Teamster News
Teamsters: Port Truck Driver Strike Spreads To Intermodal Rail Yards teamster.org ...Early Tuesday morning, the port truck driver strike spread from the Ports of Los Angeles/Long Beach to intermodal rail yards that are serviced by Pacer Cartage and Harbor Rail Transport (HRT). These rail yards dispatch cargo to and from warehouses and distribution centers across America...
Teamsters Rally At Facebook teamster.org ...Teamsters and Facebook drivers rallied today at Facebook headquarters, along with community and political leaders. ABC News in San Francisco reports on the efforts by Facebook drivers to organize with Teamsters Local 853 in San Leandro, Calif...
Facebook shuttle drivers to vote on union Associated Press ...Facebook shuttle bus drivers will vote to decide whether to unionize in an attempt to get better pay and working conditions...
Teamsters host giving event Saturday Troy Messenger ...The holiday season is quickly approaching and many local organizations are seeking to help those in need during a giving season, including members of Teamsters National Black Caucus...
Teamsters continue contentious talks with Hernando over delayed pay raises Tampa Bay Times ...the union has now requested minimum increases for all of its members of at least 8 percent...
Trade
Elections featured bipartisan appeal to Americans’ opposition to unfair trade The Hill ...only 20 percent of Americans believed that the trade status quo has led to U.S. job creation, while half of Americans said the result has been U.S. job losses...
Time running out for action on fast-track trade authority: Senator Reuters ...U.S. lawmakers have very little time to consider granting the White House power to fast-track trade deals before Congress finishes up for the year, the head of the Senate committee responsible for trade said on Tuesday...
State Battles
Workers’ Rights Expand Under Proposed S.F. Ordinances Washington Post ...San Francisco restaurant and retail workers could soon have more predictable schedules, more opportunity for full-time work and more rights in general after the Board of Supervisors’ budget committee sent two proposed ordinances to the full board over the objections of the business community...
Supreme Court To Hear Right-To-Work Arguments In Jan. Lansing State Journal ...The Michigan Supreme Court will in January hear oral arguments on whether the state’s controversial right-to-work law applies to state employees and on another case related to state employee pensions...
Illinois Lawmakers Rush To Pass Wage Hike Voters Asked For Bloomberg Businessweek ...By a 2-to-1 margin, Illinois voters passed a nonbinding ballot measure in the Nov. 4 midterms urging the legislature to raise the state minimum wage. But they also elected a new governor, Republican Bruce Rauner, who’s supported reducing or eliminating it entirely. So outgoing Governor Pat Quinn is pressing the legislature to pass the wage increase the voters asked for—and to do so in the two months remaining before the governor they elected has the chance to veto it...
Wisconsin developer went to Walker with interest in buying state buildings Associated Press ...One of Wisconsin's largest real estate developers wrote to Gov. Scott Walker to express his interest in buying several prominent state office buildings at the same time the Legislature was considering doing away with competitive bidding for such sales, according to newly released records...
War on Workers
Seven big U.S. companies paid CEOs more than Uncle Sam in 2013: study Reuters ...the study said the seven companies, which in 2013 reported more than $74 billion in combined U.S. pre-tax profits, came out ahead on their taxes, gaining $1.9 billion more than they owed. At the same time, the CEOs at each of the seven companies last year was paid an average of $17.3 million...
Mega-Mergers Popular Again On Wall Street New York Times ...Mergers worth $100 billion, made on Monday, put Wall Street on pace for a year of deal-making rivaling those during the dot-com bubble and the private equity upsurge just before the financial crisis...
Uber Executive Suggests Digging Up Dirt On Journalists BuzzFeed ...A senior executive at Uber suggested that the company should consider hiring a team of opposition researchers to dig up dirt on its critics in the media — and specifically to spread details of the personal life of a female journalist who has criticized the company...
Owners: Taj Mahal Closing Expected By Dec. 12 Philadelphia Inquirer ...The owners of the Trump Taj Mahal Casino in Atlantic City said in a court filing Friday they expected to close the Boardwalk property on or before Dec. 12...
1.6 Million-Member American Federation Of Teachers Bans Coca-Cola Products Citing Child Labor And Human Rights Record KWQC ...Corporate Campaign, Inc. and the Campaign to Stop Killer Coke announce that the American Federation of Teachers (AFT, AFL-CIO) has declared the banning of all Coca-Cola products from its facilities and events, as an official policy of the union...
“An Ongoing Criminal Enterprise”: Why America’s Housing Disaster Is Back And Wreaking Terror Salon.com ...According to housing analyst RealtyTrac, foreclosure filings shot up 15 percent last month, the largest increase in over four years... [mortgage servicers] are breaking laws and degrading the integrity of the courts to kick people out of their homes, a sad and enduring legacy of the destruction of the nation’s property system during the housing bubble years....
Worker at New Bedford trash hauler dies on the job Associated Press ...64-year-old Manuel Viera was walking in ABC Disposal's parking lot at about 4:30 p.m. Tuesday when a large flatbed truck that transports Dumpsters accidentally struck him...
Senate Democrats reject bill to build oil pipeline Associated Press ...The Democrat-controlled Senate has defeated a bill to approve the Keystone XL oil pipeline...
Showing posts with label foreclosure. Show all posts
Showing posts with label foreclosure. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 19, 2014
Thursday, September 11, 2014
Today's Teamster News 09.11.14
Teamster News
Teamsters Score Victory For Investor Rights At Sysco teamster.org ...The Teamsters Union scored a major victory for Sysco [NYSE: SYY] shareholders when the board of directors agreed this week to adopt the union’s proposal to amend company by-laws and provide shareholders with the right to call a special meeting. In 2015, a quorum of Sysco investors owning 25 percent of the company’s outstanding shares will be empowered to call a special meeting of shareholders...
Teamsters aim to organize FedEx Freight Indy drivers Indianapolis Star ...The Teamsters union is trying to whip up pro-union sentiment among 250 local FedEx Freight drivers as it lays the groundwork for a possible unionization vote...
NM Jail Employees In Union To Receive Retroactive Raise Corrections One ...It is the first contract for Teamsters Local 492 of Albuquerque, which was elected by jail employees to represent county detention sergeants, detention officers and booking specialists. The raise is for all union members regardless of their salary level...
Detroit's Creditors Are Morally Bankrupt (opinion) teamster.org ...Detroit city worker retirees have given more than their fair share when it comes to making pension concessions. So have current municipal employees. Together, they helped Motor City officials earlier this year cobble together a “grand bargain” as part of the city’s bankruptcy plan. But evidently, that’s still not enough for some...
Trade
U.S. groups leery of fast-track trade deals demand transparency Reuters ...More than 500 U.S. organizations on Wednesday urged the Obama administration to ditch the system of congressional authority to fast-track trade negotiations, demanding a more transparent method of handling trade negotiations...
U.S. Commerce Drops Duties On Turkish Steel Rebar Imports, Confirms Mexican Duties Reuters ...The U.S. Commerce Department on Tuesday dropped a preliminary decision to impose anti-dumping duties on steel rebar imports from Turkey while it confirmed anti-dumping duties on Mexican material of up to 66.7 percent...
State Battles
Gov. Brown Signs Bill Requiring Paid Sick Leave For Millions Of Workers CBS Los Angeles ...Assembly Bill 1522, known as The Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014, requires employers to provide paid sick leave to any employee who works in California for 30 or more days within a year from the commencement of employment starting on or after July 1, 2015...
Federal Panel Suggests Koch-Tied Judge Overreached When He Halted Walker Probe Center for Media and Democracy ...Tuesday's hearing suggested the 7th Circuit judges were wary of a federal court cutting off a state criminal investigation, being conducted under state law, and overseen by state courts...
Court Hears Arguments On Secret Scott Walker Investigation MSNBC ...A 7th Circuit Court of Appeals panel heard oral arguments Tuesday from Wisconsin prosecutors and attorneys for the conservative political group Wisconsin Club for Growth State prosecutors had been investigating since 2012 whether Walker and his campaign staff illegally coordinated with conservative groups to raise and spend campaign dollars in a way that skirted state contribution limits...
Minneapolis Leaders Consider $15-An-Hour Minimum Wage Minneapolis Star Tribune ...The new effort comes six weeks after the statewide minimum wage went up from $7.25 to $8 an hour — on its way to $9.50 in 2016.Cano is taking a measured approach. She said that process would begin with an update to the city’s rules for how it pays its contractors, then be expanded to include a higher minimum wage for all people working in Minneapolis, similar to Seattle’s recent minimum wage boost...
Tennessee Hasn't Inspected Tobacco Farms Since 2006 The Tennessean ...unlike some other states, Tennessee has virtually no oversight of child labor on tobacco farms. The Tennessee Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the state agency charged with inspecting and enforcing safety and sanitation standards on the state's farms, has conducted no tobacco farm inspections since December 2006...
Homeowners steamrolled as Florida courts clear foreclosure backlog Center for Public Integrity ...“The state’s entire court system has been compromised,” says Matt Weidner, an outspoken foreclosure defense lawyer who practices in Tampa and St. Petersburg and blogs about the system. “They’re stripping away private property rights and transferring billions of dollars in assets from individuals to large entities...”
War On Workers
Senate advances Paycheck Fairness Act The Hill ...Senate Republicans decided not to block the advancement of the Paycheck Fairness Act. Democrats needed 60 votes to advance the legislation procedurally; the tally was 73-25 on Wednesday. The move will once again tie up the Senate in debate for days...
Republicans Make Big Advances Thanks to Citizens United American Prospect ...the ruling has significantly benefited Republican candidates for state legislatures -- especially in North Carolina and Tennessee...
Bible College President Admits He Used Foreign Students As Slave Labor crooks and liars ...Miller forced foreign students at his supposedly Christian "Bible college" to live in substandard living conditions, work long hours for little or no pay, and - when students complained - he threatened them with deportation...
Worker Killed After Being Run Over By Trash Truck Tulsa's Channel 8 ...On Wednesday morning a Sand Springs sanitation worker lost his life while on the job...
Worker Killed In Johnston County Oil Rig Accident KTEN ...The sheriff's office says a man was killed when something went horribly wrong at an oil rig in Mannsville, Oklahoma...
Police and fire unions sue City of Indianapolis over alleged contract violations Fox 58 ...Lawyers for the unions accuse city officials of violating union contracts. According to the lawsuit, the city plans to get rid of the current HMO advantage plan beginning this January. The plan would be replaced by a health savings account or (HSA)...
At The Uber For Home Cleaning, Workers Pay A Price For Convenience Washington Post ...At the end of a five-hour trip back and forth, averaged out, he has made $10 an hour, without any taxes being withheld, as they would be if he were an employee. What’s more, he doesn’t get workers’ compensation, unemployment insurance, time off or retirement benefits — all the perks and protections of working for a traditional business...
U.S. mortgage applications fall to lowest since Dec 2000: MBA Reuters ...Applications for U.S. home mortgages fell last week to the lowest since December 2000 as interest rates rose for the first time in four weeks, an industry group said on Wednesday...
Elizabeth Warren: Jamie Dimon Gets $8.5 Million Raise for Illegal Conduct at JPMorgan Wall Street on Parade ...despite the misconduct at these banks that generated tens of billions of dollars in settlement payments by the companies, not a single senior executive at these banks has been criminally prosecuted...
Senators and Other Experts to Appeals Court: NSA's Phone Records Program Is a Massive Invasion of Privacy Electronic Frontier Foundation ...Senators Ron Wyden, Mark Udall, and Martin Heinrich—members of the committee charged with overseeing the NSA—write that they “have seen no evidence that the bulk collection of Americans’ phone records has provided any intelligence of value that could not have been gathered through means that caused far less harm to the privacy interests of millions of Americans.”...
When A ‘Contractor’ Is Really A Cheated Employee (opinion) Tacoma News Tribune ...‘Worker misclassification” is a dry term that smacks of paperwork mistakes and picayune regulations. But as a multi-state McClatchy Newspaper investigation has revealed, it’s often a deliberate scheme to cheat laborers out of wages and defraud the public...
Miscellaneous
Union Members Remember 9/11 By Rebuilding The World Trade Center AFL-CIO ...As millions of Americans took a moment this morning to remember the tragedy that occurred 11 years ago on Sept. 11 in New York City, Virginia and Pennsylvania, military veterans who’ve found careers through the Ironworkers, Laborers (LiUNA), Heat and Frost Insulators and Bricklayers (BAC) are rebuilding the World Trade Center in New York...
Teamsters Score Victory For Investor Rights At Sysco teamster.org ...The Teamsters Union scored a major victory for Sysco [NYSE: SYY] shareholders when the board of directors agreed this week to adopt the union’s proposal to amend company by-laws and provide shareholders with the right to call a special meeting. In 2015, a quorum of Sysco investors owning 25 percent of the company’s outstanding shares will be empowered to call a special meeting of shareholders...
Teamsters aim to organize FedEx Freight Indy drivers Indianapolis Star ...The Teamsters union is trying to whip up pro-union sentiment among 250 local FedEx Freight drivers as it lays the groundwork for a possible unionization vote...
NM Jail Employees In Union To Receive Retroactive Raise Corrections One ...It is the first contract for Teamsters Local 492 of Albuquerque, which was elected by jail employees to represent county detention sergeants, detention officers and booking specialists. The raise is for all union members regardless of their salary level...
Detroit's Creditors Are Morally Bankrupt (opinion) teamster.org ...Detroit city worker retirees have given more than their fair share when it comes to making pension concessions. So have current municipal employees. Together, they helped Motor City officials earlier this year cobble together a “grand bargain” as part of the city’s bankruptcy plan. But evidently, that’s still not enough for some...
Trade
U.S. groups leery of fast-track trade deals demand transparency Reuters ...More than 500 U.S. organizations on Wednesday urged the Obama administration to ditch the system of congressional authority to fast-track trade negotiations, demanding a more transparent method of handling trade negotiations...
U.S. Commerce Drops Duties On Turkish Steel Rebar Imports, Confirms Mexican Duties Reuters ...The U.S. Commerce Department on Tuesday dropped a preliminary decision to impose anti-dumping duties on steel rebar imports from Turkey while it confirmed anti-dumping duties on Mexican material of up to 66.7 percent...
State Battles
Gov. Brown Signs Bill Requiring Paid Sick Leave For Millions Of Workers CBS Los Angeles ...Assembly Bill 1522, known as The Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014, requires employers to provide paid sick leave to any employee who works in California for 30 or more days within a year from the commencement of employment starting on or after July 1, 2015...
Federal Panel Suggests Koch-Tied Judge Overreached When He Halted Walker Probe Center for Media and Democracy ...Tuesday's hearing suggested the 7th Circuit judges were wary of a federal court cutting off a state criminal investigation, being conducted under state law, and overseen by state courts...
Court Hears Arguments On Secret Scott Walker Investigation MSNBC ...A 7th Circuit Court of Appeals panel heard oral arguments Tuesday from Wisconsin prosecutors and attorneys for the conservative political group Wisconsin Club for Growth State prosecutors had been investigating since 2012 whether Walker and his campaign staff illegally coordinated with conservative groups to raise and spend campaign dollars in a way that skirted state contribution limits...
Minneapolis Leaders Consider $15-An-Hour Minimum Wage Minneapolis Star Tribune ...The new effort comes six weeks after the statewide minimum wage went up from $7.25 to $8 an hour — on its way to $9.50 in 2016.Cano is taking a measured approach. She said that process would begin with an update to the city’s rules for how it pays its contractors, then be expanded to include a higher minimum wage for all people working in Minneapolis, similar to Seattle’s recent minimum wage boost...
Tennessee Hasn't Inspected Tobacco Farms Since 2006 The Tennessean ...unlike some other states, Tennessee has virtually no oversight of child labor on tobacco farms. The Tennessee Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the state agency charged with inspecting and enforcing safety and sanitation standards on the state's farms, has conducted no tobacco farm inspections since December 2006...
Homeowners steamrolled as Florida courts clear foreclosure backlog Center for Public Integrity ...“The state’s entire court system has been compromised,” says Matt Weidner, an outspoken foreclosure defense lawyer who practices in Tampa and St. Petersburg and blogs about the system. “They’re stripping away private property rights and transferring billions of dollars in assets from individuals to large entities...”
War On Workers
Senate advances Paycheck Fairness Act The Hill ...Senate Republicans decided not to block the advancement of the Paycheck Fairness Act. Democrats needed 60 votes to advance the legislation procedurally; the tally was 73-25 on Wednesday. The move will once again tie up the Senate in debate for days...
Republicans Make Big Advances Thanks to Citizens United American Prospect ...the ruling has significantly benefited Republican candidates for state legislatures -- especially in North Carolina and Tennessee...
Bible College President Admits He Used Foreign Students As Slave Labor crooks and liars ...Miller forced foreign students at his supposedly Christian "Bible college" to live in substandard living conditions, work long hours for little or no pay, and - when students complained - he threatened them with deportation...
Worker Killed After Being Run Over By Trash Truck Tulsa's Channel 8 ...On Wednesday morning a Sand Springs sanitation worker lost his life while on the job...
Worker Killed In Johnston County Oil Rig Accident KTEN ...The sheriff's office says a man was killed when something went horribly wrong at an oil rig in Mannsville, Oklahoma...
Police and fire unions sue City of Indianapolis over alleged contract violations Fox 58 ...Lawyers for the unions accuse city officials of violating union contracts. According to the lawsuit, the city plans to get rid of the current HMO advantage plan beginning this January. The plan would be replaced by a health savings account or (HSA)...
At The Uber For Home Cleaning, Workers Pay A Price For Convenience Washington Post ...At the end of a five-hour trip back and forth, averaged out, he has made $10 an hour, without any taxes being withheld, as they would be if he were an employee. What’s more, he doesn’t get workers’ compensation, unemployment insurance, time off or retirement benefits — all the perks and protections of working for a traditional business...
U.S. mortgage applications fall to lowest since Dec 2000: MBA Reuters ...Applications for U.S. home mortgages fell last week to the lowest since December 2000 as interest rates rose for the first time in four weeks, an industry group said on Wednesday...
Elizabeth Warren: Jamie Dimon Gets $8.5 Million Raise for Illegal Conduct at JPMorgan Wall Street on Parade ...despite the misconduct at these banks that generated tens of billions of dollars in settlement payments by the companies, not a single senior executive at these banks has been criminally prosecuted...
Senators and Other Experts to Appeals Court: NSA's Phone Records Program Is a Massive Invasion of Privacy Electronic Frontier Foundation ...Senators Ron Wyden, Mark Udall, and Martin Heinrich—members of the committee charged with overseeing the NSA—write that they “have seen no evidence that the bulk collection of Americans’ phone records has provided any intelligence of value that could not have been gathered through means that caused far less harm to the privacy interests of millions of Americans.”...
When A ‘Contractor’ Is Really A Cheated Employee (opinion) Tacoma News Tribune ...‘Worker misclassification” is a dry term that smacks of paperwork mistakes and picayune regulations. But as a multi-state McClatchy Newspaper investigation has revealed, it’s often a deliberate scheme to cheat laborers out of wages and defraud the public...
Miscellaneous
Union Members Remember 9/11 By Rebuilding The World Trade Center AFL-CIO ...As millions of Americans took a moment this morning to remember the tragedy that occurred 11 years ago on Sept. 11 in New York City, Virginia and Pennsylvania, military veterans who’ve found careers through the Ironworkers, Laborers (LiUNA), Heat and Frost Insulators and Bricklayers (BAC) are rebuilding the World Trade Center in New York...
Thursday, July 17, 2014
Today's Teamster News 07.17.14
Teamster News
Horse and carriage drivers rally at City Hall, drop off 40,000 signatures supporting the industry New York Daily News ...Three months after the Daily News kicked off its campaign to stop de Blasio's proposed ban on the horse-drawn carriages, over 100 supporters rallied on de Blasio's door step to drop off five bags of signed petitions supporting the industry...
Hoffa: Sufficient Rest Key To Truck Driver Safety IBT ...The Teamsters Union today called for a renewed commitment by Congress to protect the driving public by keeping current hours of service rules in place to help prevent tragedies that are the result of driver fatigue...
Teamsters Ratify New Pipeline Agreement IBT ...An overwhelming majority of Teamster local unions that represent pipeline construction workers in the United States voted in favor of a new three-year contract, the Teamsters Union announced today. The contract covers about 4,000 Teamsters...
Teamsters Submit Comments On FAA Requirements For Drug Testing At Foreign Repair Stations IBT ...The Teamsters Aviation Mechanics Coalition (TAMC) called for the implementation of a single standard of drug testing for airline mechanics in its comments submitted today to the FAA on its proposed rulemaking, (Docket No. FAA-2012-1058), for required drug testing at foreign repair stations...
Funeral Giant SCI Continues Mistreatment Of Chicago-Area Workers IBT ...Funeral giant Service Corporation International (NYSE:SCI) is once again mistreating its Chicago-area workers by proposing draconian, regressive changes while employing delay tactics and refusing to give Teamsters Local 727 a last, best and final offer for its membership to vote...
Oxford County Deputies Protest 'Low' Wages Oxford Hills Sun Journal ...Deputies from the Oxford County Sheriff's Office held a protest Tuesday morning to highlight their ongoing labor dispute with the county. Around 10 deputies and members of Teamsters Local 340 marched in front of the Oxford County Courthouse on Western Avenue to bring attention to the ongoing battle to raise their wages...
Trade
The TPP and Civil War Counterpunch ...While the poor, and what remains of the middle and the working classes, suffer defeat after defeat, the wealthy are hammering out yet another “free trade agreement.”...
To End Child Labor, Washington Must Press Companies to Act (opinion) New York Times ...Regulation and collective bargaining by independent unions free from political repression are the most important means to reduce child labor and other abuses in developing countries. Unfortunately the U.S. government has not put its enormous influence on the side of enforceable labor rights in the commercial agreements that it negotiates, fighting instead for the rights of patented drug companies and other corporations to exploit global monopolies. These priorities must be changed...
State Battles
Colorado Attorney General Files “Massive” Lawsuit Against Foreclosure Mills, Paving Way for Suits in Other States naked capitalism ...The Colorado case filed on Tuesday (embedded below) gives a detailed account of how the two largest foreclosure law firms in the state colluded to set prices on various services well above permissible levels, garnering as much as $97 million in ill-gotten gains since 2006...
Brownback Tax Cuts That Ravaged Surplus Hinder Re-Election Bid Bloomerg ...A policy that he promised would create an economic juggernaut produced a sinkhole. A projected $27 million surplus in fiscal 2015 is all that remains of $700 million two years ago, according to budget analysts. Job growth didn’t materialize, Moody’s Investors Service cut the state’s debt rating, former Republican Party chairwoman Rochelle Chronister called Brownback’s plan “ruinous” and “crazy” and 104 members of the party yesterday endorsed his Democratic opponent...
No outsourcing after taking WEDC money (opinion) Racine Journal Times ... at least two companies that received financial awards from the WEDC later outsourced jobs to foreign countries, with one of those companies receiving a second WEDC award after the fact...
War On Workers
US Port Strike Threat Highlights Supply Chain Risk naked capitalism ...Fears of a strike or lockout at the west coast ports that handle more than 40 per cent of all container imports to the US are disrupting businesses’ supply chains, as shippers anticipating a stoppage divert cargo to Canadian ports...
A Rare Win For The Unions? Staples Abandons Postal Service Trial Wall Street Journal ...The labor movement hasn’t had the best 2014 so far, with a bruising defeat for the UAW in its attempts to organize auto workers in the South, and an ominous Supreme Court ruling for public sector unions. But today, the American Postal Workers Union and its allies seem to be making progress in an important battle...
FBI warns driverless cars could be used as 'lethal weapons' The Guardian ...Google’s driverless car may remain a prototype, but the FBI believes the “game changing” vehicle could revolutionise high-speed car chases within a matter of years. The report also warned that autonomous cars may be used as "lethal weapons"...
Miscellaneous
Study Urges Pay Increase For Jersey's 'Tipped' Workers Philadelphia Inquirer ...New Jersey's servers, bellhops, and bartenders earn lower hourly wages than their counterparts in Pennsylvania and Delaware, pushing them into poverty, according to a report released Wednesday...
Horse and carriage drivers rally at City Hall, drop off 40,000 signatures supporting the industry New York Daily News ...Three months after the Daily News kicked off its campaign to stop de Blasio's proposed ban on the horse-drawn carriages, over 100 supporters rallied on de Blasio's door step to drop off five bags of signed petitions supporting the industry...
Hoffa: Sufficient Rest Key To Truck Driver Safety IBT ...The Teamsters Union today called for a renewed commitment by Congress to protect the driving public by keeping current hours of service rules in place to help prevent tragedies that are the result of driver fatigue...
Teamsters Ratify New Pipeline Agreement IBT ...An overwhelming majority of Teamster local unions that represent pipeline construction workers in the United States voted in favor of a new three-year contract, the Teamsters Union announced today. The contract covers about 4,000 Teamsters...
Teamsters Submit Comments On FAA Requirements For Drug Testing At Foreign Repair Stations IBT ...The Teamsters Aviation Mechanics Coalition (TAMC) called for the implementation of a single standard of drug testing for airline mechanics in its comments submitted today to the FAA on its proposed rulemaking, (Docket No. FAA-2012-1058), for required drug testing at foreign repair stations...
Funeral Giant SCI Continues Mistreatment Of Chicago-Area Workers IBT ...Funeral giant Service Corporation International (NYSE:SCI) is once again mistreating its Chicago-area workers by proposing draconian, regressive changes while employing delay tactics and refusing to give Teamsters Local 727 a last, best and final offer for its membership to vote...
Oxford County Deputies Protest 'Low' Wages Oxford Hills Sun Journal ...Deputies from the Oxford County Sheriff's Office held a protest Tuesday morning to highlight their ongoing labor dispute with the county. Around 10 deputies and members of Teamsters Local 340 marched in front of the Oxford County Courthouse on Western Avenue to bring attention to the ongoing battle to raise their wages...
Trade
The TPP and Civil War Counterpunch ...While the poor, and what remains of the middle and the working classes, suffer defeat after defeat, the wealthy are hammering out yet another “free trade agreement.”...
To End Child Labor, Washington Must Press Companies to Act (opinion) New York Times ...Regulation and collective bargaining by independent unions free from political repression are the most important means to reduce child labor and other abuses in developing countries. Unfortunately the U.S. government has not put its enormous influence on the side of enforceable labor rights in the commercial agreements that it negotiates, fighting instead for the rights of patented drug companies and other corporations to exploit global monopolies. These priorities must be changed...
State Battles
Colorado Attorney General Files “Massive” Lawsuit Against Foreclosure Mills, Paving Way for Suits in Other States naked capitalism ...The Colorado case filed on Tuesday (embedded below) gives a detailed account of how the two largest foreclosure law firms in the state colluded to set prices on various services well above permissible levels, garnering as much as $97 million in ill-gotten gains since 2006...
Brownback Tax Cuts That Ravaged Surplus Hinder Re-Election Bid Bloomerg ...A policy that he promised would create an economic juggernaut produced a sinkhole. A projected $27 million surplus in fiscal 2015 is all that remains of $700 million two years ago, according to budget analysts. Job growth didn’t materialize, Moody’s Investors Service cut the state’s debt rating, former Republican Party chairwoman Rochelle Chronister called Brownback’s plan “ruinous” and “crazy” and 104 members of the party yesterday endorsed his Democratic opponent...
No outsourcing after taking WEDC money (opinion) Racine Journal Times ... at least two companies that received financial awards from the WEDC later outsourced jobs to foreign countries, with one of those companies receiving a second WEDC award after the fact...
War On Workers
US Port Strike Threat Highlights Supply Chain Risk naked capitalism ...Fears of a strike or lockout at the west coast ports that handle more than 40 per cent of all container imports to the US are disrupting businesses’ supply chains, as shippers anticipating a stoppage divert cargo to Canadian ports...
A Rare Win For The Unions? Staples Abandons Postal Service Trial Wall Street Journal ...The labor movement hasn’t had the best 2014 so far, with a bruising defeat for the UAW in its attempts to organize auto workers in the South, and an ominous Supreme Court ruling for public sector unions. But today, the American Postal Workers Union and its allies seem to be making progress in an important battle...
FBI warns driverless cars could be used as 'lethal weapons' The Guardian ...Google’s driverless car may remain a prototype, but the FBI believes the “game changing” vehicle could revolutionise high-speed car chases within a matter of years. The report also warned that autonomous cars may be used as "lethal weapons"...
Miscellaneous
Study Urges Pay Increase For Jersey's 'Tipped' Workers Philadelphia Inquirer ...New Jersey's servers, bellhops, and bartenders earn lower hourly wages than their counterparts in Pennsylvania and Delaware, pushing them into poverty, according to a report released Wednesday...
Thursday, May 22, 2014
US bank hires offshore call center to lie to customers on the road to foreclosure
Counterpunch has the story about the borrower, a retired Montana accountant, and his wife, Abraham and Betty Morrow. They are suing the Bank of America for fraud. They claim the bank deliberately misled them into foreclosing on their home. One reason the couple has a shot is that Abraham took meticulous notes of his conversations with customer service representatives.
According to Counterpunch,
One early conversation took place on Dec. 8, 2009. It was with a Bank of America representative who identified himself as “Brian.” Morrow said “Brian” told him that he and his wife were locked in for a loan modification program. If they successfully made reduced trial payments for three to four months, Morrow said he was told, their loan modification would be made permanent.
After the whole thing unraveled and the Morrows filed suit, one of the defenses made by Bank of America was that, according to its records, Morrow had not spoken with anyone by the name of Brian on the date in question. On Dec. 8, 2009, the bank said, Morrow spoke with a customer service representative in India by the name of Sunil Kumar.
(The Morrows' lawyer John) Heenan later deposed Kumar by telephone. Heenan said Kumar told him, “We all use American names” when speaking with customers.
And what American name did Kumar use? “Brian,” he told Heenan.That wasn't the worst of it.
The Morrows had run into financial trouble when the buyer of their business defaulted on payments to them. They tried to modify their mortgage loan with Bank of America, but couldn't. They were told to skip payments so they'd qualify for a loan modification -- then they'd get calls from collection agencies. They submitted paperwork, then were it was lost and to resubmit it again. They were sent letters by the bank and then told by the bank's customer service representatives to ignore the letters. They applied for a loan modification and waited for 10 months before they got an answer.
And the bank's defense? Abraham Morrow had never talked to a customer service representative named Brian!
The Morrows' case now goes to trial.
Read the whole story here.
Wednesday, May 7, 2014
Today's Teamster News 05.07.14
Teamster News
AGY Seeks 'Collective Bargaining Agreement' Aiken Standard ...AGY released a statement in response to a demonstration by employees that was initially called a strike, but is now being called a "lockout". Employees of the plant began standing outside the plant entrances on Wagener Road and U.S. 78 on Friday...
Teamsters back cutting Swift CEO voting power with stock structure changes Overdrive ...The Teamsters union is pushing a plan to change Swift Transportation’s dual-class stock structure in order to give stockholders equal voting power...
Jeff Klein Snags Teamsters Endorsement New York Observer ...State Senator Jeff Klein, who is facing a Democratic primary challenge, is set to snag the endorsement of the teamsters union later this morning–marking one of his largest union nods so far...
Convention Center: Teamsters, Carpenters could be out by weekend Philly.com ...THE TEAMSTERS and carpenters who set up exhibits at the Pennsylvania Convention Center could find themselves out of work by Saturday, after refusing yesterday to sign a labor agreement that changes their work rules...
Trade
U.S. Trade Deficit Drops 3.6 Percent In March ABC News ...The U.S. trade deficit narrowed in March as exports rebounded to the second highest level on record, led by strong gains in sales of aircraft, autos and farm goods...
State Battles
Missouri Senate Looks To Curb Union Fee Collection The Missourian ...The Missouri Senate is expected to debate legislation this week that would curb the ability of public employee unions to collect fees from workers' paychecks...
Surprise! 'Pro-business' policies hurt state economic growth (opinion) Los Angeles Times ...What's worst about these ALEC policies, Chinn reports, is that the relentless budget-cutting they require leave crucial state services, particularly education, gasping for breath. That's a formula for long-term decline, not growth...
Tax Breaks Abound in Wisconsin, but Job Growth Remains Slow Wisconsin Budget Project ...Wisconsin lawmakers have cut taxes 43 times since 2011, reducing revenue by $1.9 billion over that period and limiting investments in Wisconsin’s schools, workforce, and transportation networks. Despite – or because of – the substantial tax cuts, private sector job growth in Wisconsin has been slower than the national average...
Companies Ramp Up Fight Against $10.10 Wage CNN Money ...Businesses are pulling out all the stops to fight a federal minimum wage increase to $10.10 from $7.25 an hour. A new commercial went up on cable news channels last week from the Employment Policies Institute...
War On Workers
Even Millionaires Think The Rich Should Pay Higher Taxes Huffington Post ...In the heated debate of inequality, the wealthy are usually portrayed as the cause rather than the solution. But CNBC's first-ever Millionaire Survey reveals that 51 percent of American millionaires believe inequality is a "major problem" for the U.S. and nearly two-thirds support higher taxes on the wealthy...
Billionaires try to convince Americans it’s good to import foreign workers, increase immigration Bangor Daily News ...Since 2007, political lobbies spent a whopping $1.5 billion to expand immigration, according to the watchdog Sunlight Foundation...
Jungle Jack Frustrated With The Koch Brothers Involvement In Columbus Zoo Levy WBNS ...One of the most recognized faces in Central Ohio - Jack Hanna, Director Emeritus of the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium - says he is frustrated by the involvement of a Washington, DC based group and it's efforts to defeat the Columbus Zoo levy...
Koch Group Tries To Sink Ohio Zoo’s Tax Proposal: ‘There Is No Issue We Won’t Get Involved In’ Think Progress ...a proposal for a modest tax increase to fund the zoo’s programs has attracted the attention of Americans for Prosperity, a national group funded by conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch...
Bombshell Report: $100 Million in Taxpayer $$ Wasted or Stolen by Deregulated Charter Industry Diane Ravitch's Blog ...A new report reveals massive waste, fraud, and corruption in the charter industry, where private corporations control public funds with minimal oversight or accountability...
Oregon Woman Wins 3-Year Fight Against Wells Fargo Foreclosure ABC News ... her mortgage payments have been deposited by Wells Fargo. Despite efforts to clear up the mistake and paying more than $12,000 in attorney fees, her home went into judicial foreclosure...
Miscellaneous
The World Will Have Its First Trillionaire Within 25 Years Think Progress ...Billionaires will finally have someone to envy by 2040. The world will mint its first trillionaire within 25 years as the wealthiest people's investment gains push global inequality wider and wider...
How the Middle Class Lifestyle Became Unaffordable oftwominds.com ...As the real economy stagnated, the state (which includes the Federal Reserve) incentivized financialization and speculative credit bubbles to keep the money flowing to feed its own spending...
Oh, Good: More Sports Teams Asking Taxpayers To Pay For Their Stadiums Mother Jones ...Cleveland's professional sports teams have poured more than a million dollars into a fight they're hoping will end in victory on Tuesday. The end goal isn't a championship, though--it's a municipal tax extension...
AGY Seeks 'Collective Bargaining Agreement' Aiken Standard ...AGY released a statement in response to a demonstration by employees that was initially called a strike, but is now being called a "lockout". Employees of the plant began standing outside the plant entrances on Wagener Road and U.S. 78 on Friday...
Teamsters back cutting Swift CEO voting power with stock structure changes Overdrive ...The Teamsters union is pushing a plan to change Swift Transportation’s dual-class stock structure in order to give stockholders equal voting power...
Jeff Klein Snags Teamsters Endorsement New York Observer ...State Senator Jeff Klein, who is facing a Democratic primary challenge, is set to snag the endorsement of the teamsters union later this morning–marking one of his largest union nods so far...
Convention Center: Teamsters, Carpenters could be out by weekend Philly.com ...THE TEAMSTERS and carpenters who set up exhibits at the Pennsylvania Convention Center could find themselves out of work by Saturday, after refusing yesterday to sign a labor agreement that changes their work rules...
Trade
U.S. Trade Deficit Drops 3.6 Percent In March ABC News ...The U.S. trade deficit narrowed in March as exports rebounded to the second highest level on record, led by strong gains in sales of aircraft, autos and farm goods...
State Battles
Missouri Senate Looks To Curb Union Fee Collection The Missourian ...The Missouri Senate is expected to debate legislation this week that would curb the ability of public employee unions to collect fees from workers' paychecks...
Surprise! 'Pro-business' policies hurt state economic growth (opinion) Los Angeles Times ...What's worst about these ALEC policies, Chinn reports, is that the relentless budget-cutting they require leave crucial state services, particularly education, gasping for breath. That's a formula for long-term decline, not growth...
Tax Breaks Abound in Wisconsin, but Job Growth Remains Slow Wisconsin Budget Project ...Wisconsin lawmakers have cut taxes 43 times since 2011, reducing revenue by $1.9 billion over that period and limiting investments in Wisconsin’s schools, workforce, and transportation networks. Despite – or because of – the substantial tax cuts, private sector job growth in Wisconsin has been slower than the national average...
Companies Ramp Up Fight Against $10.10 Wage CNN Money ...Businesses are pulling out all the stops to fight a federal minimum wage increase to $10.10 from $7.25 an hour. A new commercial went up on cable news channels last week from the Employment Policies Institute...
War On Workers
Even Millionaires Think The Rich Should Pay Higher Taxes Huffington Post ...In the heated debate of inequality, the wealthy are usually portrayed as the cause rather than the solution. But CNBC's first-ever Millionaire Survey reveals that 51 percent of American millionaires believe inequality is a "major problem" for the U.S. and nearly two-thirds support higher taxes on the wealthy...
Billionaires try to convince Americans it’s good to import foreign workers, increase immigration Bangor Daily News ...Since 2007, political lobbies spent a whopping $1.5 billion to expand immigration, according to the watchdog Sunlight Foundation...
Jungle Jack Frustrated With The Koch Brothers Involvement In Columbus Zoo Levy WBNS ...One of the most recognized faces in Central Ohio - Jack Hanna, Director Emeritus of the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium - says he is frustrated by the involvement of a Washington, DC based group and it's efforts to defeat the Columbus Zoo levy...
Koch Group Tries To Sink Ohio Zoo’s Tax Proposal: ‘There Is No Issue We Won’t Get Involved In’ Think Progress ...a proposal for a modest tax increase to fund the zoo’s programs has attracted the attention of Americans for Prosperity, a national group funded by conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch...
Bombshell Report: $100 Million in Taxpayer $$ Wasted or Stolen by Deregulated Charter Industry Diane Ravitch's Blog ...A new report reveals massive waste, fraud, and corruption in the charter industry, where private corporations control public funds with minimal oversight or accountability...
Oregon Woman Wins 3-Year Fight Against Wells Fargo Foreclosure ABC News ... her mortgage payments have been deposited by Wells Fargo. Despite efforts to clear up the mistake and paying more than $12,000 in attorney fees, her home went into judicial foreclosure...
Miscellaneous
The World Will Have Its First Trillionaire Within 25 Years Think Progress ...Billionaires will finally have someone to envy by 2040. The world will mint its first trillionaire within 25 years as the wealthiest people's investment gains push global inequality wider and wider...
How the Middle Class Lifestyle Became Unaffordable oftwominds.com ...As the real economy stagnated, the state (which includes the Federal Reserve) incentivized financialization and speculative credit bubbles to keep the money flowing to feed its own spending...
Oh, Good: More Sports Teams Asking Taxpayers To Pay For Their Stadiums Mother Jones ...Cleveland's professional sports teams have poured more than a million dollars into a fight they're hoping will end in victory on Tuesday. The end goal isn't a championship, though--it's a municipal tax extension...
Thursday, April 3, 2014
Zombie neighborhoods: Legacy of the death of the middle class
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| The abandoned Rolling Acres Mall in Akron, Ohio |
Back in the day, when wages were higher and many more workers enjoyed union protection, neighborhoods grew and improved. Now they're shrinking and falling into disrepair as wages fall, the cost of living rises and good manufacturing jobs are replaced by low-wage retail and fast-food employment.
The death of the middle class means living dead homes. According to Realty Trac:
One in every five homes in the foreclosure process is sitting vacant, abandoned by the distressed homeowner and not yet repossessed by the foreclosing lender. With no one to maintain them, these zombie foreclosures are falling into disrepair, attracting vandalism and other crime and dragging down the values of nearby homes in the neighborhood.Florida has five housing markets in the top 10 for housing foreclosures. The state has 140,000 homes in zombie mode.
Neighbors in Ormond Beach, Fla., are trying to put a stake through the heart of zombie homes. Bay News 9 reported:
The group is targeting homes that are abandoned and decaying, with so much overgrowth they are hard to look at.
"It is an eyesore and it is exactly a zombie home because we don't even know at this point who owns the homes," said Rita Press, president of Citizens for Ormond Beach.
"I think it's gonna lower the property values if they see a rundown house," said neighbor Joe Puccino.Unfortunately, the best solution may be to bulldoze the homes.
... full demolition. A recent study sponsored by Harvard University of zombie foreclosures in Cleveland concluded that “gut rehab” done for decades by community development organizations is “not financially viable for most Cleveland neighborhoods,” and instead “demolition will likely remain the predominant means of blight removal and market stabilization.”When the neighborhoods go, so do the shopping malls. Matt Stopera at Buzzfeed reported zombie malls are popping up all over the country. He featured photos of 10 living dead shopping malls that were gathered on the Dead Malls Enthusiasts Facebook page.
Here's Crestwood Mall in St. Louis, which will likely be sold and razed (via Facebook: UrbanExplorationUS / Via architecturalafterlife.com)
Here's the Hawthorne Plaza Mall in Hawthorne, Calif. (via Reddit.com):
And here's the Dixie Square Mall in Harvey, Ill., which has been demolished (via Detroiturbex.com):
This is what the Dixie Square Mall looked like during the filming of 'Blues Brothers' (via Universal Pictures / Via dailymail.co.uk):
To see all the zombie malls on Buzzfeed, click here. And remember, this is what the death of the middle class looks like.
Wednesday, April 2, 2014
Today's Teamster News 04.02.14
Teamster News
New York's Tom O'Donnell Named Teamsters Motion Picture Director Reuters ...International Brotherhood of Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa today announced the appointment of Tom O'Donnell, President of Teamsters Local 817 in Lake Success, New York as Director of the Teamsters Motion Picture and Theatrical Trades Division...
CCTA Strike Heads Into Third Week, Board To Explore Options WPTZ ...The Board of Commissioners at the Chittenden County Transportation Authority will meet Monday morning to address the agency's bus drivers' strike as the impasse marks the start of its third week...
Teamsters allege union-busting tactics Charleston Gazette ...local Teamsters leaders believe the company’s new owners, Proud Eagle Inc., are taking a very different approach, including using “union-busting tactics...”
Trade
Tobacco Lobby Targets Trans-Pacific, Trans-Atlantic Pacts Legal Times ...As the United States continues negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Trans Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, tobacco giant Phillip Morris International Management SA has turned to former Rep. Bill Paxon (R-New York) and other Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld lobbyists for help...
State Battles
Tight Vote On "Pay Check Protection" Leaves Future For "Right-To-Work" Uncertain PoliticMO ...With just one vote to spare, the Missouri House of Representatives gave first-round approval to legislation aiming to restrict a labor union's ability to automatically raise political funds from members...
Federal Judge Allows Part Of Right-To-Work Lawsuit Against State Of Michigan To Proceed Detroit Free Press ...A lawsuit challenging Michigan's controversial right-to-work law is still alive in U.S. District Court following a judge's ruling today...
Radio host files federal civil rights lawsuit for Capitol Police arrest LaCrosse Tribune ...A local radio host Monday filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against three (Wisconsin) Capitol Police officers who handcuffed and ticketed him during last summer’s mass arrests of singing protesters...
Revised and Updated Data Indicate Minnesota-Wisconsin Economic Activity Gap Increases Econbrowser ...the cumulative gap between Minnesota and Wisconsin for January is now over 2.2%...
Letter Shows Tennessee Governor Linked VW Incentives To Rejecting UAW Detroit News ...Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslem told Volkswagon AG the state would offer the automaker $300 million in economic incentives, but only if voters at Volkswagon's Chattanooga, Tennessee factory voted against joining the United Auto Workers in February...
Appeals Court Finds Florida's 2012 Voter Purge Broke The Law Talking Points Memo ...The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 that the state's efforts to remove non-citizens from the rolls violated the act's so-called "90 Days Provision," which requires states to “complete, not later than 90 days prior to the date of a primary or general election for Federal office, any program the purpose of which is to systematically remove the names of ineligible voters from the official lists of eligible voters...”
The War on Workers
The Next Level Of The Anti-Koch Campaign: Treat David Koch Like A Candidate For Office Buzzfeed ... In 1980, David Koch ran in and funded a presidential campaign that called Social Security “The Ultimate Pyramid Scheme” and promised to abolish and replace it...
Wage War Brews at Johns Hopkins Hospital Insurancenews.net ...About 2,000 workers at Johns Hopkins Hospital have threatened to strike if the hospital does not agree to a wage increase of as much as forty percent for some employees...
Former McDonald’s Store Managers Say They Withheld Wages Bloomberg ...Two former McDonald’s Corp. (MCD) store managers, assisting with a campaign to raise pay for fast-food workers, said they helped withhold employees’ wages at the restaurant chain after facing pressure to keep labor costs down...
Nearly 90% Of Fast-Food Workers Allege Wage Theft, Survey Finds Los Angeles Times ...The vast majority of fast-food workers in the U.S. say they've been the victims of wage theft according to a survey released Tuesday...
At McDonald's, Wage Theft Is Just Another Managerial Task TakePart ...It's closing time at McDonald's and in addition to mopping the floors and closing out the registers, apparently one other important task helps keep this multi-billion dollar company running cheaply and efficiently...
Ormond Beach fighting a plague of zombie homes Bay News 9 ...There's a group of Ormond Beach homeowners battling a zombie home problem -- homes that are standing dead and sucking the life out of entire neighborhoods...
Euro-Zone Jobless Rate Stays High Wall Street Journal ...The euro zone's economic recovery has been too weak to significantly reduce the number of people without jobs, as figures released Tuesday showed the unemployment rate has been unchanged since October 2013...
Miscellaneous
Clarity Sought As Northwestern Football's Labor Effort Evolves USA Today ...Ever since the National Labor Relations Board announcement last Wednesday that Northwestern's football players had been deemed employees by the regional director of the board's Chicago office...
How Labor Unions Can Save The NCAA Slate ...Last week after the National Labor Relations Board announced its decision to allow Northwestern football players to unionize, some said it would mark the death knell for the current amateurism model of intercollegiate athletics...
PG&E indicted on 12 criminal charges in San Bruno blast case San Francisco Chronicle ...Pacific Gas and Electric Co. was indicted Tuesday on 12 federal criminal counts related to the 2010 gas pipeline explosion that leveled a San Bruno neighborhood and killed eight people, including allegations that it did not conduct required inspections that could have prevented the disaster...
Goldman And SocGen Accused Of Defrauding Libya Out Of Billions With Derivatives During Gaddafi's Reign Forbes ...major U.S. and European financial firms, including Goldman Sachs and Societe Generale, actively courted executives of the Libyan Investment Authority (LIA), which, flush with $60 billion of the nation’s oil profits, paid rich fees to invest with Western banks and funds, in some cases losing their whole investment. Now, the LIA is suing Goldman Sachs and Societe Generale in London, while the SEC and the U.S. Justice Department are also scrutinizing the practices of hedge fund Och-Ziff and private equity firm Blackstone...
New York's Tom O'Donnell Named Teamsters Motion Picture Director Reuters ...International Brotherhood of Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa today announced the appointment of Tom O'Donnell, President of Teamsters Local 817 in Lake Success, New York as Director of the Teamsters Motion Picture and Theatrical Trades Division...
CCTA Strike Heads Into Third Week, Board To Explore Options WPTZ ...The Board of Commissioners at the Chittenden County Transportation Authority will meet Monday morning to address the agency's bus drivers' strike as the impasse marks the start of its third week...
Teamsters allege union-busting tactics Charleston Gazette ...local Teamsters leaders believe the company’s new owners, Proud Eagle Inc., are taking a very different approach, including using “union-busting tactics...”
Trade
Tobacco Lobby Targets Trans-Pacific, Trans-Atlantic Pacts Legal Times ...As the United States continues negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Trans Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, tobacco giant Phillip Morris International Management SA has turned to former Rep. Bill Paxon (R-New York) and other Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld lobbyists for help...
State Battles
Tight Vote On "Pay Check Protection" Leaves Future For "Right-To-Work" Uncertain PoliticMO ...With just one vote to spare, the Missouri House of Representatives gave first-round approval to legislation aiming to restrict a labor union's ability to automatically raise political funds from members...
Federal Judge Allows Part Of Right-To-Work Lawsuit Against State Of Michigan To Proceed Detroit Free Press ...A lawsuit challenging Michigan's controversial right-to-work law is still alive in U.S. District Court following a judge's ruling today...
Radio host files federal civil rights lawsuit for Capitol Police arrest LaCrosse Tribune ...A local radio host Monday filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against three (Wisconsin) Capitol Police officers who handcuffed and ticketed him during last summer’s mass arrests of singing protesters...
Revised and Updated Data Indicate Minnesota-Wisconsin Economic Activity Gap Increases Econbrowser ...the cumulative gap between Minnesota and Wisconsin for January is now over 2.2%...
Letter Shows Tennessee Governor Linked VW Incentives To Rejecting UAW Detroit News ...Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslem told Volkswagon AG the state would offer the automaker $300 million in economic incentives, but only if voters at Volkswagon's Chattanooga, Tennessee factory voted against joining the United Auto Workers in February...
Appeals Court Finds Florida's 2012 Voter Purge Broke The Law Talking Points Memo ...The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 that the state's efforts to remove non-citizens from the rolls violated the act's so-called "90 Days Provision," which requires states to “complete, not later than 90 days prior to the date of a primary or general election for Federal office, any program the purpose of which is to systematically remove the names of ineligible voters from the official lists of eligible voters...”
The War on Workers
The Next Level Of The Anti-Koch Campaign: Treat David Koch Like A Candidate For Office Buzzfeed ... In 1980, David Koch ran in and funded a presidential campaign that called Social Security “The Ultimate Pyramid Scheme” and promised to abolish and replace it...
Wage War Brews at Johns Hopkins Hospital Insurancenews.net ...About 2,000 workers at Johns Hopkins Hospital have threatened to strike if the hospital does not agree to a wage increase of as much as forty percent for some employees...
Former McDonald’s Store Managers Say They Withheld Wages Bloomberg ...Two former McDonald’s Corp. (MCD) store managers, assisting with a campaign to raise pay for fast-food workers, said they helped withhold employees’ wages at the restaurant chain after facing pressure to keep labor costs down...
Nearly 90% Of Fast-Food Workers Allege Wage Theft, Survey Finds Los Angeles Times ...The vast majority of fast-food workers in the U.S. say they've been the victims of wage theft according to a survey released Tuesday...
At McDonald's, Wage Theft Is Just Another Managerial Task TakePart ...It's closing time at McDonald's and in addition to mopping the floors and closing out the registers, apparently one other important task helps keep this multi-billion dollar company running cheaply and efficiently...
Ormond Beach fighting a plague of zombie homes Bay News 9 ...There's a group of Ormond Beach homeowners battling a zombie home problem -- homes that are standing dead and sucking the life out of entire neighborhoods...
Euro-Zone Jobless Rate Stays High Wall Street Journal ...The euro zone's economic recovery has been too weak to significantly reduce the number of people without jobs, as figures released Tuesday showed the unemployment rate has been unchanged since October 2013...
Miscellaneous
Clarity Sought As Northwestern Football's Labor Effort Evolves USA Today ...Ever since the National Labor Relations Board announcement last Wednesday that Northwestern's football players had been deemed employees by the regional director of the board's Chicago office...
How Labor Unions Can Save The NCAA Slate ...Last week after the National Labor Relations Board announced its decision to allow Northwestern football players to unionize, some said it would mark the death knell for the current amateurism model of intercollegiate athletics...
PG&E indicted on 12 criminal charges in San Bruno blast case San Francisco Chronicle ...Pacific Gas and Electric Co. was indicted Tuesday on 12 federal criminal counts related to the 2010 gas pipeline explosion that leveled a San Bruno neighborhood and killed eight people, including allegations that it did not conduct required inspections that could have prevented the disaster...
Goldman And SocGen Accused Of Defrauding Libya Out Of Billions With Derivatives During Gaddafi's Reign Forbes ...major U.S. and European financial firms, including Goldman Sachs and Societe Generale, actively courted executives of the Libyan Investment Authority (LIA), which, flush with $60 billion of the nation’s oil profits, paid rich fees to invest with Western banks and funds, in some cases losing their whole investment. Now, the LIA is suing Goldman Sachs and Societe Generale in London, while the SEC and the U.S. Justice Department are also scrutinizing the practices of hedge fund Och-Ziff and private equity firm Blackstone...
Thursday, March 27, 2014
Today's Teamster News 03.27.14
Teamster News
Special City Council Meeting to Address Teamsters Strike Against CCTA Burlington Free Press ...One of the two items on the agenda of a Burlington City Council meeting that starts 5 pm Wednesday will be an update on the Teamster drivers' strike from Chittenden County Transportation Authority representatives...
Teamster Drivers Strike at CCTA Enters Week 2 WCAX ...It's week two of the Teamsters bus drivers' strike, and riders are still struggling to get around. With no apparent end in sight, some families that rely on public transportation say they fear the worst...
Huge Teamster turnout at pro-worker, anti-RTW4Less rally in Missouri TeamsterNation ...A large contingent of Teamsters joined well over 3,000 workers in Jefferson City today to rally against right-to-work and paycheck deception bills before the Missouri Legislature...
The death of an employer scam American Prospect ...The decisions of the NLRB and the California Labor Commissioner signal that the days of industry-wide misclassification—at least, for port truckers—may be numbered...
Special City Council Meeting to Address Teamsters Strike Against CCTA Burlington Free Press ...One of the two items on the agenda of a Burlington City Council meeting that starts 5 pm Wednesday will be an update on the Teamster drivers' strike from Chittenden County Transportation Authority representatives...
Teamster Drivers Strike at CCTA Enters Week 2 WCAX ...It's week two of the Teamsters bus drivers' strike, and riders are still struggling to get around. With no apparent end in sight, some families that rely on public transportation say they fear the worst...
Huge Teamster turnout at pro-worker, anti-RTW4Less rally in Missouri TeamsterNation ...A large contingent of Teamsters joined well over 3,000 workers in Jefferson City today to rally against right-to-work and paycheck deception bills before the Missouri Legislature...
The death of an employer scam American Prospect ...The decisions of the NLRB and the California Labor Commissioner signal that the days of industry-wide misclassification—at least, for port truckers—may be numbered...
Trade
China loses trade dispute over rare earth exports Reuters …China has lost a dispute at the World Trade Organization over limits on rare earth and metals exports, handing Europe and the United States a victory over what they see as Beijing's unfair trade practices...
U.S. Steelmakers Push for Duties on Korean Rivals Wall Street Journal ...Struggling U.S. steelmakers want Washington to punish their South Korean competitors for selling lucrative steel products to the U.S. oil and gas industry at prices the U.S. suppliers say are unfair...
State Battles
Union groups rally against ‘right to work’ legislation at Missouri Capitol St. Louis Post Dispatch ...Gov. Jay Nixon told the crowd he would not hesitate to veto anti-worker legislation as he has in the past. Currently, the Missouri House is considering a measure to put right to work on the August ballot, bypassing the governor...
Pa. still facing an uphill battle to privatize liquor sales Express-Times ...The road to liquor privatization in Pennsylvania is defined by detour, and this year is no exception. As an election season begins to heat up, the Legislature is entertaining multiple reform efforts...
Wisconsin's personal income rebounded more slowly than U.S. average Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ...After American wages plunged in the darkest days of the last recession, Wisconsin's personal net earnings have rebounded — but at an average annual rate that lags that of the nation and most of its Great Lakes peers, according to the latest government estimates released Tuesday...
Iowa lawmakers consider tax credit for student debt Quad-City Times ...Iowa residents could receive a state tax credit for student loans if they earned a degree from a regent institution, community college or nonprofit university in Iowa under legislation considered by a three-member House panel Tuesday...
War on Workers
Northwestern players get union vote MSNBC ...In a potentially game-changing moment for college athletics, the Chicago district of the National Labor Relations Board ruled on Wednesday that Northwestern football players qualify as employees of the university and can unionize...
Teachers stage one-day strike in England and Wales The Guardian ...Thousands of schools across England and Wales will face disruption and closures today as teachers stage a one-day national walkout over pay and conditions...
Fast Food Managers Prefer 'Stature' To Overtime Pay, Wealthy CEO Says Huffington Post ...Fast food CEO Andy Puzder took to the op-ed pages of the Wall Street Journal Tuesday to rip into a White House proposal to raise the wages of low-paid managers who work unpaid overtime hours...
Almagamated Transit Union says overtime exemptions create 'Sweatshops on Wheels' Examiner ...Union says that bus drivers have become the scapegoats for accidents caused by workers who are forced to work more than 15 hour days just to make ends meet…
Koch Brothers Invade Tiny Iron County, Wisconsin The Daily Beast ...A mining town of 6,000 people isn’t too small for billionaires to mess with to get their way. Inside the race bringing in big money...
Global Horizons Found Liable For Thai Worker Abuse Associated Press ...A federal judge has found a California-based labor contractor liable for discrimination and abuse of hundreds of Thai workers at Hawaii farms...
Miscellaneous
Housing WatchdogSlams Massive Property Inspection Industry Huffington Post ...The inspectors who decide whether homes have been abandoned and are ready for foreclosure are doing such a terrible job that the whole system requires a major overhaul, and maybe should be scrapped altogether, a government watchdog warned on Tuesday...
China loses trade dispute over rare earth exports Reuters …China has lost a dispute at the World Trade Organization over limits on rare earth and metals exports, handing Europe and the United States a victory over what they see as Beijing's unfair trade practices...
U.S. Steelmakers Push for Duties on Korean Rivals Wall Street Journal ...Struggling U.S. steelmakers want Washington to punish their South Korean competitors for selling lucrative steel products to the U.S. oil and gas industry at prices the U.S. suppliers say are unfair...
State Battles
Union groups rally against ‘right to work’ legislation at Missouri Capitol St. Louis Post Dispatch ...Gov. Jay Nixon told the crowd he would not hesitate to veto anti-worker legislation as he has in the past. Currently, the Missouri House is considering a measure to put right to work on the August ballot, bypassing the governor...
Pa. still facing an uphill battle to privatize liquor sales Express-Times ...The road to liquor privatization in Pennsylvania is defined by detour, and this year is no exception. As an election season begins to heat up, the Legislature is entertaining multiple reform efforts...
Wisconsin's personal income rebounded more slowly than U.S. average Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ...After American wages plunged in the darkest days of the last recession, Wisconsin's personal net earnings have rebounded — but at an average annual rate that lags that of the nation and most of its Great Lakes peers, according to the latest government estimates released Tuesday...
Iowa lawmakers consider tax credit for student debt Quad-City Times ...Iowa residents could receive a state tax credit for student loans if they earned a degree from a regent institution, community college or nonprofit university in Iowa under legislation considered by a three-member House panel Tuesday...
War on Workers
Northwestern players get union vote MSNBC ...In a potentially game-changing moment for college athletics, the Chicago district of the National Labor Relations Board ruled on Wednesday that Northwestern football players qualify as employees of the university and can unionize...
Teachers stage one-day strike in England and Wales The Guardian ...Thousands of schools across England and Wales will face disruption and closures today as teachers stage a one-day national walkout over pay and conditions...
Fast Food Managers Prefer 'Stature' To Overtime Pay, Wealthy CEO Says Huffington Post ...Fast food CEO Andy Puzder took to the op-ed pages of the Wall Street Journal Tuesday to rip into a White House proposal to raise the wages of low-paid managers who work unpaid overtime hours...
Almagamated Transit Union says overtime exemptions create 'Sweatshops on Wheels' Examiner ...Union says that bus drivers have become the scapegoats for accidents caused by workers who are forced to work more than 15 hour days just to make ends meet…
Koch Brothers Invade Tiny Iron County, Wisconsin The Daily Beast ...A mining town of 6,000 people isn’t too small for billionaires to mess with to get their way. Inside the race bringing in big money...
Global Horizons Found Liable For Thai Worker Abuse Associated Press ...A federal judge has found a California-based labor contractor liable for discrimination and abuse of hundreds of Thai workers at Hawaii farms...
Miscellaneous
Housing WatchdogSlams Massive Property Inspection Industry Huffington Post ...The inspectors who decide whether homes have been abandoned and are ready for foreclosure are doing such a terrible job that the whole system requires a major overhaul, and maybe should be scrapped altogether, a government watchdog warned on Tuesday...
Tuesday, March 18, 2014
Today's Teamster News 03.18.14
Teamster News
County sets public hearing on contract with Teamsters Topeka Capital Journal ...The Shawnee County Commission made plans Monday to hear public comments at its March 31 meeting regarding an impasse between Shawnee County and its approximately 470 employees represented by the Teamsters Union...
Trade
The TPP Tries to Put a "No Exit" Sign on America's Crapified Health Care System by Allowing Medical Procedures to be Patented World-wide truthout ...if some guy decided to patent a medical procedure like, oh, looking at a patient’s teeth using a dental mirror (“tilt the mirror at the correct angle to display the crown or other surface”) that patent could be approved, if the examiner had a bad day, even though the procedure is neither new nor revolutionary. That would raise the price of dental care world-wide...
Fashion Faux Pas? Free Trade and Sweatshop Labor in Guatemala truthout ..."In several CAFTA countries things are worse now than when CAFTA went into effect..."
State Battles
Ohio Mistrusts Democracy New York Times ...Ohio Republicans must not think their political candidates can win a fair fight against Democrats...
GOP Bill Designed to Disrupt John Doe Dark Money Probe, Court Filings Confirm Center for Media and Democracy ...New court filings confirm that Wisconsin's John Doe campaign finance investigation hinges on how state election law treats "issue ad" groups coordinating with political campaigns, shedding new light on a Republican effort to quietly change the law in advance of Governor Scott Walker's reelection campaign...
The Battle for Chattanooga: Southern Masculinity and the Anti-Union Campaign at Volkswagen In These Times ...“Work is not supposed to be a popularity contest, but that’s exactly what it is, unless you’re protected [by a union],” says Gravett, who since graduating from high school in 1985 has worked in various factories, including Dupont, Cleveland Tubing, Polyloom and Volkswagen...
Pensiongate? Christie Campaign Donors Won Huge Contracts The Nation ...While trumpeting “pension reform,” the New Jersey governor placed retiree assets in the hands of hedge fund managers bankrolling his political career...
The War on Workers
Hunger crisis: Charities are strained as nearly 1 in 5 New Yorkers depend on aid for food New York Daily News ...In a city of wealth, 1.4 million people rely on a network of 1,000 food pantries and soup kitchens to eat. That's an increase of 200,000 people in five years, and the city's programs are struggling to keep up with that need...
Low-Wage Workers Are Finding Poverty Harder to Escape New York Times ...More than half of those who make $9 or less an hour are 25 or older, while the proportion who are teenagers has declined to just 17 percent from 28 percent in 2000, after adjusting for inflation...
Wells Fargo foreclosure manual under fire Washington Post ...lenders, including Wells Fargo, used forged and shoddy paperwork during the recession to quickly foreclose on struggling homeowners, a practice known as “robo-signing.” Those charges led to a $25 billion national mortgage settlement that was supposed to put an end to such abusive practices, but bankruptcy lawyer Linda Tirelli says nothing has changed...
Miscellaneous
Obama auto rescue saved 2.6 million jobs and over $100 billion examiner ...The total loss of jobs would have topped 2.6 million if the entire auto industry would have been left to collapse and the report also notes that the bailout "saved or avoided the loss of $105.3 billion in transfer payments and the loss of personal and social insurance tax collections -- or 768% of the net investment...”
County sets public hearing on contract with Teamsters Topeka Capital Journal ...The Shawnee County Commission made plans Monday to hear public comments at its March 31 meeting regarding an impasse between Shawnee County and its approximately 470 employees represented by the Teamsters Union...
Trade
The TPP Tries to Put a "No Exit" Sign on America's Crapified Health Care System by Allowing Medical Procedures to be Patented World-wide truthout ...if some guy decided to patent a medical procedure like, oh, looking at a patient’s teeth using a dental mirror (“tilt the mirror at the correct angle to display the crown or other surface”) that patent could be approved, if the examiner had a bad day, even though the procedure is neither new nor revolutionary. That would raise the price of dental care world-wide...
Fashion Faux Pas? Free Trade and Sweatshop Labor in Guatemala truthout ..."In several CAFTA countries things are worse now than when CAFTA went into effect..."
State Battles
Ohio Mistrusts Democracy New York Times ...Ohio Republicans must not think their political candidates can win a fair fight against Democrats...
GOP Bill Designed to Disrupt John Doe Dark Money Probe, Court Filings Confirm Center for Media and Democracy ...New court filings confirm that Wisconsin's John Doe campaign finance investigation hinges on how state election law treats "issue ad" groups coordinating with political campaigns, shedding new light on a Republican effort to quietly change the law in advance of Governor Scott Walker's reelection campaign...
The Battle for Chattanooga: Southern Masculinity and the Anti-Union Campaign at Volkswagen In These Times ...“Work is not supposed to be a popularity contest, but that’s exactly what it is, unless you’re protected [by a union],” says Gravett, who since graduating from high school in 1985 has worked in various factories, including Dupont, Cleveland Tubing, Polyloom and Volkswagen...
Pensiongate? Christie Campaign Donors Won Huge Contracts The Nation ...While trumpeting “pension reform,” the New Jersey governor placed retiree assets in the hands of hedge fund managers bankrolling his political career...
The War on Workers
Hunger crisis: Charities are strained as nearly 1 in 5 New Yorkers depend on aid for food New York Daily News ...In a city of wealth, 1.4 million people rely on a network of 1,000 food pantries and soup kitchens to eat. That's an increase of 200,000 people in five years, and the city's programs are struggling to keep up with that need...
Low-Wage Workers Are Finding Poverty Harder to Escape New York Times ...More than half of those who make $9 or less an hour are 25 or older, while the proportion who are teenagers has declined to just 17 percent from 28 percent in 2000, after adjusting for inflation...
Wells Fargo foreclosure manual under fire Washington Post ...lenders, including Wells Fargo, used forged and shoddy paperwork during the recession to quickly foreclose on struggling homeowners, a practice known as “robo-signing.” Those charges led to a $25 billion national mortgage settlement that was supposed to put an end to such abusive practices, but bankruptcy lawyer Linda Tirelli says nothing has changed...
Miscellaneous
Obama auto rescue saved 2.6 million jobs and over $100 billion examiner ...The total loss of jobs would have topped 2.6 million if the entire auto industry would have been left to collapse and the report also notes that the bailout "saved or avoided the loss of $105.3 billion in transfer payments and the loss of personal and social insurance tax collections -- or 768% of the net investment...”
Sunday, February 16, 2014
Today's Teamster News 02.16.14
Teamster News
Teamsters Celebrate, Remember James R. Hoffa teamster.org ... He was the man who introduced himself as “I’m Jimmy Hoffa and I stand up for the American workers...”
Republic Airways reaches tentative deal with pilots union for its three airlines Dallas Morning News ...According to a Teamsters press release, "The tentative agreement includes increases in pay that will place Republic pilots at or near the top of its regional airline peers. It also includes improvements in work rules, quality of life enhancements and more flexibility in scheduling as well as a significant signing bonus if ratified...
State Battles
Historic election brings outside interference in the vote of Chattanooga Volkswagen workers UAW ...Volkswagen workers voted against joining the union in a vote of 712 to 626. The decision follows three days of voting during an election supervised by the National Labor Relations Board and comes amid a firestorm of interference and threats from special interest groups...
FitzGerald vows to fight for unions if elected Toledo Blade ...Ed FitzGerald, the leading Democratic candidate to run against Republican Gov. John Kasich this November, told supporters Thursday at the United Auto Workers headquarters in Maumee that if elected, he would veto any right-to-work bill that gets passed...
County Commissioners get into 'Paycheck Protection' fight: Friday Morning Coffee The Patriot-News ...The proxy fight over "Paycheck Protection" being waged by national labor unions and astrotuf groups such as FreedomWorks and the Koch Brothers-funded American Legislative Exchange Council is playing out in the state Legislature with bills in the state House and Senate...
House repeals 2013 election law that angered many Associated Press ...The Arizona House voted Thursday to repeal a sweeping 2013 Arizona election law that included trimming the state's permanent early voting list and a host of other provisions that incensed voter-rights advocates...
Teamsters Celebrate, Remember James R. Hoffa teamster.org ... He was the man who introduced himself as “I’m Jimmy Hoffa and I stand up for the American workers...”
Republic Airways reaches tentative deal with pilots union for its three airlines Dallas Morning News ...According to a Teamsters press release, "The tentative agreement includes increases in pay that will place Republic pilots at or near the top of its regional airline peers. It also includes improvements in work rules, quality of life enhancements and more flexibility in scheduling as well as a significant signing bonus if ratified...
State Battles
Historic election brings outside interference in the vote of Chattanooga Volkswagen workers UAW ...Volkswagen workers voted against joining the union in a vote of 712 to 626. The decision follows three days of voting during an election supervised by the National Labor Relations Board and comes amid a firestorm of interference and threats from special interest groups...
FitzGerald vows to fight for unions if elected Toledo Blade ...Ed FitzGerald, the leading Democratic candidate to run against Republican Gov. John Kasich this November, told supporters Thursday at the United Auto Workers headquarters in Maumee that if elected, he would veto any right-to-work bill that gets passed...
County Commissioners get into 'Paycheck Protection' fight: Friday Morning Coffee The Patriot-News ...The proxy fight over "Paycheck Protection" being waged by national labor unions and astrotuf groups such as FreedomWorks and the Koch Brothers-funded American Legislative Exchange Council is playing out in the state Legislature with bills in the state House and Senate...
House repeals 2013 election law that angered many Associated Press ...The Arizona House voted Thursday to repeal a sweeping 2013 Arizona election law that included trimming the state's permanent early voting list and a host of other provisions that incensed voter-rights advocates...
Estimated Gross State Product for Wisconsin and Minnesota Econbrowser ...Since 2011, Minnesota’s per capita GSP has grown a cumulative 2.1 percentage points (log terms) more than Wisconsin’s...
Trade
Spying by N.S.A. Ally Entangled U.S. Law Firm New York Times ...A top-secret document, obtained by the former N.S.A. contractor Edward J. Snowden, shows that an American law firm was monitored while representing a foreign government in trade disputes with the United States...
Momentum Builds to Stop Fast Track Trade Deals, Thanks to You Trade Reform ...Thanks to the efforts of tens of thousands of people—including people like you—more and more congressional leaders, including Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, are joining the chorus of voices standing up for us—America’s 99%—and saying that Fast Track is wrong...
The War on Workers
Foreclosure Filings Jump as Investors Eye Exits truthout ...The reason prices have been rising is because of the Fed’s loosy-goosey monetary policy (fake rates and QE), inventory suppression, bogus gov mortgage modification programs, and unprecedented speculation. (mainly Private Equity and investors groups) Those are the four legs of the stool propping up housing. Only now it looks like a couple of those legs are in the process of being sawed off which is going to put downward pressure on sales and prices...
Brazil's World Cup courts disaster as delays, protests and deaths mount The Guardian ...Another week, another storm of teargas and rubber bullets at a World Cup host city in Brazil. This time, the clashes were in the capital, BrasÃlia, where 15,000 protesters from the Landless Workers Movement marched from the Mané Garrincha football stadium to the Palácio do Planalto state office of the president, Dilma Rousseff...
California's New 'Dust Bowl': "It's Gonna Be a Slow, Painful, Agonizing Death" For Farmers zero hedge ...For the state that produces one-third of the nation's fruits and vegetables, the driest spell in 500 years has prompted President Obama to make $100 million in livestock-disaster aid available within 60 days to help the state rebound from what he describes is " going to be a very challenging situation this year... and potentially some time to come..."
Rising Inequality – Recovery Occurring Almost Exclusively Among the Wealthy naked capitalism ...America’s income inequality has grown so wide that the current “recovery” is driven primarily by the upper fifth of income earners, as revealed by the latest consumer spending data. Right now, more than 60% of all consumer spending is done by just the top 20% of income earners...
AOL's CEO Proves Women and Children Make Easy Scapegoats in the Workplace Next New Deal ...AOL CEO Tim Armstrong recently ignited a firestorm of criticism when he announced the company would be restructuring its retirement benefits. Armstrong explained that the financial burden of Obamacare and the deliveries of two “distressed babies”, which cost the company $1 million each, had forced the company to reduce 401(k) matching contributions...
Trade
Spying by N.S.A. Ally Entangled U.S. Law Firm New York Times ...A top-secret document, obtained by the former N.S.A. contractor Edward J. Snowden, shows that an American law firm was monitored while representing a foreign government in trade disputes with the United States...
Momentum Builds to Stop Fast Track Trade Deals, Thanks to You Trade Reform ...Thanks to the efforts of tens of thousands of people—including people like you—more and more congressional leaders, including Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, are joining the chorus of voices standing up for us—America’s 99%—and saying that Fast Track is wrong...
The War on Workers
Foreclosure Filings Jump as Investors Eye Exits truthout ...The reason prices have been rising is because of the Fed’s loosy-goosey monetary policy (fake rates and QE), inventory suppression, bogus gov mortgage modification programs, and unprecedented speculation. (mainly Private Equity and investors groups) Those are the four legs of the stool propping up housing. Only now it looks like a couple of those legs are in the process of being sawed off which is going to put downward pressure on sales and prices...
Brazil's World Cup courts disaster as delays, protests and deaths mount The Guardian ...Another week, another storm of teargas and rubber bullets at a World Cup host city in Brazil. This time, the clashes were in the capital, BrasÃlia, where 15,000 protesters from the Landless Workers Movement marched from the Mané Garrincha football stadium to the Palácio do Planalto state office of the president, Dilma Rousseff...
California's New 'Dust Bowl': "It's Gonna Be a Slow, Painful, Agonizing Death" For Farmers zero hedge ...For the state that produces one-third of the nation's fruits and vegetables, the driest spell in 500 years has prompted President Obama to make $100 million in livestock-disaster aid available within 60 days to help the state rebound from what he describes is " going to be a very challenging situation this year... and potentially some time to come..."
Rising Inequality – Recovery Occurring Almost Exclusively Among the Wealthy naked capitalism ...America’s income inequality has grown so wide that the current “recovery” is driven primarily by the upper fifth of income earners, as revealed by the latest consumer spending data. Right now, more than 60% of all consumer spending is done by just the top 20% of income earners...
AOL's CEO Proves Women and Children Make Easy Scapegoats in the Workplace Next New Deal ...AOL CEO Tim Armstrong recently ignited a firestorm of criticism when he announced the company would be restructuring its retirement benefits. Armstrong explained that the financial burden of Obamacare and the deliveries of two “distressed babies”, which cost the company $1 million each, had forced the company to reduce 401(k) matching contributions...
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
Today's Teamster News 11.19.13
Teamsters Strike Leads to Skechers The Press-Enterprise ...The strike, which is on behalf of drivers who are not union members, was called because of alleged intimidation and retaliation by drivers who do want to unionize, according to a statement from Justice for Port Drivers, a group backed by the Teamsters...
BREAKING: Truckers who haul for Wal-Mart and Forever 21 plan surprise strikes today Salon ...The port truckers, backed by the Teamsters union, are the latest to take up tactics that have characterized a wave of low-wage, non-union strikes since 2012...
Council OKs raises for Teamsters, non-union workers Billings Gazette ...A two-year contract with the Teamsters Union was approved unanimously and is retroactive to July 1, the start of the fiscal year...
Wal-Mart faces warehouse horror allegations and federal Labor Board complaint Salon ...The world’s largest private employer faces escalations on multiple fronts Monday, including strikes by its employees in Ohio and workers who haul its goods in California; media scrutiny on an employee-to-employee charity initiative; and labor groups’ announcements that California Department of Occupational Safety and Health complaints have been filed against two Wal-Mart-contracted warehouses, and the National Labor Relations Board is prepared to issue a complaint against Wal-Mart...
Walmart Store Holding Thanksgiving Food Drive For Its Own Workers Huffington Post ...One Ohio Walmart is asking employees to donate food for other workers who are struggling so much they can't afford to buy a Thanksgiving meal for their families...
Walmart Workers on Strike Fox 45 Now ...(Butler Township, Ohio) Local Walmart workers are striking less than two weeks before the biggest shopping day of the year. The group rallied at the Walmart and were calling for higher pay and better working conditions...
Enormous, Humongous China Trade Deficit Breaks Record — Again Trade Reform ...September’s $30.5 billion monthly goods trade deficit with China sets a new record...
38 Million Retirees Join Workers and Consumers to Say No to "Trade" Deal Terms that Would Make Medicine More Expensive Public Citizen ...the largest U.S. nonprofit, nonpartisan group – the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), representing 38 million members – joined the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), Consumers Union and other U.S. health and consumer advocacy groups in sending a letter to President Obama to express "deep concern" that TPP rules will thwart efforts to control escalating healthcare costs...
Obama’s Secrecy Is Hurting Free-Trade Talks (opinion) Bloomberg News ... even lawmakers who sit on committees with jurisdiction over trade complain about being in the dark. Some have been allowed to view portions of drafts of the text, but never the entire thing. The information blackout has led 151 Democrats and 30 Republicans to oppose giving Obama the fast-track authority he seeks to ratify the trade deals...
Private firms selling mass surveillance systems around world, documents show The Guardian ...
Private firms are selling spying tools and mass surveillance technologies to developing countries with promises that "off the shelf" equipment will allow them to snoop on millions of emails, text messages and phone calls...
Reality TV’s worker scandal: Shows accused of stealing millions in wages Salon ...A new union report alleges rampant lawlessness in the lucrative and growing reality TV industry. The Writers Guild of America, East, which authored the report based on a survey of current and former non-union workers, contends that it reveals an ugly reality behind top shows like “Pawn Stars” and “Fatal Encounters,” which have been supplanting unionized, scripted sitcoms and dramas...
Elizabeth Warren urges expansion of Social Security Salon ...Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren went against pro-austerity conventional wisdom and advocated for the expansion of Social Security benefits, joining a small but vocal group of economic liberals currently pushing the idea...
Republicans and Democrats to work together to gut Social Security, pass Chained CPI, without CALLING it a "grand bargain" Corrente ...McConnell warns Democrats, "The tax issue is over." But he suggests Republicans are open to preventing a second year of the sequester. "You want sequester relief? Then let’s talk about a reduction in entitlement spending," he says. "I think a place to talk is on things like chained CPI." Obama has already said he'd support chained CPI, which is a less generous way of calculating the cost-of-living adjustments to Social Security benefits...
New Jersey town vows to rescue foreclosed homeowners Al-Jazeera America ...Irvington Mayor Wayne Smith announced the township’s plan to “take” and revalue foreclosed homes at market rates for the public’s benefit, using the legal doctrine of “eminent domain.” Should the plan move forward, Irvington could become the first municipality to seize and re-mortgage foreclosed properties...
How Privatizers Are Killing Our Schools Alternet ...private schools serve 12 percent of the nation's elementary and secondary students, but only one percent of disabled students. Forty-three percent of public school students are from minority families, compared to 24% of private school students...
To Catch a Predator: The John Doe Episode Starring Walker and Koch Uppity Wisconsin ...in early 2012, David Koch bragged to Palm Beach Post reporter Stacey Singer that he not only intended to help Walker win the recall election, but that his group had, in fact, successfully won senate recall elections...
Scott Walker’s campaign hit with subpoena, says Club for Growth leader O’Keefe blue cheddar ...a slew of right wing groups based in Wisconsin (or linked with Wisconsin) got served subpoenas – - including Scott Walker’s campaign...
BREAKING: Truckers who haul for Wal-Mart and Forever 21 plan surprise strikes today Salon ...The port truckers, backed by the Teamsters union, are the latest to take up tactics that have characterized a wave of low-wage, non-union strikes since 2012...
Council OKs raises for Teamsters, non-union workers Billings Gazette ...A two-year contract with the Teamsters Union was approved unanimously and is retroactive to July 1, the start of the fiscal year...
Wal-Mart faces warehouse horror allegations and federal Labor Board complaint Salon ...The world’s largest private employer faces escalations on multiple fronts Monday, including strikes by its employees in Ohio and workers who haul its goods in California; media scrutiny on an employee-to-employee charity initiative; and labor groups’ announcements that California Department of Occupational Safety and Health complaints have been filed against two Wal-Mart-contracted warehouses, and the National Labor Relations Board is prepared to issue a complaint against Wal-Mart...
Walmart Store Holding Thanksgiving Food Drive For Its Own Workers Huffington Post ...One Ohio Walmart is asking employees to donate food for other workers who are struggling so much they can't afford to buy a Thanksgiving meal for their families...
Walmart Workers on Strike Fox 45 Now ...(Butler Township, Ohio) Local Walmart workers are striking less than two weeks before the biggest shopping day of the year. The group rallied at the Walmart and were calling for higher pay and better working conditions...
Enormous, Humongous China Trade Deficit Breaks Record — Again Trade Reform ...September’s $30.5 billion monthly goods trade deficit with China sets a new record...
38 Million Retirees Join Workers and Consumers to Say No to "Trade" Deal Terms that Would Make Medicine More Expensive Public Citizen ...the largest U.S. nonprofit, nonpartisan group – the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), representing 38 million members – joined the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), Consumers Union and other U.S. health and consumer advocacy groups in sending a letter to President Obama to express "deep concern" that TPP rules will thwart efforts to control escalating healthcare costs...
Obama’s Secrecy Is Hurting Free-Trade Talks (opinion) Bloomberg News ... even lawmakers who sit on committees with jurisdiction over trade complain about being in the dark. Some have been allowed to view portions of drafts of the text, but never the entire thing. The information blackout has led 151 Democrats and 30 Republicans to oppose giving Obama the fast-track authority he seeks to ratify the trade deals...
Private firms selling mass surveillance systems around world, documents show The Guardian ...
Private firms are selling spying tools and mass surveillance technologies to developing countries with promises that "off the shelf" equipment will allow them to snoop on millions of emails, text messages and phone calls...
Reality TV’s worker scandal: Shows accused of stealing millions in wages Salon ...A new union report alleges rampant lawlessness in the lucrative and growing reality TV industry. The Writers Guild of America, East, which authored the report based on a survey of current and former non-union workers, contends that it reveals an ugly reality behind top shows like “Pawn Stars” and “Fatal Encounters,” which have been supplanting unionized, scripted sitcoms and dramas...
Elizabeth Warren urges expansion of Social Security Salon ...Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren went against pro-austerity conventional wisdom and advocated for the expansion of Social Security benefits, joining a small but vocal group of economic liberals currently pushing the idea...
Republicans and Democrats to work together to gut Social Security, pass Chained CPI, without CALLING it a "grand bargain" Corrente ...McConnell warns Democrats, "The tax issue is over." But he suggests Republicans are open to preventing a second year of the sequester. "You want sequester relief? Then let’s talk about a reduction in entitlement spending," he says. "I think a place to talk is on things like chained CPI." Obama has already said he'd support chained CPI, which is a less generous way of calculating the cost-of-living adjustments to Social Security benefits...
New Jersey town vows to rescue foreclosed homeowners Al-Jazeera America ...Irvington Mayor Wayne Smith announced the township’s plan to “take” and revalue foreclosed homes at market rates for the public’s benefit, using the legal doctrine of “eminent domain.” Should the plan move forward, Irvington could become the first municipality to seize and re-mortgage foreclosed properties...
How Privatizers Are Killing Our Schools Alternet ...private schools serve 12 percent of the nation's elementary and secondary students, but only one percent of disabled students. Forty-three percent of public school students are from minority families, compared to 24% of private school students...
To Catch a Predator: The John Doe Episode Starring Walker and Koch Uppity Wisconsin ...in early 2012, David Koch bragged to Palm Beach Post reporter Stacey Singer that he not only intended to help Walker win the recall election, but that his group had, in fact, successfully won senate recall elections...
Scott Walker’s campaign hit with subpoena, says Club for Growth leader O’Keefe blue cheddar ...a slew of right wing groups based in Wisconsin (or linked with Wisconsin) got served subpoenas – - including Scott Walker’s campaign...
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
Today's Teamster News 11.12.13
Teamsters Union Ad Criticizes Dart On Prison Staffing, Spending CBS Chicago ...The Teamsters Union – representing law enforcement officers at the Cook County Sheriff’s office – has taken out a full-page newspaper ad criticizing the sheriff’s staffing and spending priorities...
YRC to Teamsters: Make a deal or else Kansas City Business Journal ...YRC needs the help of the Teamsters, which represent more than 25,000 of the company's 32,000 employees. The company and union are operating under a labor agreement that lasts through March 2015. YRC wants to extend the pact, which includes a range of employee concessions...
Anheuser-Busch, Local 267 Teamsters begin contract talks Coloradoan.com ...Anheuser-Busch/InBev and the Teamsters union are starting their first contract negotiations since InBev purchased the iconic U.S. label in 2008. That means Local 267’s Howie Dorsher is busy juggling day-to-day union operations, representing about 500 members at the Fort Collins brewery and keeping abreast of national contract talks...
Iraq Vet: Losing Home ‘Worse Than Getting Blown Up’ truthdig ...Twenty-six year National Guardsman Jerrod Hays lost nearly half his face to a roadside bomb in Iraq. Now, like too many other Americans, he could lose his home to banks...
Amazon Teams With USPS For Sunday Delivery Slate ...Starting this week, the postal service will bring Amazon packages on Sundays to shoppers' doors in the Los Angeles and New York metropolitan areas at no extra charge. Next year, it plans to roll out year-round Sunday delivery to Dallas, New Orleans, Phoenix and other cities....
Unless Social Security Is Expanded with Increased Funding, We Face An Unprecedented Crisis of Millions of Baby Boomers In Poverty Alternet ...A majority of Americans, especially women and people of color, will spend their final years living in poverty in coming decades unless Social Security is improved and expanded ... and there are many fair ways to accomplish that, experts told a congressional briefing last week...
EU and US resume trade deal talks BBC News ...The EU and US have begun a second round of negotiations towards creating the world's biggest free-trade deal...
180,000 pounds of food recalled in E. coli scare Salon ...This Sunday, Glass Onion Catering of Richmond, Calif., recalled approximately 181,620 pounds of ready-to-eat salads and sandwich wraps that may be contaminated with E. coli. According to the USDA the items were produced between Sept. 23 and Nov. 6, and were sent off to distribution sites in California, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Texas, Utah and Washington...
Report: Bloomberg News Spikes Stories That Could Anger China Slate ...Bloomberg News editors are telling reporters that cover Chinese news that they have to tread carefully, and are reportedly spiking stories deemed too sensitive out of fear that Beijing will make it impossible for the company to continue operating in the world’s second-largest economy...
Sweden closes four prisons as number of inmates plummets The Guardian ...Decline partly put down to strong focus on rehabilitation and more lenient sentences for some offences...
Mexico authorities say U.S. man led kidnapping ring Associated Press ...Mexican authorities say a U.S. citizen who once served in the U.S. Navy and was a police officer in Texas has been detained in northern Mexico for allegedly heading a group of kidnappers...
NSA revelations unleash flood of new customers for privacy products SFGate.com ...the unremitting surveillance scandal could take billion dollar bites out of businesses whose stock in trade is user information — which is to say, much of the online economy today...
YRC to Teamsters: Make a deal or else Kansas City Business Journal ...YRC needs the help of the Teamsters, which represent more than 25,000 of the company's 32,000 employees. The company and union are operating under a labor agreement that lasts through March 2015. YRC wants to extend the pact, which includes a range of employee concessions...
Anheuser-Busch, Local 267 Teamsters begin contract talks Coloradoan.com ...Anheuser-Busch/InBev and the Teamsters union are starting their first contract negotiations since InBev purchased the iconic U.S. label in 2008. That means Local 267’s Howie Dorsher is busy juggling day-to-day union operations, representing about 500 members at the Fort Collins brewery and keeping abreast of national contract talks...
Iraq Vet: Losing Home ‘Worse Than Getting Blown Up’ truthdig ...Twenty-six year National Guardsman Jerrod Hays lost nearly half his face to a roadside bomb in Iraq. Now, like too many other Americans, he could lose his home to banks...
Amazon Teams With USPS For Sunday Delivery Slate ...Starting this week, the postal service will bring Amazon packages on Sundays to shoppers' doors in the Los Angeles and New York metropolitan areas at no extra charge. Next year, it plans to roll out year-round Sunday delivery to Dallas, New Orleans, Phoenix and other cities....
Unless Social Security Is Expanded with Increased Funding, We Face An Unprecedented Crisis of Millions of Baby Boomers In Poverty Alternet ...A majority of Americans, especially women and people of color, will spend their final years living in poverty in coming decades unless Social Security is improved and expanded ... and there are many fair ways to accomplish that, experts told a congressional briefing last week...
EU and US resume trade deal talks BBC News ...The EU and US have begun a second round of negotiations towards creating the world's biggest free-trade deal...
180,000 pounds of food recalled in E. coli scare Salon ...This Sunday, Glass Onion Catering of Richmond, Calif., recalled approximately 181,620 pounds of ready-to-eat salads and sandwich wraps that may be contaminated with E. coli. According to the USDA the items were produced between Sept. 23 and Nov. 6, and were sent off to distribution sites in California, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Texas, Utah and Washington...
Report: Bloomberg News Spikes Stories That Could Anger China Slate ...Bloomberg News editors are telling reporters that cover Chinese news that they have to tread carefully, and are reportedly spiking stories deemed too sensitive out of fear that Beijing will make it impossible for the company to continue operating in the world’s second-largest economy...
Sweden closes four prisons as number of inmates plummets The Guardian ...Decline partly put down to strong focus on rehabilitation and more lenient sentences for some offences...
Mexico authorities say U.S. man led kidnapping ring Associated Press ...Mexican authorities say a U.S. citizen who once served in the U.S. Navy and was a police officer in Texas has been detained in northern Mexico for allegedly heading a group of kidnappers...
NSA revelations unleash flood of new customers for privacy products SFGate.com ...the unremitting surveillance scandal could take billion dollar bites out of businesses whose stock in trade is user information — which is to say, much of the online economy today...
Sunday, October 6, 2013
Today's Teamster News 10.06.13
Families hoard cash 5 yrs after crisis Associated Press ...An Associated Press analysis of households in the 10 biggest economies shows that families continue to spend cautiously and have pulled hundreds of billions of dollars out of stocks, cut borrowing for the first time in decades and poured money into savings and bonds that offer puny interest payments, often too low to keep up with inflation...
Revere Copper chairman blasts trade negotiations Observer Dispatch ...The agreement will do nothing to curb border adjustable taxes or prevent currency manipulation, said O’Shaughnessy — chairman of Revere Copper Products in Rome and co-chairman of the Coalition for a Prosperous America – practices that put United States’ manufacturers at a huge disadvantage...
“Trade Facilitation” and “harmonization” mean getting sick from food Trade Reform ...“Trade facilitation” is a euphemism. Its re-branding a strategy of underfunded and failed border inspections. It means you can bring in unsafe food without testing. You can bring avoid duties by trans-shipping your product through another country, or mis-labeling your containers, because Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) won’t check...
Canadian-Based Company Sues Canada Under NAFTA, Saying That Fracking Ban Takes Away Its Expected Profits techdirt ...Free trade critics say a $250-million damage suit being pursued as a result of Quebec's moratorium on fracking is proof Canada needs to be careful in negotiating trade pacts around the world. That's because TPP and TAFTA/TTIP, as well as Canada's bilateral treaty with Europe, CETA, all have ISDS clauses in them -- at least as far we know, given the obsessive secrecy that surrounds their negotiation...
Buy Low, Sell High New York Times ...Now that housing prices are coming back, investors who bought at fire-sale prices are able to flip those houses for big profits...
Blackstone, big investors slow their $800 million Tampa Bay home-buying binge Tampa Bay Times ...After an $800 million binge on Tampa Bay homes, big investors are finally catching their breath, pulling back on buying due to rising prices and market doubts, a Tampa Bay Times analysis has found...
Notices of default spiked in days before Homeowners Bill of Rights kicked in Las Vegas Review-Journal ...Banks, title companies and processors used September’s waning days to mount a record-setting foreclosure push before a Homeowners Bill of Rights took effect Tuesday...
Inside the GOP: Report on focus groups with Evangelical, Tea Party, and moderate Republicans Democracy Corps ...while few explicitly talk about Obama in racial terms, the base supporters are very conscious of being white in a country with growing minorities. Their party is losing to a Democratic Party of big government whose goal is to expand programs that mainly benefit minorities. Race remains very much alive in the politics of the Republican Party...
A Truth Slips Past MSM Gatekeepers heteconomist.com ...the public debt is a fiction and the debt ceiling a sham...
Economist: "There's Absolutely Nothing Resembling A Debt Crisis In The US" The Real News ...the debt-crisis debate is really not about the debt crisis per se; it's about the Republicans' efforts to destroy the minimal welfare state that we already have and the minimal benefits that are already provided the government...
Getting Older, Growing Poorer (opinion) New York Times ...budget proposals to cut Social Security’s cost-of-living benefit, ill advised in any case, would be especially unwise and untimely...
Government Caught Lying About Spying Again The Big Picture ...The government is spying on essentially everything we do. “Spies … can now, for the first time, monitor everything about us, and they can do so with a few clicks of a mouse and – to placate the lawyers – a drop-down menu of justifications“...
Police: Man on fire at National Mall dies The Hill ...The fire came a day after Capitol Hill was put on lock down after police opened fire on a woman who attempted to break through a security barrier near the Capitol...
Another Koch connection in Scott Suder saga The Cap Times ...Critics of Gov. Scott Walker and the Wisconsin Legislature's Republican leadership have made a hobby out of finding evidence of the Koch brothers' influence over conservative politics in the state. In the case of Scott Suder's recent activities, it hasn't been difficult...
Mandel's ties to donor revealed Dayton Daily News ...Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel wrote two letters advocating for Suarez Corporation Industries’ business interests in California at the same time that company founder Ben Suarez was raising $100,000 for Mandel’s campaign for U.S. Senate, according to records released by Mandel’s office to the Dayton Daily News...
Revere Copper chairman blasts trade negotiations Observer Dispatch ...The agreement will do nothing to curb border adjustable taxes or prevent currency manipulation, said O’Shaughnessy — chairman of Revere Copper Products in Rome and co-chairman of the Coalition for a Prosperous America – practices that put United States’ manufacturers at a huge disadvantage...
“Trade Facilitation” and “harmonization” mean getting sick from food Trade Reform ...“Trade facilitation” is a euphemism. Its re-branding a strategy of underfunded and failed border inspections. It means you can bring in unsafe food without testing. You can bring avoid duties by trans-shipping your product through another country, or mis-labeling your containers, because Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) won’t check...
Canadian-Based Company Sues Canada Under NAFTA, Saying That Fracking Ban Takes Away Its Expected Profits techdirt ...Free trade critics say a $250-million damage suit being pursued as a result of Quebec's moratorium on fracking is proof Canada needs to be careful in negotiating trade pacts around the world. That's because TPP and TAFTA/TTIP, as well as Canada's bilateral treaty with Europe, CETA, all have ISDS clauses in them -- at least as far we know, given the obsessive secrecy that surrounds their negotiation...
Buy Low, Sell High New York Times ...Now that housing prices are coming back, investors who bought at fire-sale prices are able to flip those houses for big profits...
Blackstone, big investors slow their $800 million Tampa Bay home-buying binge Tampa Bay Times ...After an $800 million binge on Tampa Bay homes, big investors are finally catching their breath, pulling back on buying due to rising prices and market doubts, a Tampa Bay Times analysis has found...
Notices of default spiked in days before Homeowners Bill of Rights kicked in Las Vegas Review-Journal ...Banks, title companies and processors used September’s waning days to mount a record-setting foreclosure push before a Homeowners Bill of Rights took effect Tuesday...
Inside the GOP: Report on focus groups with Evangelical, Tea Party, and moderate Republicans Democracy Corps ...while few explicitly talk about Obama in racial terms, the base supporters are very conscious of being white in a country with growing minorities. Their party is losing to a Democratic Party of big government whose goal is to expand programs that mainly benefit minorities. Race remains very much alive in the politics of the Republican Party...
A Truth Slips Past MSM Gatekeepers heteconomist.com ...the public debt is a fiction and the debt ceiling a sham...
Economist: "There's Absolutely Nothing Resembling A Debt Crisis In The US" The Real News ...the debt-crisis debate is really not about the debt crisis per se; it's about the Republicans' efforts to destroy the minimal welfare state that we already have and the minimal benefits that are already provided the government...
Getting Older, Growing Poorer (opinion) New York Times ...budget proposals to cut Social Security’s cost-of-living benefit, ill advised in any case, would be especially unwise and untimely...
Government Caught Lying About Spying Again The Big Picture ...The government is spying on essentially everything we do. “Spies … can now, for the first time, monitor everything about us, and they can do so with a few clicks of a mouse and – to placate the lawyers – a drop-down menu of justifications“...
Police: Man on fire at National Mall dies The Hill ...The fire came a day after Capitol Hill was put on lock down after police opened fire on a woman who attempted to break through a security barrier near the Capitol...
Another Koch connection in Scott Suder saga The Cap Times ...Critics of Gov. Scott Walker and the Wisconsin Legislature's Republican leadership have made a hobby out of finding evidence of the Koch brothers' influence over conservative politics in the state. In the case of Scott Suder's recent activities, it hasn't been difficult...
Mandel's ties to donor revealed Dayton Daily News ...Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel wrote two letters advocating for Suarez Corporation Industries’ business interests in California at the same time that company founder Ben Suarez was raising $100,000 for Mandel’s campaign for U.S. Senate, according to records released by Mandel’s office to the Dayton Daily News...
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