriage declared legal across the US in historic supreme court ruling  The Guardian  ...Same-sex marriages are now legal across the entirety of the United States after a historic supreme court ruling that declared attempts by conservative states to ban them unconstitutional. In what may prove the most important civil rights case in a generation, five of the nine court justices determined that the right to marriage equality was enshrined under the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment...
"Slavery Deeply Embedded" in South Carolina: Emanuel AME Church on Street Named for Racist Lawmaker  Democracy Now  ...When Rev. Clementa Pinckney lay in state at the Capitol this week, his body had to be brought past the Confederate flag that still flies there and is the symbol embraced by his killer, Dylann Roof. The Emanuel AME Church in Charleston is located on Calhoun Street, named for one of the most prominent pro-slavery figures in history, the late Senator and Vice President John C. Calhoun, who argued slavery was a "positive good" rather than a "necessary evil"...
Separate Attacks Leave One Dead in France and Dozens Killed in Tunisia  Common Dreams  ...Violence was making global news headlines in two countries on Friday as an earlier attack on a U.S.-owned gas plant in France was later overshadowed by an attack on a hotel in Sousse, Tunisia, where nearly thirty people are reported dead. The Associated Press reports on the attacks in Tunisia: "Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has confirmed that one of the two beachside hotels where tourists were shot in Tunisia, killing at least 27 people, is owned by a Spanish company"...

Today's Teamster News 12.07.14

Teamsters
Berlin Metals, Teamsters reach new contract  NWI.com   ...The Berlin Metals steel service center in Hammond reached a new five-year agreement with Teamsters Union Local 142, which represents its warehouse workers...
EYE ON CLALLAM: County to consider pact with Teamsters at Tuesday meeting in Port Angeles  PeninsulaDailyNews.com   ...Clallam County has been bargaining a new contract with the union for more than 20 months...
Trade
TPP market access gains for U.S. dairy must be a priority  Ohio Country Journal   ...“It is crucial for the U.S. to prioritize delivery of benefits to our dairy industry, not other TPP countries,” said Tom Suber, USDEC president...
Europeans fear American 'Frankenfood' in trade deal  UPI   ..."Hormone-boosted beef. Chlorine-washed chicken. Genetically altered vegetables. This is what they want for us," French organic farmer Jean Cabaret tells the Washington Post. "In France, food is about pleasure, about taste. But in the United States, they put anything in their mouths. No, this must be stopped."...
The European Citizens Initiative to stop the TTIP  pressenza   …“We are an alliance of nearly 300 European organisations running a self-organised European Citizens’ Initiative against TTIP and CETA. We believe that these two trade and investment agreements must be stopped because they pose a threat to democracy, the rule of law, the environment, health, public services as well as consumer and labour rights...
State Battles
Arizona county mulls not hiring smokers  Associated Press   ... The proposal would also impose a 30 percent health-insurance surcharge on employees who smoke or consume other tobacco products...
War on Workers
The poor used to have the most opportunity in America. Now the rich do.  Washington Post   ... It seems almost impossible now, but the income of the poorest households -- the bottom 10 percent of them -- grew the fastest in JFK-era America, with the top 1 percent a little bit behind...
As college costs rise, more food pantries sprout on campus  Kansas City Star   ...Emporia is among the latest colleges in Kansas and Missouri to start a food pantry for cash-strapped students. Washburn University in Topeka also opened a pantry last month, Pittsburg State opened one in October and the University of Missouri-Kansas City student activities office is working on opening a food pantry in March...
Why Poor People Stay Poor  Slate   …It’s amazing what things that are absolute crises for me are simple annoyances for people with money. Anything can make you lose your apartment, because any unexpected problem that pops up, like they do, can set off that Rube Goldberg device...
Judge: Give NSA unlimited access to digital data  PC World   ...The U.S. National Security Agency should have an unlimited ability to collect digital information in the name of protecting the country against terrorism and other threats, an influential federal judge said during a debate on privacy. “I think privacy is actually overvalued,” Judge Richard Posner, of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, said...
Mother-of-six dies suddenly just four weeks after giving birth: Fast food worker collapsed outside her workplace and never recovered   Daily Mail   ...A kind mother-of-six has died suddenly at the age of 43, just four weeks after giving birth to her sixth child...
Worker dies after being electrocuted  KHOU.com   …A worker died Saturday while working on trimming trees near a power line...

Today's Teamster News 07.28.14

Trade
Report: Germany To Reject EU-Canada Trade Deal  Globe and Mail   ...Germany is to reject a multi-billion free trade deal between the European Union and Canada which is widely seen as a template for a bigger agreement with the United States, a leading German paper reported on Saturday. Citing diplomats in Brussels, the Sueddeutsche Zeitung said Berlin objects to clauses outlining the legal protection offered to firms investing in the 28-member bloc. Critics say they could allow investors to stop or reverse laws...
Apocalypse Preview: Chinese River Turns Blood-Red  zero hedge   ...An inner city waterway in the eastern city of Wenzhou was found to have been inundated by an influx of blood-red water this morning...
The Factory in the China Food Scandal Is Foreign-Owned. That Could Have Made It a Target  Time   ...An undercover investigation by a Chinese TV station, which aired on Sunday, claimed that a factory in Shanghai owned by Illinois-based OSI Group was shipping the fast-food giants expired meat. Later, coffee-shop chain Starbucks in China and McDonald’s outlets in Japan got dragged into the mess, as they, too, had meat from the suspect factory in their products...
State Battles
Ohio Has Lost 25,000 Local Government Jobs Under John Kasich  Plunderbund   ...Ohio has seen “nearly 25,000 jobs lost in local government” since John Kasich has been governor of Ohio.  And “median incomes in Ohio have fallen about $7,000 over the past decade...”
City seeks $2M from unions  Racine Journal Times   ...Looking for help to close a projected a $4.6 million deficit next year, administration officials at City Hall are seeking $2 million in concessions from police and fire unions...
War on Workers
Steel jobs have plummeted by a third since 2000  NWI Times   ...Northwest Indiana's steel industry, which once drew immigrants from the world over and put bread on many tables for generations, has lost a third of its jobs since 2000...
Corporate Artful Dodgers (opinion)  New York Times   ...The federal government still gets a tenth of its revenue from corporate profits taxation. But it used to get a lot more — a third of revenue came from profits taxes in the early 1950s, a quarter or more well into the 1960s...
World of Resistance Report: IMF, World Bank, Giant Consultants Admit the Storm is Coming  truthout   ...three issues are prevalent in terms of assessing the fears and threats facing the global elite: 1) growing inequality, 2) decline of public trust in institutions of all kinds, and 3) the resulting social unrest...
Financial Predators Move On From Foreclosure Rescue, Enter Student Debt, Military Lending Spaces  naked capitalism   ... These scams are basically all the same: empty promises about obtaining a modification in exchange for up-front cash, with all the promises broken down the road. In this case, the offending parties happen to be law firms, who made the impression on the victims that they would provide legal representation in securing a modification...
Mike Mathieu: Big Data is Watching You  Next New Deal   ...In a darker turn, we begin to see a loss of human freedoms as behavior is increasingly predicted, tracked, and incentivized according to data models...
NSA Helps Crush Dissent at Home and Abroad  Washington Blog   ...The National Security Agency last year significantly expanded its cooperative relationship with the Saudi Ministry of Interior, one of the world’s most repressive and abusive government agencies. An April 2013 top secret memo provided by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden details the agency’s plans “to provide direct analytic and technical support” to the Saudis on “internal security” matters...
Auto shop worker killed when car falls on him  WIVB   ...The accident happened Friday afternoon at Yuya Complete Auto Repair on Skillen Street in Buffalo...
Miscellaneous
Outside money drives a deluge of political ads  New York Times   ... An explosion of spending on political advertising on television — set to break $2 billion in congressional races, with overall spots up nearly 70 percent since the 2010 midterm election — is accelerating the rise of moneyed interests and wresting control from the candidates’ own efforts to reach voters...  

Today's Teamster News 07.12.14

Teamster News
Teamsters Take Their Case To City Of LA — And A Shipper  Journal of Commerce  ...Justice for Port Truckers, which is affiliated with the Teamsters, continued to picket the headquarters and truck yards of three companies they are attempting to organize — Green Fleet Systems, Pac-9 Transportation and Total Transportation Services...
Picketing Truckers Raise Tensions At LA Port Amid Dockworker Talks  NPR   ...Labor tensions are high at the largest port complex in the country — Los Angeles and Long Beach — which handles nearly half of all the cargo coming into the United States. Short-haul truck drivers are striking...
Chicago Company Counts the Minutes Workers Spend on the Toilet   Lakeview Patch   ...The workers, who build faucet stations that go into high schools, university labs and healthcare facilities, say they are allowed only 6 minutes per day for toilet breaks, according to Teamsters Local 743, and anyone who exceeds their allotted toilet time is reprimanded...
Teamsters Local 8 Announces Tentative Contract With Penn State  teamster.org   ...Penn State University employees have reached a tentative contract agreement with the university which will continue to give the 2,500 members of Teamsters Local 8 economic and job stability, the union announced today...
Trade
Steel Institute Pleased With Commerce Determination on OCTG  Steel Works   ... “Imports from these countries have surged in the past few years, and we are pleased that the Commerce Department has reversed its preliminary determination with respect to Korea and taken this critical step to find that imports from all nine investigated countries are benefitting from unfair trade practices.   It is critical that the U.S. government continue to aggressively and strictly enforce our trade laws to ensure that relief is provided to steelmakers and the nearly one million workers directly or indirectly supported by the steel industry...
China’s Food Safety Issues Worse Than You Thought  Food Safety News   ...Shuanghui International, China’s biggest meat products company (which purchased Smithfield Foods last year for $4.7 billion), has been plagued by constant reports here in this country of meat infested with maggots, customers succumbing to food poisoning, and random testing that shows illegal levels of bacteria and illegal additives such as clenbuterol in their meat...
Protesters Cry Foul At Secrecy Around Trans-Pacific Partnership Talks  PostMedia   ...Protesters gathered outside the Delta Hotel in Ottawa Thursday morning where trade talks are underway among Trans-Pacific Partnership members. Protesters held signs that said, “secret deal being negotiated here” and “stop the TPP,” while the Raging Grannies, an Ottawa-based satirical singing group, performed outside the hotel...
TTIP Is An Affront To Democracy  New Internationalist   ...Prime minister David Cameron ... is busy pushing for a deal that will hand the sovereignty of his country, and others, to multinational companies...
State Battles
UAW, VW reach agreement  Associated Press   ...United Auto Workers leaders said Thursday they have reached a consensus with Volkswagen and expect the German automaker to recognize the union if they sign up enough workers at a new local for the company’s assembly plant in Tennessee...
Judge Rules G.O.P. Illegally Redrew Florida Districts  New York Times   ...In a sharply worded decision, a Florida judge ruled late Thursday that Republicans illegally redrew the state’s congressional districts, saying they “made a mockery” of an amendment meant to inject fairness into a process that has long been politically tainted...
North Carolina Will Determine the Future of the Voting Rights Act  The Nation   ...Now, as a result of North Carolina’s new voting restrictions—widely regarded as the most onerous in the country—the 93-year-old activist could be disenfranchised by the state’s voter ID requirement because the name on her driver’s license does not match the name on her voter registration card...
Former Scott Walker aide exceeds top of pay scale with new job  Milwaukee Journal Sentinel   ...A former top aide to Gov. Scott Walker who was recently transferred into a new state job received $3,400 a year more than the top pay listed in an advertisement for the position, state records show...
War On Workers
Gallup Slams Lid On Hopes For US Economy  Wolf Street   ...Gallup found that “the increasing cost of essential items is further constraining family budgets already hit hard by the Great Recession and still reeling from a stagnant economy.” Hence, the less essential the expense, the more it got cut...
Worker dies after construction accident in Mesa  AZFamily.com   ...Mesa Fire Capt. Bob Tribbensee said some equipment fell on the worker, who was then treated by paramedics and transported to a hospital. The worker died at the hospital...
Worker killed in ceiling collapse at Haltom City building  Fort Worth Star Telegram   ...One worker was killed and two others were slightly injured Thursday morning when a ceiling collapsed inside a vacant building that was being remodeled, officials said...
Indiana Steelmaker Fined Over Worker’s Sinkhole Death  Claims Journal   ...he owner of a northwestern Indiana steel mill has agreed to pay a $7,000 fine over what state inspectors determined was a serious safety violation in a worker’s death...
New Bank Leak Shows How Rich Exploit Tax Haven Loopholes  ICIJ   ...Names range from vacuum cleaner tycoon James Dyson to Hollywood actor Mel Gibson. Today The Guardian identifies party donors who over the years have paid more than £8m to the governing Conservative party...
Shaving New York: Lyft receives cease-and-desist on eve of expansion  Pando Daily   ...Lyft’s expansion to New York has been delayed by a cease-and-desist letter from the city’s district attorney, who says the company has “thumbed its nose” at regulators who have warned it that its mustachioed ride service can’t operate in the city...
Why Small Biz Owners Back A Higher Minimum Wage  CBS News   ...Sixty-one percent of small-business owners with employees say they support increasing the baseline wage in three stages over two-and-a-half years and adjusting it after that to keep pace with increases in the cost of living. That's a finding in a new study from the American Sustainable Business Council and Business for a Fair Minimum Wage...
Miscellaneous
Amazon Marches Forward On Drones, Asks FAA For Permission To Test Prime Air  Salon.com   ... The company officially requested permission from the Federal Aviation Administration to test its drones outside in the Seattle area...
10 Supreme Court Rulings—Before Hobby Lobby—That Turned Corporations Into People  Mother Jones   ...A line of Supreme Court rulings stretching back 200 years has blurred the distinction between flesh-and-blood citizens and the businesses they own...

Today's Teamster News 06.21.14

Teamster News
Safety Report On Tracy Morgan Crash Raises New Questions  MSN   ..."The NTSB's preliminary findings in this case clearly show that truck drivers are pushing beyond the limits of the current hours of service rules," Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa said....
Commissioners Approve Employee Communications Consultants In Wake Of Union Petition  The Sentinel   ...The Cumberland County commissioners voted 2-1 Thursday afternoon to approve a contract addendum allowing labor council Campbell, Durrant, Beatty, Palombo & Miller to engage consultants for communications with employees...
Labor Relations Board Judge To Hear Claims Against Rancho Dominguez Trucking Firm  Long Beach Press-Telegram   ...A National Labor Relations Board judge in August will hear allegations by Los Angeles and Long Beach port truck drivers and their supporters that a Rancho Dominguez trucking firm committed more than 50 labor law violations...
Temporary Workers, Paid Sick Days, Back Wages Lead California Labor Priorities  Sacramento Bee   ...Paid sick days. Tougher penalties for employers who withhold back wages. More liability for corporations that use subcontractors. The priority list of organized labor, a formidable force in the Legislature, begins with these three items...
Teamsters: NLRB Complaint Issued Against Green Fleet Systems  teamster.org   ...In a tremendous victory for Los Angeles/Long Beach port truck drivers who have gone on three “Unfair Labor Practice” strikes in the last eleven months, Region 21 of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has issued a consolidated complaint alleging a myriad of over 50 egregious labor law violations against one of the larger drayage companies, Green Fleet Systems (GFS) (the company also has operations at the Port of Savannah, Georgia)...
Kraft Foods workers in Avon ratify new contract  Democrat & Chronicle   ...After nearly 13 months of negotiations, members of Teamsters Local 118 have ratified a new four-year contract with Kraft Foods...
Vermont Bus Maintenance Workers Ratify Teamster Contract  teamster.org   ...Maintenance workers in Vermont's Chittenden County bus system have ratified a new contract with Teamsters Local 597...
Trade
Pocan calls for end to Brunei negotiations over new anti-LGBT laws  Gay Politics   ...U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan, along with over 100 other House members, called on Secretary of State John Kerry and U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman to stop any further negotiations with the government of on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement until Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah revokes a newly adopted penal code that is in gross violation of human rights...
Dear Defense Contractor CEOs: Why Is the Pentagon Buying Weapons With Chinese Parts Instead of US Parts?  truthout   ...At least 80 of our nation's primary weapon systems wouldn't work at all without Chinese-sourced rare earth materials...
State Battles
Wisconsin Employment Flatlines  Econbrowser   ...State-level employment figures released this morning by the BLS indicate indicate that as US (and regional peer Minnesota) employment powers along, Wisconsin lags. As does Kansas. Hence, the negative correlation between the ALEC-Laffer economic outlook index and actual economic activity persists...
4 Key Takeaways About Scott Walker's Alleged "Criminal Scheme"  Mother Jones   ...Prosecutors are probing whether Walker and two of his aides illegally coordinated with outside groups—including the Koch-backed Americans for Prosperity—to fend off a wave of recall elections in 2011 and 2012...
It's Official. Big Food Sues Vermont  truthout   ...Monsanto and the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) filed a lawsuit in federal the U.S. District Court, State of Vermont, to overturn Vermont’s recently passed GMO labeling law...
Audit finds 'intentional misuse' of funds by Elevate Ventures  Indianapolis Business Journal   ...The Office of the Inspector General of the U.S. Treasury Department says Elevate Ventures “intentionally misused” almost $500,000 in taxpayer funds when the state contractor invested in a company run by its board chairman...
SEC Charges Private Equity Firm With Pay-to-Play Violations Involving Political Campaign Contributions in Pennsylvania  SEC   ...The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged a Philadelphia-area private equity firm with violating “pay-to-play” rules by continuing to receive advisory fees from the city and state pension funds following campaign contributions made by an associate in 2011 to the governor of Pennsylvania and a candidate for mayor of Philadelphia...
Keurig and Coca-Cola Brew Jobs in Georgia  manufacture this   ...The two beverage companies will create 550 new jobs in Douglasville, Georgia (a suburb of Atlanta) and invest $337 million into the facility in the next five years. The new manufacturing center will produce pods for the company’s new Keurig Cold Platform...
War On Workers
Supreme Court Gives Public Workers 1st Amendment Shield  Los Angeles Times   ...The Supreme Court shielded public employees from being fired or disciplined if they testify in court against their superiors, ruling Thursday that the 1st Amendment protects citizens who are called upon to tell the truth...
Local cops can track your phone, and the government doesn’t want you to know how  Columbia Journalism Review   ...Police departments around the country increasingly are using sophisticated technology to surveil American citizens by monitoring cellphone data, in many cases carefully hiding those activities from the public and the press...
Miscellaneous
The Dead-End Of Financialization: Innovation Is Slumping For A Reason  David Stockman's Contra Corner   ...monetary policy is not neutral as proclaimed, but rather ... there are innumerable and immeasurable changes due to persistent monetary intrusions that depress economic potential ... The fullest expression of that is the complete infiltration of “easy money” as an expectation – it erodes everything from what we expect from stocks (doubling your money every year is normal!) to actual work ethic (“put your money to work”) to resource allocation (day traders and house flippers, not to mention Wall Street mathematicians and lawyers, rather than industrial entrepreneurs)...

Today's Teamster News 06.20.14

Teamster News
Federal board accuses port trucking firm of labor law violations  Los Angeles Times   ...The federal government has accused a trucking company in Carson of more than 50 labor law violations, including firing drivers for union activity, retaliating against pro-labor employees and planting an anti-union operative amid its workforce...
Teamsters, Carpenters Protest Over Lost Work But Convention Center Is Not Budging  NewsWorks   ...About 100 union carpenters and Teamsters rallied outside the Pennsylvania Convention Center Wednesday in the first official protest since a labor dispute last month with center management...
Vermont Maintenance Workers Settle On New Contract  San Francisco Chronicle   ...Transportation maintenance workers in Vermont's Chittenden County have signed a new three-year-contract that takes effect July 1. Union officials for Teamsters Local 597 say the new contract — signed Thursday — includes wage increases averaging two percent a year and access to promotions through professional certification programs...
Toronto Shooting: The Teamsters Want to Meet with Minister Blainey  Teamsters Canada   ...A member of Teamsters Local Union 419 is in critical condition following a shooting that occurred last night in Toronto. The victim who works for Garda World Cash Services was in an ambush situation with 3 individuals…."This is not the first time a shooting occurs in the Toronto area or elsewhere in the country for that matter in the past few months," points out Jim Chalmers, director of the Teamsters Canada Armoured Car Division...
Trade
Capitol Hill looks hard at dog treats and processed Chicken from China  manufacture this   ...1,000 dogs have died, 10 percent of America’s pig population is gone, 5,600 more pets are sick, and three people are ill. And poor safety measures in China may be the cause...
Retirees Gather, Organize For Social Justice  People's World   ...Retired activists discussed how to stop efforts to cut Medicare and Social Security, raise the minimum wage, and fight back against destructive trade deals like the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership...
State Battles
John Doe prosecutors allege Scott Walker at center of 'criminal scheme'  Milwaukee Journal Sentinel   ...Prosecutors allege Gov. Scott Walker was at the center of an effort to illegally coordinate fundraising ... to help his campaign and those of Republican state senators facing recall elections during 2011 and 2012, according to documents unsealed Thursday...
Exclusive: Prosecutor Is Closing in on Gov. Christie  Esquire   ...(U.S. Attorney Paul) Fishman’s challenge is to nail down specific criminal charges on several fronts -- the diversion of Port Authority money to fund New Jersey road and bridge projects; the four-day rush-hour closures of George Washington Bridge lanes in Ft. Lee; and a web of real-estate deals spun by David Samson, long a Christie crony, when he chaired the PA’s Board of Commissioners as Christie’s appointee...
Meet The Hotel Workers Going On Hunger Strike For A $15 Minimum Wage  Think Progress   ...In Providence, Rhode Island, three hotel workers and a city councilwoman started a week-long hunger strike on Monday, protesting a state bill that would block their efforts to raise the city’s minimum wage to $15 an hour...
War On Workers
Being Out of Work Longer Makes Finding Work Much Harder  Wall Street Journal   ...Recent research suggests this discouraging silence may have more to do with the time spent out of the work force than with the job seeker’s skills, education or age...
IRS Chief Promises Stricter Rules For 'Dark Money' Non-Profit Groups  Philadelphia Inquirer   ...The Internal Revenue Service will propose new and specific rules defining how much money “social welfare” nonprofits may spend on political campaigns...
GE Capital Pays Up For Denying Spanish Speakers Access To Credit Card Repayment Program  Huffington Post   ...Synchrony Bank, formerly known as GE Capital, has reached an agreement with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Justice Department over allegations that it denied access to credit card debt-repayment programs to qualified customers just because they preferred to communicate in Spanish or had a mailing address in Puerto Rico...
Miscellaneous
What Green Revolution? Coal Use Highest In 44 Years  Oil Price   ...In 2013, enough coal was burned to meet 30.1 percent of the world’s energy demands -- its highest share since 1970, according to new data from BP’s Statistical Review of World Energy...

Today's Teamster News 06.06.14

Teamster News
Teamsters Caution FTC Sysco-US Foods Merger Could Harm Competition, Consumers, Workers  IBT   ...On Wednesday, the Teamsters cautioned the Federal Trade Commission staff and state attorneys general investigating Sysco's proposed acquisition of US Foods for anti-trust issues that a merger of the top two U.S. food service providers could limit competition...
Trade
Chicken from China? Your Seafood is Already Being Processed There  Trade Reform   ...fish processors in the Northwest, including Seattle-based Trident Seafoods, are sending part of their catch of Alaskan salmon or Dungeness crab to China to be filleted or de-shelled before returning to U.S. tables...
OMB Bureaucratic Fraud: Foreign Goods to Be Classified as U.S. Produced!  Trade Reform   ...…Apple iPhones built by Foxconn in China and sold in Japan will be counted a U.S. export!...
State Battles
R.I. Senate Committee Oks Bill Raising Minimum Wage  Providence Journal   ...Rhode Island's minimum wage moved one step closer to a one-dollar hike Wednesday. By a unanimous vote, the Senate Labor Committee passed a bill that raises the minimum wage from $8 an hour to $9 an hour, effective Jan. 1, 2015...
Ohio Proposal Aimed At Barring College Athletes From Unionizing Heads To Gov In Budget Bill  U.S. News   ...Ohio lawmakers have passed a bill that says college athletes are not public employees under state law. The idea cleared the state legislature Wednesday as part of a broader bill now headed to the governor's desk...
Study finds strong evidence for discriminatory intent behind voter ID laws  Washington Post   ...State legislators who support voter ID laws are motivated in no small part by racial bias, according to a new study from the University of Southern California...
Some states already lashing at climate rule  Politico Pro   ...Kentucky has gone even further, enacting a law this spring that could block the state from complying with EPA’s rule. West Virginia and Kansas have new laws taking aim at the regulation one way or another, and states like Ohio, Louisiana and Missouri are considering similar measures...
War On Workers
Who Is Behind the National Right to Work Committee and Its Anti-Union Crusade?  Truthout   ...If the court follows National Right to Work's lead, every state in the country would essentially turn into an anti-union "right to work" state, which would be a significant blow to public sector unions' collective bargaining efforts and also complicate thousands of existing contracts between organized workers and municipalities, cities, counties, and states across the country...
Well-Paid Workers Strengthen Local Economies  New York Times   ...Orthodox economists and trickle-down dogmatists are sputtering in disbelief over Seattle's new $15 minimum wage, convinced it will destroy our economy. As House Speaker John Boehner is fond of saying, "If you raise the price of employment, guess what happens? You get less of it." They are wrong...
Three New Ways The Koch Brothers Are Screwing America  Rolling Stone   ...The fourth-richest men in America target low-wage workers, minority voters and unions...
Walmart Workers Strike Today, As Report Says Women Hardest Hit By Retail's Low Wages  Cleveland Plain-Dealer   ...Women are disproportionately impacted by the low wages and often erratic work schedules in the retail industry, says a new report...
Walmart's Executive Tax Bonuses Have Cost Taxpayers $104 Million Since 2009  Think Progress   ...Since 2009, Walmart has ducked $104 million in taxes by exploiting a tax loophole around bonus payments to just eight top executives, according to a report from the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS)...
McDonald's CEO: 'We Will Support' A Minimum Wage Hike  Huffington Post   ...McDonald's CEO Don Thompson recently suggested his company would support a bill, proposed by President Barack Obama, raising the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour from $7.25...
Miscellaneous
Unions Set High Goal: Collective Bargaining For All Workers  Wall Street Journal   ...Organized labor has embarked on a project to develop legislation that would expand collective bargaining rights of private sector workers, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said...
UAW Elects Dennis Williams President In A Landslide: 'I Feel The Energy'  Detroit Free Press   ...The UAW elected Dennis Williams its 11th president Wednesday in a landslide, putting him in charge of a union struggling to regain bargaining leverage, rebuild its finances and restore political clout...
The Snowden Effect: 8 Things That Happened Only Because Of The NSA Leaks  Huffington Post   ...Brazil gave a massive fighter jet contract to Saab instead of the American company Boeing...

Today's Teamster News 06.02.14

Trade
US food safety association flags up potential negatives of TTIP Global Meat News ...Food safety in the meat industry could be negatively affected by the result of the current Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) talks between the US and the European Union, according to the Center for Food Safety (CFS) in the US...
EU-US clash over financial services in TTIP  EurActiv   ... The US Ambassador to the EU told the European Commissioner for Trade today (15 May) that there is hardly any chance that financial services will be included in a future Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP)...
State Battles
How Local Governments Are Using Their Purchasing Power to End Sweatshop Labor  The Nation   ...Last month, to commemorate the anniversary of the deadly Rana Plaza factory collapse in Bangladesh, the city of Madison, Wisconsin, launched a contracting policy that commits the city’s vendors to promote fair labor standards...
A New Teacher Union Movement is Rising  Portside   ...A revitalized teacher union movement is bubbling up in the midst of relentless attacks on public schools and the teaching profession...
The War on Workers
QE, Bailouts, And Families Struggling To Buy Food  Testosterone Pit   ...In 2013, as the S&P 500 index, including dividends, shot up 32.4% – after an already blistering 16% in 2012 – and as the Fed’s trillions inflated just about every asset class, from modernist paintings to farmland, well just then, 23% of the families with kids and 19% of the families without kids in America reported difficulties buying food...
Walmart Associates From All Over The World Arrive In Northwest Arkansas Sunday  5News   ...The Walmart shareholders and associates stay at the University of Arkansas in the dorms. All of the events and meals take place on campus, with the biggest event being the 7 a.m. Friday shareholders meeting at Bud Walton Arena...
A New Rallying Cry for Retail Workers: $25,000 a Year  Bloomberg   ...Walmart Moms head to the headquarters of Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) for the retailer’s annual shareholder meeting on June 6. The union-supported group is asking for $25,000 a year for full-time work...
N.S.A. Collecting Millions of Faces From Web Images  New York Times   ...The National Security Agency is harvesting huge numbers of images of people from communications that it intercepts through its global surveillance operations for use in sophisticated facial recognition programs, according to top-secret documents...
Miscellaneous
U.S. to unveil sweeping rules to cut power plant pollution  Reuters   ...The U.S. power sector will need to emit 30 percent less carbon dioxide by 2030 than it did in 2005, according to new federal regulations - the centerpiece of the Obama administration's climate change strategy - to be unveiled on Monday...
Study Examines Efficacy of Taxes on Sugary Drinks  New York Times   ...A new study of how taxes might be used to curb consumption of sugary drinks suggests that applying a tax based on the amount of calories contained in a serving rather than its size would be more effective...

Today's Teamster News 05.27.14

Trade
WTO Final Ruling: European Ban on Products from Inhumane Seal Harvest Violates WTO Rules  Public Citizen   ...The WTO today added fuzzy white baby seals clubbed to death on bloody ice flows to dolphins and sea turtles as animals that the WTO has declared cannot be protected by domestic laws because they  violate “trade” rules, which will just fuel public and policymaker skepticism about these so-called trade deals...
W.T.O. Sides With U.S. in Dispute Over Chinese Car Tariffs  New York Times   ... The World Trade Organization sided with the United States on Friday in a dispute over punitive Chinese tariffs on American exports of cars and sport utility vehicles...
U.S. Case Offers Glimpse Into China’s Hacker Army  New York Times   ...Many hackers working directly for the Chinese government are men in their 20s and 30s who have been trained at universities run by the People’s Liberation Army and are employed by the state in myriad ways. ..
War on Workers
Using Jailed Migrants as a Pool of Cheap Labor  New York Times   ...As the federal government cracks down on immigrants in the country illegally and forbids businesses to hire them, it is relying on tens of thousands of those immigrants each year to provide essential labor — usually for $1 a day or less — at the detention centers where they are held when caught by the authorities...
The loss of Memorial Day's meaning is just one way we short-change veterans (opinion)  The Guardian   ...from 2009 to 2011, according to estimates by the Department of Veteran Affairs, 22 soldiers a day committed suicide – an average of nearly one per hour. That means that, in just one year, more than 8,000 veterans take their own lives – more than the total number of OIF and OEF casualties combined...
Atlas hid: Uber has set up a decoy office to keep drivers away from its shiny new HQ  Pando   ...Euphemistically called a “driver center,” one Uber driver told us the second office is actually more of a decoy: allowing the company to fulfill its promise to be more accessible to drivers without, you know, actually having them make Uber’s real office look untidy. …  Uber’s office on Mission Street has been a focal point for protests by drivers...
The US labor market is not working  Antonio Fatas on the Global Economy   ...Among OECD economies, the US stands towards the bottom of the table when it comes to employment to population ratio...
Federal probe into Major League Baseball for illegal pay practices expands  Salon   ...A federal investigation of pay practices in Major League Baseball has been expanded to include two more teams—the Baltimore Orioles and Oakland A’s—bringing to four the number of clubs that have come under scrutiny for possible violations of U.S. wage standards. The Labor Department’s focus is pay for clubhouse and administrative workers and interns...
Chlorine in your chicken: Why poultry is more dangerous than ever  Salon   ... poultry workers, who ... already report an injury rate that’s more than 50 percent higher than the injury rate for all U.S. workers...
New Docs Reveal Extensive Monitoring of Occupy  In These Times   ...The monitoring appears similar to that conducted by the FBI counterterrorism officials...
Miscellaneous
Train accident kills at least 40 in Northern India   Associated Press   ...The Gorakhpur Express passenger train was traveling at high speed and slammed on its brakes in an attempt to stop, but hit the train sitting on the tracks near a railway station in Uttar Pradesh state, district magistrate Bharat Lal said...

Today's Teamster News 05.20.14

Teamster News
Park Ridge Police Department Chooses Teamsters Representation  teamster.org   ...Teamsters Local 700’s law enforcement membership continues to expand as 40 members with the Park Ridge Police Department join the Teamsters...
Seattle Transportation Network Drivers Vote To Form Association With Teamsters  teamster.org   ...Uber and UberX drivers met in Tukwila, Wash., to begin the process of forming an association which will work with Teamsters Local 117 yesterday...
Trade
Dog Illnesses and Deaths Linked to Imported Pet Treats From China  Alternet   ...the USDA will soon allow U.S. chickens to be sent to  China for processing before being shipped back to the states for human consumption...
Trans-Pacific Partnership: Another Trade Liberalization Scam  Truthout   ...The gathering pressure for Congress to "fast track" the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) demonstrates yet again that trade liberalization is one of the few aspects of economic policy about which there is agreement across the mainstream of the political spectrum...
Steelworkers to D.C.: Enforce our trade laws  Trade Reform   ...About 200 steel industry supporters and steel workers gathered at Civic Park Friday to protest the recent flood of imported steel from South Korea because it jeopardizes jobs within the city’s largest employer. The United Steelworkers Local 1899 in Granite City, which represents most of the 2,500 employees at U.S. Steel’s plant in Granite City, organized the rally because the South Korean steel imported into this country is sold below market value, making it difficult for U.S. steel mills to compete...
State Battles
More states, cities raising minimum wage  USA Today   ...The fast-food walkouts Thursday are part of a broader nationwide effort to raise the minimum wage for millions of low-income workers, a campaign that's notching growing success in states and cities across the USA...
Connecticut Public Retirement Plan Passes, More or Less  The Baseline Scenario   ...a proposal in Connecticut (would) create a new tax-preferred retirement plan that would, by default, include almost all workers who don’t currently have access to an employment-based plan (like a 401(k)). That proposal took some major steps forward when it was included in an end-of-session bill that was passed by the Connecticut legislature...the bill authorizes a feasibility study and implementation plan for the new retirement option...
War On Workers
Congratulations To The Class Of 2014, Most Indebted Ever  Wall Street Journal   ...As college graduates in the Class of 2014 prepare to shift their tassels and accept their diplomas, they leave school with one discouraging distinction: They're the most indebted class ever...
Credit Suisse pleads guilty to criminal charges in US tax evasion settlement  The Guardian   ...Credit Suisse Group has pleaded guilty to criminal charges that it helped Americans evade taxes, becoming the first bank in more than a decade to admit to a crime in the US. It will now pay a long-expected fine of $2.5bn (£1.5bn)...
It's Time to Break Up With Sallie Mae!  Jobs With Justice   ...Despite mounting evidence showing how Sallie Mae has been ripping off federal student loan borrowers for years, it's still possible the Department of Education will renew its multimillion-dollar contract with the shady company next month...
NSA Collects All Phone Calls from One of World’s Most Secretive Tax Havens, But Doesn’t Track That  empty wheel   ...NSA/DEA don’t appear to be using this facility to track money launderers...
Turkey Erupts Over Mining Tragedy; Many Blame Privatization   In These Times   ...Protesters, numbering in the thousands in some major cities, continued to spill into the streets throughout the week holding placards that read, "This is not an accident, it's a massacre.” In Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir, police intervened with tear gas and water cannons...
Occupy Wall Street Protester Cecily McMillan Sentenced To Three Months In Jail  Huffington Post   ...A New York City judge sentenced Occupy Wall Street protester Cecily McMillan on Monday to three months in jail and five years probation...
Miscellaneous
U.S. Charges Five Chinese Military Hackers for Cyber Espionage Against U.S. Corporations and a Labor Organization for Commercial Advantage  US Department of Justice   ...A grand jury in the Western District of Pennsylvania (WDPA) indicted five Chinese military hackers for computer hacking, economic espionage and other offenses directed at six American victims in the U.S. nuclear power, metals and solar products industries...

Today's Teamster News 04.27.14

Teamsters
For de Blasio, Carriage Horse Ban Is No Walk in the Park  New York Times   ...The mayor’s plan to ban horse-drawn carriages, an obscure proposal until Mr. de Blasio embraced it in last year’s mayoral race, has erupted into a cause célèbre, landing on the cover of The New Yorker and dominating local headlines, even as Mr. de Blasio is trying to refocus his administration on housing and wage issues...
EXCLUSIVE: FBI investigation of mayoral race includes de Blasio's pledge to ban carriage horses  New York Daily News   ...FBI agents have been questioning people about the pledge de Blasio made in March 2013, and the ads launched the next month by animal rights activists attacking Christine Quinn, the Daily News has learned. Agents also appear interested in a $175,000 contribution to the animal rights group NYCLASS from a union tied to de Blasio's cousin, labor leader John Wilhelm...
Trade
Japan, U.S. tiptoe into new phase of Pacific trade talks  Reuters   ...The United States and Japan are edging into a new phase of trade negotiations after U.S. President Barack Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's summit, people with knowledge of talks to create one of the world's biggest trade pacts said...
TPP Investment Map: New Privileges for 30,000 Companies?  Public Citizen   ...Under previous presidential administrations, the United States signed a number of free trade agreements (FTAs) that grant foreign corporations extraordinary rights and protections beyond the rights of domestic companies...
War on Workers
U.S. electricity prices may be going up for good  Los Angeles Times   ...Experts warn of a growing fragility as coal-fired plants are shut down, nuclear power is reduced and consumers switch to renewable energy...
91 Percent of Our Seafood is Imported and Only 2 Percent is Inspected  Economy in Crisis   ...The U.S. imports an astonishing 91 percent of our seafood and, unbeknownst to many Americans, much of this seafood is contaminated with antibiotics and toxic chemicals.  We can’t inspect this food for contaminants because we cannot afford the necessary number of FDA inspectors to do the job...
My Life in the New American Minimum Wage Economy  Mother Jones   ...After getting driven out of my job by the State Department, I found myself looking for part-time positions in retail...
Thomas Perez: Jobless benefits are a lifesaver (opinion)  Reno Gazette-Journal   ...With so many people we know facing so much uncertainty, depleting their savings and fearful that their dreams are slipping away, it is unconscionable that Congress has sat on its hands this long...
Scathing Report Finds Rocketship, School Privatization Hurt Poor Kids  truthout   ...A popular chain of charter schools called Rocketship, which originated in California and has spread to Wisconsin, with the enthusiastic support of state legislators and the local chamber of commerce in Milwaukee, is "a low-budget operation that relies on young and inexperienced teachers rather than more veteran and expensive faculty, that reduces curriculum to a near-exclusive focus on reading and math, and that replaces teachers with online learning and digital applications for a significant portion of the day...
Miscellaneous
Texas Republican Spent Over $30,000 In Campaign Cash On Chocolates And Ham  Buzzfeed   ...Texas Rep. Ralph Hall, the oldest serving member of Congress, spent more than $33,000 in campaign funds on orders from Honey Baked Foods and Godiva Chocolatier, campaign filings show...

Today's Teamster News 04.19.14

Trade
One-Fifth of China’s Farmland Is Polluted, State Study Finds  New York Times   ...The Chinese government released a report on Thursday that said nearly one-fifth of its arable land was polluted, a finding certain to raise questions about the toxic results of China’s rapid industrialization, its lack of regulations over commercial interests and the consequences for the national food chain...
Progress but no deal in US-Japan TPP trade talks  Agence France-Press   ...The United States said Friday there had been progress but no final deal in talks with Japan that are crucial to advancing the ambitious 12-country Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal...
State Battles
Nebraska Joins States Banning Employers from Asking Job Applicants About Criminal History  Alternet   ...Gov. Dave Heineman  signed a bill Wednesday making Nebraska the 11th state that bars employers from asking prospective employees if they have a criminal record. The prohibition is a provision in a law designed to reduce prison overcrowding...
War on Workers
The tea party radio network  Politico   ...conservative groups spent nearly $22 million to broker and pay for involved advertising relationships known as sponsorships with a handful of influential talkers including Beck, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Mark Levin and Rush Limbaugh between the first talk radio deals in 2008 and the end of 2012...
Inmates to strike in Alabama, declare prison is “running a slave empire”  Salon   ...Inmates at an Alabama prison plan to stage a work stoppage this weekend and hope to spur an escalating strike wave...
Judge says American can't end retiree benefits yet  Associated Press   ...A federal judge has rejected an attempt by American Airlines to quickly cut off benefits for many of its retirees...
Job Loss Would Quickly Lead to Hardship for Many in U.S.  Gallup   ...A substantial minority of U.S. workers say they could go just one week (14%) or one month (29%) before experiencing significant financial hardship if they lost their job...
Princeton Study: U.S. No Longer An Actual Democracy  Talking Points Memo   ...Asking "[w]ho really rules?" researchers Martin Gilens and Benjamin I. Page argue that over the past few decades America's political system has slowly transformed from a democracy into an oligarchy, where wealthy elites wield most power...
Big banks lend to corporations over consumers  CNN Money   ...Lending was up in the first quarter, but that jump has hidden the fact that individuals are still having a tough time getting loans...
As we sweat government surveillance, companies like Google collect our data  Guardian   ...Google confirmed this week what many people had assumed: even if you're not a Gmail user, your email to someone who does use their services will be scanned by the all-seeing search and the advertising company's increasingly smart machines...
Miscellaneous
Keystone decision delayed yet again  Politico Pro   ...The State Department declined to specify how long the delay will last, saying only that it needs to extend its review because of an ongoing dispute in front of the Nebraska Supreme Court that could affect the project’s route inside the state...

Today's Teamster News 03.07.14

Teamster News
Listen to Teamster Nation News for March 6-12  teamster.org   ...McKesson CEO takes a $45 million cut to his pension after shareholders raised a stink at annual meeting, but is still set to make $114 million in retirement while some workers can’t afford healthcare.  Thanks for listening to this podcast episode and be sure to subscribe...
Teamsters and Sarasota County agree on raises  Herald-Tribune...After two and half years of negotiations, Sarasota County and the Teamsters Local 173 in Bradenton, Florida signed off on a new collective bargaining agreement for nearly 400 workers...
A Cuomo-de Blasio Airport Partnership (opinion by Joe Sitt and George Miranda)  New York Daily News   ...De Blasio must now take up the mantle as well — and use his powerful platform and microphone to drive improvements at our airports...
Mayor de Blasio Falls Short on Job Approval, But Handled Snow OK: NBC4 Poll  NBC4   ...Two months into Mayor de Blasio's first term, fewer than four in 10 voters approve of his job performance as mayor, but a majority applauds his response to a series of storms during one of the snowiest winters in New York City history...
Teamsters: Ending Currency Manipulation Will Bring Worker Security   teamster.org   ...Efforts by other nations to keep the value of their currency artificially low are killing U.S. jobs and is a major reason why this country currently has an annual trade deficit in excess of $700 billion, a new Economic Policy Institute (EPI) report explains. Changing the system, the document states, would create 5.8 million jobs here...
Trade
Protesters oppose trade agreement   Wisconsin State Farmer   ...The group Family Farm Defenders organized a march to Rep. Ron Kind’s office in La Crosse Friday to urge him to oppose “fast track” authority and the pending Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) a trade agreement with Pacific Rim countries...
Radioactive Imported Dog Food Bowls.  Trade Reform   ...Petco has determined that one of its foreign suppliers used stainless steel mistakenly containing small quantities of Cobalt-60 when fabricating certain orders of certain SKUs/models of stainless steel pet food bowls. Cobalt-60 is a radioactive material commonly used in industrial gauging equipment and other uses...
State Battles
Conservative group Alec trains sights on city and local government  The Guardian   ...It has already quietly set up, and is making plans for the public launch of, an offshoot called the American City County Exchange (ACCE) that will target policymakers from “villages, towns, cities and counties”. The new organisation will offer corporate America a direct conduit into the policy making process of city councils and municipalities. Lobbyists acting on behalf of major businesses will be able to propose resolutions and argue for new profit-enhancing legislation in front of elected city officials, who will then return to their council chambers and seek to implement the proposals...
Miss. House passes bills meant to restrict unions  Clarion Ledger   ...Mississippi lawmakers are moving ahead with a package of bills to restrict some labor union organizing and picketing practices...
Republican Governor Will Protect His State’s Residents From Food Stamp Cuts  ThinkProgress   ...Gov. Tom Corbett (R-PA) will be the third governor (and the first Republican) to block Congress's food stamp cuts in his state...
10,000 state workers still without back pay  KOAT 7 Albuquerque   ...As much as $50 million has yet to arrive after a union beat state in a case that went to the New Mexico Supreme Court...
Illinois Legislation Supports Interest-Free Student Loans  WIFR News   ...Students nationwide are graduating college on average, up to $30,000 in debt and now new Illinois legislation could help offer interest-free loans...
Nebraska bill could benefit low-income parents  Associated Press   ...Some low-income parents would have a greater incentive to seek raises and promotions at work and to save for a child's college education, under a bill in the Nebraska Legislature...
No, Connecticut’s History-Making Paid Sick Leave Law Did Not Hurt Business   ThinkProgress   ...When Connecticut was considering whether to become the first state to require employers to offer their workers paid sick leave, businesses raised concerns that it would create an unbearable cost, forcing some to close, and that abuse would be rampant. But a new survey of employers in the state a year and a half after the law took effect shows those fears were unfounded...
Louisiana lawmakers seek to cap payday loan rates  Associated Press   ...Louisiana organizations that represent the elderly, the poor and others on fixed incomes want stiffer regulation of payday lending businesses that offer short-term loans with high interest rates of no greater than 36 percent annually...
Oklahoma House votes to make trooper dash cam videos public records  News OK   ...The Oklahoma Highway Patrol would be required to make trooper dash camera videos available for public viewing under a bill passed Wednesday by the state House of Representatives...
West Virginia House Passes Chemical Storage Bill In Effort To Prevent Future Spills ThinkProgress   ...Nearly two months after Freedom Industry's leaky chemical storage tank on the Elk River in West Virginia contaminated the drinking water supply for 300,000 people, the House of Representatives passed a new bill late Wednesday night regulating chemical storage tanks...
War on Workers
Real World Evidence That Increasing The Minimum Wage Doesn’t Cost Jobs  ThinkProgress
 ...Last month, conservatives seized on a Congressional Budget Office report showing that increasing the minimum wage could result in job loss to argue that President Obama’s push to pay workers more would undermine the American economy and stifle growth. But a growing body of real world experiences is already proving the nonpartisan economists wrong...
'Paycheck protection' is bad for unions, good for free-riding deadbeats (Opinion)  Penn Live   ...Once again, legislation has been proposed to prevent the automatic withholding of union dues from public employees' paychecks (House Bill 1507). This legislation serves only to undermine the timely, efficient payment of monies which are rightfully due to the union...
Miscellaneous
Bernie Sanders: ‘I Am Prepared to Run for President of the United States’  The Nation   ...he says his political instincts tell him America is ready for a “political revolution.”...
Meet the Company That Can Track Everywhere You've Been and Tell Police About It  AlterNet   ...A security company collects data from license plate readers and shares it with police and federal law enforcement, no warrant needed...
New Report Says Rich Are Richer And Spending More Than Ever  AlterNet ...A new report released this week by the elitist property management firm Knight Frank confirms the ranks of the rich are expanding, and they're spending their money with the gilded abandon so characteristic of our era...