Trade
TPP Talks Likely to get Ugly Hoosier Ag Today ...One of the tough negotiations noted for New Zealand is promoting dairy exports into countries like Japan because the deal is so broad-based...
State Battles
Wells Fargo Accused of Predatory Lending in Chicago Area Bloomberg ...Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) targets black and Latino borrowers for more costly home loans than their white counterparts in the Chicago area, helping to prolong a local and national foreclosure crisis, the biggest county in Illinois said...
War on Workers
Tampa homeless program uses unpaid, destitute residents as steady labor force, revenue source Tampa Bay Times ...For years, New Beginnings founder and CEO Tom Atchison has sent his unpaid homeless labor crews to Tampa Bay Rays, Lightning and Bucs games, the Daytona 500 and the Florida State Fair. For their shelter, he's had homeless people work in construction, landscaping, telemarketing, moving, painting, even grant-writing...
Black Friday Fizzles With Consumers as Sales Tumble 11% Bloomberg ...Spending tumbled an estimated 11 percent over the weekend, the Washington-based National Retail Federation said yesterday. And more than 6 million shoppers who had been expected to hit stores never showed up...
“Cyber Monday” Will Ship Even More Wealth Overseas Economy in Crisis ...Thanks to our trade deficit, the money we spend on Christmas is basically shuttled directly overseas, bypassing most of our fellow Americans, while enriching an elite few. 70 percent of our economy is now comprised of consumer spending...
West Virginia Coal Country Sees New Era as Donald Blankenship Is Indicted New York Times ...Deadly coal mining disasters are nothing new to West Virginia, but a 2010 explosion is different in one important respect: A C.E.O., Donald L. Blankenship, is being charged over the 29 lives lost...
I quit: Miseries of an Uber driver Salon ...A terrible GPS system and crummy hourly rate while the company reaps huge profits? No more. I’m out...
ISIS-Linked Ansar Beit al-Maqdis Says It Killed U.S. Oil Worker William Henderson NBC News ...A militant organization with ties to ISIS claimed responsibility late Sunday for the death of an American oil worker in Egypt...
Miscellaneous
Suburban businesses cash in when Hollywood comes to town Boston Globe ...While the latest report from the state Department of Revenue indicated that most of the spending attributed to the Massachusetts film tax credit in 2012 went out of state, proponents of the initiative say that an increasing number of locally filmed productions have spread out beyond Boston, helping small businesses and tourism in the suburbs from Lincoln to Quincy to Saugus...
Oil at $40 Possible as Market Transforms Caracas to Iran Bloomberg ...Oil’s decline is proving to be the worst since the collapse of the financial system in 2008 and threatening to have the same global impact of falling prices three decades ago that led to the Mexican debt crisis and the end of the Soviet Union...
Online Sales for Girl Scout Cookies Are Approved New York Times ...Girl Scouts are adding digital marketing to their formidable arsenal of charm, cuteness and perseverance to sell millions of boxes of Thin Mints, Samoas and other longtime cookie favorites...
Showing posts with label homelessness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label homelessness. Show all posts
Monday, December 1, 2014
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
Today's Teamster News 11.18.14
Teamster News
L.A.-Area Port Truckers Expand Strike To Three New Companies Los Angeles Times ...Drivers from QTS Inc., LACA Express and WinWin Logistics Inc. joined an ongoing strike Monday morning, said Barb Maynard, a spokeswoman for the Teamsters Union, which is backing the drivers...
Port Truckers Drive Home Difference Between Contractors And Employees Los Angeles Times ...Decades ago, such drivers were full-time employees, but many companies began treating them as independent contractors to bump profits and cut labor costs. And when environmental safeguards made expensive clean-energy trucks mandatory, drivers essentially became indentured servants, with truck leasing costs, insurance and other expenses deducted from their paychecks, often knocking them below minimum wage but still requiring them to pay for gas and repairs....
Fired Disney performers seeking jobs, back pay Bay News 9 ...The Teamsters Union representing the three men has already been through the grievance process and will now go forward to present their case to a federal arbitrator, unless Disney meets their demands...
Trade
French Government Will Not Sign TTIP Agreement In 2015 EurActiv ...Matthias Fekl, France's Secretary of State for Foreign Trade, has made it clear that France will not support the inclusion of the Investor State Dispute Settlement mechanism (ISDS) in a potential TTIP agreement...
State Battles
Government employees produce nothing, says ignorant Kansas House Speaker Ray Merrick of Johnson County (opinion) Kansas City Star ...News flash for Ray Merrick: Those employees doing “nothing” are the schoolteachers, firefighters and police officers employed by governments across the state. These are the hardworking employees who make it possible to educate Kansas children and protect Kansas families...
An Embattled ALEC, Buoyed by Election Results, Lays Blueprint for 2015 Center for Media and Democracy ...ALEC has been bleeding corporate members, but with Republicans now in control of 68 out of 98 state legislative bodies, there are fewer impediments to the enactment of the corporate-friendly legislation that ALEC peddles -- and in early December, ALEC and the corporations that still fund it will likely lay out the legislative blueprint for 2015 at the ALEC States & Nation Policy Summit in Washington, DC...
California Tells Court It Can’t Release Inmates Early Because It Would Lose Cheap Prison Labor ThinkProgress ...Out of California’s years-long litigation over reducing the population of prisons deemed unconstitutionally overcrowded by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2010, another obstacle to addressing the U.S. epidemic of mass incarceration has emerged: The utility of cheap prison labor...
War on Workers
Number Of Homeless Children In America Surges To All-Time High: Report Huffington Post ...The number of homeless children in the U.S. has surged in recent years to an all-time high, amounting to one child in every 30, according to a comprehensive state-by-state report that blames the nation's high poverty rate, the lack of affordable housing and the impacts of pervasive domestic violence...
We Are the Most Unequal Society in the Developed World...And We Don't Know It (opinion) Huffington Post ...Americans grossly underestimated this gap. Instead of 354 to 1, the Americans in representative survey think it is only 30 to 1. When asked what the ideal pay gap should be, Americans say that a fair gap would be about 7 to 1...
Agencies Look For Cause Of Fatal Gas Leak In Texas New York Times ...Randall Clements, the plant manager, said DuPont was working with the authorities and conducting its own “top-to-bottom review” of the accident. Asked how the leak had begun and whether the problem had been a result of equipment failure or human error, a company spokesman, Gregg M. Schmidt, said answering those questions was part of the investigation...
Worker dies in fall at Mosinee paper mill Associated Press ...A 55-year-old worker was killed when he fell from a hydraulic bucket while installing insulation at a Mosinee paper mill...
Trump Taj Mahal Casino In Atlantic City Will Shutter New York Daily News ...The owner of the struggling Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort filed court papers on Friday saying it will close next month, making it the fifth of the city’s 12 casinos to shut down this year...
Miscellaneous
Keystone at Senate tipping point The Hill ...Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) and other supporters of the Keystone XL oil pipeline are stuck at 59 votes — one vote shy of the supermajority they need to move their bill forward on Tuesday...
L.A.-Area Port Truckers Expand Strike To Three New Companies Los Angeles Times ...Drivers from QTS Inc., LACA Express and WinWin Logistics Inc. joined an ongoing strike Monday morning, said Barb Maynard, a spokeswoman for the Teamsters Union, which is backing the drivers...
Port Truckers Drive Home Difference Between Contractors And Employees Los Angeles Times ...Decades ago, such drivers were full-time employees, but many companies began treating them as independent contractors to bump profits and cut labor costs. And when environmental safeguards made expensive clean-energy trucks mandatory, drivers essentially became indentured servants, with truck leasing costs, insurance and other expenses deducted from their paychecks, often knocking them below minimum wage but still requiring them to pay for gas and repairs....
Fired Disney performers seeking jobs, back pay Bay News 9 ...The Teamsters Union representing the three men has already been through the grievance process and will now go forward to present their case to a federal arbitrator, unless Disney meets their demands...
Trade
French Government Will Not Sign TTIP Agreement In 2015 EurActiv ...Matthias Fekl, France's Secretary of State for Foreign Trade, has made it clear that France will not support the inclusion of the Investor State Dispute Settlement mechanism (ISDS) in a potential TTIP agreement...
State Battles
Government employees produce nothing, says ignorant Kansas House Speaker Ray Merrick of Johnson County (opinion) Kansas City Star ...News flash for Ray Merrick: Those employees doing “nothing” are the schoolteachers, firefighters and police officers employed by governments across the state. These are the hardworking employees who make it possible to educate Kansas children and protect Kansas families...
An Embattled ALEC, Buoyed by Election Results, Lays Blueprint for 2015 Center for Media and Democracy ...ALEC has been bleeding corporate members, but with Republicans now in control of 68 out of 98 state legislative bodies, there are fewer impediments to the enactment of the corporate-friendly legislation that ALEC peddles -- and in early December, ALEC and the corporations that still fund it will likely lay out the legislative blueprint for 2015 at the ALEC States & Nation Policy Summit in Washington, DC...
California Tells Court It Can’t Release Inmates Early Because It Would Lose Cheap Prison Labor ThinkProgress ...Out of California’s years-long litigation over reducing the population of prisons deemed unconstitutionally overcrowded by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2010, another obstacle to addressing the U.S. epidemic of mass incarceration has emerged: The utility of cheap prison labor...
War on Workers
Number Of Homeless Children In America Surges To All-Time High: Report Huffington Post ...The number of homeless children in the U.S. has surged in recent years to an all-time high, amounting to one child in every 30, according to a comprehensive state-by-state report that blames the nation's high poverty rate, the lack of affordable housing and the impacts of pervasive domestic violence...
We Are the Most Unequal Society in the Developed World...And We Don't Know It (opinion) Huffington Post ...Americans grossly underestimated this gap. Instead of 354 to 1, the Americans in representative survey think it is only 30 to 1. When asked what the ideal pay gap should be, Americans say that a fair gap would be about 7 to 1...
Agencies Look For Cause Of Fatal Gas Leak In Texas New York Times ...Randall Clements, the plant manager, said DuPont was working with the authorities and conducting its own “top-to-bottom review” of the accident. Asked how the leak had begun and whether the problem had been a result of equipment failure or human error, a company spokesman, Gregg M. Schmidt, said answering those questions was part of the investigation...
Worker dies in fall at Mosinee paper mill Associated Press ...A 55-year-old worker was killed when he fell from a hydraulic bucket while installing insulation at a Mosinee paper mill...
Trump Taj Mahal Casino In Atlantic City Will Shutter New York Daily News ...The owner of the struggling Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort filed court papers on Friday saying it will close next month, making it the fifth of the city’s 12 casinos to shut down this year...
Miscellaneous
Keystone at Senate tipping point The Hill ...Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) and other supporters of the Keystone XL oil pipeline are stuck at 59 votes — one vote shy of the supermajority they need to move their bill forward on Tuesday...
Friday, July 11, 2014
Today's Teamster News 07.11.14
Teamster News
Rage Against The Machine’s Tom Morello Performs, Joins Picketing Truck Drivers At Port Of Los Angeles Terminal Long Beach Press Telegram ...Tom Morello, original member of rock bands Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave, took to a different stage Wednesday when he performed on the picket line at Evergreen Container Terminal at the Port of Los Angeles...
Retailers Step Up Holiday Imports In Case Of A West Coast Port Strike Forbes Magazine ...The dispute extended to the docks when ILWU workers temporarily honored the Teamster pickets and shut down container terminals at both ports on Tuesday, July 8...
Port Truckers’ Strike Sends Ripples Through Labor World MSNBC ...In terms of sheer numbers, the port truckers’ strike is not a major action. Only about 120 drivers walked off the job on Monday, when the strike began. Yet in terms of significance to the labor movement, this small workplace disruption is a national event...
6 minutes a day for bathroom breaks? Union cries foul Chicago Tribune ...Members of the Teamsters Local 743 who build sink stations at WaterSaver Faucet Co. and its sister company Guardian Equipment Inc. said that workers have been disciplined for exceeding their allotted bathroom time of 30 minutes per week, or 6 minutes per workday...
Trade
You have until July 21 to prevent deception in gov’t trade data Trade Reform ...Under a proposed federal rule, an iPhone made in China and sold to Europe could be falsely considered an American export! This dangerous rule would allow the federal government to magically shrink the trade deficit by claiming foreign manufacturing by foreign companies and workers is really USA-made...
GM says defective ignition switch made in China Trade Reform ...The No. 1 U.S. automaker said in a filing on Tuesday with U.S. safety regulators that the switch used in the Chevrolet Impala and Monte Carlo, Buick LaCrosse and Lucerne, and Cadillac DeVille and DTS cars that were recalled on June 16 was made by China-based Dalian Alps Electronics Co. Ltd. The switch problem is similar to the defect linked to at least 13 deaths...
Despite a Pledge by Samsung, Child Labor Proves Resilient New York Times ...they were part of a “labor dispatch system” that often funnels child laborers to factories during the summer to help meet a surge in orders that comes just ahead of the fall and winter shopping seasons in the United States and Europe. They were hired as temporary workers, they said, and paid through an agency that has recruitment channels in poor regions...
EFF, Reddit And Others Unite To Fight The Trans Pacific Partnership The Inquirer ...Two letters have been sent, and each takes on a related but different issue with the secretive trade agreement. Each letter has different signatures, and shows the broad, diverse opposition to the TPP...
State Battles
Gov. Scott Walker’s Campaign Violations New York Times ... According to state prosecutors, he was at the helm of a broad and illegal fund-raising effort that involved coordinating with outside spending groups and even controlling them...
Tipped Workers Seek Higher Wage Albany Times Union ...Seven other states have raised the tipped wage to the state minimum wage, including some states with the highest minimum wages in the country, such as Washington. Three of the states have indexed their minimum wage to inflation, something advocates also have called for in New York. Jack Temple, a policy analyst with the National Employment Law Project, said those states with some of the highest minimum wages for all workers also have some of the fastest restaurant industry growth...
Comfort the comfortable (opinion) Toledo Blade ...fully half of this year's $400 million tax cut will go to the top 5 percent of Ohio's taxpayers...
War On Workers
Fixing the Highway Trust Fund Isn't Rocket Science, but Stakes Are High AFL-CIO Now ...Unless Congress takes action, the fund will be depleted completely in less than one month...
One Of The NSA's Original Whistleblowers Says The Goal Is 'Total Population Control' The Guardian ...“The NSA is mass-collecting on everyone”, Binney said, “and it’s said to be about terrorism but inside the US it has stopped zero attacks..."
Detroit Residents Face Water Crisis as 36 Detroit Businesses Owe Over $4.2 Million in Back Bills firedoglake ...Over 7,000 residents already had their service cut off in June alone, before a single business faced the threat of collection. An estimated 40% of Detroit residents stand to lose water access by the end of the city’s brutal campaign to close delinquent accounts...
Mortgage Bankers: ‘Unsustainable Housing Bubble Is Inflating’ Wolf Street ...Six million homeowners in the U.S. are still underwater on their mortgages, with the average negative equity a whopping 33%. Yet with home prices soaring in many cities, total homeowner equity in the U.S. is at its highest level since late 2007. That doesn’t feel like a healthy, sustainable growth situation...
A Devastating Pattern Of Homelessness Among Late Baby Boomers Could Repeat In Millennials Business Insider ...Every decade, the group facing the highest risk of homelessness was born between 1954 and 1963...they came of age in the late 70s and early 80s in a period of depressed wages for unskilled workers, higher youth and young adult unemployment, and rising rental housing costs. At the same time, they faced a proliferation of crack cocaine, leading to social problems and incarceration...
How Inequality Is Hurting Whole Foods Huffington Post ...After popularizing luxury groceries for the well-off, Whole Foods is trying to take the concept to the masses. But amid growing inequality and a sluggish recovery, those masses have gone missing...
Miscellaneous
Report: U.S. Monitored E-mails Of Prominent Muslim Americans, Including Attorneys Washington Post ...A lengthy article published on the Intercept stated that the National Security Agency and the FBI monitored the e-mails of five Muslim Americans under procedures meant to target foreign terrorists and spies...
Fed Sets October End For Bond Buying Wall Street Journal ...Federal Reserve officials agreed at June's policy meeting to end their bond-buying program in October, putting an explicit end date on the experiment for the first time and closing a controversial chapter in central-banking annals with results still the subject of immense debate...
Rage Against The Machine’s Tom Morello Performs, Joins Picketing Truck Drivers At Port Of Los Angeles Terminal Long Beach Press Telegram ...Tom Morello, original member of rock bands Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave, took to a different stage Wednesday when he performed on the picket line at Evergreen Container Terminal at the Port of Los Angeles...
Retailers Step Up Holiday Imports In Case Of A West Coast Port Strike Forbes Magazine ...The dispute extended to the docks when ILWU workers temporarily honored the Teamster pickets and shut down container terminals at both ports on Tuesday, July 8...
Port Truckers’ Strike Sends Ripples Through Labor World MSNBC ...In terms of sheer numbers, the port truckers’ strike is not a major action. Only about 120 drivers walked off the job on Monday, when the strike began. Yet in terms of significance to the labor movement, this small workplace disruption is a national event...
6 minutes a day for bathroom breaks? Union cries foul Chicago Tribune ...Members of the Teamsters Local 743 who build sink stations at WaterSaver Faucet Co. and its sister company Guardian Equipment Inc. said that workers have been disciplined for exceeding their allotted bathroom time of 30 minutes per week, or 6 minutes per workday...
Trade
You have until July 21 to prevent deception in gov’t trade data Trade Reform ...Under a proposed federal rule, an iPhone made in China and sold to Europe could be falsely considered an American export! This dangerous rule would allow the federal government to magically shrink the trade deficit by claiming foreign manufacturing by foreign companies and workers is really USA-made...
GM says defective ignition switch made in China Trade Reform ...The No. 1 U.S. automaker said in a filing on Tuesday with U.S. safety regulators that the switch used in the Chevrolet Impala and Monte Carlo, Buick LaCrosse and Lucerne, and Cadillac DeVille and DTS cars that were recalled on June 16 was made by China-based Dalian Alps Electronics Co. Ltd. The switch problem is similar to the defect linked to at least 13 deaths...
Despite a Pledge by Samsung, Child Labor Proves Resilient New York Times ...they were part of a “labor dispatch system” that often funnels child laborers to factories during the summer to help meet a surge in orders that comes just ahead of the fall and winter shopping seasons in the United States and Europe. They were hired as temporary workers, they said, and paid through an agency that has recruitment channels in poor regions...
EFF, Reddit And Others Unite To Fight The Trans Pacific Partnership The Inquirer ...Two letters have been sent, and each takes on a related but different issue with the secretive trade agreement. Each letter has different signatures, and shows the broad, diverse opposition to the TPP...
State Battles
Gov. Scott Walker’s Campaign Violations New York Times ... According to state prosecutors, he was at the helm of a broad and illegal fund-raising effort that involved coordinating with outside spending groups and even controlling them...
Tipped Workers Seek Higher Wage Albany Times Union ...Seven other states have raised the tipped wage to the state minimum wage, including some states with the highest minimum wages in the country, such as Washington. Three of the states have indexed their minimum wage to inflation, something advocates also have called for in New York. Jack Temple, a policy analyst with the National Employment Law Project, said those states with some of the highest minimum wages for all workers also have some of the fastest restaurant industry growth...
Comfort the comfortable (opinion) Toledo Blade ...fully half of this year's $400 million tax cut will go to the top 5 percent of Ohio's taxpayers...
War On Workers
Fixing the Highway Trust Fund Isn't Rocket Science, but Stakes Are High AFL-CIO Now ...Unless Congress takes action, the fund will be depleted completely in less than one month...
One Of The NSA's Original Whistleblowers Says The Goal Is 'Total Population Control' The Guardian ...“The NSA is mass-collecting on everyone”, Binney said, “and it’s said to be about terrorism but inside the US it has stopped zero attacks..."
Detroit Residents Face Water Crisis as 36 Detroit Businesses Owe Over $4.2 Million in Back Bills firedoglake ...Over 7,000 residents already had their service cut off in June alone, before a single business faced the threat of collection. An estimated 40% of Detroit residents stand to lose water access by the end of the city’s brutal campaign to close delinquent accounts...
Mortgage Bankers: ‘Unsustainable Housing Bubble Is Inflating’ Wolf Street ...Six million homeowners in the U.S. are still underwater on their mortgages, with the average negative equity a whopping 33%. Yet with home prices soaring in many cities, total homeowner equity in the U.S. is at its highest level since late 2007. That doesn’t feel like a healthy, sustainable growth situation...
A Devastating Pattern Of Homelessness Among Late Baby Boomers Could Repeat In Millennials Business Insider ...Every decade, the group facing the highest risk of homelessness was born between 1954 and 1963...they came of age in the late 70s and early 80s in a period of depressed wages for unskilled workers, higher youth and young adult unemployment, and rising rental housing costs. At the same time, they faced a proliferation of crack cocaine, leading to social problems and incarceration...
How Inequality Is Hurting Whole Foods Huffington Post ...After popularizing luxury groceries for the well-off, Whole Foods is trying to take the concept to the masses. But amid growing inequality and a sluggish recovery, those masses have gone missing...
Miscellaneous
Report: U.S. Monitored E-mails Of Prominent Muslim Americans, Including Attorneys Washington Post ...A lengthy article published on the Intercept stated that the National Security Agency and the FBI monitored the e-mails of five Muslim Americans under procedures meant to target foreign terrorists and spies...
Fed Sets October End For Bond Buying Wall Street Journal ...Federal Reserve officials agreed at June's policy meeting to end their bond-buying program in October, putting an explicit end date on the experiment for the first time and closing a controversial chapter in central-banking annals with results still the subject of immense debate...
Sunday, May 4, 2014
Today's Teamster News 05.04.14
Teamster News
Historic Pay For Performance Measure Wins Majority Vote For First Time At A U.S. Public Company teamster.org ... Ken Hall, International Brotherhood of Teamsters General Secretary-Treasurer, (said),“We do not believe executives should receive a guaranteed windfall in the outcome of a change-of-control when receipt of such compensation could have very little to do with the executives’ actual job performance...
Teamsters strike PepsiCo bottling plant over wages Indianapolis Star ...About 345 members of Teamsters Local 135 went on strike Thursday at a PepsiCo bottling plant on Indianapolis’ Northwestside...
Hoffa, Hall Remember Former Rep. Oberstar as Friend of Workers teamster.org ...Jim Oberstar stood up to Fed Ex when it repeatedly tried to shortchange its workforce and gain an advantage over the rest of the package delivery sector under the reauthorization of FAA...
Trade
Recent improvements in US trade deficit are unlikely to last Sober Look ...While the recent improvements in US trade deficit are a positive, they are largely driven by lower net energy imports. As the economy improves, growth in imports due to stronger demand will become the dominant trend, resulting in a downturn in the overall trade balance...
State Battles
Retirement Accounts for Everyone Baseline Scenario ...The Connecticut legislature is considering a bill that create a publicly administered retirement plan that would be open to anyone who works at a company with more than five employees...
War on Workers
Jobs Report: 288K Jobs Added, 806K Dropped out of Work Force Trade Reform ...The deindustrialization of America continues as the lowest paying eight categories of jobs gained in April, high paying jobs in manufacturing had little improvement, and hundreds of thousands of people stopped looking for work...
Subway leads fast food industry in underpaying workers CNN Money ...Individual Subway franchisees have been found in violation of pay and hour rules in more than 1,100 investigations spanning from 2000 to 2013, according to a CNNMoney analysis of data collected by the Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division...
Brazil police accused of 'cleansing' favelas before World Cup football carnival rolls into town Daily Mail ...There has been an orgy of extra-judicial killing by Brazil’s military police – the result of a government crackdown to ‘pacify’ the favelas before the world’s media arrive...
Mutiny of the Lab Rats – Europeans Grow Weary of EU Experiment naked capitalism ...On the one side will be an unruly coalition of far-right and nationalist groups who would like nothing better than to torpedo the European frigate once and for all ... On the other side of the aisle will be a motley crew of leftist parties determined to put an end to the EU’s fetish for austerity measures and bank bailouts...
Homeless Grandmother Arrested 59 Times for Sitting on Sidewalk Alternet ...as part of a decade-long effort to "clean up" Skid Row in Los Angeles (i.e. run the homeless out of the area to ease development), the city of LA has spent at least a quarter of a million dollars arresting, prosecuting and jailing just one homeless woman, 59-year-old Ann Moody, mostly for sitting on a public sidewalk...
"The Divide: American Injustice in the Age of the Wealth Gap" *opinion) truthout ...People are beginning to become disturbingly comfortable with a kind of official hypocrisy. Bizarrely, for instance, we’ve become numb to the idea that rights aren’t absolute but are enjoyed on a kind of sliding scale...
Historic Pay For Performance Measure Wins Majority Vote For First Time At A U.S. Public Company teamster.org ... Ken Hall, International Brotherhood of Teamsters General Secretary-Treasurer, (said),“We do not believe executives should receive a guaranteed windfall in the outcome of a change-of-control when receipt of such compensation could have very little to do with the executives’ actual job performance...
Teamsters strike PepsiCo bottling plant over wages Indianapolis Star ...About 345 members of Teamsters Local 135 went on strike Thursday at a PepsiCo bottling plant on Indianapolis’ Northwestside...
Hoffa, Hall Remember Former Rep. Oberstar as Friend of Workers teamster.org ...Jim Oberstar stood up to Fed Ex when it repeatedly tried to shortchange its workforce and gain an advantage over the rest of the package delivery sector under the reauthorization of FAA...
Trade
Recent improvements in US trade deficit are unlikely to last Sober Look ...While the recent improvements in US trade deficit are a positive, they are largely driven by lower net energy imports. As the economy improves, growth in imports due to stronger demand will become the dominant trend, resulting in a downturn in the overall trade balance...
State Battles
Retirement Accounts for Everyone Baseline Scenario ...The Connecticut legislature is considering a bill that create a publicly administered retirement plan that would be open to anyone who works at a company with more than five employees...
War on Workers
Jobs Report: 288K Jobs Added, 806K Dropped out of Work Force Trade Reform ...The deindustrialization of America continues as the lowest paying eight categories of jobs gained in April, high paying jobs in manufacturing had little improvement, and hundreds of thousands of people stopped looking for work...
Subway leads fast food industry in underpaying workers CNN Money ...Individual Subway franchisees have been found in violation of pay and hour rules in more than 1,100 investigations spanning from 2000 to 2013, according to a CNNMoney analysis of data collected by the Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division...
Brazil police accused of 'cleansing' favelas before World Cup football carnival rolls into town Daily Mail ...There has been an orgy of extra-judicial killing by Brazil’s military police – the result of a government crackdown to ‘pacify’ the favelas before the world’s media arrive...
Mutiny of the Lab Rats – Europeans Grow Weary of EU Experiment naked capitalism ...On the one side will be an unruly coalition of far-right and nationalist groups who would like nothing better than to torpedo the European frigate once and for all ... On the other side of the aisle will be a motley crew of leftist parties determined to put an end to the EU’s fetish for austerity measures and bank bailouts...
Homeless Grandmother Arrested 59 Times for Sitting on Sidewalk Alternet ...as part of a decade-long effort to "clean up" Skid Row in Los Angeles (i.e. run the homeless out of the area to ease development), the city of LA has spent at least a quarter of a million dollars arresting, prosecuting and jailing just one homeless woman, 59-year-old Ann Moody, mostly for sitting on a public sidewalk...
"The Divide: American Injustice in the Age of the Wealth Gap" *opinion) truthout ...People are beginning to become disturbingly comfortable with a kind of official hypocrisy. Bizarrely, for instance, we’ve become numb to the idea that rights aren’t absolute but are enjoyed on a kind of sliding scale...
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
Today's Teamster News 04.01.14
Teamster News
CCTA Management and Drivers Still Make No Deal Burlington Free Press ...After another marathon negotiation session, no deal was reached between Chittenden County Transportation Authority management and the Teamsters Local 597 bus drivers' union, the two sides said Saturday...
City of Chicago Member wins Primary Election for Cook County Board Local 700 ...Teamsters Local 700 member Luis Arroyo, Jr. will soon transition from a motor truck driver for the City of Chicago to a democratic nominee for the Cook County Board of Commissioners...
Tom O’Donnell Replaces Leo Reed As Director Of Teamsters Deadline Hollywood ...Tom O’Donnell, the current president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 817 in New York, has been named director of the Teamsters Motion Picture and Theatrical Trades Division, replacing the venerable Leo Reed, who left the post in January after 25 years at the helm...
Teamsters: Lack of county pay raises hurts services Topeka Capital Journal ...Shawnee County’s ability to provide quality services is suffering because the county commission isn’t giving employees pay raises, Teamsters Union members said at Monday’s commission meeting...
Trade
Trans-Pacific Partnership: Geopolitics, Not Growth The National Interest ...If you have to pick a winner, it’s Vietnam by a significant margin. By 2025, Vietnam would stand to gain nearly $96 billion or 28 percent of its GDP. This is largely due to exports increasing an estimated 37 percent...
Why do a majority of Americans oppose fast-tracking the TPP? The New American ...A recent poll reveals a majority of Americans oppose giving President Obama an end run around the constitution by fast tracking the Trans Pacific Partnership...
State Battles
Right to Work Vote in Missouri House Could Have Narrow Margin St. Louis Post-Dispatch ...One business priority touted by Republican Leadership has been slow to move out of the Missouri House this session. Right-to-work legislation has stalled partly because of divisions within the Republican Party and concerns the issue could endanger Republicans in swing districts...
Employee misclassification affects Illinois workers' compensation benefits Digital Journal ...The independent contractor versus employee classification may affect whether you will qualify for workers' compensation benefits following an on-the-job injury...
New York state joins NYC in suing FedEx for shipping untaxed cigarettes Reuters ...New York State joined New York City in suing package delivery company FedEx Corp for allegedly violating state and federal laws by illegally delivering contraband cigarettes to people's homes...
New York Times suggests Wisconsin voting changes are part of larger GOP swing-state effort Cap Times ...A story this weekend notes that laws like the new one to reduce voting hours in Wisconsin are also being passed in other states where the electorate swings between Republicans and Democrats...
'Paycheck protection' lets some workers get free benefits (Opinion) Patriot News ...The Paycheck Protection Act would destroy the current system of union dues and fair share payments for public employees and put in its place an unfair one...
Detroit: bankrupt city readies for divisive $450m Red Wings arena The Guardian ...Billionaire Mike Illitch to build new hockey stadium but critics question use of $284.5m of public money...
Arizona GOP gives private prison company $1 million to house inmates who don’t exist Raw Story ...Lobbyists for the private prison company GEO Group convinced lawmakers to include almost $1 million extra in funding despite the fact that the Arizona Department of Corrections claimed the money wasn’t needed...
War on Workers
U.S. Regulators Say Oil Industry Withholding Data on Rail Crashes Oil Price ...Federal regulators said on March 28 that the oil industry was withholding key information related to the series of train derailments and explosions involving transporting crude oil...
Chemical industry-funded senators want to hide chemical industry funding of studies Raw Story ...OSHA chief David Michaels wants to update guidelines for working with silica dust, a significant hazard for construction workers and others exposed to the industrial byproduct that can cause lung cancer and other deadly diseases...
Walmart Realizes It’s Losing Billions Of Dollars By Denying Workers More Hours ThinkProgress ...Walmart will begin adding worker hours this year as part of an effort to address complaints about empty shelves at the company’s understaffed stores. Fixing the chain’s stocking problems could be worth $3 billion per year, a tacit acknowledgment that Walmart’s notorious efforts to wring productivity out of skeleton crews have hurt its bottom line...
Walmart Has A Lower Hiring Rate Than Harvard Admissions Rates Crooks and Liars ...It’s hard to find oneself among the freshman class at America’s top universities–and it should be! However, you may find it surprising to know that it is actually tougher to find a job at Walmart than it is to attend one of these schools...
Payday loans, overdraft fees can drain finances Post and Courier ...A new federal report has detailed reasons why payday lending is a financial horror that traps people in a cycle of high-interest debt...
Miscellaneous
New Alabama food truck regulations prevent local churches from feeding the homeless The Raw Story ...Food truck regulations that went into effect on January 1, 2014 are preventing churches in Birmingham, Alabama from feeding the homeless...
CCTA Management and Drivers Still Make No Deal Burlington Free Press ...After another marathon negotiation session, no deal was reached between Chittenden County Transportation Authority management and the Teamsters Local 597 bus drivers' union, the two sides said Saturday...
City of Chicago Member wins Primary Election for Cook County Board Local 700 ...Teamsters Local 700 member Luis Arroyo, Jr. will soon transition from a motor truck driver for the City of Chicago to a democratic nominee for the Cook County Board of Commissioners...
Tom O’Donnell Replaces Leo Reed As Director Of Teamsters Deadline Hollywood ...Tom O’Donnell, the current president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 817 in New York, has been named director of the Teamsters Motion Picture and Theatrical Trades Division, replacing the venerable Leo Reed, who left the post in January after 25 years at the helm...
Teamsters: Lack of county pay raises hurts services Topeka Capital Journal ...Shawnee County’s ability to provide quality services is suffering because the county commission isn’t giving employees pay raises, Teamsters Union members said at Monday’s commission meeting...
Trade
Trans-Pacific Partnership: Geopolitics, Not Growth The National Interest ...If you have to pick a winner, it’s Vietnam by a significant margin. By 2025, Vietnam would stand to gain nearly $96 billion or 28 percent of its GDP. This is largely due to exports increasing an estimated 37 percent...
Why do a majority of Americans oppose fast-tracking the TPP? The New American ...A recent poll reveals a majority of Americans oppose giving President Obama an end run around the constitution by fast tracking the Trans Pacific Partnership...
State Battles
Right to Work Vote in Missouri House Could Have Narrow Margin St. Louis Post-Dispatch ...One business priority touted by Republican Leadership has been slow to move out of the Missouri House this session. Right-to-work legislation has stalled partly because of divisions within the Republican Party and concerns the issue could endanger Republicans in swing districts...
Employee misclassification affects Illinois workers' compensation benefits Digital Journal ...The independent contractor versus employee classification may affect whether you will qualify for workers' compensation benefits following an on-the-job injury...
New York state joins NYC in suing FedEx for shipping untaxed cigarettes Reuters ...New York State joined New York City in suing package delivery company FedEx Corp for allegedly violating state and federal laws by illegally delivering contraband cigarettes to people's homes...
New York Times suggests Wisconsin voting changes are part of larger GOP swing-state effort Cap Times ...A story this weekend notes that laws like the new one to reduce voting hours in Wisconsin are also being passed in other states where the electorate swings between Republicans and Democrats...
'Paycheck protection' lets some workers get free benefits (Opinion) Patriot News ...The Paycheck Protection Act would destroy the current system of union dues and fair share payments for public employees and put in its place an unfair one...
Detroit: bankrupt city readies for divisive $450m Red Wings arena The Guardian ...Billionaire Mike Illitch to build new hockey stadium but critics question use of $284.5m of public money...
Arizona GOP gives private prison company $1 million to house inmates who don’t exist Raw Story ...Lobbyists for the private prison company GEO Group convinced lawmakers to include almost $1 million extra in funding despite the fact that the Arizona Department of Corrections claimed the money wasn’t needed...
War on Workers
U.S. Regulators Say Oil Industry Withholding Data on Rail Crashes Oil Price ...Federal regulators said on March 28 that the oil industry was withholding key information related to the series of train derailments and explosions involving transporting crude oil...
Chemical industry-funded senators want to hide chemical industry funding of studies Raw Story ...OSHA chief David Michaels wants to update guidelines for working with silica dust, a significant hazard for construction workers and others exposed to the industrial byproduct that can cause lung cancer and other deadly diseases...
Walmart Realizes It’s Losing Billions Of Dollars By Denying Workers More Hours ThinkProgress ...Walmart will begin adding worker hours this year as part of an effort to address complaints about empty shelves at the company’s understaffed stores. Fixing the chain’s stocking problems could be worth $3 billion per year, a tacit acknowledgment that Walmart’s notorious efforts to wring productivity out of skeleton crews have hurt its bottom line...
Walmart Has A Lower Hiring Rate Than Harvard Admissions Rates Crooks and Liars ...It’s hard to find oneself among the freshman class at America’s top universities–and it should be! However, you may find it surprising to know that it is actually tougher to find a job at Walmart than it is to attend one of these schools...
Payday loans, overdraft fees can drain finances Post and Courier ...A new federal report has detailed reasons why payday lending is a financial horror that traps people in a cycle of high-interest debt...
Miscellaneous
New Alabama food truck regulations prevent local churches from feeding the homeless The Raw Story ...Food truck regulations that went into effect on January 1, 2014 are preventing churches in Birmingham, Alabama from feeding the homeless...
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
Today's Teamster News 02.19.14
Teamster News
Seattle School Bus Drivers Prepare for Strike teamster.org ...Teamsters Local 174 represents more than 450 school bus drivers who transport K-12 students for the Seattle School District and are preparing to strike over unfair labor practice charges after First Student broke off talks and walked away from negotiations...
Bay Valley workers hold rally as strike continues saukvalley.com ...The Teamsters Local 722 workers went on strike at 11 p.m. last Thursday, after their contract with Bay Valley Foods, a Green Bay-based company, expired Dec. 28....
Trade
TPP Trade Officials Received Hefty Bonuses From Big Banks Republic Report ...Michael Froman, the current U.S. Trade Representative, received over $4 million as part of multiple exit payments when he left CitiGroup...
State Battles
Catching Up: Ticketed Capitol singers preparing to turn tables on the state Wisconsin State Journal ...The state could soon face thousands of dollars in civil rights lawsuits stemming from hundreds of tickets issued to singing protesters at the Capitol last summer...
Business tax replacements doomed to fail (opinion) Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette ...Our governor and legislature have been calling for the elimination of the business personal property tax, which has led to panic among local government officials because of the $1 billion negative effect on local revenue...
After comment to Gov. McCrory, food store cook fired in Charlotte Charlotte News & Observer ...On Sunday afternoon, McCrory was shopping at Reid’s Fine Foods when Drew Swope, a 45-year-old cook, said he asked if he could help McCrory. After realizing he was speaking with the governor, whom he disagrees with politically, Swope said he told McCrory, “Thanks for nothing,” and walked away...
Workers Shouldn’t Be Stopped from Voting -- Ever teamster.org ...GOP lawmakers in Georgia are behind legislation that would tighten the early voting window for municipal elections in the state...
The War on Workers
More workers take second jobs to bridge income gap Boston Globe ...‘‘More people have actually entered and remained in the underground economy than we have seen before,’’ he said. Workers are trying to raise their income even as job growth is sluggish, he said. So while employed, they may also do handyman repairs, or tutor, or fix computers...
Low-Wage Workers Have Experienced Wage Erosion in Nearly Every State Economic Policy Institute ... Between 2009 and 2013, low-wage earners’ wages declined in every state except three (West Virginia, Mississippi and North Dakota). Real (i.e. inflation-adjusted) wage erosion was greatest in Maryland (-$1.24), Massachusetts (-$1.18), and New Jersey (-$1.16) during this period...
Homeland Security is seeking a national license plate tracking system Washington Post ...The Department of Homeland Security wants a private company to provide a national license-plate tracking system that would give the agency access to vast amounts of information from commercial and law enforcement tag readers, according to a government proposal that does not specify what privacy safeguards would be put in place...
How Big Banks Are Cashing In On Food Stamps American Prospect ...Many benefit programs have gone high tech with debit cards and J.P. Morgan Chase and others are making a pretty penny charging users fees...
Seattle School Bus Drivers Prepare for Strike teamster.org ...Teamsters Local 174 represents more than 450 school bus drivers who transport K-12 students for the Seattle School District and are preparing to strike over unfair labor practice charges after First Student broke off talks and walked away from negotiations...
Bay Valley workers hold rally as strike continues saukvalley.com ...The Teamsters Local 722 workers went on strike at 11 p.m. last Thursday, after their contract with Bay Valley Foods, a Green Bay-based company, expired Dec. 28....
Trade
TPP Trade Officials Received Hefty Bonuses From Big Banks Republic Report ...Michael Froman, the current U.S. Trade Representative, received over $4 million as part of multiple exit payments when he left CitiGroup...
State Battles
Catching Up: Ticketed Capitol singers preparing to turn tables on the state Wisconsin State Journal ...The state could soon face thousands of dollars in civil rights lawsuits stemming from hundreds of tickets issued to singing protesters at the Capitol last summer...
Business tax replacements doomed to fail (opinion) Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette ...Our governor and legislature have been calling for the elimination of the business personal property tax, which has led to panic among local government officials because of the $1 billion negative effect on local revenue...
After comment to Gov. McCrory, food store cook fired in Charlotte Charlotte News & Observer ...On Sunday afternoon, McCrory was shopping at Reid’s Fine Foods when Drew Swope, a 45-year-old cook, said he asked if he could help McCrory. After realizing he was speaking with the governor, whom he disagrees with politically, Swope said he told McCrory, “Thanks for nothing,” and walked away...
Workers Shouldn’t Be Stopped from Voting -- Ever teamster.org ...GOP lawmakers in Georgia are behind legislation that would tighten the early voting window for municipal elections in the state...
The War on Workers
More workers take second jobs to bridge income gap Boston Globe ...‘‘More people have actually entered and remained in the underground economy than we have seen before,’’ he said. Workers are trying to raise their income even as job growth is sluggish, he said. So while employed, they may also do handyman repairs, or tutor, or fix computers...
Low-Wage Workers Have Experienced Wage Erosion in Nearly Every State Economic Policy Institute ... Between 2009 and 2013, low-wage earners’ wages declined in every state except three (West Virginia, Mississippi and North Dakota). Real (i.e. inflation-adjusted) wage erosion was greatest in Maryland (-$1.24), Massachusetts (-$1.18), and New Jersey (-$1.16) during this period...
Homeland Security is seeking a national license plate tracking system Washington Post ...The Department of Homeland Security wants a private company to provide a national license-plate tracking system that would give the agency access to vast amounts of information from commercial and law enforcement tag readers, according to a government proposal that does not specify what privacy safeguards would be put in place...
How Big Banks Are Cashing In On Food Stamps American Prospect ...Many benefit programs have gone high tech with debit cards and J.P. Morgan Chase and others are making a pretty penny charging users fees...
Student debt may hurt housing recovery by hampering first-time buyers Washington Post ...loan applications for home purchases have slipped nearly 20 percent in the past four months compared with the same period a year earlier...
5 of the strangest lawsuits making headlines Inside Counsel ... the servers at several eastern Pennsylvania Red Robin restaurants had another uniform-related problem: They claim their employer illegally took deductions from employee paychecks to pay for uniforms...
Will a Minimum Wage Hike Really Cost Jobs? The Nation ...Several economists Tuesday, including Jason Furman and Betsy Stevenson at the White House, stressed that the CBO report doesn’t match the “consensus view” of economists...
Miscellaneous
Exclusive: Mega-donors plan GOP war council Politico ...A group of major GOP donors, led by New York billionaire Paul Singer, is quietly expanding its political footprint ahead of the midterm elections in an increasingly assertive effort to shape the direction of the Republican Party...
Angry Residents Wave Pitchforks, Torches In Protest Of Mayor's Crackdown On Homelessness Huffington Post ...An estimated 4,000 people sleep on the streets of Portland, Ore., on any given night and, since last summer, life has become increasingly difficult for them. So, a group of protesters descended upon Portland City Hall on Tuesday night carrying pitchforks and torches to "shame the mayor into action," ...
Train accidents stir worries about crude transport Associated Press ...Experts say recent efforts to improve the safety of oil shipments belie an unsettling fact: With increasing volumes of crude now moving by rail, it's become impossible to send oil-hauling trains to refineries without passing major population centers, where more lives and property are at risk...
JP Morgan Banker Jumps to his Death From Hong Kong Skyscraper International Business Times ...His death comes as a London coroner's office gathers evidence into the death of JP Morgan IT executive Gabriel Magee, who is thought to have leapt to his death from the roof of the investment bank's European headquarters in Canary Wharf last month. The incident also follows the apparent suicide of US JP Morgan banker Ryan Crane, who was found dead at his Connecticut home on February 3...
5 of the strangest lawsuits making headlines Inside Counsel ... the servers at several eastern Pennsylvania Red Robin restaurants had another uniform-related problem: They claim their employer illegally took deductions from employee paychecks to pay for uniforms...
Will a Minimum Wage Hike Really Cost Jobs? The Nation ...Several economists Tuesday, including Jason Furman and Betsy Stevenson at the White House, stressed that the CBO report doesn’t match the “consensus view” of economists...
Miscellaneous
Exclusive: Mega-donors plan GOP war council Politico ...A group of major GOP donors, led by New York billionaire Paul Singer, is quietly expanding its political footprint ahead of the midterm elections in an increasingly assertive effort to shape the direction of the Republican Party...
Angry Residents Wave Pitchforks, Torches In Protest Of Mayor's Crackdown On Homelessness Huffington Post ...An estimated 4,000 people sleep on the streets of Portland, Ore., on any given night and, since last summer, life has become increasingly difficult for them. So, a group of protesters descended upon Portland City Hall on Tuesday night carrying pitchforks and torches to "shame the mayor into action," ...
Train accidents stir worries about crude transport Associated Press ...Experts say recent efforts to improve the safety of oil shipments belie an unsettling fact: With increasing volumes of crude now moving by rail, it's become impossible to send oil-hauling trains to refineries without passing major population centers, where more lives and property are at risk...
JP Morgan Banker Jumps to his Death From Hong Kong Skyscraper International Business Times ...His death comes as a London coroner's office gathers evidence into the death of JP Morgan IT executive Gabriel Magee, who is thought to have leapt to his death from the roof of the investment bank's European headquarters in Canary Wharf last month. The incident also follows the apparent suicide of US JP Morgan banker Ryan Crane, who was found dead at his Connecticut home on February 3...
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
Pensacola ratchets down attacks on homeless people -- a little
It's a step, but it isn't enough.
The City Council last week voted to repeal the ban on blankets, but the matter has to go to a second reading. And it can get cold in Pensacola these days.
A local civil rights attorney, Alistair McKenzie, begged the council to repeal other laws that increase the suffering of homeless people. In Pensacola, it's illegal for homeless people to wash or shave in public restrooms, relieve themselves on public property or ask for money:
… I want to implore with you for your humanity, your Christianity, whatever sense of morals that you have, that you eliminate all of these ordinances.The Council refused.
Billionaire sociopaths like to run their yaps about the poor needing to work harder. But they fail to mention the poor, unlike the billionaire sociopaths, have to fight the power of the state in ways that billionaire sociopaths can't even imagine.
Father Nathan Monk, not a billionaire sociopath, created a petition you can sign here to urge Pensacola to repeal the ban.
Friday, February 7, 2014
Today's Teamster News 02.07.14
Senate Fails to Pass Three-Month Extension of Jobless Aid New York Times ...The Senate failed to move forward on a three-month extension of assistance for the long-term unemployed on Thursday, leaving it unlikely that Congress would approve the measure soon while undercutting a key aspect of President Obama’s economic recovery plan...
Fast-Track Bill’s Path in Congress Gets Bumpier Wall Street Journal ...In 2002, 27 of 222 House Republicans voted “no” on whether to give President George W. Bush fast-track authority. This time, some 60 House Republicans might oppose the legislation, according to estimates from two people following the matter...
Annual U.S. trade deficit with China sets new record in 2013 manufacture this ...Since 2009, the trade deficit with China has risen by 40%...
Report: For-profit probation industry hurts America’s poorest Salon ...in several states, private firms with little-to-no oversight or regulation supervise draconian probation plans, which hits the poorest the hardest. Many of these probation cases relate to unpaid fees in the first, rendering the probation charges disproportionately punitive for the poorest offenders...
Why Walmart is getting too expensive for the middle class Yahoo Finance ...Walmart is struggling with weak sales and an underperforming stock price. The company recently cut its profit outlook...
The Highly Educated Working Poor, Toiling at a University Near You AlterNet ...They're strategizing, organizing and mobilizing against the immoral economics of inequality being hung around America's neck by the likes of Wal-Mart, McDonald's and colleges...
Private construction payrolls continue to show resilience Sober Look ...Over the past 5 months the proportion of jobs from construction has remained unusually stable - from 10 to 15% of total new monthly private payrolls...
Elizabeth Warren: Let's Stop Scamming Our Vets Mother Jones ...This week, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) introduced legislation along with Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) that would protect elderly veterans from financial scams and sketchy financial advisers...
The Top Priority in the Missouri State Legislature? Lowering Your Wages AFSCME ...The very first bill to receive a hearing in this year’s legislative session in Jefferson City was HB 1099, a so-called “right-to-work” measure aimed at undermining unions. It’s just one of many union-busting bills on the calendar this year...
California Drought Impact Seen Spreading From Fires to Food Cost Bloomberg ...The drought that’s gripping California may soon have the rest of the country seeking relief. The emergency, which follows the state’s driest year on record, is likely to boost the prices of everything from broccoli to cauliflower nationwide. Farmers and truckers stand to lose billions in revenue, weakening an already fragile recovery in the nation’s most-populous state...
Duke Energy plant reports coal-ash spill Charlotte Observer ...Duke Energy said Monday that 50,000 to 82,000 tons of coal ash and up to 27 million gallons of water were released from a pond at its retired power plant in Eden into the Dan River, and were still flowing...
Candidate opposes right-to-work step The Tribune-Democrat ...“I don’t really understand the logic behind it. In a democratic system, where the majority of workers vote to join a union, I’m not sure what gives a minority the right to say ‘we’ll take advantage of the benefits of the union, but we’re not going to pay for the cost.’...
Michigan governor's budget includes money for Detroit pensions Reuters ...In what would be a major step toward resolving Detroit's historic bankruptcy case, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder on Wednesday unveiled plans to use state funds to help pay for Detroit worker pensions in his proposed $52.1 billion state budget...
Vermont Students, Workers Object to Tuition Dollars Being Used to Fund Poverty Wages Truthout ...Rising tuition, faculty cuts and non-living wages for janitors and food workers in Vermont institutions of higher learning are prompting student labor organizers to ask if tuition dollars should be used to exacerbate inequality...
Fast-Track Bill’s Path in Congress Gets Bumpier Wall Street Journal ...In 2002, 27 of 222 House Republicans voted “no” on whether to give President George W. Bush fast-track authority. This time, some 60 House Republicans might oppose the legislation, according to estimates from two people following the matter...
Annual U.S. trade deficit with China sets new record in 2013 manufacture this ...Since 2009, the trade deficit with China has risen by 40%...
Report: For-profit probation industry hurts America’s poorest Salon ...in several states, private firms with little-to-no oversight or regulation supervise draconian probation plans, which hits the poorest the hardest. Many of these probation cases relate to unpaid fees in the first, rendering the probation charges disproportionately punitive for the poorest offenders...
Why Walmart is getting too expensive for the middle class Yahoo Finance ...Walmart is struggling with weak sales and an underperforming stock price. The company recently cut its profit outlook...
The Highly Educated Working Poor, Toiling at a University Near You AlterNet ...They're strategizing, organizing and mobilizing against the immoral economics of inequality being hung around America's neck by the likes of Wal-Mart, McDonald's and colleges...
Private construction payrolls continue to show resilience Sober Look ...Over the past 5 months the proportion of jobs from construction has remained unusually stable - from 10 to 15% of total new monthly private payrolls...
Elizabeth Warren: Let's Stop Scamming Our Vets Mother Jones ...This week, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) introduced legislation along with Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) that would protect elderly veterans from financial scams and sketchy financial advisers...
The Top Priority in the Missouri State Legislature? Lowering Your Wages AFSCME ...The very first bill to receive a hearing in this year’s legislative session in Jefferson City was HB 1099, a so-called “right-to-work” measure aimed at undermining unions. It’s just one of many union-busting bills on the calendar this year...
California Drought Impact Seen Spreading From Fires to Food Cost Bloomberg ...The drought that’s gripping California may soon have the rest of the country seeking relief. The emergency, which follows the state’s driest year on record, is likely to boost the prices of everything from broccoli to cauliflower nationwide. Farmers and truckers stand to lose billions in revenue, weakening an already fragile recovery in the nation’s most-populous state...
Duke Energy plant reports coal-ash spill Charlotte Observer ...Duke Energy said Monday that 50,000 to 82,000 tons of coal ash and up to 27 million gallons of water were released from a pond at its retired power plant in Eden into the Dan River, and were still flowing...
Candidate opposes right-to-work step The Tribune-Democrat ...“I don’t really understand the logic behind it. In a democratic system, where the majority of workers vote to join a union, I’m not sure what gives a minority the right to say ‘we’ll take advantage of the benefits of the union, but we’re not going to pay for the cost.’...
Michigan governor's budget includes money for Detroit pensions Reuters ...In what would be a major step toward resolving Detroit's historic bankruptcy case, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder on Wednesday unveiled plans to use state funds to help pay for Detroit worker pensions in his proposed $52.1 billion state budget...
Vermont Students, Workers Object to Tuition Dollars Being Used to Fund Poverty Wages Truthout ...Rising tuition, faculty cuts and non-living wages for janitors and food workers in Vermont institutions of higher learning are prompting student labor organizers to ask if tuition dollars should be used to exacerbate inequality...
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
Today's Teamster News 01.22.14
Local Union Leaders Endorse YRCW Tentative Agreement teamster.org ...Yesterday, leaders from Teamster local unions that represent workers at YRC Worldwide Inc. overwhelmingly recommended to approve a tentative agreement and to send it out to the members for a vote...
Meet the New Kochs: The DeVos Clan's Plan to Defund the Left Mother Jones ...They beat Big Labor in its own backyard. Next up: your state?...
Labor Finds an Unlikely Savior in Scalia In These Times...On Tuesday morning, something curious happened at the Supreme Court: Justice Antonin Scalia gave a full-throated defense of public-sector unions. The case, Harris v. Quinn, involves the narrow question of whether or not Illinois home healthcare workers are public employees and if they are permitted to join public-sector unions...
In Memphis, Locked-Out Kellogg Workers Evoke MLK’s Legacy In These Times ...Union workers picket outside Kellogg's Memphis plant after being locked out for refusing to accept lower pay and more part-time positions..
This Deep Red State Could Be Next To Have Paid Family Leave ThinkProgress ...On Thursday, a group of Nebraska state Senators introduced a package of legislation aimed at helping the state’s workers, including a measure that would create a paid family leave program…
Corporations Hoard Cash While Americans Go Without A Job Economic Populist ...The amount of cash multinational corporations are stashing is at an all time high and economists are wondering why...
Five big questions about the massive chemical spill in West Virginia Washington Post ...A closer look at what the Elk River spill says about America’s outdated chemical-safety laws...
What I Learned from a Week on Food Stamps: Paul Ryan Couldn’t Be Any More Wrong The Salon ...Republicans have their sights set on food-stamp cuts that would devastate lower-income Americans...
Surge In Homeless Deaths Expected Over Next Decade Unless We Act ThinkProgress ...Hundreds of thousands of homeless people could die over the next decade as the homeless population in the United States grows older but continues to lack access to proper housing, food, or medical care...
Foreclosure Settlement Still Failing 700,000 Families One Year Later Huffington Post ...One year after federal bank regulators pledged that a nearly $10 billion legal settlement would quickly deliver cash to foreclosure abuse victims, hundreds of thousands of people are still checking their mailboxes each day, only to find them empty...
Meet the New Kochs: The DeVos Clan's Plan to Defund the Left Mother Jones ...They beat Big Labor in its own backyard. Next up: your state?...
Labor Finds an Unlikely Savior in Scalia In These Times...On Tuesday morning, something curious happened at the Supreme Court: Justice Antonin Scalia gave a full-throated defense of public-sector unions. The case, Harris v. Quinn, involves the narrow question of whether or not Illinois home healthcare workers are public employees and if they are permitted to join public-sector unions...
In Memphis, Locked-Out Kellogg Workers Evoke MLK’s Legacy In These Times ...Union workers picket outside Kellogg's Memphis plant after being locked out for refusing to accept lower pay and more part-time positions..
This Deep Red State Could Be Next To Have Paid Family Leave ThinkProgress ...On Thursday, a group of Nebraska state Senators introduced a package of legislation aimed at helping the state’s workers, including a measure that would create a paid family leave program…
Corporations Hoard Cash While Americans Go Without A Job Economic Populist ...The amount of cash multinational corporations are stashing is at an all time high and economists are wondering why...
Five big questions about the massive chemical spill in West Virginia Washington Post ...A closer look at what the Elk River spill says about America’s outdated chemical-safety laws...
What I Learned from a Week on Food Stamps: Paul Ryan Couldn’t Be Any More Wrong The Salon ...Republicans have their sights set on food-stamp cuts that would devastate lower-income Americans...
Surge In Homeless Deaths Expected Over Next Decade Unless We Act ThinkProgress ...Hundreds of thousands of homeless people could die over the next decade as the homeless population in the United States grows older but continues to lack access to proper housing, food, or medical care...
Foreclosure Settlement Still Failing 700,000 Families One Year Later Huffington Post ...One year after federal bank regulators pledged that a nearly $10 billion legal settlement would quickly deliver cash to foreclosure abuse victims, hundreds of thousands of people are still checking their mailboxes each day, only to find them empty...
Sunday, January 19, 2014
Today's Teamster News 01.19.14
Who Speaks for the Carriage Horses? New York Times ...“Ban them?” the mother, Lesley Fabri, 60, exclaimed after her ride. “That’s the whole reason we’re here!”...
Carriage rides have a certain magic (opinion) Livingtson County News ...I will decline to go down the rabbit hole of debating the issue more than to say that the carriage business in New York and other major cities is perfectly legal and well-regulated...
Industry powers with access to TPP plans lavish money on Congress RT.com ... current members of Congress received around US$24 million in the last ten years from organizations represented on an exclusive industry board, created and staffed by Congress. This board has inside access - such as not even granted to members of Congress, much less the public - to the highly-secretive negotiations of the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, which promises to give powerful industry players more clout over global trade rights...
Insight: Battle over police pensions in U.S. cities takes ugly turn Reuters ...A drive by some American cities to cut costly police retirement benefits has led to an extraordinary face-off between local politicians and the law enforcement officers who work for them...
Freedom Industries, Company Behind West Virginia Chemical Spill, Files For Bankruptcy Huffington Post ...The company behind the massive chemical spill that made tap water unsafe for more than 300,000 West Virginians has filed for bankruptcy...
South Korea pulled strings as Cambodia’s military cracked down on protesters Global Post ...As workers who stitch for Western brands demand a livable wage, South Korea urged Cambodian forces to protect corporate interests...
Hershey's to make 3-D chocolate printer CNN Money ...Because apparently Americans don't have easy enough access to junk food, soon getting a candy bar could be as easy as hitting "print."...
A nearly 17-year-old is reportedly author of malware that led to Target’s data breach Wall Street Journal ...The Target Corp. data breach that has hurt its sales and has made many consumers skittish about using their cards has been traced to a Russian teenager who authored the malware used in the security breach, according to a cyber-intelligence firm...
@Work Advice: Homeless, not hopeless Washington Post ...A competent junior co-worker recently confided to me that he has been living out of his car since his lease ended a month ago. He has acquired credit card debt while being underpaid and working long hours for two years at our 50-person organization. His finances are reaching a breaking point...
Missouri at center of new GM, Ford pickup rollouts St. Louis Post Dispatch ...When production of these new pickups starts this year, Missouri will become an epicenter of pickup production in the U.S., with thousands of the vehicles rolling off assembly lines every week...
Carriage rides have a certain magic (opinion) Livingtson County News ...I will decline to go down the rabbit hole of debating the issue more than to say that the carriage business in New York and other major cities is perfectly legal and well-regulated...
Industry powers with access to TPP plans lavish money on Congress RT.com ... current members of Congress received around US$24 million in the last ten years from organizations represented on an exclusive industry board, created and staffed by Congress. This board has inside access - such as not even granted to members of Congress, much less the public - to the highly-secretive negotiations of the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, which promises to give powerful industry players more clout over global trade rights...
Insight: Battle over police pensions in U.S. cities takes ugly turn Reuters ...A drive by some American cities to cut costly police retirement benefits has led to an extraordinary face-off between local politicians and the law enforcement officers who work for them...
Freedom Industries, Company Behind West Virginia Chemical Spill, Files For Bankruptcy Huffington Post ...The company behind the massive chemical spill that made tap water unsafe for more than 300,000 West Virginians has filed for bankruptcy...
South Korea pulled strings as Cambodia’s military cracked down on protesters Global Post ...As workers who stitch for Western brands demand a livable wage, South Korea urged Cambodian forces to protect corporate interests...
Hershey's to make 3-D chocolate printer CNN Money ...Because apparently Americans don't have easy enough access to junk food, soon getting a candy bar could be as easy as hitting "print."...
A nearly 17-year-old is reportedly author of malware that led to Target’s data breach Wall Street Journal ...The Target Corp. data breach that has hurt its sales and has made many consumers skittish about using their cards has been traced to a Russian teenager who authored the malware used in the security breach, according to a cyber-intelligence firm...
@Work Advice: Homeless, not hopeless Washington Post ...A competent junior co-worker recently confided to me that he has been living out of his car since his lease ended a month ago. He has acquired credit card debt while being underpaid and working long hours for two years at our 50-person organization. His finances are reaching a breaking point...
Missouri at center of new GM, Ford pickup rollouts St. Louis Post Dispatch ...When production of these new pickups starts this year, Missouri will become an epicenter of pickup production in the U.S., with thousands of the vehicles rolling off assembly lines every week...
Tuesday, December 24, 2013
Today's Teamster News 12.24.13
Just a reminder we will resume posting Teamster News on Monday, Dec. 30.
U.S. Flouts Its Own Advice in Procuring Overseas Clothing New York Times ...One of the world’s biggest clothing buyers, the United States government spends more than $1.5 billion a year at factories overseas, acquiring everything from the royal blue shirts worn by airport security workers to the olive button-downs required for forest rangers and the camouflage pants sold to troops on military bases...
PBS Drops a Bombshell on the Federal Reserve’s 100th Birthday Party Wall Street on Parade ...two famous stock market historians made the same stunning announcement – that the Fed has decided its job is to push up the stock market...
Holiday sales down for third week Associated Press ...After a strong start to the holiday shopping season, sales at stores have fallen for the third consecutive week as Americans continue to hold back on spending during what is traditionally the busiest buying period of the year...
Retail Traffic Plunges By "Staggering" 21% In Week Before Christmas zero hedge ...the "eroding middle class can no longer drive activity as it has in the past"...
Charts: The Worst Long-Term Unemployment Crisis Since the Depression Mother Jones ...The economic downturn remains in full effect for millions of Americans, particularly the nearly 40 percent of the unemployed who have been looking for work for six months or more. In less than a week, emergency federal unemployment benefits for 1.3 million of these jobless Americans are set to run out...
Phoenix Becomes First City To End Chronic Homelessness Among Veterans ThinkProgress ...Three years ago, city officials identified 222 homeless veterans living in Phoenix. Using both state and federal funds, the city had successfully housed the last veterans who were living without homes. ..
FALSE: Gov. Scott Walker says protesters surrounded his car, blocked his exit and rocked the vehicle after a 2011 appearance in La Crosse Politifact ...Based on the available information, we think the book’s depiction of what happened -- an organized effort to prevent Walker from leaving that placed him in direct danger -- is False...
De Blasio Hires Goldman Sachs Exec To Make City More Affordable gothamist ...For all his campaign bluster against the two cities New York has become, Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio isn't exactly shying away from some of the people who helped make it that way...
U.S. Flouts Its Own Advice in Procuring Overseas Clothing New York Times ...One of the world’s biggest clothing buyers, the United States government spends more than $1.5 billion a year at factories overseas, acquiring everything from the royal blue shirts worn by airport security workers to the olive button-downs required for forest rangers and the camouflage pants sold to troops on military bases...
PBS Drops a Bombshell on the Federal Reserve’s 100th Birthday Party Wall Street on Parade ...two famous stock market historians made the same stunning announcement – that the Fed has decided its job is to push up the stock market...
Holiday sales down for third week Associated Press ...After a strong start to the holiday shopping season, sales at stores have fallen for the third consecutive week as Americans continue to hold back on spending during what is traditionally the busiest buying period of the year...
Retail Traffic Plunges By "Staggering" 21% In Week Before Christmas zero hedge ...the "eroding middle class can no longer drive activity as it has in the past"...
Charts: The Worst Long-Term Unemployment Crisis Since the Depression Mother Jones ...The economic downturn remains in full effect for millions of Americans, particularly the nearly 40 percent of the unemployed who have been looking for work for six months or more. In less than a week, emergency federal unemployment benefits for 1.3 million of these jobless Americans are set to run out...
Phoenix Becomes First City To End Chronic Homelessness Among Veterans ThinkProgress ...Three years ago, city officials identified 222 homeless veterans living in Phoenix. Using both state and federal funds, the city had successfully housed the last veterans who were living without homes. ..
FALSE: Gov. Scott Walker says protesters surrounded his car, blocked his exit and rocked the vehicle after a 2011 appearance in La Crosse Politifact ...Based on the available information, we think the book’s depiction of what happened -- an organized effort to prevent Walker from leaving that placed him in direct danger -- is False...
De Blasio Hires Goldman Sachs Exec To Make City More Affordable gothamist ...For all his campaign bluster against the two cities New York has become, Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio isn't exactly shying away from some of the people who helped make it that way...
Thursday, December 5, 2013
Today's Teamster News 12.05.13
Teamsters, firefighters drop proposals to help Leamington Windsor Star ...Unionized employees with the Town of Leamington have overwhelmingly ratified new collective agreements after withdrawing virtually all of their proposals in the wake of last month’s announcement that the town’s Heinz plant would close next summer...
Allegheny court employees union files unfair labor practice lawsuit Pittsburgh Tribune-Review ...Teamsters Local 249, which represents more than 550 court employees, filed an unfair labor practice charge on Tuesday alleging Allegheny County withheld annual payments that act as Christmas bonuses to some of the county's lowest paid workers...
Conservative group ALEC pushes stealth tax on homeowners who install solar panels The Guardian ...An alliance of corporations and conservative activists is mobilising to penalise homeowners who install their own solar panels – casting them as “freeriders” – in a sweeping new offensive against renewable energy, the Guardian has learned...
It’s not just fast-food workers who are underpaid Reuters ...While conventional fast-food companies like McDonald’s are receiving the bulk of public opprobrium for paying their workers a less-than-living wage, the reality is that what are perceived as more upscale businesses are not doing much better by many of their employees...
Austerity is Americanizing European labor markets Salon ...Workers throughout Europe are losing their rights as their nations race to reduce the costs of labor...
Thousands of children unvaccinated, aid organisation warns EnetEnglish ...Thousands of children in Greece have been left unvaccinated because they and their parents have no health insurance, the Greek section of an international humanitarian aid organisation has said....
Austerity has eroded human rights, Council of Europe study says Enet English ..."Many governments in Europe imposing austerity measures have forgotten about their human rights obligations, especially the social and economic rights of the most vulnerable, the need to ensure access to justice, and the right to equal treatment," said the Council of Europe's human rights commissioner, at the launch of the research paper, entitled Safeguarding human rights in times of economic crisis...
Right-to-work battle brewing Canadian HR Reporter ...The right-to-work movement that started south of the border is trying to march north. Whether it successfully clears customs and establishes a foothold could hinge, in large part, on the outcome of the next Ontario election…
12 Corporate Espionage Tactics Used Against Leading Progressive Groups, Activists and Whistleblowers AlterNet ...Corporate spies for Dow, Kraft and others have tried to discredit, shame and infiltrate civic groups using an array of dirty tricks...
Tax breaks for CEOs pay for million-dollar salaries The Guardian ...CEOs' salaries are ballooning thanks to tax breaks that turn bonuses into government subsidies for corporate America...
Wal-Mart pays legal fees in bribery probe Reuters ...Wal-Mart Stores is paying for lawyers to represent more than 30 of its executives involved in a foreign corruption investigation, according to people familiar with the matter...
NSA tracking cellphone locations worldwide, Snowden documents show Washington Post ...The National Security Agency is gathering nearly 5 billion records a day on the whereabouts of cellphones around the world, according to top-secret documents and interviews with U.S. intelligence officials, enabling the agency to track the movements of individuals — and map their relationships — in ways that would have been previously unimaginable...
2 Million Stolen Facebook, Yahoo And Google Passwords Posted Online Huffington Post ...More than 2 million passwords for sites including Facebook, Yahoo, LinkedIn, Twitter and Google have been stolen and posted online, BCC reports...
Whistle-blower tries to shed light on private-equity transaction fees Crain's New York Business ...In the past 10 years, private-equity firms have collected $2 billion in transaction fees, which essentially are bonuses the firms take for conducting their business of buying, managing and selling companies...
Exclusive: Corporate cronyism under fire, faces existential threat Salon ...In Indiana, a private toll road operator refused to let state troopers shut down a toll road due to a snowstorm. In Florida, the Palm Beach Post found that three out of six private prisons saved taxpayers no money. In Chicago, a 75-year contract signed in 2009 restricts the government from adding bicycle lanes or sidewalk space because of the potential impact on private parking meter profits...
Truck with radioactive load stolen Associated Press ...A cargo truck hauling used medical equipment with extremely dangerous radioactive material was stolen from a gas station in central Mexico, and authorities have put out an alert in six central states and the capital to find it...
Allegheny court employees union files unfair labor practice lawsuit Pittsburgh Tribune-Review ...Teamsters Local 249, which represents more than 550 court employees, filed an unfair labor practice charge on Tuesday alleging Allegheny County withheld annual payments that act as Christmas bonuses to some of the county's lowest paid workers...
Conservative group ALEC pushes stealth tax on homeowners who install solar panels The Guardian ...An alliance of corporations and conservative activists is mobilising to penalise homeowners who install their own solar panels – casting them as “freeriders” – in a sweeping new offensive against renewable energy, the Guardian has learned...
It’s not just fast-food workers who are underpaid Reuters ...While conventional fast-food companies like McDonald’s are receiving the bulk of public opprobrium for paying their workers a less-than-living wage, the reality is that what are perceived as more upscale businesses are not doing much better by many of their employees...
Austerity is Americanizing European labor markets Salon ...Workers throughout Europe are losing their rights as their nations race to reduce the costs of labor...
Thousands of children unvaccinated, aid organisation warns EnetEnglish ...Thousands of children in Greece have been left unvaccinated because they and their parents have no health insurance, the Greek section of an international humanitarian aid organisation has said....
Austerity has eroded human rights, Council of Europe study says Enet English ..."Many governments in Europe imposing austerity measures have forgotten about their human rights obligations, especially the social and economic rights of the most vulnerable, the need to ensure access to justice, and the right to equal treatment," said the Council of Europe's human rights commissioner, at the launch of the research paper, entitled Safeguarding human rights in times of economic crisis...
Right-to-work battle brewing Canadian HR Reporter ...The right-to-work movement that started south of the border is trying to march north. Whether it successfully clears customs and establishes a foothold could hinge, in large part, on the outcome of the next Ontario election…
12 Corporate Espionage Tactics Used Against Leading Progressive Groups, Activists and Whistleblowers AlterNet ...Corporate spies for Dow, Kraft and others have tried to discredit, shame and infiltrate civic groups using an array of dirty tricks...
Tax breaks for CEOs pay for million-dollar salaries The Guardian ...CEOs' salaries are ballooning thanks to tax breaks that turn bonuses into government subsidies for corporate America...
Wal-Mart pays legal fees in bribery probe Reuters ...Wal-Mart Stores is paying for lawyers to represent more than 30 of its executives involved in a foreign corruption investigation, according to people familiar with the matter...
NSA tracking cellphone locations worldwide, Snowden documents show Washington Post ...The National Security Agency is gathering nearly 5 billion records a day on the whereabouts of cellphones around the world, according to top-secret documents and interviews with U.S. intelligence officials, enabling the agency to track the movements of individuals — and map their relationships — in ways that would have been previously unimaginable...
2 Million Stolen Facebook, Yahoo And Google Passwords Posted Online Huffington Post ...More than 2 million passwords for sites including Facebook, Yahoo, LinkedIn, Twitter and Google have been stolen and posted online, BCC reports...
Whistle-blower tries to shed light on private-equity transaction fees Crain's New York Business ...In the past 10 years, private-equity firms have collected $2 billion in transaction fees, which essentially are bonuses the firms take for conducting their business of buying, managing and selling companies...
Exclusive: Corporate cronyism under fire, faces existential threat Salon ...In Indiana, a private toll road operator refused to let state troopers shut down a toll road due to a snowstorm. In Florida, the Palm Beach Post found that three out of six private prisons saved taxpayers no money. In Chicago, a 75-year contract signed in 2009 restricts the government from adding bicycle lanes or sidewalk space because of the potential impact on private parking meter profits...
Truck with radioactive load stolen Associated Press ...A cargo truck hauling used medical equipment with extremely dangerous radioactive material was stolen from a gas station in central Mexico, and authorities have put out an alert in six central states and the capital to find it...
Friday, November 29, 2013
Today's Teamster News 11.29.13
Five Ways to Support Striking Walmart Workers truthout ...Join Them! Nothing demonstrates support for striking workers more than actually showing up yourself. Not only do the workers appreciate your display of solidarity, but also the increased turnout signifies to bystanders that this is a legitimate problem worthy of everyone’s concern...
Pizza Hut Employee Fired For Defending Thanksgiving Offered Job Back firedoglake ...Rohr, a ten year employee of Pizza Hut, was asked to resign from his position as general manager after he took issue with orders from the owner to keep the store open on Thanksgiving, forcing workers to be away from their families. But instead of resigning Rohr wrote a letter explaining why he thought the decision was wrong. Now, after suffering a two day PR nightmare, Pizza Hut wants Rohr back...
TPP Defenders Take To The Internet To Deliver Official Talking Points; Inadvertently Confirm Opponents' Worst Fears tech defenders ...The leaked TPP draft, pried loose from the "open and transparent" grip of the USTR, is generating plenty of commentary all over the web. After getting a good look inside, it's little wonder the USTR felt more comfortable trying to push this through under the cover of darkness...
Good News: Geneva WTO Talks Collapse Trade Reform ...It seems that over 100 countries are not going to agree to further give up their sovereignty to the WTO...
Doesn’t Eat, Doesn’t Pray and Doesn’t Love (opinion) New York Times ...The question of whether for-profit companies can claim a religious identity, one that exempts them from obeying a generally applicable law, is fully worthy of the attention the Supreme Court is about to give it...
Mexico's booming car industry selling unsafe cars Associated Press ...Vehicles destined to stay in Mexico or go south to the rest of Latin America carry a code signifying there's no need for antilock braking systems, electronic stability control, or more than two air bags, if any, in its basic models...
6 of the Top 10 U.S. Billionaires Are Kochs and Waltons Alternet ...For the first time ever, according to Forbes magazine, the 400 richest Americanshave more than $2 trillion in combined wealth. And, a fifth of that amount is held by just 10 individuals...
U.S. Student Homelessness Up 10% Since Last Year naked capitalism ...the reality, as many here know altogether too well, is that only group that has shown meaningful gains over the last few years is the top 1%...
The Turkey Lobby Helped Block Child Labor Regulations The Nation ... counter to the National Turkey Federation’s family-friendly public image ... is the work the group has done to orchestrate opposition to the Obama administration’s child farm labor regulations...
North Carolina Faculty Complain After Conservative Group Seeks Liberal Professor’s Email Portside ...A group of law professors at UNC-Chapel Hill is standing behind Gene Nichol, director of the school’s poverty center, after a conservative think tank requested the left-leaning professor’s emails, phone records and calendars...
Pizza Hut Employee Fired For Defending Thanksgiving Offered Job Back firedoglake ...Rohr, a ten year employee of Pizza Hut, was asked to resign from his position as general manager after he took issue with orders from the owner to keep the store open on Thanksgiving, forcing workers to be away from their families. But instead of resigning Rohr wrote a letter explaining why he thought the decision was wrong. Now, after suffering a two day PR nightmare, Pizza Hut wants Rohr back...
TPP Defenders Take To The Internet To Deliver Official Talking Points; Inadvertently Confirm Opponents' Worst Fears tech defenders ...The leaked TPP draft, pried loose from the "open and transparent" grip of the USTR, is generating plenty of commentary all over the web. After getting a good look inside, it's little wonder the USTR felt more comfortable trying to push this through under the cover of darkness...
Good News: Geneva WTO Talks Collapse Trade Reform ...It seems that over 100 countries are not going to agree to further give up their sovereignty to the WTO...
Doesn’t Eat, Doesn’t Pray and Doesn’t Love (opinion) New York Times ...The question of whether for-profit companies can claim a religious identity, one that exempts them from obeying a generally applicable law, is fully worthy of the attention the Supreme Court is about to give it...
Mexico's booming car industry selling unsafe cars Associated Press ...Vehicles destined to stay in Mexico or go south to the rest of Latin America carry a code signifying there's no need for antilock braking systems, electronic stability control, or more than two air bags, if any, in its basic models...
6 of the Top 10 U.S. Billionaires Are Kochs and Waltons Alternet ...For the first time ever, according to Forbes magazine, the 400 richest Americanshave more than $2 trillion in combined wealth. And, a fifth of that amount is held by just 10 individuals...
U.S. Student Homelessness Up 10% Since Last Year naked capitalism ...the reality, as many here know altogether too well, is that only group that has shown meaningful gains over the last few years is the top 1%...
The Turkey Lobby Helped Block Child Labor Regulations The Nation ... counter to the National Turkey Federation’s family-friendly public image ... is the work the group has done to orchestrate opposition to the Obama administration’s child farm labor regulations...
North Carolina Faculty Complain After Conservative Group Seeks Liberal Professor’s Email Portside ...A group of law professors at UNC-Chapel Hill is standing behind Gene Nichol, director of the school’s poverty center, after a conservative think tank requested the left-leaning professor’s emails, phone records and calendars...
Saturday, November 23, 2013
Today's Teamster News 11.23.13
Teamsters Kick Off ‘IKEA Hurts Families’ Campaign teamster.org ...On Friday, the Teamsters Union launched the ‘IKEA Hurts Families’ campaign that highlights how far IKEA’s Richmond, British Columbia, Canada store has departed from the original values of the Swedish company. IKEA has locked out 350 workers at its Richmond store without pay for more than six months because the workers voted down a contract proposal with a discriminatory two-tiered wage system...
MV Batavia Dispatchers Vote for Teamster Representation teamsterslocal727.org ...Dispatchers at MV Transportation Batavia voted unanimously for Teamsters Local 727 representation on Nov. 20...
Hoffa Lauds 'Reid Rule' Allowing Nominations to Move Forward teamster.org ...The following is an official statement of Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa on the Senate’s approval Thursday of a filibuster rule change that permits nearly all judicial and executive branch nominations to come to a vote based on the backing of a simple majority of senators...
Agreement Reached to Preserve Live Horse Racing at Illinois Racetracks teamstersjc25.com ...Full live racing schedules — and the livelihoods of hundreds of workers — are on their way to being preserved for all five racetracks in Illinois. Teamsters Local 727 represents dozens of racetrack employees at Arlington Park, Hawthorne Racecourse and Maywood Park...
Dying Sooner: America Falls Behind On Longevity National Memo ...Life expectancy at birth in America is now a year shorter than the average of 34 modern countries, while in 1970 it was a year longer, a detailed report just released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development shows...
Walmart Protests Promised To Be Even Bigger This Black Friday Huffington Post ...Walmart workers and their supporters are planning to kick off this year's holiday shopping season with protests at 1,500 Walmart stores around the country on Nov. 29...
Retailers Agree On Safety Standards For Bangladesh Factories Reuters ...North American and European retailers announced Wednesday that they had agreed on fire and safety inspection standards for up to 2,000 factories in Bangladesh that supply such retailers as Gap, Wal-Mart and H&M...
Workers Strike At UC Hospitals, Campuses Over Safe Staffing Issues CBSLA.com ...The Strike stems from a coordinated campaign of illegal intimidation and harassment from UC Administrators against frontline service and patient care workers advocating safe staffing standards during a two day UC Hospital Strike in May, the union said...
Expanding Social Security (opinion) New York Times ... the elderly poverty rate is highly likely to rise sharply in the future, as the failure of America’s private pension system takes its toll....
Filthy Rich CEOs Are Lobbying to Cut Medicare, Social Security and Push the Retirement Age Back AlterNet ...The loudest calls for Social Security cuts are coming from CEOs who will never have to worry about their own retirement security...
Home-Care Aides at Poverty’s Edge Are Hottest U.S. Jobs Bloomberg News ...Two years after the recession was over, 32 percent of working families didn’t earn enough to cover basic necessities, up from 28 percent in 2007, according to a report by the nonprofit Working Poor Families Project that analyzed 2011 U.S. Census data. In the home-care sector, workers make so little that 50 percent depend on some form of government assistance...
FCC chairman: cellphone usage ban on planes 'outdated and restrictive' The Guardian ...Rules against making cellphone calls during airline flights are "outdated," and it's time to change them, federal regulators said Thursday, drawing immediate howls of protest from flight attendants, airline officials and others...
Humans shipped across the country: How America exports inmates to private prisons Salon ...four states currently entrust their inmates to facilities in other states, all run by the for-profit Corrections Corporation of America (CCA). This year, Vermont sent prisoners to Arizona and Kentucky; Idaho sent prisoners to Colorado; California sent prisoners to Arizona, Oklahoma and Mississippi; and Hawaii sent prisoners to Arizona, about 2,900 miles away...
Son of Mexican cartel leader arrested at US border Associated Press ... His indictment filed under seal in San Diego on Sept. 27 offers little detail, saying only that he conspired to bring at least 500 grams of methamphetamine and 5 kilograms of cocaine to the U.S...
Tribune Co. to cut 700 jobs at newspaper division Associated Press ...Tribune Co. says it's eliminating about 700 jobs as part of a restructuring of its newspaper business...
Starbucks union-buster is ironic winner after liberals push nuclear option Salon ...With GOP obstruction defeated, attorney who helped Starbucks get away with firing union activists headed to bench...
MV Batavia Dispatchers Vote for Teamster Representation teamsterslocal727.org ...Dispatchers at MV Transportation Batavia voted unanimously for Teamsters Local 727 representation on Nov. 20...
Hoffa Lauds 'Reid Rule' Allowing Nominations to Move Forward teamster.org ...The following is an official statement of Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa on the Senate’s approval Thursday of a filibuster rule change that permits nearly all judicial and executive branch nominations to come to a vote based on the backing of a simple majority of senators...
Agreement Reached to Preserve Live Horse Racing at Illinois Racetracks teamstersjc25.com ...Full live racing schedules — and the livelihoods of hundreds of workers — are on their way to being preserved for all five racetracks in Illinois. Teamsters Local 727 represents dozens of racetrack employees at Arlington Park, Hawthorne Racecourse and Maywood Park...
Dying Sooner: America Falls Behind On Longevity National Memo ...Life expectancy at birth in America is now a year shorter than the average of 34 modern countries, while in 1970 it was a year longer, a detailed report just released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development shows...
Walmart Protests Promised To Be Even Bigger This Black Friday Huffington Post ...Walmart workers and their supporters are planning to kick off this year's holiday shopping season with protests at 1,500 Walmart stores around the country on Nov. 29...
Retailers Agree On Safety Standards For Bangladesh Factories Reuters ...North American and European retailers announced Wednesday that they had agreed on fire and safety inspection standards for up to 2,000 factories in Bangladesh that supply such retailers as Gap, Wal-Mart and H&M...
Workers Strike At UC Hospitals, Campuses Over Safe Staffing Issues CBSLA.com ...The Strike stems from a coordinated campaign of illegal intimidation and harassment from UC Administrators against frontline service and patient care workers advocating safe staffing standards during a two day UC Hospital Strike in May, the union said...
Expanding Social Security (opinion) New York Times ... the elderly poverty rate is highly likely to rise sharply in the future, as the failure of America’s private pension system takes its toll....
Filthy Rich CEOs Are Lobbying to Cut Medicare, Social Security and Push the Retirement Age Back AlterNet ...The loudest calls for Social Security cuts are coming from CEOs who will never have to worry about their own retirement security...
Home-Care Aides at Poverty’s Edge Are Hottest U.S. Jobs Bloomberg News ...Two years after the recession was over, 32 percent of working families didn’t earn enough to cover basic necessities, up from 28 percent in 2007, according to a report by the nonprofit Working Poor Families Project that analyzed 2011 U.S. Census data. In the home-care sector, workers make so little that 50 percent depend on some form of government assistance...
FCC chairman: cellphone usage ban on planes 'outdated and restrictive' The Guardian ...Rules against making cellphone calls during airline flights are "outdated," and it's time to change them, federal regulators said Thursday, drawing immediate howls of protest from flight attendants, airline officials and others...
Humans shipped across the country: How America exports inmates to private prisons Salon ...four states currently entrust their inmates to facilities in other states, all run by the for-profit Corrections Corporation of America (CCA). This year, Vermont sent prisoners to Arizona and Kentucky; Idaho sent prisoners to Colorado; California sent prisoners to Arizona, Oklahoma and Mississippi; and Hawaii sent prisoners to Arizona, about 2,900 miles away...
Son of Mexican cartel leader arrested at US border Associated Press ... His indictment filed under seal in San Diego on Sept. 27 offers little detail, saying only that he conspired to bring at least 500 grams of methamphetamine and 5 kilograms of cocaine to the U.S...
Tribune Co. to cut 700 jobs at newspaper division Associated Press ...Tribune Co. says it's eliminating about 700 jobs as part of a restructuring of its newspaper business...
Starbucks union-buster is ironic winner after liberals push nuclear option Salon ...With GOP obstruction defeated, attorney who helped Starbucks get away with firing union activists headed to bench...
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Today's Teamster News 11.20.13
Teamsters File Suit Against Allegiant Air Teamsters Local 1224 ...The International Brotherhood of Teamsters Airline Division and Teamsters Local 1224 filed a lawsuit against Allegiant Air Friday afternoon, November 15, in the federal district court in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. The lawsuit alleges that Allegiant Air is violating the Railway Labor Act by disregarding many of the provisions and protections contained in the Work Rules Agreement negotiated by Allegiant Air and AAPAG, the former independent union representing the pilots of Allegiant Air...
Teamsters, church distribute free dinners Troy Messenger ...This Thanksgiving, the Teamsters National Black Caucus and the youth department of Dunn’s Chapel AME Church are teaming up for their sixth annual distribution of Thanksgiving meals for the elderly, handicapped and disabled veterans on November 23...
36-Hour Strike Targets Trucking Companies at LA and Long Beach Ports 89.3 KPCC ...Dozens of truck drivers for companies that move cargo in and out of the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are walking picket lines on Monday, as part of a long-running campaign by the Teamsters Union to organize truck drivers at ports nationwide...
Port Truck Drivers On Strike in Long Beach teamster.org ...Port truck drivers employed by Green Fleet, Pac9 and American Logistics were joined on picket lines by Teamster port drivers from New Jersey along with drivers from Savannah and Seattle during the 36-hour strike in Long Beach. See the video...
Revealed: McDonalds tells workers to “sing away stress,” “chew away cares,” and go to church Salon ...“Stress hormone levels rise by 15% after ten minutes of complaining" the giant corporation warns employees online...
Wal-Mart could pay every U.S. employee $14.89 just by not buying its own stock The Salon ...Rather than buying stock to enrich Waltons, says new report, Wal-Mart could use the same cash to give $5.83 raises...
Meet The Lawmaker Trying To Protect Workers' Thanksgivings Huffington Post ...(Mike) Foley, a Democrat representing Cleveland in the Ohio House of Representatives, plans to introduce a bill in the next several weeks requiring that stores open on Thanksgiving pay their workers triple time. The bill would also protect workers from retaliation if they opt out of working the holiday...
Congress May Have Just Killed The Trans-Pacific Partnership The Diplomat ...The increasingly beleaguered Trans-Pacific Partnership might have been delivered a mortal blow last week when a large bipartisan group of Congress members came out against giving President Obama Fast Track Trade Promotion Authority...
JPMorgan finalizes $13 billion settlement with U.S. over toxic mortgages Washington Post ...This marks the largest penalty ever levied against a single company...
Capital gains: Spending on contracts and lobbying propels a wave of new wealth in D .C. Washington Post ...The winners in the new Washington are not just the former senators, party consiglieri and four-star generals who have always profited from their connections. Now they are also the former bureaucrats, accountants and staff officers for whom unimagined riches are suddenly possible...
OSHA Levies $1 Million Fine Against Carrier for Firing Whistleblowers Trucking Info ...The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has ordered Gaines Motor Lines of N.C. along with company officials to compensate four former truck drivers who were fired in violation of federal whistleblower laws and pay more than $1 million in back pay wages, interest and damages...
Kids to Skip Meals After Food Stamp Cuts AlterNet ...A map published by Stateline highlights the impact of $5 billion in food stamp cuts across the country...
Right-wing pension-cutters get humiliated by their own survey data Salon ...Though the anti-pension coalition has spent millions of dollars on ads and public campaigns to portray public employees as greedy parasites, the pollsters found that “voters have generally favorable views of public employees” and that those favorable views are found among voters of both political parties. Poll respondents gave teachers, police officers and state public employees net favorability ratings of 88, 86 and 60 percent, respectively....
How Austerity Kills Innovation Alternet ... the most important background condition for any seller of things is the ability of other people to buy the things you want to sell. Thus, a years-long spell of mass unemployment will be absolute poison to the entrepreneur class as a whole...
A ‘Historic Moment’ for Campus Solidarity In These Times ...In a labor action rarely seen on university campuses, graduate student employees in the University of California system announced on Wednesday that they plan to strike alongside university service workers walking off the job next week due to allegations of illegal retaliation against members of their union...
State Rep. Uses Sledgehammer To Destroy Homeless People’s Possessions ThinkProgress ...five-term State Rep. Tom Brower (D) ... told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser about his own personal brand of “justice”: “If I see shopping carts that I can’t identify, I will destroy them so they can’t be pushed on the streets.” Brower has waged this campaign for two weeks, estimating that he’s smashed about 30 shopping carts in the process....
Google to pay Massachusetts $357k to settle allegations that it improperly tracked some consumers’ Web habits Boston Globe ...Google Inc. has agreed to pay the Commonwealth $357,000 as part of a $17 million settlement with nearly 40 states to settle allegations that it placed tracking cookies on the computers of some consumers using the Safari browser without their knowledge or consent, the office of Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley said Monday...
Teamsters, church distribute free dinners Troy Messenger ...This Thanksgiving, the Teamsters National Black Caucus and the youth department of Dunn’s Chapel AME Church are teaming up for their sixth annual distribution of Thanksgiving meals for the elderly, handicapped and disabled veterans on November 23...
36-Hour Strike Targets Trucking Companies at LA and Long Beach Ports 89.3 KPCC ...Dozens of truck drivers for companies that move cargo in and out of the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are walking picket lines on Monday, as part of a long-running campaign by the Teamsters Union to organize truck drivers at ports nationwide...
Port Truck Drivers On Strike in Long Beach teamster.org ...Port truck drivers employed by Green Fleet, Pac9 and American Logistics were joined on picket lines by Teamster port drivers from New Jersey along with drivers from Savannah and Seattle during the 36-hour strike in Long Beach. See the video...
Revealed: McDonalds tells workers to “sing away stress,” “chew away cares,” and go to church Salon ...“Stress hormone levels rise by 15% after ten minutes of complaining" the giant corporation warns employees online...
Wal-Mart could pay every U.S. employee $14.89 just by not buying its own stock The Salon ...Rather than buying stock to enrich Waltons, says new report, Wal-Mart could use the same cash to give $5.83 raises...
Meet The Lawmaker Trying To Protect Workers' Thanksgivings Huffington Post ...(Mike) Foley, a Democrat representing Cleveland in the Ohio House of Representatives, plans to introduce a bill in the next several weeks requiring that stores open on Thanksgiving pay their workers triple time. The bill would also protect workers from retaliation if they opt out of working the holiday...
Congress May Have Just Killed The Trans-Pacific Partnership The Diplomat ...The increasingly beleaguered Trans-Pacific Partnership might have been delivered a mortal blow last week when a large bipartisan group of Congress members came out against giving President Obama Fast Track Trade Promotion Authority...
JPMorgan finalizes $13 billion settlement with U.S. over toxic mortgages Washington Post ...This marks the largest penalty ever levied against a single company...
Capital gains: Spending on contracts and lobbying propels a wave of new wealth in D .C. Washington Post ...The winners in the new Washington are not just the former senators, party consiglieri and four-star generals who have always profited from their connections. Now they are also the former bureaucrats, accountants and staff officers for whom unimagined riches are suddenly possible...
OSHA Levies $1 Million Fine Against Carrier for Firing Whistleblowers Trucking Info ...The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has ordered Gaines Motor Lines of N.C. along with company officials to compensate four former truck drivers who were fired in violation of federal whistleblower laws and pay more than $1 million in back pay wages, interest and damages...
Kids to Skip Meals After Food Stamp Cuts AlterNet ...A map published by Stateline highlights the impact of $5 billion in food stamp cuts across the country...
Right-wing pension-cutters get humiliated by their own survey data Salon ...Though the anti-pension coalition has spent millions of dollars on ads and public campaigns to portray public employees as greedy parasites, the pollsters found that “voters have generally favorable views of public employees” and that those favorable views are found among voters of both political parties. Poll respondents gave teachers, police officers and state public employees net favorability ratings of 88, 86 and 60 percent, respectively....
How Austerity Kills Innovation Alternet ... the most important background condition for any seller of things is the ability of other people to buy the things you want to sell. Thus, a years-long spell of mass unemployment will be absolute poison to the entrepreneur class as a whole...
A ‘Historic Moment’ for Campus Solidarity In These Times ...In a labor action rarely seen on university campuses, graduate student employees in the University of California system announced on Wednesday that they plan to strike alongside university service workers walking off the job next week due to allegations of illegal retaliation against members of their union...
State Rep. Uses Sledgehammer To Destroy Homeless People’s Possessions ThinkProgress ...five-term State Rep. Tom Brower (D) ... told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser about his own personal brand of “justice”: “If I see shopping carts that I can’t identify, I will destroy them so they can’t be pushed on the streets.” Brower has waged this campaign for two weeks, estimating that he’s smashed about 30 shopping carts in the process....
Google to pay Massachusetts $357k to settle allegations that it improperly tracked some consumers’ Web habits Boston Globe ...Google Inc. has agreed to pay the Commonwealth $357,000 as part of a $17 million settlement with nearly 40 states to settle allegations that it placed tracking cookies on the computers of some consumers using the Safari browser without their knowledge or consent, the office of Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley said Monday...
Monday, November 11, 2013
Today's Teamster News 11.11.13
Today is Veterans Day. Remember to thank the veterans you know for their service. And check out the Teamsters Facebook page, where photos of Teamster veterans are being posted.
Mayor's Spokesperson Is Sorry If Anyone Thought His 'Third-World Taxicab System' Comment Was Offensive DCist ..."Those words are hurtful to each and every driver who works long days—often up to 16 hours, seven days a week—and who earn about $25,000 to $30,000 per year providing a valuable service," the statement from the Teamsters-affiliated association continued...
Teamsters choose sides in Inquirer owners' dispute philly.com ...The union local representing more than 325 truck drivers and other employees for The Inquirer on Sunday declared its support for the two newspaper co-owners seeking to reinstate fired editor William K. Marimow. During its monthly meeting in Bridesburg, Teamsters Local 628 president John P. Laigaie said the owners, Lewis Katz and H.F. "Gerry" Lenfest, would preserve the editorial integrity of the paper...
Everyone In America Is Even More Broke Than You Think Huffington Post ...more than half of U.S. wage earners made less than $30,000 last year, according to an analysis released by the Social Security Administration on Tuesday. That's not far above the $27,010 that marked the federal poverty line for a family of five in 2012...
The Pension Theft Crime Wave Rages On Alternet ...Rhode Island ... handed more than $1 billion in pension funds over to hedge fund companies to manage—in exchange for an expected $2.1 billion in fees over 20 years, effectively taken straight out of the pockets of retirees, who would forego $2.3 billion in COLAs over the same period...
Wal-Mart: An economic cancer on our cities Salon ... the small businesses that occupied the old Penney’s building employed fourteen people, which doesn’t seem like many until you realize that this is actually seventy-four jobs per acre, compared with the fewer than six jobs per acre created on a sprawling Walmart site...
Children Locked Up For Life: 10 Shockers About America's Prison System Alternet ...Twice as many people rot in prison for crack use than for violent crimes. Children are being locked up for life. What's wrong with our criminal justice system?...
Chinese labor camp inmate tells of true horror of Halloween 'SOS' CNN ..."Making products turned out to be an escape from the horrible violence," he said. "We thought we could protect ourselves, and avoid verbal and physical assaults as long as we worked and did the job well..."
Seattle council race tightens; socialist Sawant has 49.5% of vote The Seattle Times ...Kshama Sawant has steadily gained ground on Councilmember Richard Conlin, giving her a chance to pull off a shocking turnaround victory and become the first socialist on the Seattle City Council in modern history...
Every Green vote was a conscious vote Green Party ...40% for a Green Party candidate (for Syracuse, N.Y., Council) where the Democratic Party threw everything it had into the race is nothing to be discouraged about. Our capacity in terms of volunteers, fundraising, and campaign skills exploded. We offered realistic and positive alternatives to a status quo that is failing...
Your daily jolt: A Chamber-sponsored alternative to ALEC Atlanta Journal-Constitution ...One of the main generators of model legislation in Georgia and other red states has been the American Legislative Exchange Council, an organization sometimes criticized for its conservative social agenda. An alternative has sprung up recently, and come January it will be chaired by Chris Clark, the president and CEO of the Georgia Chamber...
For the First Time Ever, a Prosecutor Will Go to Jail for Wrongfully Convicting an Innocent Man Alternet ...Today in Texas, former prosecutor and judge Ken Anderson pled guilty to intentionally failing to disclose evidence in a case that sent an innocent man, Michael Morton, to prison for the murder of his wife...
It’s possible to end homelessness for veterans. Here’s where Maine stands so far Bangor Daily News ...Veterans Housing Services has served 308 veterans — either preventing homelessness or securing safe, permanent housing for homeless veterans and their families as quickly as possible...
Mayor's Spokesperson Is Sorry If Anyone Thought His 'Third-World Taxicab System' Comment Was Offensive DCist ..."Those words are hurtful to each and every driver who works long days—often up to 16 hours, seven days a week—and who earn about $25,000 to $30,000 per year providing a valuable service," the statement from the Teamsters-affiliated association continued...
Teamsters choose sides in Inquirer owners' dispute philly.com ...The union local representing more than 325 truck drivers and other employees for The Inquirer on Sunday declared its support for the two newspaper co-owners seeking to reinstate fired editor William K. Marimow. During its monthly meeting in Bridesburg, Teamsters Local 628 president John P. Laigaie said the owners, Lewis Katz and H.F. "Gerry" Lenfest, would preserve the editorial integrity of the paper...
Everyone In America Is Even More Broke Than You Think Huffington Post ...more than half of U.S. wage earners made less than $30,000 last year, according to an analysis released by the Social Security Administration on Tuesday. That's not far above the $27,010 that marked the federal poverty line for a family of five in 2012...
The Pension Theft Crime Wave Rages On Alternet ...Rhode Island ... handed more than $1 billion in pension funds over to hedge fund companies to manage—in exchange for an expected $2.1 billion in fees over 20 years, effectively taken straight out of the pockets of retirees, who would forego $2.3 billion in COLAs over the same period...
Wal-Mart: An economic cancer on our cities Salon ... the small businesses that occupied the old Penney’s building employed fourteen people, which doesn’t seem like many until you realize that this is actually seventy-four jobs per acre, compared with the fewer than six jobs per acre created on a sprawling Walmart site...
Children Locked Up For Life: 10 Shockers About America's Prison System Alternet ...Twice as many people rot in prison for crack use than for violent crimes. Children are being locked up for life. What's wrong with our criminal justice system?...
Chinese labor camp inmate tells of true horror of Halloween 'SOS' CNN ..."Making products turned out to be an escape from the horrible violence," he said. "We thought we could protect ourselves, and avoid verbal and physical assaults as long as we worked and did the job well..."
Seattle council race tightens; socialist Sawant has 49.5% of vote The Seattle Times ...Kshama Sawant has steadily gained ground on Councilmember Richard Conlin, giving her a chance to pull off a shocking turnaround victory and become the first socialist on the Seattle City Council in modern history...
Every Green vote was a conscious vote Green Party ...40% for a Green Party candidate (for Syracuse, N.Y., Council) where the Democratic Party threw everything it had into the race is nothing to be discouraged about. Our capacity in terms of volunteers, fundraising, and campaign skills exploded. We offered realistic and positive alternatives to a status quo that is failing...
Your daily jolt: A Chamber-sponsored alternative to ALEC Atlanta Journal-Constitution ...One of the main generators of model legislation in Georgia and other red states has been the American Legislative Exchange Council, an organization sometimes criticized for its conservative social agenda. An alternative has sprung up recently, and come January it will be chaired by Chris Clark, the president and CEO of the Georgia Chamber...
For the First Time Ever, a Prosecutor Will Go to Jail for Wrongfully Convicting an Innocent Man Alternet ...Today in Texas, former prosecutor and judge Ken Anderson pled guilty to intentionally failing to disclose evidence in a case that sent an innocent man, Michael Morton, to prison for the murder of his wife...
It’s possible to end homelessness for veterans. Here’s where Maine stands so far Bangor Daily News ...Veterans Housing Services has served 308 veterans — either preventing homelessness or securing safe, permanent housing for homeless veterans and their families as quickly as possible...
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
Today's Teamster News 11.05.13
Cab Drivers Deliver Letter To Gray, Ask For Impoundment Halt DCist ...With the Teamsters behind them, a group of D.C. cab drivers gathered outside the Wilson Building to continue their fight against what they see as the problematic rollout of modernization efforts and to get Mayor Vince Gray's attention...
New grocery contract passes by ‘overwhelming majority’ Seattle Times ...Grocery workers, who are represented by the Teamsters and UFCW in Western Washington, approved a new 3-year contract, ending a month-long series of negotiations that nearly led to a strike...
UPS driver wins praise for working 51 years without a crash Detroit Free Press ...UPS driver Tom Camp and his big, brown truck have done something no other UPS driver has accomplished: 51 years without an accident...
“We have the right to educate you”: Workplace indoctrination caught on tape The Salon ...In leaked recordings, bosses lecture workers not to unionize, and insist 'This truly is for your best interest'...
Despite Eight Ongoing Criminal/Civil Investigations of JPMorgan, the Bank’s a Law Enforcement Partner With the NYPD Wall Street on Parade ...The photo shows an employee of U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder’s number one target for financial fraud investigations, JPMorgan Chase, working inside a high security spy center in Lower Manhattan to — wait for it — help the New York City Police Department catch crooks...
If 'Stop and Frisk' Is Such an Effective Tactic, Why Not Use an Electronic Version on Potentially Corrupt Bank CEOs? Huffington Post ...It's estimated that the 2008 financial crisis cost over $6 trillion. In 2009 alone, it's believed that an additional 5,000 people committed suicide due to the financial crisis and resulting unemployment, as the result of malfeasant senior bank officers...
Reich: The American Economy Is Cannibalizing Itself, and We the People Are Going to Pay a Huge Price AlterNet ...The bottom 90 percent of Americans have disappeared from official Washington...
One Million K-12 Students Are Homeless Truthout ...For many students, when they go to school each morning, they may have no idea where they will be sleeping that night...
Blaming the Poor for Poverty Truthout ...Most of the poverty in the U.S. is created from the sort of policies that cut taxes on the wealthy, do away with fiscal and other business regulations, shred the social safety net, and erode middle-class stability – all while singing the praises of self-reliance and individual responsibility...
How We Have Ended Up Paying for 1 Percenters Beach Vacation Homes The Salon ...It's time for the wealthy with vacation homes and valuable shoreline land to pay their own way -- and not rely on us...5 Ways Super-Rich Are Betraying America AlterNet ...This small group of takers is giving up on the country that made it possible for them to build huge fortunes...
Mexico gun battles leave many dead The Guardian ...Thirteen killed in border city of Matamoros as gunmen clash with Mexican armed forces in region ravaged by drug gangs...
Immigration Reform Requires Dismantling NAFTA and Respecting Migrants' Rights The Real News ...“When the North American Free Trade Agreement allowed big U.S. grain companies, for instance, to dump cheap, cheap corn on the Mexican market, hundreds of thousands of Mexican farmers essentially were not able to sell their crops for the cost of growing it,” says Bacon. “[They] had to leave home in order to survive, and wound up migrating to the north of Mexico, crossing the border, and coming here to the United States.”...
Colombian women on 'crossed legs' sex strike over crumbling highway Global Post ...Why, they asked, should they bring any more babies into the world when pregnant women were dying along the highway trying to get to the hospital?...
Bangladesh Garment Workers Get A Raise (But They Still Earn the Lowest Wages In The World) Associated Press ...A government-appointed panel in Bangladesh voted Monday to raise the minimum wage for millions of garment workers to about $66 a month — still the lowest in the world and well below what workers have been seeking...
Kochs’ Group Has Big Ambitions in Small Elections New York Times ...Backed by the billionaire Koch brothers, Americans for Prosperity has been involved in local political contests in Kansas, Ohio, Texas and Iowa, but some are skeptical of its motives...
Koch group, unions battle over Colorado schools race Politico ...This fall, Americans for Prosperity is also spending big in the wealthy suburbs south of Denver to influence voters in the Douglas County School District, which has gone further than any district in the nation to reshape public education into a competitive, free-market enterprise...
Fewer than 1/4th of Republicans Support Electing More Women to Congress AlterNet ...New poll reveals staggering partisan gender divide on women in politics...
Texas' Restrictive Voter ID Law Stops A Former U.S. House Speaker From Getting A Voter ID Card Huffington Post ...Former U.S. Speaker of the House Jim Wright (D-Texas) unsuccessfully tried to get a voter identification card at a Texas Department of Public Safety office on Saturday...
As Pennsylvania Prepares to Fail, Other States Are Not Far Behind (opinion) Talking Points Memo ...It's hard to imagine that Pennsylvania is preparing to become a failed state, but it is. Despite world-class universities, active industries, and a global economic footprint, the Commonwealth has decided to cut funding for students and place its bets on a growing prison population...
Auto Workers Try a New Angle at Volkswagen Truthout ...The United Auto Workers, so long frustrated in their attempts to organize foreign-owned auto plants in the U.S., may have found a different way in...
BART union members approve contract Progressive Railroading ...Members of Bay Area Rapid Transit's (BART) two largest unions have ratified four-year contracts that will increase wages, require employee pension contribution, improve safety and allow BART to adopt technology to streamline operations…
New grocery contract passes by ‘overwhelming majority’ Seattle Times ...Grocery workers, who are represented by the Teamsters and UFCW in Western Washington, approved a new 3-year contract, ending a month-long series of negotiations that nearly led to a strike...
UPS driver wins praise for working 51 years without a crash Detroit Free Press ...UPS driver Tom Camp and his big, brown truck have done something no other UPS driver has accomplished: 51 years without an accident...
“We have the right to educate you”: Workplace indoctrination caught on tape The Salon ...In leaked recordings, bosses lecture workers not to unionize, and insist 'This truly is for your best interest'...
Despite Eight Ongoing Criminal/Civil Investigations of JPMorgan, the Bank’s a Law Enforcement Partner With the NYPD Wall Street on Parade ...The photo shows an employee of U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder’s number one target for financial fraud investigations, JPMorgan Chase, working inside a high security spy center in Lower Manhattan to — wait for it — help the New York City Police Department catch crooks...
If 'Stop and Frisk' Is Such an Effective Tactic, Why Not Use an Electronic Version on Potentially Corrupt Bank CEOs? Huffington Post ...It's estimated that the 2008 financial crisis cost over $6 trillion. In 2009 alone, it's believed that an additional 5,000 people committed suicide due to the financial crisis and resulting unemployment, as the result of malfeasant senior bank officers...
Reich: The American Economy Is Cannibalizing Itself, and We the People Are Going to Pay a Huge Price AlterNet ...The bottom 90 percent of Americans have disappeared from official Washington...
One Million K-12 Students Are Homeless Truthout ...For many students, when they go to school each morning, they may have no idea where they will be sleeping that night...
Blaming the Poor for Poverty Truthout ...Most of the poverty in the U.S. is created from the sort of policies that cut taxes on the wealthy, do away with fiscal and other business regulations, shred the social safety net, and erode middle-class stability – all while singing the praises of self-reliance and individual responsibility...
How We Have Ended Up Paying for 1 Percenters Beach Vacation Homes The Salon ...It's time for the wealthy with vacation homes and valuable shoreline land to pay their own way -- and not rely on us...5 Ways Super-Rich Are Betraying America AlterNet ...This small group of takers is giving up on the country that made it possible for them to build huge fortunes...
Mexico gun battles leave many dead The Guardian ...Thirteen killed in border city of Matamoros as gunmen clash with Mexican armed forces in region ravaged by drug gangs...
Immigration Reform Requires Dismantling NAFTA and Respecting Migrants' Rights The Real News ...“When the North American Free Trade Agreement allowed big U.S. grain companies, for instance, to dump cheap, cheap corn on the Mexican market, hundreds of thousands of Mexican farmers essentially were not able to sell their crops for the cost of growing it,” says Bacon. “[They] had to leave home in order to survive, and wound up migrating to the north of Mexico, crossing the border, and coming here to the United States.”...
Colombian women on 'crossed legs' sex strike over crumbling highway Global Post ...Why, they asked, should they bring any more babies into the world when pregnant women were dying along the highway trying to get to the hospital?...
Bangladesh Garment Workers Get A Raise (But They Still Earn the Lowest Wages In The World) Associated Press ...A government-appointed panel in Bangladesh voted Monday to raise the minimum wage for millions of garment workers to about $66 a month — still the lowest in the world and well below what workers have been seeking...
Kochs’ Group Has Big Ambitions in Small Elections New York Times ...Backed by the billionaire Koch brothers, Americans for Prosperity has been involved in local political contests in Kansas, Ohio, Texas and Iowa, but some are skeptical of its motives...
Koch group, unions battle over Colorado schools race Politico ...This fall, Americans for Prosperity is also spending big in the wealthy suburbs south of Denver to influence voters in the Douglas County School District, which has gone further than any district in the nation to reshape public education into a competitive, free-market enterprise...
Fewer than 1/4th of Republicans Support Electing More Women to Congress AlterNet ...New poll reveals staggering partisan gender divide on women in politics...
Texas' Restrictive Voter ID Law Stops A Former U.S. House Speaker From Getting A Voter ID Card Huffington Post ...Former U.S. Speaker of the House Jim Wright (D-Texas) unsuccessfully tried to get a voter identification card at a Texas Department of Public Safety office on Saturday...
As Pennsylvania Prepares to Fail, Other States Are Not Far Behind (opinion) Talking Points Memo ...It's hard to imagine that Pennsylvania is preparing to become a failed state, but it is. Despite world-class universities, active industries, and a global economic footprint, the Commonwealth has decided to cut funding for students and place its bets on a growing prison population...
Auto Workers Try a New Angle at Volkswagen Truthout ...The United Auto Workers, so long frustrated in their attempts to organize foreign-owned auto plants in the U.S., may have found a different way in...
BART union members approve contract Progressive Railroading ...Members of Bay Area Rapid Transit's (BART) two largest unions have ratified four-year contracts that will increase wages, require employee pension contribution, improve safety and allow BART to adopt technology to streamline operations…
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