Right to work on the march in NM, WV, MO and IL

Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner dropped a Scott-Walker-like bombshell on Monday when he issued a right-to-work order for government workers.

At the same time right-to-work bills moved through the Missouri Legislature, where they are expected to be voted on this week.

And anti-worker lawmakers in New Mexico and West Virginia are pushing forward right-to-work bills in order to satisfy their billionaire backers.

Brothers and sisters, it's time to fight back against these efforts to make America even more unequal than it already is.

Rauner, a billionaire loyal to his class, says it's wrong for workers to pay unions to represent them. The New York Times reports:

Gov. Bruce Rauner, the newly elected Republican who has often criticized public sector unions, took his first step toward curbing their power on Monday by announcing an executive order that would bar unions from requiring all state workers to pay the equivalent of dues. 

Mr. Rauner, who faces a Democratic-controlled legislature with strong ties to labor, took the unilateral step saying that he believed those fees violate the United States Constitution.

Rauner claims workers are forced to pay dues to unions that don't represent their political beliefs. He is completely wrong. Workers don't pay dues, they pay service fees to the unions that are forced by law to represent them. He is also wrong about unions' political spending. All contributions to unions' political action committees are entirely voluntary.

Please notice Gov. Rauner doesn't try to force local cable companies to provide cable service to people who don't pay. Nor does he demand the local chamber of commerce represent businesses who aren't members.

Roberta Lynch, executive director of AFSCME Council 31, says Rauner acted illegally.

Bruce Rauner’s scheme to strip the rights of state workers and weaken their unions by executive order is a blatantly illegal abuse of power. Perhaps as a private equity C.E.O., Rauner was accustomed to ignoring legal and ethical standards, but Illinois is still a democracy and its laws have meaning.

Last night, a Missouri House committee passed a right-to-work bill by a vote of 6-3. Teamster retiree and state Rep. Bob Burns, a member of the committee, objected righteously. The bill is expected to be voted on this week.

St. Louis Public Radio has the details:

With an even larger Republican majority, the Missouri House is expected this week to take up – and possibly approve – legislation aimed at making Missouri the 25th “right-to-work” state in the country by curbing union rights. 

What makes this year’s battle particularly intriguing is that, like last year, it pits the current Missouri House speaker against a GOP predecessor who now is a union lobbyist. 

House Speaker John Diehl, R-Town and Country, backs right-to-work legislation, while former Speaker Steve Tilley, R-Perryville, is working to defeat it. Last year, Tilley helped defeat such a bill, championed by then-Speaker Tim Jones, R-Eureka.

And of course out-of-state, Koch-backed lobbyists will be in Missouri to fight for the right-to-work law:

Greg Mourad, vice president of the National Right to Work Committee, said his group was preparing to lobby Missouri legislators to pass a right-to-work bill.

Minnesota streamlines collective bargaining process for public sector workers

Minnesota in many ways is comparable with Wisconsin in terms of size, population, climate, demographics and industry mix. In other ways it differs: Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton has not busted government worker unions the way Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has.

Guess which state is prospering and which state is struggling? Yup, Minnesota is outperforming Wisconsin in job creation and in economic growth, and now it's doing something constructive with its government worker unions.

Minnesota has a new law on the books that streamlines the collective bargaining process for government workers.

On May 9, Governor Mark Dayton signed legislation establishing a Public Employee Relations Board. It was one of the most significant amendments to the state Public Employment Labor Relations Act since its adoption in the early 1970s. 

The new board will hear unfair labor practice cases previously handled in the court system. Proponents, which include many public employee unions, said this change will save both time and money for taxpayers and public workers. 

The new process “is a useful tool for labor and management – without breaking the bank,” said Eliot Seide, executive director of AFSCME Council 5, the largest state employees’ union. 

Unfair labor practices are violations of the state public employee labor law. In the years since public employees won bargaining rights with the adoption of PELRA, “the process of bringing charges through district court was very expensive, cumbersome and time consuming,” said Sami Gabriel, president of DRIVE, the Teamsters’ political action organization. 

“The typical cost for a labor union to bring a charge was $50,000 to $75,000, and could take years for a decision,” she said. 

Taxpayers also were footing a hefty bill, noted Seide. He gave the example of the City of Bloomington, which spent $150,000 in legal fees to fight union organizing by 23 city employees.
In addition to saving money, the board is expected to speed up the process of resolving such disputes.

We expect Minnesota will continue to outperform Wisconsin in the months to come.

Today's Teamster News 05.13.14

Teamster News
Teamsters End Strike At PepsiCo Plant  Indianapolis Star   ...A 10-day strike involving about 350 Teamsters who work at a PepsiCo bottling plant on the Northwest side ended after they approved a new five-year contract...
National Labor Relations Board Rules In Favor Of Teamsters Against Durham  teamster.org   ...School bus drivers and monitors in Santa Rosa County, Fla., who are members of Teamsters Local 991 in Mobile, Ala., have won a major victory in a decision handed down by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in Washington, D.C...
AGY, Union Leaders Remain Mum As 'Lock Out' Continues  Aiken Standard   ...Employees aren't the only ones being "locked out" after Aiken's AGY plant reportedly deactivated the access badges of all it's workers more than a week ago...
Trade
The Free-Trade Regime: Oligarchy In Action  Asia Times   ...The United States is not really a democracy. That's the (simplified) conclusion of a recent study from Princeton University. Instead, economic elites and special interest groups enjoy tremendous sway in Washington, while "the preferences of the average American...
Trade accord carries health warning  Stuff   ...a trade deal is interfering with New Zealand doing the right thing to control cigarettes...
State Battles
Missouri Senate Republicans send two priorities back to House after late-night deal is struck  St. Louis Post-Dispatch   ...Democrats agreed to stand down on a constitutional amendment to allow some early voting in Missouri and a measure to extend the waiting period before an abortion. In exchange, Senate Republicans agreed not to push for voter photo identification or the paycheck deduction bill...
Florida Couple Fined $746 For Crime Of Feeding Homeless People  Think Progress   ...After feeding the hungry in a Daytona Beach park every weekend for more than a year, it's just as easy to imagine Chico and Debbie Jiminez given a ticker-tape parade as what they actually got: a slew of citations and a permanent ban from the park...
GOP Vote Scheme Finally Imploding: Why The End May Be Here  Salon.com   ...it seems that the recent landmark court ruling in WI, followed by last week’s towel toss in Pennsylvania and embarrassing revelations in Iowa, may be seen in the not-too-distant future as the moment that the GOP “voter fraud” fraud finally began to permanently unravel...
For State Workers, a Thaw in Frozen Wages  Stateline   ...Government workers across the U.S. are expected to get raises this year, many of them for the first time since the Great Recession spurred states to freeze wages, furlough employees and slash workforces...
War On Workers
Looting The Pension Funds  Rolling Stone Magazine   ...In the final months of 2011, almost two years before the city of Detroit would shock America by declaring bankruptcy in the face of what it claimed were insurmountable pension costs, the state of Rhode Island took action to avert what it called its own looming pension crisis...
A Deal to Dodge the Tax Man in America  New York Times   ...Pfizer’s pursuit of AstraZeneca raises a huge public policy red flag. It plans to move its holding company to Britain from the United States so it can achieve a much lower tax rate and use cash that it has held abroad to avoid paying United States taxes...
ALEC Fires Back, But Proves Its 'Pro-Business' State Index Is Bogus  Los Angeles Times   ...Plainly stung by the chorus of ridicule that has greeted their latest attempt to paint anti-union policies and tax cuts for the rich as pathways to economic nirvana, the folks at the American Legislative Exchange Council have struck back with a "response to the critics"...
Despite Falling Revenues, Walmart Increases Pay for Top Execs  firedoglake   ...despite falling revenues, and despite only reluctantly paying minimum wage to its workers, Walmart increased the pay for its top executives...
Making Ends Meet At Walmart  New York Times   ...This has not been a good year for Walmart shareholders. Amid a torrid market over the last 12 months, this giant retailer's stock has flat lined, reflecting a slowdown in sales growth...
The Minimum Wage Loophole That's Screwing Over Waiters And Waitresses  Mother Jones   ...As Republicans stonewall President Obama's initiative to raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to $10.10 an hour by 2016, some state lawmakers have taken the matter into their own hands...
Players Union Has Been Beneficial For Baseball  Philadelphia Inquirer   ...A prominent plaque at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum contains this familiar quotation from French-born historian Jacques Barzun: "Whoever wants to learn the heart and mind of America had better learn baseball"...

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.

Hundreds of union workers protest government shutdown

Union workers protest shutdown today.

Locked-out federal workers gathered in front of the Capitol in Washington D.C. this morning to protest Republican extremists in Congress who shut down the government.

Members of the American Federation of Government Employees, the National Treasury Employees Union and other unions spoke for thousands of union workers employed by the government, calling the shutdown what it is: a lockout.

Led by Reps. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and union leaders, the crowd of workers chanted "Let us work" and "Shut down the shutdown." Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said the jobs of dedicated public servants should not be held hostage by tea party fanatics:

Two weeks ago a shooting took place not too far from here at the Navy Yard. Hundreds of brave federal police officers responded to stop the carnage and restore security. Today those dedicated officers are not being paid. That's outrageous.

Sanders noted the budget that Republican extremists refuse to pass is already a very conservative one. He said there's no reason for them to shut down the government over a budget that is more to the right-wing's liking than anyone else's.

As the crowd grew, furloughed federal employees talked about the uncertainty and hardship their families are facing during the shutdown. An aviation safety inspector said he can't do his job to make sure planes are safe to fly. And a worker from Good Jobs Nation who works at a McDonald's at the Smithsonian described how  the shutdown harms low-wage federal contract workers.

Workers at the rally said they should get back pay for the days they are furloughed. Some members of Congress have proposed legislation to do just that.

The pain from the shutdown is not just being felt by government employees. Speakers railed against right-wing lawmakers who put veterans' families and other vulnerable people at risk, just to score political points and to gut a law they don't like.

As for Republicans' proposal to reopen some parts of the government with piecemeal funding, workers at the rally said they want all of their coworkers to get back to work, not just some of them.

Rep. Ellison said locked out federal workers were prepared to come back and protest every day for as long as extremists in Congress keep holding the government hostage.

Oregon guv says he'll fight RTW4Less for government workers

Oregon's governor John Kitzhaber slammed a proposed ballot measure that would impose right-to-work-for-less on government workers during a Labor Day picnic.

Backers of the ballot measure want to crush Oregon unions. They say they don't but they're lying.

Jeff Mapes at The Oregonian reported:

Kitzhaber, speaking at a Labor Day picnic at Oaks Park sponsored by the Northwest Labor Council, denounced the initiative as an attempt to turn Oregon into a "so-called right-to-work state" that would weaken unions and leave workers less well-off... 

"A right-to-work state means you have a right to work for less without a voice in the workplace," Kitzhaber told the labor crowd. "A right-to-work state means you have a right to be exploited and ripped off and work at unsafe jobs and low wages and no benefits." 

The governor charged that anti-union forces are targeting Oregon "because this is where labor is strongest." He cited organized labor's role in passing the nation's second highest minimum wage law and noted that Oregon's largest union -- Service Employees International Union -- has been able to reverse the general trend in declining union membership by organizing home health care workers... 

...unions have already been girding for another fight over an initiative they believe is aimed at weakening the public employee unions, which are key backers of Democratic candidates in Oregon... 

He said right-to-work laws strike at the heart of unions that he said play a crucial role in building the middle class. "Without organized labor, we have very little chance to address the growth of income disparity," he said.

Police, firefighters now in Walker's union-busting sights

Wisconsin Job-killer Gov. Scott Walker now says he wants to destroy collective bargaining rights for police and firefighters.

If you're surprised by this, you haven't been paying attention.

Walker exempted police and firefighters in 2011 from his infamous Act 10 in 2011 -- the one that caused massive, month-long protests in the state Capitol. Act 10 was Walker's attempt to crush his political opponents -- unions representing teachers, snow plow drivers, solid waste workers and nurses -- by eviscerating their right to bargain collectively.

Wisconsin's police and firefighters are not stupid. They stood with their public-sector brothers and sisters during the protests.

Walker's plan was clear from the beginning. He was even caught on camera divulging his "divide and conquer" strategy to a billionaire, tax-avoiding donor in January 2011. Now he's putting it into play.

FOX News in Milwaukee reported the story:

 Police and fire unions were exempted from the reforms, but now, Gov. Scott Walker has suggested expanding Act 10 to include those unions. 

“I think now, for those areas, having seen that the world didn’t come to an end for other municipal employees, there might be a greater opening going forward because they’d say, ‘hey, you know, things worked out,’” Gov. Walker said Monday, July 29th... 

Gov. Walker says the reason for that was public safety. 

“If I had one jurisdiction where somebody walked off, or didn’t come to work or slowed down on things, and someone was injured or killed because of that — I said I can’t deal with that,” Gov. Walker said.

The obvious question is why he didn't do it earlier if safety was such a concern?

Maybe he was too busy killing jobs. The fact is things haven't "worked out" for other municipal employees, as Wisconsin's economy has been in the toilet since -- oh, just about the time Walker took office.

Today's Teamster News 04.28.13

Lawmakers Weigh How to Curb Mortgage Interest Tax Break Bloomberg News ...While pledging a “careful, thoughtful review,” House Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp asked witnesses at a hearing yesterday for ideas on how to transition to a new, still- unspecified system...

Loans Borrowed Against Pensions Squeeze Retirees New York Times ...In lean economic times, people with public pensions — military veterans, teachers, firefighters, police officers and others — are being courted particularly aggressively by pension-advance companies, which operate largely outside of state and federal banking regulations, but are now drawing scrutiny from Congress and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau...
Another mediocre GDP report: is this the new normal? Econbrowser ...Strong growth in consumption spending was offset by declines from the public sector, with lower defense spending subtracting 0.6% from the growth rate by itself, and declines in other categories of federal, state, and local spending subtracting an additional 0.2%...
Senate Finance Committee Holding Hearing On Trans Pacific Partnership WNAX ...The United States Senate Finance Committee is holding a hearing ... looking at the ongoing negotiations over the Trans Pacific Partnership...
Paul Begala: Government to the Rescue in Boston (opinion)  Newsweek   ...don’t denigrate government workers. Along with some heroic civilians, it was government workers who ran toward the blast zone. And they were unionized government workers...
Big clothing brands, retailers reject union safety plan as Bangladesh factory deaths mount Associated Press ...As Bangladesh reels from the deaths of hundreds of garment workers in a building collapse, the refusal of global retailers to pay for strict nationwide factory inspections is bringing renewed scrutiny to an industry that has profited from a country notorious for its hazardous workplaces and subsistence level wages...
The Corrections Corporation of America's Latest Shady Business? Tax Evasion Alternet ...To save millions in money they would have to pay to taxes, the CCA is now claiming to be a "Real Estate Investment Trust."...
Rising Costs Have Sandy Victims Contemplating Walking Away Ocean City Patch ...Elevate, pay thousands more in flood insurance premiums or simply walk away from homes? That is the question on the minds of some Hurricane Sandy victims...
West Virginia Republican Proposes Making Kids Work For Food  Huffington Post   ...A West Virginia lawmaker floated the idea during floor debate in the state's House of Delegates of having school children work as janitors...

Today's Teamster News 04.18.13

CEOs Earn 354 Times More Than Average Worker CNNMoney   ...Chief executives of the nation's largest companies earned an average of $12.3 million in total pay last year -- 354 times more than a typical American worker, according to the AFL-CIO...
Mortgage Relief Checks Go Out, Only to Bounce  New York Times   ...It is unclear how many of the 1.4 million homeowners who were mailed the first round of payments covered under the foreclosure settlement have had problems with their checks...
Europe faces threat of full-fledged depression  Market Watch   ...“Unemployment is at a record high, credit is going down, banks are failing…what do you call an economy like that?”...
Local unions offer $50,000 reward for tips  Boston Globe   ...A group of police and firefighter unions announced a $50,000 reward Tuesday for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for setting off two explosions at the Boston Marathon that took three lives and injured more than 170 people and have set up a fund for victims of the blast...
The Bank of America Lawsuits Continue  Associated Press   ...As soon as Bank of America puts one mortgage-related lawsuit behind it, another always seems to rear its head...
How Congress Undercuts the Postal Service (opinion)  The Sacramento Bee   ...The Postal Service gets no tax dollars, yet is constantly hammered as a money-wasting government agency. Every time it seeks to cut costs, Congress puts up roadblocks...
ALEC's best friend: The Indiana General Assembly  Journal Gazette   ...the American Legislative Exchange Council, the corporate-controlled group that writes model legislation, has an omnibus bill named in honor of the Indiana legislature's dubious achievement, "The Indiana Education Reform Package."...
Brownback Signs Bill That Requires Welfare, Unemployment Recipients to be Tested for Drugs  Kansas City Star   ...Calling drug addiction a “scourge in Kansas,” Gov. Sam Brownback signed into law Tuesday a bill to test welfare and unemployment recipients suspected of using illegal drugs...
Florida Republicans Target Foreign-Language Voting  The Miami Herald   ...Desiline Victor, the 102-year-old North Miami voter who became a symbol of Florida’s elections woes, could again find it tough to cast a ballot now that the state Senate voted Tuesday to keep a crackdown on foreign-language interpreters at the polls...
State Auditor General Finds $35 Million in Unpaid Corporate Taxes  The Daily Pennsylvanian   ...Pennsylvania Auditor General Eugene DePasquale said Tuesday that he found errors on more than 1,250 corporate tax returns, totaling a net gain of $35.4 million for the state...
Nevada Ups the Ante on Delaware's Tax Status  Deutsche Welle   ...The US state of Delaware is an incorporation mecca where registering a company is as easy as 1-2-3. It draws not just the top firms, but also many shady shell companies. That has caught the attention of Nevada...
Hoffa Visits Tulsa, Hears AA Mechanics’ Challenges and Hopes  IBT   ...Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa visited American Airlines mechanics and related workers in Tulsa last evening. Sitting in a room with a large group of mechanics, Hoffa heard from campaign leaders and learned about the specific problems mechanics and related are facing and their hope for strong Teamster representation at AA...
Workers At UPS Supply Chain Solutions Vote To Join Teamsters Local 769  IBT   ...On April 16, employees at a UPS Supply Chain Solutions facility in Doral, Fla., voted to join Teamsters Local 769 in Miami...
Second Day of Garbage Strike in Northeast Ohio: Some Get Trash Collected on Time, Others See Delays  The Plain Dealer   ...Trash collection went as usual for some communities Tuesday, but others saw delays in the second day of the Teamsters strike against a private hauler serving many Northeast Ohio suburbs...
Pickets Target Gates-Owned Garbage Company  Puget Sound Business Journal   ...Allied Waste/Republic Services garbage truck drivers are picketing Wednesday in Seattle, Lynnwood, and Kent/SeaTac, protesting and supporting striking workers in Ohio...
Allied Waste/Republic Pickets Spread to Three Puget Sound Locations, Sanitation Workers Honor Lines  IBT   ...Garbage, recycle, and yard waste drivers, employed by Allied Waste/Republic Services, honored picket lines early this morning that were established by striking Local 377 Teamsters from Youngstown, Ohio. Picket lines were set up at the company’s facilities in Seattle, Lynnwood, and Kent/SeaTac...
Republic Services Garbage Workers Strike in McDonough  Atlanta Journal-Constitution   ...Forty drivers, helpers and mechanics at Republic Services, a waste management company, began a strike in McDonough on Monday, citing what they call unfair labor practices. Efforts to reach Republic for comment were unsuccessful...
Durham Bus Drivers: 'Make Durham Be Accountable'  ABC News   ...Nearly 75 Bus drivers with Durham School Services filed into a conference room at the North Charleston Coliseum to say enough is enough...
Teamsters Local 77 Member Helps Deliver Baby  Fox Philly News   ...With so much sadness in Boston, we wanted to bring you some joy, and tell you about the birth of a beautiful baby girl. She arrived not at a hospital, but right outside a toll booth along the Pennsylvania Turnpike...
"City Hall Don't Frieze Out New Yorkers" Elected Officials And Labor Leaders Call Upon City Hall To Change Parks Permitting Because Of Rogue Art Show  IBT   ...Leaders of the City’s top labor organizations stood with members of the City Council to confront the organizers of the Frieze New York Art Show on their lack of support for union workers and their families...

Today's Teamster News 11.04.12

Payroll Growth Shows U.S. Labor Market Healing Before Election  Bloomberg   ...The broad-based job gains -- from positions at car dealers and hospitals to factories and construction sites -- indicate consumers will likely spend more freely, shoring up the three- year expansion in the face of a global economic slowdown and political gridlock in Washington over taxes and spending...
Storm Sandy: Frustration at NY's slow pace of recovery  BBC News   ...Nearly a million people in New York state remain without power after Storm Sandy, as frustration grows over the slow pace of recovery. Power returned to large parts of Manhattan on Saturday, but on Staten Island people were still struggling without electricity and with a huge shortage of fuel...
One Safety Net That Needs to Shrink  New York Times   ...Election Day is upon us, and neither President Obama nor Mitt Romney has really addressed one of the nation’s most pressing economic issues: the risk that one day taxpayers might have to bail out swashbuckling financial institutions again...
FEMA has 9,106 disaster assistance employees. Only 770 get federal health insurance.  Washington Post   ...disaster assistance employees “generally do not have access to employer-provided health insurance and must carry their own private insurance...”
Mexican Cartels Enslave Engineers to Build Radio Network  Wired   ...The Mexican military is trying to dismantle an extensive network of radio antennas built and operated by the notorious Zeta drug cartel...the cartel has also apparently found some unwilling — and alarming — assistance by kidnapping and enslaving technicians to help build it...
Ohio provisional ballot voting order criticized  Associated Press   ...Voter advocates on Saturday criticized an order by Ohio's elections chief dealing with the casting of provisional ballots, saying it increases the likelihood that votes could be wrongly rejected...

Today's Teamster News 11.01.12

Consumer Spending Increased 0.8%, Real Personal Income Minus Government Payments Decreased -0.1% for September 2012  Economic Populist   ...Americans spent more than they earned...
Greek death spiral raises heat for German-bloc creditors  The Telegraph   ...Greece’s debt-load is rising much faster than expected as the country spirals into a sixth year of depression, ratcheting up the pressure on Germany and Europe’s creditor states to accept debt-forgiveness for the first time...
Mitt Romney Refuses To Talk About FEMA After Hurricane Sandy Event  Huffington Post   ...Mitt Romney refused to answer reporters' questions about how he would handle the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), after a Tuesday "storm relief" event in Ohio for Hurricane Sandy...
Teamsters, Allied Waste remain at an impasse  Youngstown Vindicator   ...Contract negotiations between Teamsters Local 377 in Youngs-town and Republic Services/ Allied Waste have reached an impasse as the contract ended at 12:01 a.m. today, but both sides plan to continue working toward a deal and no disruption of service is expected...
Allendale and Teamsters agree on new contract  NorthJersey.com   ...At the Oct. 11 Mayor and Council meeting a memorandum of understanding between the borough and the 14 members of the Teamsters union was approved...
A Christmas break for commissioners and added vacation for Teamsters  Alexandria Echo Press   ...Norm Salto, Jerry Johnson and Bev Bales felt that since the workers were required to put in more time for special projects, they should be allowed to keep the vacation time accrued despite the “use it or lose it” stipulation in their contract...
Crosby police union files lawsuit  Brainerd Dispatch   ...Teamsters Local 346, the union representative of Crosby Police Department sergeants and patrol officers, filed a lawsuit in Crow Wing County District Court against the city of Crosby and Police Chief Kim Coughlin. The Teamsters Local 346 reported it is asking the court to stop what the union says are “rampant abuses of employees’ rights” by Coughlin...
Teamsters Canada ups strike pay to a maximum of $300 a week; highest in Canada  Canadian Business   ...The Teamsters says that while strike benefits vary depending on the member's employment status, most Canadian workers represented by the union will benefit from the increase...
Hospital workers approve contract proposal  Herald Standard   ...Teamsters union Local 491 is asking to meet with Uniontown Hospital negotiators to present a proposed contract aimed at ending talks that have been on-again, off-again for the past 15 months...

Today's Teamster News 10.11.12

Workers Threaten To 'Take Action' On Retailer's Busiest Day [UPDATE]  Huffington Post   ...Employees at 28 Walmarts in 12 different cities walked out of work Tuesday, but things may get a whole lot worse for the biggest retailer in the U.S. come Black Friday...
Judges say South Carolina law doesn’t discriminate, but must wait until 2013 to take effect  Associated Press   ...A three-judge panel has upheld South Carolina’s law requiring voters to show photo identification but has delayed enforcement until next year — adding to the list of states that have had to postpone or drop strict ID or voting laws they wanted in place for the Nov. 6 elections...
Former Walker aide takes plea deal in politicking case  Associated Press   ...One of Republican Gov. Scott Walker's former top aides has agreed to plead to one felony misconduct charge in a deal with Milwaukee County prosecutors that would keep the governor off the witness stand...
Unions looking for boost in Michigan  Journal Gazette   ...Organized labor in Michigan seems to have taken a look at its neighbors and decided a pre-emptive strike on union-busting is in order. A referendum on Michigan ballots next month – Proposal 2 – would write collective bargaining rights into the state constitution and invalidate all laws restricting those rights.
Live From Battleground Ohio: One Door at a Time  In These Times   ... The plan is to have the parking lot shipshape for Thursday evening’s rally, which will feature Teamster President Jim Hoffa and AFSCME President Lee Saunders...
Arkansas Best, Teamsters agree on contract talks  City Wire   ...The dealing is set to begin Dec. 18 on a contract that will expire March 31, according to a statement issued Wednesday (Oct. 10) by Fort Smith-based Arkansas Best...
Union makes 'last best offer' to South Berwick  Seacoastonline   ...The Town Council next week will discuss the "last best offer" of the Teamsters union for two new contracts for the town's professional and public works employees...

Today's Teamster News 07.12.12

Tax Rates Hit 30-Year Low in 2009  Slate   ...Americans paid the lowest federal tax rate in three decades during President Obama’s first year in office, according to a new government report out this week...
U.S. home foreclosure filings rise  Raw Story   ...During the April-June period, 311,010 properties started the foreclosure process, a 9 percent increase from the previous quarter, said RealtyTrac, a publisher of foreclosure data...
Trade Deficit for May 2012 - $48.7 Billion  Economic Populist   ...From January to May 2012 we have a -$6.12 billion trade deficit with Korea, a $1.3 billion increase from a year ago. March 15th the South Korean NAFTA style trade deal went into effect...
REPORT: Scott Walker, Right-Wing “Think Tanks” creating another crisis – Public Employee Pensions  Badger Democracy   ...Despite these two independent reports reaching the same conclusion; right-wing think tanks and corporate conservatives like Scott Walker are colluding to create a “crisis” of unfunded liability and debt. This crisis will be used (much like Walker’s $3.6 Billion deficit lie) to push reform of a successful program which needs no reform, is fully funded, and working...
Teamsters, IATSE up reality efforts  Variety   ...The two below-the-line unions repping most film and TV industry crews -- the Intl. Brotherhood of Teamsters and the Intl. Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees -- are ramping up their joint organizing efforts in the reality TV arena...
City, Teamsters to resume contract talks  Upper Arlington News   ...Council voted 7-0 to reject the findings of Tobie Braverman, a third-party fact-finder contracted by the Ohio State Employment Relations Board, pertaining to contract negotiations with the union, which represents 13 street workers and seven utility workers in the city's public service division...
Teamsters to candidates: Pay raise overdue  The Topeka Capital-Journal   ...The apparent common thread among Teamsters Local 696 union members Wednesday evening during a candidate forum was their desire for a salary hike...
Anheuser-Busch hearing with Teamsters begins  The Press-Enterprise   ...Attorneys for brewery giant Anheuser-Busch and an Inland Southern California-based Teamsters local squared of in Superior Court Wednesday, the first round of a suit concerning striking union members’ behavior on the picket line...

Today's Teamster News 07.08.12

Con Ed Lockout Heads Into Second Week  Hastings Daily Voice   ...John Melia, spokesman for the Local 1-2 Utility Workers Union, which represents about 8,500 employees, said management was trying to bust the union by refusing to bargain in good faith...
Attack of the Central Banks Points to Impending Recession  Economic Populist   ... for the United States, our problem is the trade deficit, it has been negatively impacting U.S. economic growth for over 30 years. That said, so much production has been offshore outsourced to China, raw materials and intermediate components for finished products and other interdependencies could negatively impact the U.S...
Experts think reshoring is not yet a trend  manufacture this   ...for every company that brings jobs back to the United States, there’s a company shipping its jobs away. It’s this insight, coupled with the fact that some American companies are pulling jobs out of China only to send them to other foreign countries that leads people like Professor Leunig to make predictions like the one above....
Debt crisis: Spain poised for further spending cuts  The Telegraph   ...Spain steels itself for further austerity as Greece seeks more time on cuts...
High trucking costs reviving short-line rail industry  Delaware online   ...A railroad company is renovating rusty, overgrown tracks to get at millions of tons of waste rock at an abandoned iron and titanium mine near the source of New York’s Hudson River and the highest peaks of the Adirondacks, part of a widespread resurgence of short line and regional freight lines...
Readers weigh in on debate over public unions (opinion)  Duluth News Tribune   ...Minnesotans and citizens of other states who face similar, fanatically and politically motivated purges of their public unions should understand what they really are — an eventual blow against all unions, which are all workers’ last bastion against the unrestrained and under-regulated wielding of massive corporate power....

Today's Teamster News 07.06.12

Mitt Romney sets GOP fundraising record  Politico   ...The Romney campaign, along with its Romney Victory fund and the Republican National Committee, raised more than $100 million in June, obliterating the campaign's goal and setting the one-month record for any Republican campaign, according to a GOP official...
Dollar bills rain down on Seattle streets  The Seattle Times   ...Activists threw $5,000 in bills off a downtown Seattle building Wednesday in a "money-drop" protest of money's influence in politics...
10 States Where Wages Are Falling  Huffington Post   ... the average weekly wage of the American worker dropped to $955 at the end of the year...
At Movies and Beaches, Soda Industry Makes Its Case  New York Times   ... an airborne banner carried above the city’sbeaches delivered a succinct message that those carefree days could be coming to an end: “NO DRINK 4 U.” The text-friendly banner, dragged by a tiny prop plane, came courtesy of New Yorkers for Beverage Choices, a group created by the American soft-drink industry to fight Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s proposal to restrict sales of large sodas in New York City...
‘Significant issues raised’  The Press Enterprise   ...Riverside County Superior Court Commissioner Paulette Durand Barkley on Thursday said significant issues have been raised against the striking Teamsters Local 166 over its picket activity at Anheuser-Busch Sales in Riverside...
Union, Chief Dolan trade major blows over new police evaluation system  News-Observer.com   ...Teamsters Local 391 doesn’t want to count activities to determine performance and doesn’t feel like it can count on its chief...

Today's Teamster News 06.28.12

Single Payer Fight to Intensify in States if Court Strikes Down Health Care Law  firedoglake   ... if the Supreme Court strikes down the Affordable Care Act, is that this will afford an opportunity to return to the public with a full-throated call for “Medicare for All,” a single-payer system that would use taxes to fund health coverage for all of the country’s citizens, as is done throughout the world. This would reduce administrative costs and create added bargaining power to lower costs throughout the system...
JPMorgan Trading Loss May Reach $9 Billion  DealBook   ...the sharply higher loss totals will feed a debate over how strictly large financial institutions should be regulated and whether some of the behemoth banks are capitalizing on their status as too big to fail to make risky trades....
Uninsured and fighting blazes: Welcome to the life of a federal firefighter  Wonkblog   ...many federal firefighters are temporary employees, who only work six months out of the year (although as Lauer describes it, they can often work a full year’s worth of hours with the long shifts). Under federal regulations, temporary employees of the Forest Service do not receive benefits. That means no health care and no retirement pension...
Atwater hopes to reform flawed contracting process by exposing it to sunlight  Miami Herald   ...Florida will spend $47 billion this year hiring outsiders to provide goods and services for the state but hundreds of the contractors will not be required to show they provided services they agreed to and their documentation will be rife with errors...
Stockton, California’s Bankruptcy Makes 'Normal' Cities Nervous  Governing   ...Unlike many high-profile bankruptcies, Stockton’s financial woes are the result of many different factors that are not unusual for many localities....
Bill aims to prevent loss of auto jobs  Detroit News   ...nternational Brotherhood of Teamsters President James Hoffa — on a conference call with Brown and a Ford Motor Co. trade executive — said the administration should be careful about new trade agreements...

Today's Teamster News 06.13.12

While the Headlines Blare Americans Lose 40% of Their Wealth, Income Decline is the Real Horror Story  Economic Populist   ...Median income dropped 7.7% in the three year time period from 2007-2010. That's before taxes and adjusted to removed the effects of inflation. The mean, or average drop in real income was even worse, 11.1%...
Sherrod Brown: Government does create jobs, and we Democrats need to say so  Washington Post   ... let’s face it: When it comes to whether we are actually going to do anything to create jobs, we’re stuck in a holding pattern — even as the jobs numbers continue to show the recovery is sputtering...
Johnson & Johnson becomes first N.J. company to part ways with ALEC  NJ.com   ...More than a dozen other companies including Coca-Cola, Kraft, Pepsi and Wal-Mart Stores have also ended their memberships during the last few months...
One Wisconsin Now: Gov. Walker’s recall Golden Rule: He who has the gold, rules  WisPoliticsNow   ...he raised $7.3 million from wealthy, mega-donors exceeding the normal $10,000 aggregate contribution limit. The amount raked in by Gov. Walker from just 167 wealthy individuals, is nearly twice as much as the total of all contributions to his recall election opponent...
Teamsters to Focus on Wages in Early Talks With UPS  Journal of Commerce   ...An early start to negotiations with UPS will allow the Teamsters union to focus on discussions over job security, wages, health care and pensions in January, the union said...
Teamsters protest 32 layoffs at Inquirer building  Philly.com   ...Members of Teamsters Local 628 rallied outside the offices of The Inquirer, the Daily News and Philly.com Tuesday protesting the layoffs of 20 building-services employees and 12 security guards as of July 1...

Today's Teamster News 03.28.12

Justices signal deep trouble for health care law  Associated Press   ...The fate of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul was cast into deeper jeopardy Tuesday as the Supreme Court's conservative justices sharply and repeatedly questioned its core requirement that virtually every American carry insurance...
Red States See Massive Public Sector Job Losses  The Nation   ...Republicans seized control of both branches of the legislature in 11 states after the 2010 elections. It’s in these very states that public sector layoffs are disproportionately concentrated, leading to one of the biggest rounds of job losses for the public workforce since record keeping began...
Home Prices in U.S. Cities Fell at Slower Pace in January  Bloomberg   ...Prices were little changed in January from the prior month, the best performance since July... 
A national sex strike! Spain's 'high-class hookers refuse to sleep with bankers until they open up credit lines to cash-strapped families'  Daily Mail   ...Sneaky bankers were trying to circumvent the protest by claiming to be architects or engineers, the sex-workers said...
When privatisation doesn't work (opinion)  The Guardian   ...What politicians typically mean when they speak of greater efficiency is lower costs, typically achieved by employing cheap, non-unionised labour. This is the real reason so many public services are outsourced...
Teamsters challenge Florida probation change  Associated Press   ...The Teamsters union is challenging a decision to suspend visits by Florida probation officers to the homes of released convicts...

Today's Teamster News 12.04.11

Conservative group sues to ban public employees from the Legislature  Las Vegas Sun   ...A conservative think tank filed a lawsuit today with the ultimate goal of preventing public employees from serving in the Nevada Legislature...
Mo. jobs chief defends review of sweetener maker  Associated Press   ...Missouri's economic development chief defended the state's review of a Chinese firm that failed to follow through on a pledge to open an artificial sweetener factory in rural Missouri but insisted Wednesday that it would have been a waste of taxpayer money to more thoroughly screen the company...
Why Did the Unemployment Rate Drop When Only 120,000 Jobs Were Added?  The Economic Populist   ...it's all a ratio and there is a large segment of the working population that is classified as not in the labor force. Bottom line, we're still in a jobs crisis, no doubt about it...
Foreclosure battle: A new hope  Salon   ...As Occupy gears up for a foreclosure campaign, state attorneys general show backbone in tussle over bank fraud...
China Rejects U.S. Ruling on Solar Imports  Bloomberg   ...China said a preliminary ruling by a U.S. trade panel that imports of Chinese solar panels are harming the domestic industry shows the country’s “inclination to trade protectionism...”
D.E.A. Launders Mexican Profits of Drug Cartels  New York Times   ...The high-risk activities raise delicate questions about the agency’s effectiveness in bringing down drug kingpins, underscore diplomatic concerns about Mexican sovereignty, and blur the line between surveillance and facilitating crime. As it launders drug money, the agency often allows cartels to continue their operations over months or even years before making seizures or arrests...

Today's Teamster News 10.18.11

Budget cuts claim hundreds of thousands of county, city jobs  USA Today   ...Local governments, once a steady source of employment in tough economic times, are shedding jobs in unprecedented numbers, and heavy payroll losses are expected to persist into next year...
Lincoln Center, Sotheby's Targeted in Tuesday Marches  NBC News   ...The events at Sotheby's and at Lincoln Center were already planned before the Occupy Wall Street protests, but organizers say the Wall Street protesters will help infuse new energy...
New Yorkers Back Wall St. Protesters 3 - 1, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Stay As Long As You Want, Even Republicans Say  Quinnipiac University   ...By a 67 - 23 percent margin, New York City voters agree with the views of the Wall Street protesters and say 87 - 10 percent that it is "okay that they are protesting,"...
Occupy Wall Street To NYC: Drop The Charges Against 800 Protesters Or We Will March To Court For Every Trial  Business Insider   ...There's been around 800 Occupy Wall Street protestors arrested since the movement began, and all of them are ready to head to court...
Northside grandma in SB 5 ad wants apology  Cincinnati Enquirer   ...Marlene Quinn is waiting for an apology she doesn’t expect to get. She wants it from Building A Better Ohio. But she wants people to know she has already voted against Issue 2...
Chafee Joins Christie as Rhode Island Seeks to Cut Pension Costs  Bloomberg   ...Chafee, 58, elected in November after he lost a U.S. Senate seat in 2006, wants to overhaul the state’s $7.4 billion pension because it has only about half the assets needed over the coming decades, according to state data...