Possible government closure is politics at its worst

Same stuff, different year. It's certainly true when it comes to a budget crisis in D.C.

If it seems like Congress has been down this federal government shutdown road before, that's of course because it has. As usual, it is one issue that a few lawmakers have gotten a bee in their bonnet about that is causing this. And they are willing to close the doors to the Capitol and throw millions out of work temporarily to prove their point.

Workers protested the last federal shutdown in October 2013.

Even though the public has time and again shown it doesn't support government shutdowns for whatever reason, that isn't stopping the most conservative elements of Congress from pushing for it. And if those on Capitol Hill decide to do it again, it will be yet another shining example of broken government.

As The Fiscal Times wrote:

Washington begins this week on high alert, with the very real prospect that federal workers will be sent packing, government buildings and museums will be shuttered and national parks and the Washington Monument will be closed to the public in a week and a half unless both sides come to their senses. Politics are as fractured as ever today, with right wing Republicans not only battling with President Obama and the Democrats over spending issues and the Iran nuclear deal, but also threatening to topple their own leaders.

The Teamsters, as part of our "Let's Get America Working" campaign, have stressed the need for government to work in a bipartisan manner to improve the lives of workers and the economy. Any move that shutters the government, obviously, doesn't help accomplish that goal. In fact, it just makes people more angry.

This union is pushing for rebuilding, repairing and reinvestment not only because it will improve infrastructure, but as a way to rebuild and repair the trust between government and workers by reinvesting in people that have and can continue to make this country great. Better pay will lead to more spending and improve our quality of life. That way we all win.

Nobody wins, however, when the federal government is shut down. Not politicians, not corporations, not the economy. And certainly not everyday Americans just trying to support their families.

Today's Teamster News 11.10.13

U.S. Economy Expanded At Surprising Rate Ahead Of The Government Shutdown  Associated Press   ...The U.S. economy expanded at a 2.8 percent annual rate from July through September, a surprising sign of strength ahead of the 16-day partial government shutdown. Exports rose, businesses stocked up, home construction increased and state and local governments spent at the fastest pace in four years…Analysts expect the shutdown will slow growth in the October-December quarter…
How the Koch Brothers Organized the Federal Shutdown  Buzzflash   ...The two chief contributors to Cruz's political career donated over a million dollars to it (and no other entity donated as much as $100,000 to it). These two top sources of contributions to Mr. Cruz's political career were Club For Growth, and Senate Conservatives Fund, which together donated over a million dollars to it...
Switzerland Weighs Radical Approach To Runaway Executive Compensation  ThinkProgress   ...A referendum is set for November 24 on a law called the “1:12 Initiative” that would impose a flexible cap on top employee compensation at Swiss companies. If approved, the highest-paid employee of any given Swiss firm could not earn more in a month than its lowest-paid employee makes in a year...
The Origins and Evolution of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)  Global Research   ...THE free trade agreement being negotiated by the regional bloc known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) has provoked widespread opposition in the countries involved in its negotiation...
The TPP, If Passed, Spells the End of Popular Sovereignty for the United States  naked capitalism   ...TPP replaces popular sovereignty with transnational investor rule, in two ways...
US seeks $864m from Bank of America after mortgage fraud verdict  The Guardian   ...Countrywide's program emphasized and rewarded employees for the quantity rather than the quality of loans produced, and eliminated checkpoints designed to ensure that loans were sound...
A Fraying of the Public/Private Surveillance Partnership  The Atlantic   ...The publicity resulting from the Snowden documents has made companies think twice before allowing the NSA access to their users' and customers' data...
Wage theft outstrips bank, gas station and convenience store robberies  DailyKos   ...Fully 64 percent of low-wage workers have some amount of pay stolen out of their paychecks by their employers every week, including 26 percent who are effectively paid less than minimum wage...
The Scott Walker Effect: Helping Democrats Win and Republicans Lose  The Nation   ...Virginia Republican gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli counted on Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker to provide the conservative candidate with some of the “star power” he needed to get him elected November 5. It didn’t work...

Today's Teamster News 11.03.13

Canada's CN Rail reaches tentative deal with Teamsters union  Reuters   ...Canadian National Railway Co , the country's largest rail operator, agreed to a new labor contract for some 3,300 conductors, trainmen, yardmen and traffic coordinators represented by the Teamsters union, the railway said Thursday...
Arkansas Best, teamsters ok five-year contract  Log Cabin Democrat   ... The contract will take effect on Nov. 3, 2013 and run through March 31, 2018...
Portrait of the NSA: no detail too small in quest for total surveillance  The Guardian   ... It is indiscriminate in the information it is collecting. Nothing appears to be too small for the NSA. Nothing too trivial. Rivals, enemies, allies and friends – US citizens and 'non-Americans' – are all scooped up...
10 Corporations Control Almost Everything You Buy — This Chart Shows How  PolicyMic   ...It's not just the products you buy and consume, either. In recent decades, the very news and information that you get has bundled together: 90% of the media is now controlled by just six companies...
One Thing Major Media Hid From You During the Debate on Syria  PolicyMic   ...at least 22 of the commentators and seven of the think tanks that advocated for military action in Syria had ties to companies that would profit from such a strike...
More on secrets in trade…TPP  Angry Bear   ...“This really is a deal that’s being negotiated by corporations for corporations and any benefit it provides to the bulk of the population of this country will be purely incidental.” ... “There would be no reason to keep it so secret if it was in the interest of the public...
The Global Corporatocracy Is Almost Fully Operational  naked capitalism   ..."...we are witnessing the advancement of a new and unprecedented global project of transatlantic corporate colonization.“... as a recent leak of part of the TPP document has shown, the new rules would limit how governments regulate such public services as utilities, transportation, healthcare and education, including restricting policies meant to ensure broad or universal access to those essential needs...
Now Is Time To End Trade Deal Job Growth Lie  teamster.org   ...The recently implemented U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement was supposed to create 70,000 new jobs, yet in the 18 months it’s been in place it has cost this country 40,000...
You Can Go To Jail For An Overdue Library Book  Consumerist   ...A Texas man was arrested this week for failing to return a GED study guide he simply spent too long studying — three years — and was sent to jail to mull over his actions, or lack thereof...
Daily Meme: Congress Hits America's Poorest While They're Down  American Prospect   ...Nearly 1 million military vets use food stamps and will see cuts...
GOP 'extremist movement' prompts NC candidate to switch to Democrat  Charlotte Observer   ..."The government shutdown was simply the straw that broke the camels back. I guess being an American just isn’t good enough anymore and I refuse to be part of an extremist movement in the GOP that only appears to thrive on fear and hate mongering of anyone and everyone who doesn’t walk their line.”

Today's Teamster News 10.26.13

Missouri First Student School Bus Workers Choose Teamsters  teamster.org   ...School bus drivers and monitors with First Student in Sedalia, Mo., have voted overwhelmingly to join Teamsters Local 833 in Jefferson City, Mo. There 45 school bus workers in the bargaining unit...
Teamsters Ratify Contract At Yogurt Plant  WNYF News   ...Unionized workers at the Upstate Niagara Cooperative yogurt plant in North Lawrence have ratified a new three-year contract extension by "an overwhelming majority." The 36 workers in the bargaining unit are represented by Teamsters Local 687...
Teamsters, Republic Airline Representatives Resume Negotiations  teamster.org   ...The International Brotherhood of Teamsters’ Airline Division and representatives of Republic Airways held talks Thursday in Washington, D.C...
Union lawyers build case against Detroit early in bankruptcy trial  Reuters   ...Attorneys for Detroit unions and retirees sought to build a case on Thursday that Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr did not negotiate in good faith before Detroit filed for bankruptcy so they could block the city from getting court protection...
Puget Sound grocery workers’ contract-ratification votes set for next week  Associated Press   ...Ratification votes are scheduled next week on a tentative contract agreement that averted a strike by 21,000 grocery workers at four major grocery chains in the Puget Sound region...
Enormous, Humongous Trade Deficit Up From Prior Month  Campaign for America's Future   ...$38.8 billion more, drained from the economy, in just one month...
The Trans-Pacific Partnership Legalizes Corporate Rights Prevailing Over Human Rights  Truthout   ...Ever since the current juggernaut of "free trade" agreements began to be negotiated under President George Herbert Walker Bush (which resulted in the signing of NAFTA under President Bill Clinton), jobs have been fleeing America as corporations have become engorged with greater profits...
Canadian grocery giant Loblaw to compensate victims' families of Bangladesh factory collapse Seattle Times   ...Canadian grocery giant Loblaw Companies Ltd. said Thursday that it will provide long-term financial assistance to the surviving victims and families affected by a deadly factory collapse in Bangladesh...
Students Demand College-Logo Brands Join Fire and Safety Agreement  The Nation   ...This week United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) is holding demonstrations at more than thirty colleges and universities across the country as part of an International Week of Action to End Deathtraps commemorating the six-month anniversary of the Rana Plaza building collapse in Bangladesh...
Ruling opens door to U.S. sales of China-processed chicken  Atlanta Journal-Constitution ...Coming soon maybe to a grocery store near you — chicken from China. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) ruled recently that poultry processed in China can be sold in the U.S...
Shutdown And Debt Ceiling Fights Cost 120,000 Jobs In Two Weeks  ThinkProgress   ...The fights over the government shutdown and raising the debt ceiling reduced economic output by 0.25 percent in the fourth quarter of this year and cost about 120,000 private sector jobs in the first two weeks of October...
Drop in teen driving tracks with teen unemployment, HLDI study finds  Insurance Institute for Highway Safety   ...the proportion of high school seniors with a driver's license fell from 85 percent in 1996 to 73 percent in 2010. The proportion of seniors who reported that they didn't drive during an average week rose from 15 percent to 22 percent over the same period...
The American Dream Might As Well Be Dead: Here's Proof  Huffington Post   ...only 43 percent of survey respondents said that achieving the American Dream is possible in this economy...
A Huge Billion Dollar Slumlord  Huffington Post   ...Here's What Happens When Wall St. Builds A Rental Empire...renovations they were assured were comprehensive amounted to little more than a fresh coat of paint and new carpeting. Tenants said they immediately discovered major mechanical and plumbing problems: broken water heaters and air conditioners, broken toilets and in some cases even vermin infestations, including fleas, silverfish and rodents. Attempts to get the issues fixed usually end in frustration...
"Cash for Kids": Firms Behind Juvenile Prison Bribes Reach $2.5 Million Settlement in Civil Suit   Democracy Now   ...Here's the latest news in the so-called "kids-for-cash" scandal in Pennsylvania, in which judges took money in exchange for sending juvenile offenders to for-profit youth jails...
GOP Official Resigns After Saying Purpose Of Voter ID Is To Suppress Votes Of Democrats, ‘Lazy Blacks’   ThinkProgress   ...Until Thursday, Don Yelton was a precinct chair in the Buncombe County, North Carolina Republican Party. That ended after an interview riddled with racism and candid admissions about the purpose of a voter suppression bill enacted by Republican lawmakers in his state...
California to levy massive fine against Koch brothers groups  Washington Post   ...Two groups that are part of a conservative political network maintained by billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch have agreed to a record $1 million civil settlement with the California Fair Political Practices Commission, the largest campaign fine in state history...
ALEC and TIAA-CREF Join the Assault on Public Pensions (opinion)  Truthout   ...The right-wing American Legislative Exchange Council has jumped into the conservative effort to dismantle public pension systems in a big way, making it one of its top 2014 legislative priorities, a public pension advocacy group has warned...
Strikes Shutdown Chile’s Public Sector Ahead of Presidential Election  PanAm Post   ...With less than a month before Chile’s presidential and parliamentary elections, its largest labor alliance, the Central Unitaria de Trabajadores (CUT), instigated a nationwide strike on Wednesday involving thousands of public sector workers...
Citi forecasts Greek devastation, unstoppable debt spirals in Italy and Portugal  The Telegraph   ...If Citigroup is broadly correct, Europe faces a lost decade that is far worse than anything suffered by Japan, which will render the region marginal in coming world affairs, and is likely to have non-linear political consequences...
Mexico clown convention condemns fancy-dress drug cartel killing  The Guardian   ...Delegates to a three-day Latin American clown convention in Mexico City have distanced themselves from the murder last week of a drug lord by a hitman in fancy dress, insisting no genuine member of their profession would have committed the crime...

Today's Teamster News 10.19.13

Teamsters Stop FMCSA Attack on Truck Drivers  teamster.org   ...The Teamsters Union helped score a victory for truck drivers this week when H.R. 3095 was signed into law compelling the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) to follow the formal rulemaking process to set strict guidelines for when they can require screening, testing and treatment for sleep apnea...
Star-Ledger unions ratify new 4-year contracts, agree to buyouts   Star-Ledger   ...After months of negotiations under the cloud of a threatened shutdown of the state’s largest newspaper, the Star-Ledger’s production unions, including the Teamsters Union, have ratified new four-year contracts, agreeing to buyout packages for at least 55 workers...
Since End of U.S. Recession, More Seniors in Workforce  Gallup   ... There has been a three-point increase since 2010 in the percentage of Americans aged 65 and older who are in the workforce -- employed full time through an employer, self-employed, working part time, or unemployed but actively searching for work. At the same time, there has been a two-point decrease in the percentage of Americans aged 18 to 29 who are in the workforce...
Millennials still lag in forming their own households  Pew Research   ... most Millennials (adults ages 18 to 32) are still not setting out on their own. As of March 2013, only about one-in-three Millennials (34%) headed up their own household...
Is The Debt Still Worth The Degree?  zero hedge   ...The price of a college education has increased 1,000% or more over the past 3 decades...
You Thought the Government Shutdown Was Over. You Were Wrong. New Republic ...It was an awful time. Federal employees had to take unpaid furlough days. Beneficiaries were thrown off of federal programs. Courthouses had to be sold. Federal agencies like the FBI, the Food and Drug Administration, and the National Institutes of Health strained to meet commitments, leading to more crime, more outbreaks of disease and less basic research, among other horrors. This may sound like a description of the recent government shutdown, which ended October 16. But this describes the fallout from sequestration...
Pro-Coal Kids' Pages Pulled from Government Site as Public Pressure Increases Alternet ...The Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity has removed coal-related educational sections from its website, less than two weeks after the launch of a grassroots campaign demanding that the pages be taken down...
Food Stamp Outage Highlights Problems With Privatization of Public Services  Truthout   ...Affiliated Computer Services (ACS), a subsidiary of Xerox since 2000 that specializes in privatizing government administrative services for the most economically vulnerable Americans, has taken heat in the past for siphoning excessive fees from welfare recipients, mismanaging Medicaid payment systems, and failing to complete multimillion dollar contracts for public agencies...
"Fix the Debt's" "Fix the Debt Q&A" needs to be fixed (hilarious)  Storify   ..."Fix the Debt" decided to have a Twitter Q&A about fixing the debt. I'm not sure it went the way they wanted...
How Mexico is upending the U.S. auto industry  Washington Post ...More U.S. automakers have been shifting their plants south of the border, attracted by Mexico's lower wages and dense industrial clusters…
States Clamping Down on Workers Mislabeled as Contractors  Bloomberg News   ...When construction slowed during the recession, some companies hired workers and wrongly designated them as independent contractors to avoid paying insurance, taxes, fair wages and overtime...
Scott Walker Steers State Funds to Union Busters  PolicyMic   ...Scott Walker (R-Wisc.) made headlines in 2011 with his plans to bust public sector unions and strip unions of their collective bargaining powers, which led to mass protests in the Madison Capitol building. Now he is back with his latest contribution to increasing jobs in Wisconsin: making them up and steering them to his supporters...
Moral Monday Leader Comes To Boone Oct. 28  High Country Press   ...Moral Monday leader Rev. William Barber II will address “The Necessity of a Moral Movement in North Carolina and the Nation” on Monday, Oct. 28...
BART strike: About 400,000 S.F.-area commuters to be affected  Los Angeles Times   ...Bay Area residents were without commuter rail service and facing a morning of frustration Friday as BART workers went on strike after a week of marathon negotiation collapsed overnight...
Michigan Walmart worker says he was fired for helping assaulted woman  Associated Press ...A Michigan man says he was fired from his job at Walmart after he tried to help a woman being assaulted in the parking lot of one of the retail giant's stores and ended up fighting with her attacker...
Wal-Mart workers on strike, defying firings  The Salon   ...In protest of paltry hours and defiance of firings, over 80 Wal-Mart workers in Hialeah, Florida walk off the job...
The U.S. Blows Everyone Else Out Of The Water In 1 Key Way  Huffington Post   ...That one way? We're really, really good at creating really, really rich people -- like, $50 million-plus rich. Just ignore the fact that our 400 wealthiest people are worth more than the entire bottom half of the country combined. Look at the chart…
Krugman on GOP’s “top-down class warfare”  The Salon   ...The New York Times columnist explains how the GOP policies have stalled a true economic recovery...
McDonald's Has Their Hands in All of Our Pockets  AlterNet   ...Do you want to pay for billion dollar companies to make more money? Of course not, but in recent studies, we learned that we are, in fact, playing billions of dollar to support low-wage fast food workers for America's top seven restaurant chains...
Euro Capitals Tighten Fiscal Leash as EU Polices Cuts  Bloomberg News   ...Even with the 17-nation euro area projecting economic expansion next year, policy makers are keeping a fiscal leash on growth by maintaining austerity policies to save the euro...

Austerity: The real winner of the government shutdown

A popular thing to say on Capitol Hill is that there were no winners in the government shutdown and debt ceiling crisis that ended last night.

But once again, savage cuts to social spending have won the day. Sure, the conflict may have been a terrible embarrassment for the GOP, but the Wall Street-backed tea party agenda of austerity came out unscathed.

The Los Angeles Times observed:

As the shadow of the shutdown passes, it's proper to be reminded again that this fight involved spending levels that are materially suppressing economic growth and hampering the recovery.

Specifically, the deal soon to be voted on leaves the sequester in place, at least until Jan. 15….The sequester is merely one manifestation of Congress's love for austerity in the post-recession era. From the inception, recovery programs have never been as large or robust as they needed to be, despite evidence that even harsher austerity regimes kept much of Europe mired in slumps.

But the deal that was negotiated yesterday to reopen the government and suspend the debt ceiling didn’t just leave the austerity assault in place. It may end up escalating the assault on workers even more. Richard Eskow at the Campaign for America’s Future writes:

This deal will bend the next few months’ deliberations along the same misguided lines that have guided our political discourse for years now. House and Senate members will be encouraged to come up with a “deficit reduction plan” -- in other words, to impose another round of cuts just like those which have already wounded the economy and shredded millions of jobs.

Specifically, Congress’s latest deal opens the door to further cuts that will target working Americans by establishing a bipartisan committee to deal with budget issues.

Yeah, another one of those! And you can be sure that this committee will try to hash out a “Grand Bargain,” which is basically Washington-speak for harsher cuts and “entitlement reform” -- “entitlement reform,” by the way, is Washington-speak for gutting Social Security and Medicare.

But austerity was the winner even before that part of the deal was conceived. That’s because the goalposts in Congress’s spending debates have already been moved to austerity’s side of the field.
Think Progress reports:

It may seem like ancient history, but sequestration was originally designed to be so unpalatable to both parties that the threat of its automatic budget cuts to both defense and non-defense programs alike would be enough to force lawmakers to come to a grand bargain budget agreement. As it first went into effect in March, Republicans tried to pin the blame for any negative consequences on President Obama. But they gradually came out in favor of sequestration’s devastating cuts and have now made it the baseline in the fight over funding the government.

According to the Center for American Progress, Obama’s original budget for 2014 was $1.203 trillion. In 2010, Republicans took control of the House and deficit hawk Paul Ryan proposed a 2014 budget of $1.095 trillion -- that's 10 percent more than what Congress just passed to end the shutdown.

Outrageously, the justification for all these spending reductions is baseless. The country’s supposedly out-of-control debt has been falling significantly over the last two years.

But for tea party extremists, austerity was never about getting the deficit under control. It’s about shrinking government in a way that punishes workers and the poor. Even during the shutdown, what was deemed “essential” and “non-essential” gives you an idea of what parts of government right-wing elites think is important. So Congress’s gym – complete with heated pools and a sauna – was essential. Food assistance to low-income mothers and children? Non-essential.

Now, the latest agreement sets the stage for another budget and debt limit battle just in time for another round of sequester cuts. As we wrote at Teamster.org:

...our government will be funded at a significantly reduced level than it should be... because of sequester cuts that went into effect last year.

For now, we’ve avoided default, reopened the government and hundreds of thousands of locked-out government workers are back to work. That’s definitely a good thing. But now anti-worker zealots in Washington are hoping that sharper austerity measures won't seem so bad compared to the pain caused by the shutdown.

Don’t be fooled.

Today's Teamster News 10.17.13

Gov't reopens after Congress ends 16-day shutdown  Associated Press   ...The government reopened its doors Thursday after a battle-weary Congress approved a bipartisan measure to end a 16-day partial shutdown and avert the possibility of an economy-jarring default on U.S. obligations...
Government shutdown has cost US economy $1.5bn a day, S&P says  The Guardian   ...Ratings agency says impasse has shaved 0.6% off US GDP in the fourth quarter – equivalent to taking $24bn from the economy...
The Perpetual Budget Crises Have Already Cost 900,000 Jobs  ThinkProgress   ...The reliance on crisis-driven governing since the House changed hands in the 2010 elections has already cost 900,000 jobs, according to a study commissioned by the conservative Peter G. Peterson Foundation...
South Dakota's cattle cataclysm: why isn't this horror news?  The Guardian   ...Ranchers in South Dakota lost tens of thousands of cattle from a freak storm. Thanks to the shutdown, no one is paying attention...
U.S. Standard of Living Index Sinks to 10-Month Low  Gallup   ...The index is a summary of whether Americans are satisfied with their current standard of living and perceive it as getting better or worse...
Greek union calls general strike for Nov 6   Associated Press   ...Greece's largest labor union has called a new general strike for Nov. 6, warning that unemployment has reached "nightmare" levels and that working rights are continually being eroded by austerity measures...
ILA Strike Closes Baltimore Port  Journal of Commerce   ...The Port of Baltimore closed Wednesday when International Longshoremen’s Association members went on strike after voting down a proposed local contract with the Steamship Trade Association of Baltimore...
San Francisco Bay-area rail strike again averted; Morning commute to proceed as talks continue  Associated Press   ...San Francisco Bay-area commuters again waited late into the night before federal mediators announced late Tuesday that a planned rail strike would once more be delayed and contract negotiations would continue...
DHL, BP Sign Five-Year Freight Forwarding Deal  Journal of Commerce   ...DHL has signed a new, five-year agreement to provide global freight management and forwarding services for BP, the London-based oil and gas company...
‘Black Bloc’ anarchists emerging as a force amid unrest in Brazil  Raw Story   ...On Tuesday, they fought police in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo at the close of a march by striking teachers, hurling firebombs and tearing metal shutters from buildings to use as shields against police who responded with tear gas and pepper spray...
Group Says Haitian Garment Workers Are Shortchanged on Pay  New York Times   ...Garment factories in Haiti, the backbone of an effort to revive the country’s earthquake-shattered economy, have seriously shortchanged workers of their wages to keep costs of their T-shirts and other export goods low, according to a report issued by a labor rights group...
Fast-Food Giants Make Billions While Their Workers Use Billions In Welfare Benefits  AlterNet   ...Two new studies profile the worst employers in America...
UN Official Slams GOP as Shutdown Delays US Human-Rights Review  The Hill   ...A United Nations official tore into House Republicans this week after the government shutdown forced the Obama administration to postpone a long-awaited review of its compliance with its international human-rights obligations...
Outsourced Cities, Brought to You by CH2M Hill  Center for Media and Democracy ...When Wall Street collapsed the economy in 2008, one company was eager to buy public assets from cash-strapped governments. Across the country, for-profit companies are engaged in a hostile takeover of our schools, roads, prisons, drinking water, and even government itself...
JPMorgan paying $100M, admitting manipulation of prices in settlement over $6B trading loss  Associated Press   ...JPMorgan Chase has agreed to pay a $100 million penalty and admitted that it “recklessly” distorted prices during a series of London trades that ultimately cost the bank $6 billion in losses...
Employers grapple with workplace safety amid new gun laws  Kansas City Business Journal   ...Offices around the nation are struggling with laws that allow employers to ban guns in the workplace, but not in the parking lot, The Wall Street Journal reports...
Calif. Governor Signs Prevailing Wage Bill  Reuters  ...Starting Jan. 1, 2015, charter cities in California will be required to pay prevailing wages for public works construction projects or face not receiving any state funding, according to Senate Bill 7 that was signed by Gov. Jerry Brown on Sunday...
North Carolina is first state to cut welfare amid federal shutdown  Reuters   ...North Carolina has become the first state to cut off welfare benefits to poor residents in the wake of the partial federal government shutdown, ordering a halt to processing November applications until a deal is reached to end the federal standstill...
About half of Maidenform’s 1,330 employees to lose jobs in Hanesbrands deal  Winston-Salem Journal   ...Hanesbrands Inc. said it will close the New Jersey headquarters of Maidenform Brands Inc. as part of a large-scale merger of the two apparel companies, resulting in the loss of nearly half of Maidenform’s 1,330 global workforce...

Today's Teamster News 10.16.13

ABF Teamsters Approve Western Office Supplement  teamster.org   ...Teamsters at ABF, who work under the Western Office Supplement, have approved the supplement. Ballots were counted on Monday, October 14. About 67 workers are covered by the supplement...
A union against Inquirer publisher  Philadelphia Inquirer   ...On Tuesday, the battle over The Inquirer shifted to employees. Outside the newspaper's Center City headquarters, members of the Teamsters locals who package and deliver the paper inflated a 15-foot rat and protested for two hours against publisher Robert J. Hall...
Teamsters Warn of Possible Strike or Lockout at CN Rail  Waterloo Region Record   ...The Teamsters Union is warning of a potential strike or lockout at CN Rail starting on Oct. 28 after an offer to continue a conciliation effort was rejected by the company...
Unions, pension funds fight to kick Detroit out of bankruptcy court  Detroit News   ...All the big acronyms will be in federal court at 10 a.m. as labor unions, retirees, pension funds and others try to convince a judge that Detroit is not eligible for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection...
Bodies Double as Cash Machines With U.S. Income Lagging: Economy  Bloomberg   ...Hair, breast milk and eggs are doubling as automated teller machines for some cash-strapped Americans...
Here Are The Sleaziest Things Congress Has Done During The Shutdown  Huffington Post   ...After almost two weeks into the shutdown, recent polling has shown record levels of support for replacing every member of Congress, and lawmakers are now less popular than witches and dog poop...
Hypocrites! Corporate Leaders Bemoan the Default Crisis Created by Tea Partiers They Funded AlterNet   ...Now big-wigs are begging these yo-yos not to crash the economy...
Support for GOP's Budget Strategy Falls Further Still  Slate   ...New poll, same takeaway: No one's winning the shutdown/debt ceiling blame game, but congressional Republicans are losing it worse than either congressional Democrats or President Obama...
Mrs. Ted Cruz: VP Goldman Sachs, Economic Policy Advisor to Bush-Cheney  Daily Kos   ...These people don't even hide their conflicts of interest anymore…
World Bank support for China solar and wind power may have cost U.S. jobs  Washington Post   ...As investment in alternative energy rebounded in 2011, U.S. wind and solar companies found stiff new competition — Chinese firms dominating the green industries that American officials looked to for growth...
Irish Unveil Austerity Budget, Seek Bailout Exit  Associated Press   ...Ireland unveiled its seventh straight austerity budget Tuesday, a plan to slash 2.5 billion euros ($3.4 billion) from next year's deficit and pave the way for the nation to escape from its international bailout...
Should Rich Kids Get Most of the Scholarships?  Truthout   ...it makes a heck of a big difference to your scholarship chances if you don’t have to work 25 hours a week...
Google’s Privacy Violations Under Fire  Fire Dog Lake   ...Everyone’s favorite tax dodger, Google inc., is trying to put out multiple fires concerning their seeming total disregard for user privacy. In an effort to snatch even more revenue in search – a category they may already be violating anti-trust laws in…
There's an International Plan to Censor the Internet in the Works -- Let's Stop It in Its Tracks  AlterNet   ...How the Trans Pacific Partnership making its way through Washington seriously undermines citizens’ rights to participate in a free and open Internet...
Burger Cooks Cost $7 Billion a Year in Government Aid  Bloomberg   ...Hamburger grillers and other fast-food workers at restaurants such as McDonald’s Corp. (MCD) and Wendy’s Co. get about $7 billion a year in U.S. government aid, a report recently published shows...
California Now Seventh State To Bar Employment Discrimination Against Domestic Violence Victims  ThinkProgress   ...On Friday, California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) signed a law that bars employment discrimination against victims of domestic violence and those who experience stalking or sexual assault...
Petitions seek ‘right-to-work’ vote in 2014  Columbus Dispatch   ...Supporters of a proposed “right-to-work” issue on Ohio’s 2014 statewide ballot said they have gathered 100,000 signatures and plan a big push next month for more names...
Scott Walker Creates Phantom Jobs To Boost Aides’ Pay  ThinkProgress   ...Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R), who has so far fallen well short on his promise of 250,000 new jobs by 2015, at the same time has created phantom jobs to boost his employees’ pay, including some top aides...

Today's Teamster News 10.15.13

Workplaces Go Without Safety Inspections During The Shutdown  ThinkProgress   ...When the government shut down on October 1, 90 percent of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) inspectors were furloughed...
The sun is setting on dollar supremacy, and with it, American power  The Telegraph   ...A serious alternative to the dollar is still a long way off, but the latest shenanigans on Capitol Hill have given the search for them renewed momentum...
Normalcy eludes many a year after Sandy hit NJ  Courier-Post   ...full recovery from Superstorm Sandy is still elusive nearly a year after the storm pummeled the state Oct. 29...
WSJ: More Homes for Sales, Fewer Sales, Slowing Price Increases in Certain Areas  Calculated Risk   ...The sharp home-price rally in some of the hardest-hit housing markets is likely to fade in the coming months amid a pullback in investor purchases and steady increases in the number of homes listed for sale...
Banks Are Still Failing At Ten Times the Pre-2008 Crash Rate  Wall Street on Parade   ...Before Wall Street took a bazooka loaded with credit default swaps and toxic mortgage securitizations and fired it directly at the heart of the U.S. economy, we had a very stable banking system...
100,000 applications for 10,000 temporary jobs paying €427-490 a month  ENet   ...At last count, in July, there were 1,374,054 people recorded as unemployed in Greece by the Hellenic Statistics Authority (Elstat). But of the 1,004,000 unemployed on OAED's books, only 145,865 – about 10% – were entitled to unemployment benefit...
Are Our Parents Stealing from Our Kids? No, They're Not  Portside   ...the data suggest that more spending on seniors is associated with more spending on kids...
Garment workers held boss captive until he paid promised bonus  Salon   ...Bangladeshi workers on minimum wage held factory boss for over 18 hours after months of tense labor disputes...
Hospital giant fails in bid to swipe nurses’ sick days  Salon   ...After nine strikes, nurses won the right to keep taking paid sick days rather than spreading disease to patients...
Report: NSA collecting millions of contact lists  The Guardian   ... the spy agency intercepts hundreds of thousands of email address books every day from private accounts on Yahoo, Gmail, Facebook and Hotmail. The NSA also collects about a half-million buddy lists daily from chat services and email accounts...

Today's Teamster News 10.14.13

Negotiations between Teamsters and CN derail  Teamsters Canada   ...The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC), which represents some 3,300 conductors, trainmen, yardmen and traffic coordinators at Canadian National (CN), are gearing up for a fight with the railway company...
Report outlines how Nissan in Canton, Miss., is violating international human rights standards of workers who want to organize and bargain collectively  Do Better Nissan   ...in the Canton plant, according to the report, Nissan has launched a campaign of fear and intimidation to nullify these rights...
Federal Workers Stretch Last Paycheck Until Shutdown Ends  Bloomberg   ...The average federal employee earned an annual salary of $76,353 in 2012, and the lost income is exerting a drag on the economy as well as forcing employees who live paycheck-to-paycheck to figure out how to cover their bills until the shutdown ends...
The world's wealthy: where on earth are the richest 1%?  The Guardian   ...Amid a record high for average global wealth its figures reveal striking inequalities – such as 35% of Russia's riches in the hands of 110 people...
Don't Count on a 1.5% Social Security Increase, the Figures Have not Been Released Yet  Economic Populist   ...The problem with this headline announcement by the press is the social security cost of living increase has not been announced yet and is highly dependent on government inflation statistics for September...
The Tragedy of Greece as a Case Study of Neo-Imperial Pillage and the Demise of Social Europe  Truthout   ...A public debt crisis has been used as an opportunity to dismantle a rudimentary social state, to sell off profitable public enterprises and state assets at bargain prices, to deprive labor of even its most basic rights after decades of hard-fought struggles against capital, and to substantially reduce wages, salaries and pensions, creating a de facto banana republic...
The End of the Nation-State? (opinion)  New York Times   ... though most of us might not realize it, “nonstate world” describes much of how global society already operates. This isn’t to say that states have disappeared, or will. But they are becoming just one form of governance among many...
Breaking: Judge Posner Admits He Was Wrong in Crawford Voter ID Case  Election Law Blog   ..."we…. weren’t really given strong indications that requiring additional voter identification would actually disfranchise people entitled to vote..."
Why CEO Pay Will Keep Rising to Even More Insanely Unjustified Levels While Ordinary Workers Get Squeezed  naked capitalism   ...Even casual scrutiny will tell you that the current ridiculous levels of CEO pay bear no relationship to anything other than their highly developed rent extraction skills...

Today's Teamster News 10.13.13

Interior allows a dozen iconic national parks to reopen with state funding  Washington Post   ...What began as a sort of modern Sagebrush Rebellion — with Utah county commissioners threatening to bring in a posse and dismantle federal barricades themselves — has become an intense negotiation between Interior Secretary Sally Jewell and governors across the country eager to reopen public lands that generate valuable tourism revenue...
Over 865,200 Gallons of Fracked Oil Spill in ND, Public In Dark For Days Due to Government Shutdown  Desmogblog.com   ...Over 20,600 barrels of oil fracked from the Bakken Shale has spilled from aTesoro Logistics pipeline in Tioga, North Dakota in one of the biggest onshore oil spills in recent U.S. history. Though the spill occurred on September 29, the U.S. National Response Center- tasked with responding to chemical and oil spills - did not make the report available until October 8 due to the ongoing government shutdown...
Report Finds Police Worldwide Criminalize Dissent, Assert New Powers in Crackdown on Protests  truthout   ... the International Network of Civil Liberties Organizations details a global crackdown on peaceful protests through excessive police force and the criminalization of dissent…. The case studies detailed in this report show how governments have reacted to peaceful protests in the United States, Israel, Canada, Argentina, Egypt, Hungary, Kenya, South Africa and Britain...
U.S. Said to Open Criminal Probe of FX Market Rigging  Bloomberg   ...The U.S. Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation of possible manipulation of the $5.3 trillion-a-day foreign exchange market, a person familiar with the matter said...
Stop the Presses: Apple Has Not Been Cleared on Tax Avoidance Charges  Citizens for Tax Justice   ...the SEC is now satisfied that Apple is not violating the rules in the disclosure of its tax circumstances to the agency, which has nothing to do with the legal validity of its tax avoidance methods more generally...
Anti-government anger fuels long-shot Maryland breakaway bid  Reuters   ...His Western Maryland Initiative is just one of several secession proposals that are emerging across the United States. Nearly a dozen rural Colorado counties have put nonbinding secession referendums on their November ballots. A split-off proposal for southern Florida has also been floated.
Some residents of northern California want to join with counties in southern Oregon to form their own state. Liberals in Tucson, Arizona, fed up with the conservative state governor and lawmakers, want out as well...
Power outage shuts U.S. food stamp program for hours in 17 states  Reuters   ...A brief power outage caused food stamp recipients in 17 states to lose access for much of Saturday to the electronic system used by stores to verify their benefits, leaving many unable to buy groceries, the company that manages the system said. The power outage that started the problem was fixed within 20 minutes, Xerox Corp spokesman Kevin Lightfoot said, but shoppers kept running into difficulties through the day...
Europe proposes more global governance to eclipse U.S. laws  Trade Reform   ...The European Union’s top trade official, in one of the first concrete proposals in the trade negotiations with the United States, called on Thursday for a new trans-Atlantic group that would coordinate the work of United States and European regulatory agencies...
France is pushing for a Europe-wide Google tax  Quartz   ...France is pushing for a the European Union as a whole to adopt a minimum tax on digital companies, which it will formally introduce at an EU summit meeting about the digital economy later this month...
China Exports Unexpectedly Drop  Bloomberg   ...China’s exports unexpectedly fell in September, signaling constraints from global demand and highlighting distortions from fake invoices that have yet to be eliminated from trade data...
Fast Food Workers Win a Union…through Zoolidarity   BeyondChron   ...Last month 142 mostly part-time food service workers, public employees at the Oregon Zoo, showed it could be done, winning a landslide election to join Laborers Local 483 in Portland. They join 137 already-union admissions and custodial employees at the zoo—about half of these are temps—doubling the size and power of the bargaining unit just in time for contract negotiations...

Is Congress driving you to drink? Tell them

It’s usually not a good idea to make phone calls when you’re drunk (i.e. drunk dialing). But if the person you’re calling belongs to a dysfunctional political party that's driving America off a cliff, then we say go for it.

A new website called Drunk Dial Congress allows you to type in your phone number so you can be connected to a member of Congress.

But you’re encouraged to have a drink or two before laying in to lawmakers with some of these talking points: 

If you can yell at a Park Ranger after forcing the Government to shut down then I get to yell at you

How dare you not fund Veterans

You jerks are costing the country $12 million bucks per hour!

You guys aren't funding the police that are protecting you??? 

My grandma can't get her cancer treatment 

Why don't you make yourself useful and at least mow the lawn?

It’s only fair that Congress should hear from angry Americans -- especially during happy hour. Because, as the website points out, members of Congress were found boozing up right after they shut down the government and put 800,000 people out of work:

As Members of Congress quickly returned from their final symbolic, non-effective and otherwise useless votes to avert a government shutdown, the heavy drinking began. Reports of our representatives getting plastered on the government's dime -- the one we have left -- have come streaming in from witnesses all over Capitol Hill. 

 And you certainly don’t have to be a furloughed government worker to be pissed off at Congress. The shutdown being orchestrated by anti-worker Republican extremists is hurting everything from veterans’ health care and workers’ rights to food and transportation safety.

Drunk Dial Congress also includes some interesting drink recipes. But while you're having fun, don't forget to enjoy some of the great brews made and distributed by Teamsters.

So drink up -- responsibly, of course -- and give Congress a piece of your mind.

The truth behind the "Grand Bargain" hoax

The so-called Grand Bargain that we should all be afraid of may be looming as a solution to the government shutdown. The Grand Bargain is more of a grand betrayal, really, and would involve Democrats agreeing to cut Social Security and Medicare. Not something we care for.

Here's an excellent video that exposes the truth behind the Grand Bargain, aka the drive to shrink the U.S. government and destroy the middle class. It's masterminded by greedy old billionaires like Pete Peterson and the Benedict Arnold Koch brothers. They get their kicks lecture the rest of us on living beyond our means.

These people are even worse than the robber barons of the Gilded Age. At least their 19th-century forefathers didn't shut down the government.

Today's Teamster News 10.11.13

Hoffa: Secret U.S. - Euro Backroom Trade Talks Are More Of The Same  teamster.org   ...An article in Wednesday’s New York Times details how corporate leaders met last year with European officials on the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) months before trade negotiations officially began...
Teamsters' Agreement Prevents Layoffs at Workforce Central  Teamsters Local 117   ...Members of Teamsters Local 117, employed at Workforce Central in Tacoma, have voted to forgo their contractual rights and significantly reduce their hours in order to prevent layoffs, which would have otherwise resulted during the federal government shutdown...
Five UPS Supplement Ballots Counted  teamster.org   ...Ballots have been counted for five UPS local supplements/riders so far, and four have passed. Go to www.teamster.org/UPS and http://www.upscontractrfacts.com/ to view the results...
Whitaker council approves police deal  McKeesport Daily News   ...Whitaker council unanimously approved a three-year agreement Wednesday for its police force with Teamsters Local 205 in White Oak, Pennsylvania. The workers will see their wages increase by $1.40 over the next three years...
Legislators Travel to Hanford Express Support for Marquez Brothers Workers  California Labor Federation   ...In August, 200 workers at a Marquez Brothers cheese production plant in Hanford (Kings County) voted to join Teamsters Local 517 in Visalia, Calif. Last week, three Assembly members drove eight hours to meet with them and demonstrate their commitment for California Latinos to realize the American Dream…
Hurst: Privatized sanitation might not cost jobs  Princeton Daily Clarion   ...The Teamsters Union represents half the workforce within Princeton’s (Indiana) water, sanitation and sewer departments, but according to Mayor Bob Hurst, only seven people would be affected if the city decides to privatize its sanitation system...
Berkeley: Pyramid Brewery workers protest layoffs  Vallejo Times Herald   ...Cat Wiest, a laid-off Pyramid Brewery worker and shop steward, doesn't buy her bosses' contention that the company must furlough the 15 workers at its Gilman Street location for six to nine months while the facility undergoes upgrades. She suspects the real reason for the layoffs is due to the August 7 election when 12 of the 15 workers voted to join the Teamsters...
Grocery strike looms as negotiations resume  KIRO News   ...Unions, including the Teamsters, are lining up to support Seattle-area grocery workers if they go on strike due to failed negotiations...
Florida Woman Threatens Bankster's Life With a Gun and Gets Dad's Million Dollars Returned  Truthout   ...Daphne Davis invited a top bank executive to her office at the Piggly Wiggly grocery in Apalachicola, pulled out a Smith & Wesson .40-caliber pistol and threatened to shoot him dead. "I told him my face would be the last one he would see if he didn't get Daddy that paperwork," Davis said. The documents came 20 minutes later...
Hell No! to Citizens United 2.0  Common Dreams   ...The Supreme Court of the United States is poised to continue dismantling restrictions on money in politics in a new case that begins today: McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission...
White House to restore military death benefits denied in wake of shutdown  Guardian   ...Solution expected following mounting outrage over denial of benefits to families of service members killed in action...
Government efforts to protect health and safety are slowed or halted as shutdown lingers  Associated Press   ...The government shutdown has slowed or halted federal efforts to protect Americans' health and safety, from probes into the cause of transportation and workplace accidents to tracking foodborne illness...
This cancer patient’s treatment is on hold because of the government shutdown  Washington Post   ...In April 2012, Michelle Langbehn was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer that affects 1 percent of cancer patients in the U.S.. After nine months of chemotherapy, she and her doctor began looking into other potential treatment options, including a trial at the National Institutes of Health, which is now on hold because of the government shutdown...
The 5 creepiest things about how the Koch brothers engineered the shutdown  Death and Taxes Magazine   ...This weekend, The New York Times revealed how the Koch Brothers and Reagan Attorney General Ed Meese engineered this here shutdown we’re dealing with right now, and how they’d been planning it ever since Obama was reelected...
Richest 1 Percent Hold 46 Percent Of The World's Wealth  Reuters   ...Global wealth has risen by 68 percent over the past 10 years to reach a new all-time high of $241 trillion and the United States accounts for nearly three quarters of the increase, Credit Suisse said in its World Wealth Report...
Anxiety As Stimulus Hike To Food Stamps Set To End  Associated Press   ...A temporary increase in food stamps expires Oct. 31, meaning for millions of Americans, the benefits that help put food on the table won't stretch as far as they have for the past four years...
TPP - Trading In Our Sovereignty Fast-Track to a Train Wreck  Croton Watershed Clean Water Coalition, Inc.   ...Imagine that all we have done to protect our lands, lives and livelihoods from fracking, secretively signed away. Imagine our right to redress grievances bypassed by a tribunal of private sector corporate lawyers, with no chance to appeal their legally binding determinations...
New Report: Preventable Medical Mistakes Account for One-Sixth of All Annual Deaths in the United States  Mercola.com   ...Our conventional health care system is in desperate need of radical change, and the findings published in a new report clearly backs up this assertion...
Dark Money Group Wins IRS Recognition as Tax-Exempt Nonprofit  Pro-Publica   ...The IRS has granted nonprofit status to America Is Not Stupid 2013 a so-called dark money group best known for a 2012 election ad featuring a talking baby who compared the smell of his diaper with a Montana senator...
AFSCME Members Fighting to Maintain Pension and Protect Public Against Tea Party Ballot Measure  AFSCME   ...If a tea party-backed ballot measure to privatize Cincinnati’s municipal employee retirement system passes, retirement security for 7,500 workers, retirees and survivors will be gone...

Applying the logic of the shutdown to baseball

A disgruntled Atlanta Braves fan wrote a tongue-in-cheek (we hope) letter to his congressman, Rep. Jack Kingston, a Georgia Republican, on Oct. 8, the day after the Los Angeles Dodgers eliminated the Braves from the playoffs. 

We read his letter on Hardball Talk and figured we'd share some of it: 

Like you, I'm sure, I am profoundly disappointed that the Atlanta Braves lost the NLDS last night. And to the Dodgers -- a bunch of California liberals! 

This outrage cannot be allowed to stand. But the system has failed us. We tried to resolve this issue through traditional means: In last night's game alone, we must have sent batters to the plate at least 40 times. But just because we couldn't score enough runs, the Dodgers refuse to relinquish the title -- and worse, they won't even discuss it.  

LA's stubborn refusal to even talk to us about reversing the results of this series is unsportsmanlike and un-American. But there is an answer: If the Dodgers won't listen to the cries of average Americans like you and me, then Congress should outlaw Major League Baseball until the Dodgers cave... 

Just because the Dodgers had more hits, scored more runs, and won more games doesn't make them right. You can help them see that. And if that means the country will be deprived of its national pastime -- well, the Dodgers will have only themselves to blame. 

Read the whole thing here.

Locked-out union workers rally against government shutdown

Today on Capitol Hill. 

The gloom of the government shutdown and a cold rainy day didn't stop a thousand locked-out federal workers from rallying outside the Capitol in Washington, D.C., this morning.

With the shutdown now in its tenth day, the huge crowd of furloughed union workers -- including members of the American Federation of Government Employees, the National Treasury Employees Union and AFSCME -- gathered to express their outrage and demand that extremist Republicans stop holding the country hostage. Other workers from SEIU, the Teamsters and Good Jobs Nation came out to support their union brothers and sisters.

Rain pounded down on a furloughed aviation inspector who spoke to protesters:

I'm a little damp right now, but that's nothing compared to the way American workers are getting soaked by House Republicans.

Rev. Jesse Jackson, union leaders and dozens of members of Congress also rallied the crowd. Like a similar protest held last week, Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) of the Progressive Caucus led the demonstration, joined by Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) and Nancy Pelosi.

Workers chanted "Let us work," holding umbrellas and signs that said "Stop the lockout" and "Stop holding America hostage."

One AFGE leader set the record straight on what American workers are willing to negotiate on with anti-worker Republicans:

Half of our members are out of work and the other half are being forced to work without a paycheck. And despite what John Boehner and tea party extremists are saying, we are willing to negotiate. We want to negotiate an end to sequestration and a fairer tax system so that the rich and corporations pay their fair share.

We have all kinds of ideas to end the plight of the working class and improve federal government. But we don't shut down the government to make a political point.

As always, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) called out the extremists in Congress and put their latest attack on the middle class in context:

This shutdown started with tea party hostage-takers wanting to stop health care reform. But let's be clear: destroying health care is just the tip of the iceberg for right-wing extremists. They want to destroy Social Security and Medicare. They want to end regulations on Wall Street. They want to go after the whole social safety net that keeps millions of Americans from falling into extreme poverty. They want an oligarchic society ruled by the rich.

And they say they are willing to negotiate -- it's time to compromise. We have already compromised! The budget we passed is their budget. We don't like it. And still they want to take more from the American people.

Today the shutdown hit 3,600 employees at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission -- the people who make sure a Fukushima-like nuclear disaster doesn't happen in America. Meanwhile the clock is ticking on the deadline to increase the debt ceiling.

The shutdown has hurt hundreds of thousands of workers, families and small businesses, but millions more will face a deep economic crisis if Congress drives the government to default.

Some locked-out government workers said they will return to the Capitol tomorrow -- rain or shine -- to keep the pressure on politicians and stop Republicans' war on working families.

Today's Teamster News 10.10.13

Ballots Sent to Some ABF Teamsters for Strike Vote  truckinginfo   ...Less-than-truckload carrier ABF has been notified by the Teamsters Union that ballots to authorize a strike are being mailed on Tuesday to nearly 1,800 employees covered by the Central Region Local Cartage supplement...
Teamsters again declare bargaining impasse with Pasco  Tampa Tribune   ...Three years after Pasco County workers voted to form a union, they still don’t have a contract. The Teamsters Local 79 declared impasse for the second time last Friday, which means both sides will again plead their case to a special magistrate...
All in the Family  teamster.org   ...Shelley Goodman has witnessed a lot of hardship in her 21 years as a Durham School Services school bus driver and Teamster organizer...
Hoffa: Government Shutdown A Financial Crisis for Workers  Detroit News   ...The Republican shutdown of the federal government is being felt not only in Washington, but here in Michigan as well. Workers, military members and even children are the unfortunate victims of the political budget games...
Labor takes time to celebrate Local's 100 years  Anderson Valley Post   ...On October 5, organized labor took some time off to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Teamsters Local 137 at the Shasta District Fairgrounds in Anderson...
Hoffa: Unions Need Global Solidarity  Huffington Post   ...In a few short decades, our country and our world have changed dramatically. In the last 30 years, America has gone from the world's biggest creditor nation to the one holding the world's largest debt...
Newsday driver jobs may be cut  New York Post   ...Cablevision is hoping to shave $10 million in costs from its money-draining Newsday operating by booting about 35 drivers, who are members of Graphic Communications Conference Local 406...
The Kochs Can't Control the Monster They Created  The Atlantic   ...The billionaire conservatives join the ranks of business interests trying to rein in the GOP's base, but it has turned into an unstoppable force...
Gallup: GOP approval at all-time low  Salon   ...A new poll finds the GOP with the lowest party approval rating in Gallup history...
Starting tomorrow, we’re down 90 percent of our nuclear safety regulators  Salon   ... efforts to make the reactors safer, such as changes meant to prevent something similar to what’s going on at Fukushima from happening here, will be put on hold...
There's an International Plan to Censor the Internet in the Works -- Let's Stop It in Its Tracks  Alternet   ...The lack of general awareness about the TPP is exactly what unelected trade officials and lobbyists hope for; the more covert the negotiations, the easier it is to usher in extreme new Internet censorship rules...
How Private Tech Companies Are Collecting Data on You and Selling Them to the Feds for Huge Profits  Alternet   ... Inside your mobile phone and hidden behind your web browser are little known software products marketed by contractors to the government that can follow you around anywhere...
New EPI Economic Indicator: Monthly Updates of the Number of “Missing Workers” and What the Unemployment Rate Would Be If They Were Looking for Work  Economic Policy Institute   ...if the nearly 5 million missing workers were looking for work and thus counted as unemployed, the unemployment rate in August would have been 10.1 percent instead of 7.3 percent...
McDonald's Employee Confronts Executive: I Can't Afford Shoes For My Children  The Real News   ...Salgado confronted the president of McDonald’s, Jeff Stratton, about her wages during his speech at the Union League Club of Chicago….She and six other protesters were given tickets for trespassing...
Thousands Join Teachers' Protest in Rio de Janeiro  Portside   ...March draws biggest turnout since wave of protests during Confederations Cup in June, and anarchist groups clash with police...
Michigan Education Association Retains 99% Of Members  WKAR Public Media   ...As we hear from The Michigan Public Radio Network’s Rick Pluta, the president of the Michigan Education Association says 99 percent of its members have opted to stick with the union...
School buses roll again in Boston; disgruntled drivers meet with bus company officials  Boston Globe   ...Hundreds of Boston school buses ferried students to schools yesterday morning with only a few delays, a day after a surprise strike by the drivers sent thousands of parents scrambling for alternatives...
When Giant Banks Pay Fines, Where Does the Money Go? Does It Stop Crime?  AlterNet   ...If somebody broke into your home and stole your belongings, you’d expect to see some serious consequences if they got caught. But when banks rob Americans—and even cast them out of their own homes illegally—the worst that usually happens is a fine...
Under Scott Walker, Wisconsin keeps increasing its long-term borrowing  The Cap Times   ...Gov. Scott Walker has honed his reputation as a fiscal conservative, taking credit for closing a $3.6 billion spending gap left from the Jim Doyle administration...
GOP bets on economy haven't paid off (opinion)  NWI Times   ...The way Gov. Mitch Daniels and fellow Republicans talked in early 2012, I was ready to set up a toll gate at the state line when the anti-union right-to-work bill was approved...
Bill Schuette to Michigan Supreme Court: Don't waste your time on right-to-work appeal  Detroit Free Press   ...The Michigan Supreme Court shouldn't waste its time taking up an appeal over one of the state's controversial right-to-work laws, Republican Attorney General Bill Schuette wrote in a court filing this week...