Today's Teamster News 01.06.15

Teamsters
Trade issues are focus of Wyden town hall in Salem  Statesman Journal   ...Local union leaders and others asked Oregon's senior senator to oppose "fast-track" authority for the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, a proposed free trade treaty with 12 Pacific-rim countries. "I want to know why he feels this is a good idea," Chris Muhs, secretary of Teamsters Local 324, said while holding a sign reading "Fast Track: Wrong Track."...
Trade
Senator Wyden Ends Portland Town Hall After Protesters Take Over  Oregon Public Radio   ...Protesters with the group Don’t Shoot Portland forced Oregon Senator Ron Wyden to cancel a town hall meeting on Saturday after the first 30 minutes. About 200 people had gathered in an auditorium at the Southeast Portland campus of Portland Community College to speak with the senator, who is holding six town halls across Western Oregon this weekend. Many in the audience held signs opposing the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade agreement the U.S. is negotiating with 11 countries in Asia...
Bernie Sanders' Brutal Letter On Obama's Trade Pact Foreshadows 2016 Democratic Clash  Huffington Post   ...Progressive unrest over free trade policies is shaping up to be a major issue in the contest for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, if a strongly worded letter from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) to the top Obama administration trade official is any sign...
The Growth Projections for the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Pact Are a Joke  Center for Economic and Policy Research   ... The deal is likely to strengthen patent and copyright protections, leading to higher prices for drugs, software, and other products, all of which will be a drain on consumers and a drag on growth...
State Battles
Delegate Tim Armstead about to make history  Charleston Gazette   ...[Incoming West Virginia House Speaker Tim] Armstead offered no firm commitments but said a number of longtime Republican proposals would be in play. Making West Virginia a “right to work” state, where employees cannot be required to pay union dues? “That’s certainly being discussed,” Armstead said. A law requiring voters to show some sort of ID at the polls? “That’s another area,” Armstead said. “We don’t want to make it harder to vote, at the same time we want to make sure that each person’s vote counts.”...
Unions see right-to-work bill as political attack  Albuquerque Journal   ... labor views so-called right-to-work legislation in New Mexico as a political attack from the right, saying the bill would curtail its ability to raise and spend money to influence public policy...
Right-to-work legislation draws buzz, not necessarily votes  Milwaukee Journal Sentinel   ...The leader of the state Senate has called for a quick debate on so-called right-to-work legislation, but it's unclear whether there are enough Republican votes to pass it...
Scott Walker, Starting Second Term as Wisconsin Governor, Resists New Union Battle  New York Times   ...Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, who rose to national prominence in the Republican Party by cutting the collective bargaining rights of most public sector unions, strongly indicated in the final days of his re-election campaign that he had no plans to expand the battle with labor unions that defined his first term...
War on Workers
Even with Recent Low Inflation, Real Wages Continue to Stagnate  Economic Policy Institute   ... real wage growth has been about zero on average for the last five years, and there is no sign of acceleration...
The Real Winners Of The Recovery: The Superrich  firedoglake   ...new research shows that the top .1% has broken away from their uber-wealthy peers and amassed more than 22% of the wealth . In other words, the top one-thousandth of the country controls one-fifth of the wealth...
Railroads seek one-person crews for freight trains  Associated Press   ..."These trains are 7,000 tons going 50 mph. You have to have two people," said J.P. Wright, an engineer for CSX railroad in Louisville, Ky. "It's mind-boggling to me that the railroads would go this far with it."...
CEO Who Said He’d Probably Have To Fire Employees If Obama Won Is Now Giving Them Raises  ThinkProgress   ...Siegel informed Westgate employees that instead of layoffs, he would boost their minimum wage to $10 per hour beginning in 2015...
Nobel Laureate Stiglitz Blocked From SEC Panel After Faulting High-Speed Traders  Bloomberg   ...Joseph Stiglitz, the Nobel laureate economist who called for a tax on high-frequency trading, has been blocked from a government panel that will advise regulators on issues facing U.S. equity markets, according to people familiar with the matter. Stiglitz’s rejection shows the partisan infighting that has bogged down Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Mary Jo White’s plan to set up a panel of experts to advise the agency on topics ranging from rapid-fire stock trading to dark pools...
The protesters who are trying to upend the ‘fantasy world’ of economics  Washington Post   ...Harrington now runs a campaign called Kick it Over, which aims to combat what it describes as “the fantasy world of neoclassical economics — a faith-based religion of perfect markets, enlightened consumers and infinite growth that shapes the fates of billions.”...
Let the Fed Lend Directly to Cities and States to Save Taxpayers Billions (opinion)  Next New Deal   ...The Federal Reserve should be allowed to make long-term loans directly to cities, states, school districts, and other public agencies so taxpayers can get low interest rates and avoid predatory Wall Street fees...
Miscellaneous
After two-year delay, construction on California's bullet train is set to start  Los Angeles Times   ...California's bullet-train agency will officially start construction in Fresno this week on the first 29-mile segment of the system, a symbol of the significant progress the $68-billion project has made against persistent political and legal opposition...
Global stocks fall for second day amid oil, Greece worries  Associated Press   ...Global stocks sank Tuesday for a second day as slumping oil prices and concern Greece might leave the European currency union fueled unease about the global growth outlook...

Today's Teamster News 11.08.14

Teamster News
Teamsters Applaud U.S. Appeals Court Decision Reinstating Misclassified Port Truck Drivers  teamster.org   ...In a landmark victory for misclassified “independent contractors” across America, two previously fired port truck drivers have returned to work today as employees of Green Fleet Systems (GFS) in Long Beach, Calif. Earlier misclassified as independent contractors by GFS...
Waste Workers In Houston Vote To Join Teamsters Local 988  teamster.org   ...Workers at WCA Waste Corporation in Houston, who are seeking fair wages, job security and safer working conditions, voted today to join Teamsters Local 988. The vote was 90 to 28...
Trade
Thousands rally against trade agreement  TVNZ   ...There's been an outcry against secretive trade talks, with thousands joining rallies around [New Zealand]. The target of the protesters' anger in 17 towns and cities is the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement...
What the 2014 Election Results Mean for Trade Policy  Public Citizen   ...The GOP takeover of the U.S. Senate probably reduces the chances that President Barack Obama gets Fast Track at all before his presidency is over or that a deal is completed on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)...
State Battles
One Community Beat Big Money On Election Day. Here's How They Did It.  Huffington Post   ...Voters in Florida's capital city overwhelmingly approved an extraordinary ethics and campaign finance reform ballot initiative that fights money in politics corruption, reclaims local government for the people, and provides a path to victory for national reform efforts...
Kansas Governor’s Grand Tax Cut Experiment Is Gutting His State’s Services  Think Progress   ...Kansas brought in $23 million less in tax revenue in October than the state had predicted, continuing a pattern of serious shortfalls that began when Gov. Sam Brownback’s (R) massive tax cuts went into effect in 2012...
Wingnut Voter ID Group Fails Again: “Voter Integrity” Outfit Unable To Find Midterm Fraud  Salon.com   ...Despite army of monitors, Catherine Engelbrecht's discredited organization uncovers 0 polling place impersonations...
Former Mississippi Prisons Head Charged With Getting Kickbacks, Bribes On Prison Contracts  Slate   ...A 49-count federal indictment unsealed on Thursday charges the head of prisons in Mississippi, Christopher Epps, with orchestrating a massive corruption scheme where he pocketed hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from private prison companies in return for contracts to work in the Mississippi prison system...
War on Workers
U.S. labor market tightens, but wages still anemic  Reuters   ...Average hourly earnings rose only three cents last month, leaving the year-on-year increase at 2.0 percent, the level it has been around for the last few years. The muted wage growth partly reflects the types of jobs being created. In October, about a fifth of the new jobs were in the food services sector...
The hidden truth about job growth, lost amidst the statistical noise & optimists’ hopes  Fabius Maximus   ...The key thing to know about the latest job report is the same thing to know about all 2014’s job reports: there has been no change to the trend. No sign of the acceleration so confidently forecast by so many. This confirms the other economic indicators, amidst the slowing world economy...
Whole Foods Employees Ask For a Union  Gawker   ... There is now an official movement on to unionize at least one Whole Foods store on 4th street in San Francisco. A press release that went out yesterday says that 20 workers held a rally and "initiated a temporary work stoppage to deliver a petition to Whole Foods management demanding a $5 an hour wage increase for all employees and no retaliation against workers for organizing a union."...
Facebook Conducted ‘Psychological Experiment’ On Users To Manipulate US Election Turnout  Addicting Info   ...The company admits that it deliberately suppressed personal posts from people on your friend’s list, while promoting other posts, in an experiment designed to exploit users emotional response in relation to the 2012 election...
Lawsuit: Chicago Futures Market Creates “Guaranteed Winners and Guaranteed Losers”  Wall Street on Parade   ...Last week three futures traders told a Federal court in Chicago that it’s not just the high frequency trading firms that are reaping a windfall but the exchanges who are engaged in a conspiracy with them to create “guaranteed winners and guaranteed losers.”...
Citizens United Boss: Supreme Court Ruling Handed Midterm Elections To Republicans  Raw Story   ...“Citizens United, our Supreme Court case, leveled the playing field, and we’re very proud of the impact that had in last night’s election,” said David Bossie, chairman of the conservative advocacy organization...
Explosive Oil Transported Through Indiana Counties Without Notice  WISH   ...For months, trains hauling millions of gallons of highly flammable crude oil passed through at least 12 Indiana counties with no advanced warning to firefighters, hazardous materials directors or local emergency managers, an I-Team 8 investigation has found...
More Employers Are Hiring But They Aren’t Raising Pay  FiveThirtyEight   ...7 in 10 Americans said in exit polls that the economy is in bad shape, and only 28 percent said their financial situation had improved in the past two years. Dissatisfaction with the state of the economy was widely cited as a principal reason for Republicans’ big gains...
Maintenance Worker Dead After Being Trapped In Machine At Fairfield Bowling Alley  WCPO   ...A maintenance worker at a Butler County bowling alley died Thursday afternoon after getting caught in a machine he was trying to repair...
Miscellaeous
Nation's first soda tax is passed  USA Today   ...Berkeley, Calif., became the first U.S. city to pass a law taxing sugary drinks including sodas...
Mexico scraps high-speed rail project won by China over corruption worries  McClatchy   ...Perceptions that Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto rewarded friends with a share of a $4.3 billion high-speed rail contract won by a Chinese-led consortium led this week to a stunning decision by Mexico to scrap the deal and start over with new bidding...

Today's Teamster News 09.29.14

Trade
TPP deadline moves again  Radio New Zealand   ...Another self-imposed deadline to agree a Pacific-wide trade deal appears to be crumbling...
Study Confirms: Offshoring Sucks  Economic Populist   ...ever since Bill Clinton granted permanent normal trade relations to the China, the U.S has lost over 64,000 manufacturing firms and at least 5.8 million manufacturing jobs...
CAFTA and the Forced Migration Crisis  Public Citizen   ... The deal appears to have actually contributed to the economic instability feeding the region’s increase in violence and forced migration...
State Battles
Jerry Brown signs subcontractor bill  The Sacramento Bee   ...In a major victory for California labor unions, Gov. Jerry Brown announced Sunday that he has signed legislation that will hold businesses liable when subcontractors violate wage, workplace safety or workers’ compensation rules...
LA Hotel Workers Win $15.37 Minimum Wage: a New Day for Labor in the United States?  Economic Policy Institute   ...The LA County AFL-CIO, UNITE HERE Local 11 (the LA area union of hospitality workers), and the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, which led the campaign, don’t intend to rest on their laurels and will push for an across-the-board minimum wage increase to $13.25 an hour, far above the national minimum wage of $7.25 an hour...
Thank Goodness Wisconsin Turned Down High Speed Rail!  Econbrowser   ...We find that sales and measured productivity rose substantially for firms near the new (high speed rail) stations after the opening...
Under Scott Walker, Wisconsin slows updates of building and safety codes  The Cap Times   ...DuPont, a lobbyist representing the Alliance for Regulatory Coordination, a consortium of more than a dozen state industry and public safety groups, warned Ross that failure to do so “can negatively impact both public safety and the economy in Wisconsin because products and designs offered across the nation most often reflect the newest national model regulations...”
War on Workers
Watchdog presses SEC for CEO pay disclosure  The Hill   ...The Americans for Financial Reform (AFR) slammed the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Friday for dragging its feet on the CEO pay disclosure rule amid pressure from business groups to scrap it...
Hong Kong Protesters Defy Officials’ Call to Disperse  New York Times   ...The continued public resistance underscored the difficulties that the Hong Kong government faces in defusing widespread anger that erupted on Sunday, after the police used tear gas, pepper spray and batons to break up a three-day sit-in by students and other residents demanding democratic elections in the semiautonomous Chinese territory...
Court to Weigh Political-Contribution Ban for Government Contractors  Wall Street Journal   ...A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday will consider a fresh challenge to campaign-finance rules, this time a 74-year-old law prohibiting government contractors from making political contributions tied to federal elections...
'Why They Hate Us': A Rant Against U.S. Before Attack on Chicago Air Traffic Hub  Bloomberg   ...The man charged with setting fire to a Chicago-area air-traffic facility, paralyzing travel through the city’s two major airports, was consumed by the U.S. government’s “immoral and unethical acts,” according to a Facebook message under his name. The posting, which includes references to being under the influence of drugs, calls government workers “lazy and useless” and said the government “would rather take care of itself and the money in the world, definitely not its people.”...
Construction worker killed in Rockdale County wreck  Atlanta Journal-Constitution   ...A construction worker died Saturday night in Rockdale County after being trapped underneath a dump truck...

Scott Walker kills another 4,300 jobs

Wisconsin lost 4,300 private-sector jobs last month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced today. The timing is unfortunate for Gov. Scott Walker, who campaigned on a promise to create 250,000 jobs in Wisconsin. Now he's running for re-election and his promise is coming back to haunt him. 

He has only himself to blame. One of his first acts as governor was to cancel a high-speed rail project. The Cap Times reported in June the move cost several hundred manufacturing jobs in one of Milwaukee's poorest neighborhoods and 4,000 construction jobs:

It didn't get a lot of press — two Milwaukee bloggers noted it — but Talgo, the Spain- and U.S.-based train manufacturer, closed its factory on Milwaukee's north side last week and moved the last of its train sets out of town. They will probably be sold to Michigan. 

The irony is that here was a manufacturing company that was enticed to Wisconsin thanks to a bundle of federal dollars but was chased away by a new governor who professed his main interest was creating jobs and making Wisconsin friendly to business. Yes, go figure. 

Instead, he kissed goodbye several hundred jobs that would have been created in one of Milwaukee's poorer neighborhoods and gave the federal government back $810 million that was to pay for expanding passenger rail service from Milwaukee to Madison and create roughly 4,000 construction jobs to boot. 

It is not only one of the biggest financial blunders in the state's history, but ranks high for its utter cluelessness. And its says volumes about the governor's judgment.
Talgo is now suing the state for $65 million for the state's reneging on its Talgo contract, and Wisconsin has to foot the bill for a multimillion-dollar maintenance facility and handicap accessibility upgrade at the Milwaukee station, all of which would have been covered by the $810 million federal grant.

The train sets originally destined for a Madison-Milwaukee run will now run between Chicago and Detroit, it was just announced.

Today's Teamster News 09.14.14

Trade
Vietnam Rights Still Obstacle to TPP Membership  Voice of America   ...Vietnam is still facing challenges in its bid to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), despite optimism following 10 days of multi-national trade talks in Hanoi...
Chinese firms closing gap on US tech giants like Google  South China Morning Post   ...No Chinese company has wide international brand recognition, but e-commerce giant Alibaba may change that. Its initial public offering in New York on Friday, tipped to be the largest ever in the United States, has understandably gained global attention. If, as expected, US$21 billion is raised, the previous record flotation by Facebook and Visa will have been bested and its valuation could be almost as much as Amazon's. The listing will be a watershed moment for China's technology firms...
State Battles
Who’s Wrecking Michigan’s Public Education?  Democracy Tree   ...Judging by their actions, Republican lawmakers must think that the problem is too much money spent on education, given their unrelenting efforts to divert resources away from the School Aid Fund...
Ohio Has Lost 4,648 State Union Jobs Since John Kasich Took Office  Plunderbund   ...Some of these losses came when the Kasich administration privatized Ohio’s prison food service.  Kasich pitched the idea as a way to save the state money, but the contract with Aramark to provide meals to Ohio’s inmates has ended up causing nothing but problems as the company’s low-paid, poorly-trained workers have failed to show up for work, been caught having sex with the inmates and, again and again, can’t keep maggots out of the food...  
“Job Destruction” Rising Under Kasich, Top Economic Analyst Finds   Plunderbund   ...“July was the 21st consecutive month when Ohio’s job growth was below the USA national average,” Zeller, who resides in Cleveland, told ONB. “Ohio’s year over year job growth rate for July was 1.00%. The USA job growth for July was 1.92%. This was not just a one month fluke for July. It is a continual problem that has been ongoing for 21 straight months...
War on Workers
FedEx worker dies after being pinned by his delivery vehicle  Kansas City Star   ...the worker was outside of his delivery vehicle at a residence when it rolled and struck him. Authorities arrived and found the worker pinned between the vehicle and a house...
State Police Officer Dies in Pennsylvania Ambush  New York Times   ...Law enforcement officers from three states were searching on Saturday for a suspect or suspects who ambushed two troopers at a state police barracks in northeastern Pennsylvania, killing one and wounding the other...
7 women working tirelessly to attack equal rights for women  Salon   ...Here is a list of nine women who have made a career out of opposing women’s struggle for social, political and economic equality...
Student Loan Debt Burdens More Than Just Young People  New York Times   ...the number of aging Americans with outstanding student loans had almost tripled from about 700,000 in 2005, whether from long-ago loans for their own educations or more recent borrowing to pay for college degrees for family members...
Young Households Are Losing Ground in Income, Despite Education  New York Times   ...the median family headed by someone under 35 years of age earned $35,509 in 2013 dollars. Adjusted for inflation, that is 6 percent less than similar families reported in the first such survey, in 1989...
Miscellaneous
Spy court renews NSA metadata program  The Hill   ...With a surveillance reform bill stuck in the Senate, the federal court overseeing spy agencies on Friday reauthorized the National Security Agency’s controversial bulk collection of Americans' phone records...
France is a mess, and Europe is worried  Salon   ...Despite the pharaonic scale of the building work for the new railroad, the French economy has run out of steam...
Trying to Hit the Brake on Texting While Driving  New York Times   ...A chemical engineer who built a company that made motors and docking stations for NASA, Mr. Tibbitts, 57, spent the last five years coming up with a novel way to block incoming and outgoing texts and to prevent phone calls from reaching a driver...

Today's Teamster News 08.08.14

Teamster News
Teamsters Fully Ratify AEI Contract  teamster.org   ...The contract, which runs through Dec. 31, 2016, covers about 800 Teamsters across the U.S. employed by AEI, the domestic air freight forwarding arm of DHL Global Forwarding...
Wegmans: Teamsters fund dispute going to court  Rochester Democrat & Chronicle   ...Wegmans Food Markets has gone to federal court to resolve a dispute over workers' compensation payments to Teamsters-represented employees that the company says could cost it millions of dollars...
Trade
Pressure on Canada to Open Poultry Markets for Trade Talks with US  The Poultry Site   ...A powerful group of US members of Congress says the White House should cut Canada out of a major global trade deal unless it opens up its protected dairy and poultry markets...
U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman Announces U.S. Victory in Challenge to China’s Rare Earth Export Restraints  Office of the USTR   ...U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman today announced that the World Trade Organization (WTO) Appellate Body found China’s export restraints on rare earths, tungsten, and molybdenum, which are used as key components in a multitude of U.S-made products for critical American manufacturing sectors, including hybrid car batteries, wind turbines, and energy-efficient lighting, to be inconsistent with China’s WTO obligations...
TTIP: Have We Lost Our Democratic Privileges?  The London Economic   ...As the European Commission and the US are busy negotiating a free trade agreement, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), campaigners say they are increasingly worried citizens are losing their democratic privileges. While corporations are looking forward to an improved trade and regulatory cooperation between the US and EU, the opposition -which includes Pan-European civil society groups – is concerned that regulatory convergence will grind down hard-won social and environmental standards...
State Battles
Daniel Golden: Media go too easy on Scott Walker (opinion)  The Cap Times   ..."Wrong Way Walker" has achieved the impossible and launched Wisconsin on an economic death spiral...
Disney World, Union Strike Deal To Raise Minimum Wage  The Ledger   ...The world's most popular vacation resort recently struck an agreement with its largest union group. Last week, Walt Disney World and the Service Trades Council signed off on a 5½-year pact that will raise the minimum hourly pay for the union group's full-time workers to $10 by 2016...
Anchorage Assembly Repeals, Replaces City Labor Law  KTUU   ...The Anchorage Assembly voted 7-4 Tuesday night to repeal controversial ordinance AO37, Mayor Dan Sullivan's overhaul of how the city interacts with municipal workers....
Latest Blow To Gov. Brownback: Kansas Debt Downgrade  Wall Street Journal   ...Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback is more stumbling than storming into the general election. On Tuesday night, results from the GOP primary showed 37% of those voting cast their ballots for a Republican political newcomer over Mr. Brownback. Then Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services on Wednesday morning dropped Kansas’s credit rating by one notch, blaming the downgrade on a sharp slide in state revenues that followed deep tax cuts Mr. Brownback championed...
War On Workers
Part-Time Market Basket Workers Have Hours Cut  Boston Globe   ...Thousands of part-time workers at Market Basket stores have had their hours cut by half or more this week, as the cost of the unusual protest movement hits home for the employees seeking the reinstatement of ousted boss Arthur T. Demoulas...
Plot Thickens as 900 Writers Battle Amazon  New York Times   ...This latest uproar in Amazon’s three-month public battle with Hachette comes at a vulnerable moment for the Internet giant, which is rapidly transforming itself into an empire...
U.S. Labor Force: Where Have All the Workers Gone?  IMF Direct   ...The equivalent of 7.5 million workers have been lost from the U.S. labor force...
Fed Study Finds 2 million in "Forced Retirement", 52% Cannot Afford an Unexpected $400 Expense  Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis   ...Almost half of respondents had not planned financially for retirement, with 24 percent saying they had given only a little thought to financial planning for their retirement and another 25 percent saying they had done no planning at all...
The Federal Reserve Is Telling Us The Economy Is Pitiful  Huffington Post   ...Just 30 percent of survey respondents described themselves as better off than they were in 2008, with 34 percent saying they were doing about the same and 34 percent saying they were worse off...
Worker Killed When Crate Falls From Truck In The Bronx  CBS News   ...A construction worker was killed Tuesday when a heavy crate fell on him as he unloaded a truck near the Throgs Neck Bridge in in the Bronx...
Cornering the Zero-Day Market  Cryptome   ...“The CIA and the big corporations were, in my experience, in step with each other. Later I realized that they may argue about details of strategy - a small war here or there. However, both are vigorously committed to supporting the system.”...
What If Walmart's CEO Took A Pay Cut For His Workers?  Vox   ...The compensation packages of all 500 of the biggest corporations' CEOs are worth enough to boost all full-time minimum wage workers' annual pay by nearly $5,000...
Miscellaneous
Really Big Number Spent on High Speed Rail  Center for Economic and Policy Research   ... the federal government has spent roughly $550 billion on transportation over the last six years, so spending on high speed rail would be roughly 2.0 percent of total transportation spending...

Today's Teamster News 03.19.14

Teamster News
Teamster bus drivers at CCTA will continue strike  Associated Press ...About 70 bus drivers, represented by Teamsters Local 597, went on strike Monday leaving about 9,500 people who ride the buses every day in Burlington, Vermont scrambling...
Teamster Simulator Technicians at Southwest Approve New Contract  Dallas Morning News   ...Southwest Airlines and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters announced Friday that flight simulation technicians have approved a two-year contract...
Teamsters: Ask Congress to Fund High Speed Rail and Amtrak  teamster.org   ...The Republicans in the House have taken a whack at funding for Amtrak and eliminated funding for high speed rail. They want to cut federal spending on Amtrak by 29 percent and eliminate funding for High Speed Rail...
Pepsi Lays Off 60 Workers  WREG-TV   ...Meetings are underway between the PepsiCo company and Teamsters Local 984 after 60 employees were laid off unexpectedly Thursday. The company says it was a matter of efficiency, but the union says PepsiCo violated the law by not giving workers a 60 day notice...
Teamsters: Poverty Is Bad For Your Health  teamster.org   ...Covering the tab for life’s basic needs has always been tough for lower income people. But increasing reports make it clear that being a member of the working poor is also hazardous to your health and could drive you to an early grave...
Trade
New Study Shows Dangers of Trade Agreements that Help Corporations Sue Governments  naked capitalism   ...Pacific Rim/OceanaGold is ...  one of 31 oil, gas, and mining corporations suing governments in Latin America in the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), based at the World Bank. ICSID is the most frequently used tribunal under existing pro-corporate, anti-democratic trade and investment rules...
Korea Trade Agreement – Exports Actually Decrease  Trade Reform   ...the USTR is embarrassed that our exports to Korea actually decreased since the Korea trade and global government agreement was passed.  Yes.  Exports (not net exports) decreased...
State Battles
New York Settles With McDonald's Restaurants In Wage Theft Investigation  Huffington Post   ...New York state has reached a settlement with the owner of seven McDonald's franchises that will give nearly $500,000 to fast-food workers who claimed they were shorted on pay, according to state Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman...
Calif. Gov. Brown takes swipes at GOP, praises labor unions  Los Angeles Times   ...Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown gave a rousing pro-worker speech to a ballroom filled with union representatives Monday night, thanking organized labor for helping pass his vote-approved tax hike in 2012 and worker's compensation reform and vowing to be “around for the next five years.’’...
How Auto Dealers Are Muscling State Legislatures Into Barring Tesla Motors  AlterNet   ...New Jersey is the latest state to ban the electric car company from selling directly to consumers, which threatens auto dealers' business model. Is New York next?...
RI pension settlement ballots mailed  Associated Press   ...Mail ballots have been sent to the retired and active public workers who will soon decide the fate of a proposed settlement in the litigation surrounding Rhode Island’s 2011 pension overhaul...
War on Workers
The rich strike back   Politico   ...“I hope it’s not working,” Ken Langone, the billionaire co-founder of Home Depot and major GOP donor, said of populist political appeals. “Because if you go back to 1933, with different words, this is what Hitler was saying in Germany. You don’t survive as a society if you encourage and thrive on envy or jealousy...”
Southern California Port Truck Drivers Allege Labor Exploitation  New America Media   ...A new report by a national labor rights group says that the port truck driving industry is rampant with examples of companies employing tactics to exploit drivers, from misclassification as an independent contractor, to depriving drivers of employee benefits, workplace standards and proper wages…
Fifth financial executive with ties to JPMorgan found dead  Housing Wire   ...Just over 11 weeks into 2014 comes tragic news that an 11th financial executive has apparently committed suicide...
The Plummeting Labor Market Fortunes of Teens and Young Adults  Brookings   ...Employment prospects for teens and young adults in the nation’s 100 largest metropolitan areas plummeted between 2000 and 2011. On a number of measures—employment rates, labor force underutilization, unemployment, and year-round joblessness—teens and young adults fared poorly, and sometimes disastrously...
Inside Low-wage Workers’ Plan to Sue McDonald’s — and Win  Portside   ...The wall that fast food workers hope to blast through with these class-action suits is the franchise system. All of the lawsuits name McDonald’s itself as a defendant, even though most of the targeted restaurants are owned not by McDonald’s but by McDonald’s franchisees...
Union chief accuses SEPTA of trying to provoke strike  Philadelphia Inquirer   ...With no bargaining talks scheduled between SEPTA and transit workers, the president of the agency's largest union accused it of trying to provoke a strike...
Amazon’s near sweatshops and awful conditions: It doesn’t have to be this way   Salon ...Labor conditions at Amazon and Wal-Mart are like the pre-New Deal era. These reforms, working elsewhere, would help...
The Shocking Ways Debt Collectors Are Hounding U.S. Military Service Members  AlterNet   ...Companies use threats of rank reduction and courts-martial...
Miscellaneous
Coalition Files Lawsuit Against Idaho Ag-Gag Law That Targets Journalism, Whistleblowing & Speech  Fire Dog Lake   ...A coalition of groups and journalists are challenging a law passed in Idaho, which makes it possible for anyone who secretly films or records animal abuse to be jailed for up to a year...
2013 Was a Record Year For Oil-Train Accidents, and Insurers Are Wary  Alternet   ...All told, railcar accidents spilled more than 1.15 million gallons of crude oil in 2013, federal data shows, compared with an average of just 22,000 gallons a year from 1975 through 2012 — a fifty-fold spike...
24 States Pressure Walmart, Walgreens To Stop Selling Cigarettes  Huffington Post   ...Attorney Generals from 24 states, Washington D.C., and three U.S. territories sent letters to the country's biggest pharmaceutical retailers Monday, including Walmart and Walgreens, asking them to stop selling tobacco products...
9 Retailers Closing The Most Stores  24/7 Wall St.   ...Brick-and-mortar retailers have been suffering from slow economic activity for years, as well as from increased competition from online retailers. The rise in store closings is a prominent sign of their struggles...

Today's Teamster News 03.01.14

Teamster News
Listen to Teamster Nation News  teamster.org  ...Introducing the inaugural episode of Teamster Nation News, the Teamster's new podcast. Teamster Nation News is your weekly stop for key Teamster news for working families. Thanks for listening and be sure to subscribe...
CEO's Lavish Pay Trimmed At McKesson, A Teamster Employer  TeamsterNation   ...McKesson CEO John Hammergren took a 'voluntary' $45 million cut to his pension after shareholders said 'no more' to his lavish wages at the company's annual meeting in August...
Teamsters, First Student in Seattle reach agreement  Seattle Times   ...After a daylong negotiation, Teamsters Local 174, which represents about 450 bus drivers for Seattle Public Schools, has reached a fully recommended tentative settlement with First Student, a private contractor that provides busing for the district. The agreement means that bus service will continue uninterrupted...
Teamsters back to work Sunday: Bay Valley strike ends  Sauk Valley Media   ...Dan Dring, vice president of human resources and operations for the Green Bay, Wis.-based company, said the workers of Teamsters Local 722 had voted earlier in the day to approve the contract...
Teamsters Airline Division Statement on GAO 2014 Aviation Workforce Report  teamster.org   ...Teamsters Airline Division Director Capt. David Bourne issued an official statement on the U.S. Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) 2014 Aviation Workforce report, “Current and Future Availability of Airline Pilots”…
Teamsters Celebrate Women’s History  teamster.org   ...March is Women’s History Month, a time to reflect upon and celebrate the contributions American women have made to society. Teamster women have made significant contributions to the work force over the years, bravely fighting for economic and social justice...
Teamsters: Single Mothers Struggling Even More To Support Families   teamster.org   ...Women trying to support a family on their own are having a harder time doing so, according to a new report that details the plight of the working poor. As this nation enters Women’s History Month, single mothers are disproportionately struggling to make ends meet, and the document shows conditions are getting worse for them, not better...
Trade
U.S. staring contest with Japan stretches out Pacific trade pact   Reuters  ...A standoff between the United States and Japan is holding up talks on a sweeping Pacific free trade pact and a lack of authority to push an eventual deal through the U.S. Congress without amendment may be undercutting Washington's hand...
How TPP Would Harm You at the Drug Store and on the Internet  Truthout   ...A law affecting content on the Internet that was rejected by Congress shows up in a trade agreement designed to bypass and override Congress. Small, innovative companies that manufacture low-cost, generic drugs find their products blocked...
EU-U.S. trade talks face growing hostility, ministers warn  Reuters   ...Free-trade talks between the United States and the European Union are in danger of being derailed by populist groups opposing everything from globalization to multinationals, EU ministers and business leaders said on Friday...
State Battles
Fifteen States Move to Curb Reckless Outsourcing  In the Public Interest   ...Lawmakers in Iowa, Kansas and Oregon join movement to improve transparency and accountability, keep taxpayer in control of their services...
State will lose if RTW passes (Opinion)  News-Leader   ...The Missouri House may pass “Right to Work” and may override Gov. Jay Nixon’s veto, but Missouri will be the loser. An example is the new Boeing passenger aircraft plant. Billions in lucrative concessions were given, but Boeing needed the skilled union workers available. Building huge passenger aircraft is entirely too risky to hire low-wage, unskilled laborers and train them to standards...
No sign of expansion at plant where UAW dealt loss   Associated Press   ...Friday marks the end of the two-week period within which U.S. Sen. Bob Corker promised Volkswagen would announce another line at its factory in Tennessee if workers there rejected representation by the United Auto Workers union...
Walker Supporter Says Governor Needs To 'Tell The Truth' About Emails  Wisconsin Public Radio   ...Seymer calls it a serious violation of Wisconsin's open records law to have a campaign making these decisions...
War on Workers
Poultry workers, industry take fight to Capitol Hill over proposal to speed processing lines  Washington Post   ...Poultry workers, chicken industry lobbyists and food-safety advocates have been converging on Capitol Hill in recent weeks with dueling efforts to either boost or kill a proposal to overhaul the way the $60 billion-a-year poultry industry operates processing plants...
A Third Of America’s Most Successful Corporations Pay Less Than A 10 Percent Income Tax Rate   ThinkProgress   ...The average effective income tax rate for giant, profitable companies from 2008 to 2012 was just 19.4 percent...
Thousands More New York City Workers Will Now Get Paid Sick Days  ThinkProgress   ...The New York City Council overwhelmingly passed an expansion of paid sick days...
5 'Good' Jobs that Require Lots of Education and Training and Shockingly Pay Little More than Minimum Wage  AlterNet   ...You will never guess which highly skilled professions pay poverty wages...
Medical Marijuana Workers Have The Same Labor Rights As Everyone Else, Feds Say  Huffington Post   ...The next time a pot shop gets a visit from the feds, it won't necessarily be from drug enforcement agents looking to shut the operation down. It might just come from workplace regulators making sure that labor laws are being followed...
Miscellaneous
Bank Allegedly Neglects Foreclosed Houses In Black And Latino Neighborhoods  ThinkProgress   ...Housing discrimination advocates filed a complaint against a fourth major bank for failing to maintain foreclosed homes in non-white neighborhoods...
U.S. Retail Chains See First Profit Decline Since Recession  Bloomberg   ...The results paint a grim picture of an industry hit hard by the sluggish job recovery and slow wage growth, which have turned U.S. consumers into a nation of penny pinchers...
Gold Fix Study Shows Signs of Decade of Bank Manipulation  Bloomberg   ...The London gold fix, the benchmark used by miners, jewelers and central banks to value the metal, may have been manipulated for a decade by the banks setting it, researchers say...
Citigroup reports fraud in Mexico unit, lowers 2013 results  Reuters   ... Citigroup Inc (C.N) said on Friday that it has discovered at least $400 million in fraudulent loans in its Mexico subsidiary and said employees may have been in on the crime...
Poorly Regulated, High-Speed 'Bomb Trains' Are One Crash Away from Devastating Towns in NYC Suburbs  AlterNet   ...Few residents of the city's bucolic 'burbs know of the huge risks whirring by at top speeds...
NSA surveillance hurting tech firms' business  USA Today   ...The National Security Agency, and revelations about its extensive surveillance operations — sometimes with the cooperation of tech firms — have undermined the ability of many U.S. companies to sell products in key foreign countries, creating a fissure with the U.S. government and prompting some to scramble to create "NSA-resistant" products...
Swiss Bank That Facilitated U.S. Tax Evasion Continues To Avoid Prosecution  Real News   ...Although Credit Suisse helped ultra-wealthy Americans evade taxes, the bank will face no prosecution due to Swiss bank secrecy laws and a heedless U.S. Justice department...

Today's Teamster News 02.22.14

Teamster News
Teamsters Local 326 Welcomes Law Enforcement Officers  teamster.org   ...By an overwhelming majority, law enforcement officers in the city of Milford, Delaware's police department have voted to join Teamsters Local 326 in New Castle, Delaware...
Warehouse Workers in Texas Join Teamsters Local 745  teamster.org   ...On February 20, by a vote of 25-4, warehouse workers in Grapeview, Texas voted to join Local 745 in Dallas...
Teamsters Aviation Mechanics Coalition to Launch Investigation into Allegiant Air Maintenance teamster.org  ...The Teamsters Aviation Mechanics Coalition (TAMC) announced it will launch an investigation into reports of a disproportionate number of engine failures, air returns and declared emergencies at Allegiant Air...
High-Speed Rail Supporters Rally in California  teamster.org   ...Teamsters, Laborers, community members and environmental groups rallied February 20 to support high-speed rail. Watch the video...
Spring Grove school bus drivers strike averted, at least though March  York Daily Record   ...The possibility of a strike for Spring Grove, Penn. school bus drivers is at least temporarily averted, and contract negotiations between Teamsters Local 776 and Durham School Services continue...
Penn Station Marks Contributions From African-American Men And Women  teamster.org
BLET member Carlyle Smith, an Amtrak locomotive engineer and member of Division 482 in Washington, D.C., is featured in this Black History Month story on the rail industry. Read the article and watch the video, here....
UPS Honors South Carolina Drivers for 25 Years of Safe Driving  Wall Street Journal   ...On Wednesday, UPS announced 29 elite drivers from South Carolina are among 1,519 newly inducted worldwide into the Circle of Honor, an honorary organization for UPS drivers who have achieved 25 or more years of accident-free driving...
The War on Workers
Fed Misread Fiscal Crisis, Records Show  New York Times   ...The hundreds of pages of transcripts, based on recordings made at the time, reveal the ignorance of Fed officials about economic conditions during the climactic months of the financial crisis. Officials repeatedly fretted about overstimulating the economy, only to realize time and again that they needed to redouble efforts to contain the crisis...
Union still wants to organize Boeing's North Charleston workers, official says   The Post and Courier   ...The union that represents thousands of Boeing Co. workers in the Pacific Northwest is still looking to make inroads at the company's North Charleston jet-making operation...
Boeing Paid No Federal Income Tax Last Year  Huffington Post   ...One of the largest recipients of federal government contracts paid nothing in taxes last year, according to an analysis from the Center for Effective Government...
McDonald’s workers’ horror story: 25-hour shifts and bunking in their boss’s basement!  Salon  ...A former McDonald’s franchisee will pay out a six-figure settlement after allegedly subjecting student guest workers to 25-hour shifts, substandard housing and repeated retaliatory threats...
McDonald’s fires employee for buying meals for firefighters working in the cold  Death and Taxes   ...Heather Levia of Olean, New York, was fired from her job at McDonald’s after she personally bought breakfast for some on-duty firefighters, who were working in the freezing cold...
Majority of port truckers misclassified, pro-labor groups say  FleetOwner   ...A report issued by several pro-labor organizations concluded that about 49,000 of the nation’s 75,000 port truck drivers are misclassified as independent contractors...
Private Prison Firm CEO Collected $22 Million In Compensation Between 2008 and 2012  ThinkProgress   ...A new report from the Center for Media and Democracy dubs GEO Group CEO George Zoley America’s highest paid “corrections officer,” in a ranking of top-earning “government workers” — those in privatized industries...
Despite Receiving Millions in Public Money, Private Prisons are Impenetrable "Bastions of Secrecy"  Alternet   ...Public prisons are beholden to a dizzying array of record-keeping programs under the Bureau of Justice Statistics.  By contrast, the only data released by private facilities about their prisoners and facilities is that which is mandated by business contracts or particular state laws. Even then, the information provided by prison corporations is often falsified -- or even “all the time,” in the words of one high-ranking GEO Group executive...
Secret Plans and Clever Tricks: How Information About Public Contracting Is Hidden From the Public  truthout   ...reporters, elected officials, community activists, public-interest lawyers and other concerned individuals and organizations often hit a brick wall when they attempt to unravel privatization plans...
State Battles
UAW appeals outside interference in union representation election for Chattanooga Volkswagen workers  UAW   ...The UAW filed an appeal (“objections”) with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) today related to the interference by politicians and outside special interest groups in the union representation election held last week at Volkswagen’s Chattanooga plant...
Walker Staff on the Mentally Ill: "No One Cares about Crazy People"  Center for Media and Democracy   ...One of the more disturbing exchanges in recently-unsealed court documents shows callousness among Scott Walker's staff and campaign as they worked to deflect criticism over mismanagement in a county mental health facility...
Illinois Lawmakers Eye $600 Million Tax on Sugary Drink  Heartland Institute   ...In Illinois, it’s called everything from pop to soda to sodi, but the state’s Democrats are now calling soda pop a money maker...
Arizona Senate repeals 2013 election law  Associated Press   ...The Arizona Senate has voted to repeal a sweeping 2013 Arizona election law that included trimming the state's permanent early voting list and a host of other provisions that incensed voter-rights advocates...
Trade
TPP Trade Officials Received Hefty Bonuses From Big Banks  Bill Moyers   ...Officials tapped by the Obama administration to lead the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade negotiations have received multimillion dollar bonuses from CitiGroup and Bank of America...
Crucial TPP ministerial meeting begins in Singapore  Global Post   ...Ministers from the 12 countries involved in the envisioned Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade accord began talks in Singapore on Saturday seeking to achieve the challenging goal of reaching a broad agreement after missing an end-of-2013 deadline...
AFL-CIO Executive Council Calls for Commitment to Broad-Based Wage Growth, Ending Job Export, Stopping Fast Track and More  AFL-CIO   ...The AFL-CIO Executive Council adopted several policy statements addressing wage growth and economic inequality, job outsourcing, Fast Track and trade,  higher education and performers' rights at its winter meeting in Houston on Tuesday...
Miscellaneous
Wall Street Landlords Buy Bad Loans for Cheaper Homes  Bloomberg News   ...Wall Street-backed landlords are showing a greater appetite for bad mortgages as a source for cheap property as the supply of foreclosed homes declines while housing prices continue to climb...
Social Identity Markers are NOT a proxy for left wing social policies  Ian Welsh   ...They may love the gay (or at least not mind it), but that doesn’t mean they don’t still intend to create a society in which there are aristocrats, and if the serfs want to marry same sex, let’em...
Former USGS head endorses Keystone pipeline  Washington Post   ...A former head of the U.S. Geological Survey endorsed the idea of building the Keystone XL pipeline Thursday in an editorial contending that the pipeline would be less damaging to the environment than the “viable alternatives” of transporting oil by rail and truck...

Today's Teamster News 11.21.13

Cook County Corrections Officers Vote to Remain Teamsters  teamstersjc25.com   ...Officers at the Cook County Department of Corrections voted last week to remain members of Teamsters Local 700, the strongest union in Cook County...
Why Port Truckers Are Striking: 12-Hour Shifts, Noxious Fumes and $12.90 Paychecks  In These Times   ...The drivers have filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board charging that the company retaliated against them for pushing forward with a drive to join the International Brotherhood of Teamsters...
Wall Street Boom Doesn’t Lessen Workers’ Gloom  teamster.org   ...A key Wall Street indicator, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, crossed above 16,000 for the first time this week. But for Teamsters and other working Americans concerned about economic security, the news meant damn near nothing...
CEOs With Massive Retirement Fortunes Push Social Security Cuts  The Nation   ...“I find it hypocritical to see CEOs sitting on massive retirement fortunes of their own saying that the solution to the country’s fiscal challenge is to put an even greater burden on retirees, many of whom already struggling,”...
Inequality is (Literally) Killing America  The Nation   ...“The lower people’s income, the earlier they die and the sicker they live,”...
Fact Check: Social Security Does Not Increase the Deficit  Alternet   ...Bought politicians and pundits continue to spread nonsense about America's best-loved program...
Poll: Voters want Social Security expanded, not cut  Salon   ...A new poll from the Democratic-aligned Public Policy Polling (PPP) and MoveOn.org has found that by overwhelming margins, voters want Social Security expanded — not cut...
Meet the Koch funded “stink tanks” that are influencing policy  Salon   ...By disguising corporate propaganda as legitimate research they're pushing a hard-right agenda...
In an Attack Ad, an Alaskan Voter Is Really an Actress From Maryland  New York Times   ...In a tough new advertisement from the Koch brothers-backed Americans for Prosperity, an unnamed woman looks directly into the camera and upbraids Senator Mark Begich, Democrat of Alaska...
Gov't finds merit in labor claims against Wal-Mart  Associated Press   ...Federal officials said Monday they are prepared to file formal complaints against Wal-Mart for allegedly violating the legal rights of protesting workers last year...
How can you study when you can’t eat? The invisible problem of hunger on campus  Salon   ...Thousands of students around the country are homeless or hungry, and their classmates and colleges might never know...
David Beats Goliath!: How the Little Guy Beat A Mega-Corporation  AlterNet   ...Target publicly announced it would “ban the box” on all its employment applications nationwide. This is great news for hundreds of thousands of job seekers across the country who have criminal histories, people who, in this economy, need access to jobs more than ever...
Man claims Bank of America gave him heart attack, files lawsuit  WSOC-TV   ...A man is suing Bank of America claiming the bank gave him a heart attack. He said their mistake caused him stress and he collapsed in a local branch and had to be rushed to the hospital...
US to advise Puerto Rico on economy  Associated Press   ... The U.S. government is sending a team of federal officials to help Puerto Rico manage an economic crisis as the U.S. territory braces for its eighth year of recession...
Hundreds of Chinese workers protest after Microsoft Nokia deal  Reuters   ...Hundreds of workers shouted slogans on Wednesday outside a Nokia factory in southern China to protest against what they called nfair compensation after the company sold its mobile telephones business to Microsoft Corp...
The reality of hungry schoolchildren  EnetEnglish   ...Based on a sample of 16,000 (Greek) households last year, research funded by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation found that 60% faced food insecurity, while 23% were experiencing food insecurity accompanied by hunger...
Supreme court prosecutor says former finance minister should face criminal charges  EnetEnglish   ...Former finance minister George Papaconstantinou should be tried by a special court over his handing of the so-called Lagarde list of over 2,000 suspected Greeks with undeclared cash deposits in a Swiss bank, a supreme court prosecutor recommended on Wednesday...
Japan Pitches Its High-Speed Train With An Offer To Finance  New York Times   ...They are trying to bring a maglev train to the crowded Northeast Corridor that will cruise between New York and Washington at more than twice the 150-mile-an-hour top speed of Amtrak’s Acela, the fastest train in the United States. Maglev trains could make the journey in an hour, compared with just under three hours, on a good day, for Acela...
Anheuser-Busch provides relief to tornado victims  Packaging Digest   ...Anheuser-Busch is providing 2,156 cases of emergency drinking water-or 51,744 cans-for use by residents affected by the recent storms in Washington, Pekin and East Peoria, IL...
Utah town forgets to hold election — again  Salt Lake City Tribune   ..."Wallsburg never advertised or prepared for an election this year, so no one signed up," said Wasatch County Clerk Brent Titcomb. "They’re going to have to appoint the current mayor and council for two more years and they’ll advertise and have people elected [in 2015]."...
Detroit accused of exaggerating $18bn debts in push for bankruptcy  The Guardian   ...A Demos thinktank report ... lays the blame for the city's woes at the feet of falling revenues, Wall Street banks and "extreme assumptions" calculated to make its problems worse than they are...
How Wall Street — not pensioners — wrecked Detroit  Salon   ...Detroit’s bankruptcy was primarily caused by a severe decline in revenue and exacerbated by complicated Wall Street deals that put its ability to pay its expenses at greater risk...
Non-Union Contractors Hit with $400k Fine in Deadly Philly Building Collapse  The Building Trades   ...Because of the lack of safety procedures in place by Campbell Construction and S&R Contracting, the demolition project of a vacant four-story structure went disastrously wrong; resulting in a large masonry wall collapsing onto an adjacent Salvation Army store next door to the project...
Ohio Senate votes to reduce days for early voting, eliminate so-called 'Golden Week"  Cleveland Plain Dealer   ...In a party-line vote, the Ohio Senate on Wednesday approved a bill to shorten early voting to eliminate the so-called “Golden Week” that allowed people to both register to vote and cast early in-person absentee ballots at the same time...

Today's Teamster News 06.28.13

U.S. to Suspend Trade Privileges With Bangladesh  New York Times   ...The Obama administration on Thursday will suspend trade privileges for Bangladesh over concerns about safety problems and labor rights violations in that country’s garment industry, according to administration and Congressional officials...
Macy’s Agrees To Pay $175,000 Civil Penalty For Immigrant Worker Treatment; Here Are The H1 Visa Workers Macy's Asked For In 2011  International Business Times   ...Congress is currently debating a major immigration reform bill that would increase the number of these and other categories of guest workers allowed to work in the United States...
Chilean police evict student protesters from schools  The Guardian   ...Chilean police have evicted student protesters from 21 Santiago schools that will be used as polling stations for the weekend's primary elections, a day after a massive march for education reform in the capital...
Ecuador Scraps Trade Pact Over U.S. Threats in Snowden Case  Bloomberg   ...Ecuador, the South American nation considering an asylum request from fugitive U.S. intelligence leaker Edward Snowden, renounced its U.S. trade benefits today, saying they were being used as “blackmail.”...
Mulally warns feds about impact of Japanese trade on U.S. auto sales  Detroit News   ...Ford Motor Co. Chief Executive Alan Mulally warned senators and Obama administration office about the impact of Japanese trade and currency policies on U.S. auto sales. He said his message was needed for free trade agreements and the “importance of letting the markets establish the currencies” and ensuring that they reflect “the global trade rules.”...
The Koch Brothers' PAC Is Off To Its Fastest Start Ever In A Federal Election Cycle  Business Insider   ...KOCHPAC donated $559,000 to federal-level political candidates and committees during the first five months of the year, according to a Center for Public Integrity review of Federal Election Commission disclosure released today...
License-plate readers let police collect millions of records on drivers  ThinkProgress   ...At a rapid pace, and mostly hidden from the public, police agencies throughout California have been collecting millions of records on drivers and feeding them to intelligence fusion centers operated by local, state and federal law enforcement...
Public Research for Private Gain  East Bay Express   ...UC Regents recently approved a new corporate entity that will likely give a group of well-connected businesspeople control over how academic research is used...
Toronto propane firm guilty in fatal 2008 blast  CBC News   ...The directors of Sunrise Propane have been found guilty of environmental and workplace safety violations following an explosion in 2008 in northwest Toronto that killed a worker and forced thousands from their homes...
Judge approves $139 million settlement in lawsuit against News Corp.  Associated Press  ...A Delaware judge on Wednesday approved a $139 million cash settlement between News Corp. and shareholders in a lawsuit over the British phone hacking scandal and the media conglomerate’s purchase of an entertainment company run by News Corp. founder Rupert Murdoch’s daughter...
Florida’s governor wants you to go to work sick  The Guardian   ...As attempts to dehumanize the workplace go, few could be more sadistic than forcing workers to come to work sick, but that’s precisely what the Florida legislature and Governor Rick Scott recently did...
RI Senate to vote on paid family leave bill  Associated Press   ...A proposal that would allow workers in Rhode Island to take paid time off to care for a new child or sick loved one is heading to a vote in the state Senate...
Paid sick leave is now the law in NYC  Washington Post   ...It will now be much easier for many New Yorkers to take a sick day from work . Early Thursday, lawmakers overrode a veto by Mayor Michael Bloomberg to pass a law that would require businesses to offer paid sick leave for their workers...
At New York City Hall, fast-food workers rally for better pay and allege 'wage theft'  Staten Island Live   ...Fast food workers had a simple message outside City Hall Thursday morning: "We can't survive on $7.25."...
BART Negotiations Underway as Strike Looms  NBC Bay Area   ...BART has asked Gov. Jerry Brown not to order a 60-day cooling off period that would delay a strike if an agreement isn't reached by Sunday. The unions' contracts expire Sunday at 11:59 p.m. If no agreement is reached, a Monday strike looms.
Teamsters Approve National ABF Agreement; Most Supplements Also Approved  IBT   ...Teamsters employed at ABF Freight System, Inc. have voted to approve the national master portion of the ABF National Master Freight Agreement as well as 21 of the 27 supplements. Some local/area supplemental agreements, however, were rejected and issues in those areas must be addressed before the national agreement can be implemented...
Ask Congress To Fund High Speed Rail And Amtrak  IBT   ...The Republicans in the House have taken a whack at funding for Amtrak and eliminated funding for high speed rail. They want to cut federal spending on Amtrak by 29 percent and eliminate funding for High Speed Rail. Please ask your representatives in Washington to support expanding the system in 2014...
Publisher threatens to close NJ's largest paper by year's end if unions don't make concessions  Associated Press   ...The owners of The Star-Ledger plan to close New Jersey's largest newspaper by year's end if its production unions don't make concessions in contract negotiations, the publisher said...
'Landmark' union agreement will help Detroit auto show, officials say  Michigan Live   ...A new labor pact between five unions and the Detroit Regional Convention Facility Authority should help improve the North American International Auto Show...
Unfair Labor Practice Charges Filed Against Funeral Giant SCI  IBT   ...Teamsters Local 727, which represents funeral directors and drivers at Service Corporation International (NYSE: SCI), filed unfair labor practice charges against the company today...
Getting Down With The ‘Roots!   Rick Smith Show   ...The Rick Smith Show came to San Jose June 21-22 to talk to attendees at the Netroots Nation conference about the state of labor where employees of Wal-Mart and Google also shared the challenges they face in the workplace. Listen here. Visit the People’s Tour of America page daily to hear the latest from Rick Smith’s road travels...

Today's Teamster News 06.17.13

France lifts block on EU-US trade negotiations  Euronews   ...France has lifted it’s objection to trade talks between the European Union and the United States, clearing the way for the world’s most ambitious free trade agreement...
G8 summit: exclusion zone extended in Northern Ireland  The Guardian   ...With Black Hawk attack helicopters already deployed in the lakeland area to protect Barack Obama and the other G8 leaders, and a ring of steel erected to prevent demonstrators getting anywhere near the summit, the security forces in Northern Ireland are also intensifying pressure on dissident republicans...
New Report: Corporate Pirates of the Caribbean  Institute for Policy Studies   ...Fix the Debt member corporations stand to gain as much as $173 billion in windfalls if Congress adopts their proposal for a territorial tax system...
Student loans are big business for government, bringing billions in profit  Detroit Free Press   ...The U.S. government projects to make more money off student loans this fiscal year than ExxonMobil, Apple, J.P. Morgan Chase or Fannie Mae made on their respective businesses last year, a new analysis shows...
Former Bank of America workers allege it lied to home owners  Reuters   ...Six former Bank of America Corp (BAC.N) employees have alleged that the bank deliberately denied eligible home owners loan modifications and lied to them about the status of their mortgage payments and documents...
As Public Concerns Grow, Congress Spooked Over Spying  truthout   ...The American people are growing increasingly concerned about reports of domestic spying. And Congress isn’t sure how to respond...
How Tea Party Favorite Rick Scott Helped Cook Up a Sweetheart Deal for His Florida Friends  Vanity Fair   ...Scott is calling for a major realignment of the state policy on insurance to address a far-fetched scenario. And what is the solution? Why, enrich the private insurance companies with state money! And guess who has been receiving large campaign contributions from one of the biggest winners of Scott’s largesse?...
Pew Center: Ohio barely created any jobs in past twelve months  Plunderbund   ...Ohio ranks 47th in private sector job creation over the past month when you measure by percentage increase in new jobs (which is a fairer way to measure as it accounts for differences in population)...
Bills to dissolve Michigan schools in financial trouble are put on fast track  Detroit Free Press   ...Three districts — Buena Vista, Inkster and Pontiac — were cited during a legislative hearing Tuesday as being likely candidates for dissolution...
Mo. bill lets banks compete with payday lenders  Associated Press   ...A bill pending before Gov. Jay Nixon would raise the fees that Missouri-based banks could charge for short-term, cash advances — a move intended to make it worth their while financially to start offering such products...
California high-speed rail gets a green light  McClatchy   ...California’s high-speed rail project can start rolling without waiting for potentially time-consuming approvals from a federal board...

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/06/13/5495325/california-high-speed-rail-gets.html#storylink=cpy