Showing posts with label furlough. Show all posts
Showing posts with label furlough. Show all posts

Thursday, July 18, 2013

Today's Teamster News 07.18.13

Bangladesh Government Allows Workers To Form Unions  ThinkProgress   ...Bangladesh’s government approved a labor law on Monday that would make it easier for workers to form unions. The legislation also included provisions that create a fund to improve workers’ living standards and require companies to deposit 5 percent of profits into employee welfare funds...
License plate cameras track millions of Americans  Washington Post   ...The spread of cheap, powerful cameras capable of reading license plates has allowed police to build databases on the movements of millions of Americans over months or even years, according to an American Civil Liberties Union report released Wednesday...
The 1 Move That Could Suddenly Pull 300,000 Workers Out Of Poverty  Huffington Post   ...Legislation introduced in both the Senate and the House of Representatives could pull hundreds of thousands of the country's working poor out of poverty, according to a new study by the nonpartisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities...
Barclays fights US electricity price manipulation fine through the courts  Guardian   ...Barclays has pledged to fight a $470m (£300m) penalty for allegedly manipulating electricity prices in California by taking the case through the US judicial system...
Jack Lew: Delaying Dodd-Frank Rules Raises Threat Of More Bank Bailouts  Associated Press   ...U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew says delays in writing rules to put the financial overhaul law into effect have raised the prospect that taxpayers might again have to bail out big banks that fail...
U.S. seeks new tactic in financial crisis prosecutions  Reuters   ... U.S. federal prosecutors are considering a new strategy for criminally charging Wall Street bankers who packaged and sold bad mortgage loans at the height of the housing bubble, according to a federal official familiar with the investigation...
IRS cancels one furlough day, cuts costs elsewhere  Reuters   ...The Internal Revenue Service said it was cancelling an agency shutdown that had been scheduled for Monday and required by federal budget cuts...
Big Money Makes State and Federal Politics Powerful (opinion)  New York Times   ...Art Pope invested heavily in local North Carolina elections, which ultimately resulted in the redistricting of 13 Congressional and 170 legislative districts...
Surplus celebrated as poverty grows (opinion)  Fort Wayne Journal Gazette   ...Around the same time state leaders were boasting that Indiana was closing its June books with $1.9 billion in reserves, a report from the Indiana Institute for Working Families was released showing poverty in Indiana is sharply increasing...
Statehouse gan throws Ohio in reverse (opinion)  Toledo Blade   ...The new state budget is equally regressive as economic and social policy...
Unions wage legal fight against Michigan’s right-to-work law  Washington Times   ...The legal battle over Michigan’s new right-to-work law shows no signs of flagging. Right-to-work proponents suffered a small setback when Michigan’s Supreme Court declined to weigh in on the legality of the law...
GOP Lawmaker In Utah Wants To End Compulsory Education In The State  Talking Points Memo   ...State Sen. Aaron Osmond (R) argued that certain "parents act as if the responsibility to educate, and even care for their child, is primarily the responsibility of the public school system..."
State Dept. approves ND-to-Alberta gas pipeline  Associated Press   ...The U.S. State Department has approved construction of the North Dakota portion of a gas pipeline from Tioga into the Canadian province of Alberta, Sen. John Hoeven said Tuesday...
CCA asks judge to bar media from joining lawsuit  Associated Press   ...Private prison company Corrections Corporation of America is asking a federal judge to deny a request from Idaho news organizations to keep documents open in a lawsuit over conditions at a CCA-run prison...
Teamsters Call For Quick Approval Of Administration Nominees  IBT ...Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa today congratulated Senate Leader Harry Reid for forging a compromise that allows consideration of nominees for key administration posts...
Port Truck Drivers In New Jersey Reject Company’s Lies And Vote YES To Form A Union IBT ...Truck drivers employed by Australia-based Toll Group at the company’s New Jersey division voted overwhelmingly – by a margin of nearly 70 percent – to form a union and affiliate with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 469...
Buffalo EMTs, Paramedics’ Victory Spotlighted On Leslie Marshall Show  Leslie Marshall Show   ...Kevin Drysdale, president of Teamsters Local 375 in Buffalo spoke with radio show host Leslie Marshall about new, tentative agreement for EMTs and paramedics working for Rural/Metro. Download the audio here...
City, Teamsters Find Common Ground With Approval of Long-Awaited Collective Bargaining Agreement  Shoreline-Lake Forest Park Patch   ...Lake Forest Park City Council unanimously approved a long-awaited collective bargaining agreement with the Teamsters Local 117 representing maintenance workers at its recent meeting...
PolyOne plans to close Donora plant  Pittsburgh-Tribune Review   ...On Tuesday, the PolyOne’s plant supervisors announced that the company will close its facility in Donora, Pennsylvania by fall 2014. Teamsters Local 205 represents the roughly 100 employees at the plant...

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Today's Teamster News 07.10.13

The recovery: Not jobless, but full of McJobs  manufacture this   ...195,000 new jobs would be great if they were the kind on which you could build a recovery. But they aren’t. Roughly a third of those jobs are in the leisure and hospitality sector; another 37,000 of them are in the retail sector. And these jobs don’t pay well. In fact, they pay even less than they did only a few years ago...
Ensure that American infrastructure is repaired with American materials and by American workers.  White House Petitions   ...The Verrazano Bridge in New York city is going to be repaired with Steel made in China...
The secret weapon that could save the Voting Rights Act  MSNBC   ...Voting rights advocates are testing whether a little-used provision of the Voting Rights Act could limit the damage of the Supreme Court ruling that struck down a key part of the landmark civil rights law...
Shocker: Only 1% of So Called Terrorists Nabbed by the FBI Were Real  Alternet   ... there has yet to be a case of some Al-Qaeda operative providing the means for a wannabe terrorist to do an act of terrorism. It’s only the FBI that’s providing the means through these sting operations...
Walmart Threatening to Pull Plans for D.C. Stores NBC Washington ...Walmart, Inc. is threatening to pull its plans to build three urban stores in Washington, D.C. if Mayor Vincent Gray signs a new living wage bill into law that would force the large retailer to pay its employees and subcontractors at least $11.75 per hour...
Canadian train disaster sharpens debate on oil transportation  Washington Post   ...The railroad put the small lakeside town of Lac-Mégantic on the map. And over the weekend, the railroad wiped part of the town off the map Saturday when an oil-laden train bound for a Saint John refinery derailed and exploded, leaving at least 13 dead and dozens unaccounted for...
Unions turn up the heat on lawmakers as first furlough week arrives  Huntsville Times   ...A coalition of 20 unions that represents federal workers is turning up the heat on lawmakers in an effort to stave off the 20 percent pay cut that will hit Department of Defense workers in the next three months...
Anonymous Exposes US' Biggest Private Prison Company as a Bad Financial Investment   Huffington Post   ...The oldest and largest for-profit prison company is not what it would have you believe, at least according to Anonymous. A recently released report concludes that the publicly traded prison operator Corrections Corporation of America is not an efficient, profitable free-market solution -- but a bad investment for shareholders...
Judge Says Capitol Free Speech Restrictions “Create Extraordinary Chilling Effect”  ACLU of Wisconsin   ...A federal judge yesterday granted a preliminary injunction in the Capitol free speech case, allowing groups of up to 20 people to gather without a permit inside the Capitol...
Indiana working families not advancing on path to prosperity  NWI Times   ... nearly half of Indiana children and altogether 2.24 million Hoosiers are officially "low income" -- earning less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level, which is $22,980 for an individual or $47,100 for a family of four...
30,000 California prisoners refuse meals in apparent hunger strike  Los Angeles Times   ...Officials said 30,000 California inmates refused meals Monday at the start of a prison strike involving two-thirds of the state's 33 lockups, as well as four out-of-state facilities...
Nikki Haley Takes Heat After Report Blows Up 'Bogus' Voter Fraud Claims In South Carolina  Huffington Post   ...For years, South Carolina Republicans have complained about the names of dead voters being used to cast ballots in a broad voter fraud scheme. Now that a recent report by the State Law Enforcement Division has blown up those claims, unable to find a single example of a "zombie voter" committing fraud, one Democrat is demanding that Gov. Nikki Haley (R) apologize for her party's "bogus" crusade...
Local 690 Fights Hard to Win Back Public Employee’s Job  IBT   ...Local 690 recently came to the defense of one of its public defenders and won her reinstatement complete with back pay, benefits, and sick leave...
Arbitrator Orders DOC to Reinstate Four Monroe Correctional Employees  IBT   ...An arbitrator has issued a stinging rebuke to the Department of Corrections in a ruling that favors four correctional employees at the Monroe Correctional Complex, who were disciplined by the DOC after the murder of Officer Jayme Biendl in the prison chapel in January 2011...
Rural/Metro pledges to continue EMS service if strike occurs  Buffalo Business First   ...With a strike set to begin in a little over a week, executives at Rural/Metro Medical Services of Western New York are hoping to avoid a work stoppage but plan to continue coverage of emergency medical services...
Dignity Memorial Solicits Striking Employee To Apply For Funeral Director Job  IBT   ...Striking Funeral Director Lawrence Mandel was surprised that Dignity Memorial would bother offering him an “opportunity” to become a strikebreaker...
City, Teamsters Local 251 Reach Tentative Contract Deal  Cranston Patch   ...The city of Cranston (Rhode Island) and the Teamsters Local 251 have reached a tentative deal on a new contract that will run through 2015 and gives municipal workers raises each year...
Have you signed up for the 2013 Teamster Women's Conference yet?  IBT   ...There is still time left to register for the Teamster Women’s Conference, scheduled for September 19-21, 2013 in New Orleans. Join your Teamster Brothers and Sister for this dynamic gathering...

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Today's Teamster News 05.14.13

The 182 Percent Loan: How Installment Lenders Put Borrowers in a World of Hurt  ProPublica   ...Katrina Sutton stood at a gas pump and swiped her debit card. Insufficient funds. But that couldn't be. She'd been careful to wait until her $270 paycheck from Walmart had hit her account. The money wasn't there? It was all she had. And without gas, she couldn't get to work. She tried not to panic, but after she called her card company, she couldn't help it. Her funds had been frozen, she was told, by World Finance. Here’s how and why...
Bangladesh Garment Factories Shut Down Amid Worker Unrest, Minimum Wage Change  Huffington Post   ...Following worker protests and a decision by the Bangladeshi government to reevaluate the minimum wage, the lone national association of garment manufacturers on Monday shut down all factories in Ashulia, one of the country's major garment industry hubs...
Moms Working At Walmart Earn Less Than They Need To Feed Their Kids  Huffington Post   ...As Mother's Day approached, Charlene Fletcher, mother of two, found herself occupied with the needs of other families, attending to the crush of shoppers last week at the Walmart in Pasadena, Calif., where she works. But like many employees at Walmart, the largest private employer in the United States, she earns so little that she has to rely on government assistance to feed her kids...
IRS Set To Close Next Week  Forbes   ...A number of taxpayers will be taking next Friday off by choice. It is, after all, the day before the Memorial Day weekend begins – the perfect time to grab an extra day. But what if you were forced to take the day off as an unpaid furlough day?...
White House orders look at pay equity inside government  Washington Post   ...President Obama has called for creation of a government-wide strategy “to address any gender pay gap in the Federal workforce,” focusing on how salaries are set when employees are first hired and when they are promoted...
Early campaigns for Virginia governor toil on both the national and local stage   Washington Post
If Virginians weren’t foggy-headed enough from last year’s barrage of political ads and robo-calls, now comes a race that’s producing double vision — the two men running for governor this year are each running two campaigns featuring different issues, calendars and strategies...
Landmark $240M EEOC verdict to be slashed to $1.6M   Associated Press   ...A landmark $240 million verdict awarded to 32 mentally disabled Iowa plant workers who were subjected to years of abuse by their handlers will be reduced to just $1.6 million because of a federal cap, attorneys in the case agree...
Florida lawmakers pay peanuts for health insurance  Miami Herald   ...Florida House Republicans last month loudly and proudly rejected billions of dollars in federal money that would have provided health insurance to 1 million poor Floridians. Quietly, they kept their own health insurance premiums staggeringly low...
Rand Paul's Iowa visit triggers talk of 2016 White House bid  Mankato Free Press   ...Sen. Rand Paul brought his national ambitions to Iowa on Friday, ripping potential Democratic rival Hillary Clinton while urging his own Republican Party to broaden its appeal as he campaigned like it was already 2016...
N.J.'s plan to seize $142M in unspent COAH money from towns is 'a real slap in the face to property taxpayers'  Times of Trenton   ...Municipal officials are angrily criticizing the state’s plan to seize money from their unused affordable housing trust funds, saying the Christie administration is trying to balance the state budget by grabbing resources meant for those who need it the most...
Minnesota budget deal: Tax hikes on high earners, tobacco  Star Tribune   ...New revenue would boost school spending and fund a property tax relief plan. GOP responded with scorn...
Inspiring Stories Captivate Unity Conference Attendees  IBT …The war on workers and what the Teamsters Union is doing to fight back took center stage today at the 2013 Unity Conference, and the attendees were uplifted by powerful speeches by leaders, members and soon-to-be members...