Today's Teamster News 08.16.14

Teamster News
Teamsters Battle Senator’s Scheme To Lengthen Truckers’ Hours Behind The Wheel  People's World   ...Saying that lengthening the consecutive hours truckers could stay behind the wheel endangers both truckers and other drivers, the Teamsters are battling a Republican senator's scheme to do just that...
Teamsters Reach Deal Ending Quixote Studios Boycott  Deadline Hollywood   ...The deal, which covers about 30 drivers, also calls for an election to see if the company’s 80 warehouse workers want to be represented by the union as well...
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...
Battle Lines Drawn As J.R. Simplot And Teamsters Local 120 Continue To Square Off  Valley News Live   ...The Union members today overwhelmingly voted down some new changes to their contracts this afternoon and say they will continue to walk the picket line 24/7. The Union’s contract expired June 1st. They were hoping for a new deal, but they say it never came...
Teamsters Hispanic Caucus Brings Fight Against Republic Services To Denver  MarketWatch   ...Tonight, Teamsters in Denver attending the Teamsters Hispanic Caucus Convention went to the Colorado Rockies game to educate Denver residents about the illegal actions of Republic Services...
Trade
Certification Allows US Trade Negotiators to Rewrite TPP Copyright Rules  EFF   ...The United States, exclusively amongst the dozen negotiating partners, is reserving the right to vet other countries' implementation of the agreement before its own obligations come into effect. This has worrying implications for other countries planning to take advantage of whatever flexibilities remain in the TPP text after the negotiations are finished...
State Battles
U.S. Chamber Of Commerce Joins Lawsuit Against 'Discriminatory' Seattle Minimum Wage Hike  Huffington Post   ...The U.S. Chamber of Commerce signed onto an amicus brief Tuesday in support of the International Franchise Association's (IFA) lawsuit against a “discriminatory” provision in Seattle’s recently passed minimum wage increase...
Federal Judge Denies Stay Of Wisconsin Voter ID Ruling  Jurist   ...A federal judge on Wednesday denied a request by Wisconsin's Attorney General JB Van Hollen to stay the his April ruling against the state's voter identification law. The April ruling found that the Act 23 requirement that all residents present photo ID when voting violated the Voting Rights Act and the US Constitution...
War On Workers
In the sharing economy, a rift over worker classification  Boston Globe   ...A class-action lawsuit filed this summer in Massachusetts and California courts is challenging that. The suit asserts that Uber improperly classifies its drivers, who own their cars and use Uber’s smartphone app to get work, as independent contractors. No sick time, no health insurance, no 401k contributions...
NC Forest Service Employee Dies In Tree Accident  WSOC   ...Tuttle State Educational Forest in Lenoir was closed Thursday after a North Carolina Forest Service employee died in an accident there Wednesday afternoon...
Bank Of America Could Get Tax Break On Part Of $16 Billion Mortgage Settlement  Charlotte Observer   ...As Bank of America prepares for a possible multibillion-dollar settlement with the government, the deal is expected to share a feature common to similar settlements with other banks – a big portion that’s tax-deductible as a business expense...
Miscellaneous
NSA Cyberwarfare Could Pick The Wrong Targets, Snowden Says  Fox News   ...Snowden described MonsterMind as problematic, noting that cyberattacks are often routed through computers in “innocent” third countries. This raises the possibility of U.S. counter attacks against the wrong targets.  “You could have someone sitting in China, for example, making it appear that one of these attacks is originating in Russia,” he said. “And then we end up shooting back at a Russian hospital. What happens next?”...

Today's Teamster News 07.19.14

Teamster News
Lebanon, Police Union Reach Quick Contract Settlement  Albany Democrat-Herald   ...The city of Lebanon and the Teamsters Union have reached a three-year contract agreement in one of the shortest negotiations in recent history, just three meetings, the City Council was told Wednesday afternoon...
Hell, No, You Can't Go! Teamsters Don't like Bathroom Rules  NBC News   ..."The HR woman literally goes through every person's bathroom use and either hands out a reward or discipline," said Nick Kreitman, an attorney for Teamsters Local 743...
Negotiations continue between Teamsters, Avalon  IndeOnline   ...The drivers organized in August and have been negotiating their first contract since October...
Teamsters Back HOS Regs  GoByTruck   ...The leader of the Teamsters Union has issued a public call for Congress to leave the hours of service regulations for truck drivers unchanged...
Port Trucking Industry Rips Off Drivers, Responsible Employers And Taxpayers  The Hill   ...
port truck drivers' wages have been driven down and benefits taken away by an industry that is built on the lie that drivers are independent contractors...
Trade
NAFTA Advocates Continue to Make Misleading Claims  Common Dreams   ...He also said that NAFTA would “lead to long-term growth in Mexican per capita income,” eventually reaching “half of the U.S. level, a gain that substantially would ease illegal immigration to the U.S.” Instead, Mexico’s growth rate slowed, its unemployment level worsened, and immigration soared in the years following NAFTA...
Bolivia Legalizes Child Labor, Kids As Young As 10 Allowed To Work  Fox News Latino   ...Carmen Moreno, an International Labor Organization official working to reduce child labor, said Bolivia's law contravenes a U.N. convention designating 14 as the minimum work age...
Congestion Explained By LA-Long Beach Import Surge  Journal of Commerce   ...A surge of imports through Los Angeles-Long Beach in June caught transportation providers by surprise, and helps explain why the ports had problems with terminal congestion and capacity shortages in both the rail and drayage trucking sectors...
State Battles
Declining Private Employment in Wisconsin, Sideways Trending in Kansas  Econbrowser   ...Wisconsin private employment performance deteriorates, while Kansas continues to trend sideways. So much for the benefits of a high ALEC-Laffer ranking...
Walker Plan Is Driving Up Health Costs: Column  Wausau Daily Herald   ...health consumers are paying $998 more in 2014 because of Gov. Scott Walker's refusal to take full advantage of the health care law. We are paying $251 more because Walker is rejecting up to $1 million a day in enhanced funding for BadgerCare and $747 more because he is taking a lax approach to the review of health insurance industry rates...
SF Seeks To Address Affordability Crisis With Minimum Wage Hike, Housing Balance Ballot Measures  San Francisco Examiner   ...Support is widening across San Francisco for a $15 minimum-wage proposal that, by 2019, could raise an average restaurant worker's salary by $125 per week and a retail worker's by $185...
Small Businessman, Farmer In Kasich Ad Also Exec  Washington Times   ...The farmer featured in radio ads for Gov. John Kasich airing across rural Ohio is not just a small businessman. Paulding County soybean farmer Terry McClure also sits on the board of Nationwide, one of the world’s largest insurance companies, and formerly chaired the boards of agribusiness specialty lines affiliated with the company that generated close to $1 billion a year in premiums...
Study Shows State Legislators In Favor Of Voter ID Laws Are Motivated By Racial Bias  Phys   ...lawmakers who support voter ID laws are more likely to show racial bias against Latino constituents...
War On Workers
BNSF, labor union reach tentative deal to allow train operations with 1 employee  McClatchy   ...One of the largest U.S. railroads and one of the largest labor organizations representing railroad workers have reached a tentative agreement to allow one person to operate a train on routes protected by a new collision-avoidance system required by Congress in 2008. A BNSF Railway spokeswoman confirmed the agreeement with the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers...
Workers Say McDonald’s Fired Them for Union Activity  Bloomberg   ...The National Labor Relations Board is investigating whether employees at McDonald’s Corp. (MCD) restaurants were fired for joining labor unions, a case that threatens to disrupt the decades-old fast-food franchise model...

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...

New Ohio right-to-work bills get the cold shoulder

Who supports the “right-to-work” legislation unveiled in Ohio last week? Pretty much no one.

State Senate GOP leaders almost immediately pronounced the two separate right-to-work bills dead on arrival, saying they had no intention of wading in the anti-worker cesspool again. Less than two years ago Ohio voters overturned a right-to-work bill, SB 5, approved by legislators and signed by Gov. John Kasich (R).

The Cleveland Plain-Dealer reported:

Senate President Keith Faber, of Celina, said in a statement … that the Senate's "ambitious" agenda is focused on jobs and economy, but not right to work legislation. "After discussions with other leaders and my caucus, I don't believe there is current support for this issue in the General Assembly," Faber said. 

And House Democrats, in the same article, agreed:

"This legislation is worse than Senate Bill 5," Rep. Tracy Maxwell Heard, of Columbus, said. "It's not about making workers free. It's about taking their rights." 

Gov. Kasich, through a spokesman, already made it clear last week that he would not be supporting the measures put forward by Reps. Ron Maag (R-Lebanon) and Kristina Roegner (R-Hudson). Rep. Maag’s bill would apply to public employees, while Rep. Roegner’s measure would apply to the private sector.

Outside the state capital, the views were the same. The Toledo Blade, in an excellent staff editorial printed Sunday, chastised the effort to bring up such legislation again:

One of every eight Ohio workers belongs to a union—a share higher than the national rate. And despite assertions that right-to-work laws promote employment, Ohio’s jobless rate remains below the national average.

Nearly half the states—including, most recently, Michigan and Indiana—have right-to-work laws. Supporters say they make states more attractive to employers. But the greater weight of evidence suggests that such laws help depress wages, encourage employers not to offer health and retirement benefits, deny rather than promote workers’ rights, and aggravate income inequality.

Allowing workers to become free riders who need not pay for the wages, benefits, and workplace standards that union representation brings them will discourage union membership. That will tilt the labor-management dynamic in favor of employers, and threaten to roll back the gains achieved for workers through collective bargaining.

We laud all these voices for realizing what Ohio voters have known all along—right-to-work laws do nothing to help employees. Stand strong, Ohio!

Today's Teamster News 02.05.13

U.S. Accuses S.&P. of Fraud in Suit on Loan Bundles  New York Times   ...The Justice Department filed civil fraud charges late on Monday against the nation’s largest credit-ratings agency, Standard & Poor’s, accusing the firm of inflating the ratings of mortgage investments and setting them up for a crash when the financial crisis struck...
Land Battles Rise as U.S. Eyes 450,000 Miles of New Pipe  Bloomberg   ...With the natural gas industry estimating that 450,000 miles (724,000 kilometers) of pipelines need to be built in the next 25 years, a distance to the moon and almost back to earth, conflicts will multiply over eminent domain, or the legal power to condemn private property...
30,000 Golden Dawn Supporters March in Athens Under Neo-Nazi Banners  International Business Times   ...The party has been able to capitalise on the harsh austerity that has been imposed as a condition of Greece maintaining its Eurozone membership. As Greece's economic fortunes have plummeted, so Golden Dawn's fortunes have soared...
UK Declares New Powers to Break Up Banks  TIME  ...Britain’s treasury chief warned the country’s banks on Monday that they face being broken up if they fail to protect their retail operations from their riskier investment arms...
Google CEO Warns about China's hacking  manufacture this   ...In a world that is becoming increasingly digital, the willingness of China’s government and state companies to use cyber crime gives the country an economic and political edge, they say...
Everybody’s working for the…health care benefits Washington Post ...Three-quarters of retirees said they worked longer than they would have otherwise to maintain access to their health plan...
Koch-Funded Rand Paul Introduces National ‘Right To Work’ Bill To Senate  Bold Progressives  ...Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) just introduced a federal so-called “right to work” law that would undermine labor organizing nationwide...
Beltway-aired Super Bowl ad goes after union card check  MSNBC  ...Football fans in the Washington, D.C. area were treated to an anti-card check ad from the conservative Center for Union Facts (CUF) right before kickoff...
Ohio Gov. John Kasich's budget would slash income taxes, lower and broaden the sales tax and revamp oil and gas tax  The Plain Dealer  ...Kasich's sweeping tax reform plan calls for a 50 percent income tax reduction for almost every small business over the next two years, and a 20 percent cut for individuals. The 5.5 percent sales tax rate would drop to 5 percent, but more services would be subjected to the tax, helping to make up for the lost revenue...
Wisconsin: State pension board rejects request for $200M for economic development initiatives  Pioneer Press  ...The board that oversees Wisconsin's pension program for public employees has rejected a request by the head of Gov. Scott Walker's semi-private economic development agency to tap $200 million from the fund to invest in risky startup businesses...
Voter Advocacy Groups Say Mo. ID Bills Unfair, Unconstitutional  KBIA   ...This week lawmakers in Jefferson City are taking another crack at requiring Missouri voters to show a photo ID when they go to the polls...
Unions promise legal battle if pension benefits touched, leading lawmakers wary  WITF   ...The two largest public sector unions in Pennsylvania said Friday that they’ll sue the state if their members’ pension benefits are changed...
Fighting continues over anti-union bill  Lawrence Journal World   ...House Bill 2023 would prohibit the ability of teachers and public union members to have automatic payroll deduction that would go to a political action committee...
LePage again warns schoolchildren off newspapers  Bangor Daily News   ...“My greatest fear in the state of Maine: newspapers,” LePage told children at the St. John Catholic School...
Walmart Workers Get Organized—Just Don't Say the U-Word  Mother Jones  ... UFCW pledged to the NLRB that it would not try to unionize Walmart workers and would ease up on picketing for 60 days... OUR Walmart wants the same things a real union wants, but it is not a union. It can't bargain with management or bring grievances on behalf of workers. But it is a new toehold for the union...
Talks to resume between Durham, school bus drivers' union  WCSC  ...Negotiations between Durham School Services and the Teamsters Local 509 union representing many of the company's drivers were set to resume on Monday...

Today's Teamster News 05.19.12

Bill 78: Quebec Student Protest Legislation 'Worst Law' Since War Measures Act, Law Professor Says  Huffington Post   ...The emergency legislation lays out stern regulations governing demonstrations and contains provisions for heavy fines for students and their federations...

Facebook’s Saverin May Save $67 Million On U.S. Tax Bill  Bloomberg   ...Facebook Inc. (FB) co-founder Eduardo Saverin will save at least $67 million in federal income taxes by dropping U.S. citizenship, according to a Bloomberg analysis of the company’s stock price...

Wages of young college graduates have failed to grow over the last decade  Economic Policy Institute   ...Young graduates who enter the labor market during periods of strength (e.g. 1995–2000) face much stronger wage prospects than young graduates who enter the labor market during periods of weakness (e.g. 2001 to the present)....

Donations to Scott Walker Flagged as Potential Fraud  Pro Publica   ...Capital One appears to be flagging donations to Friends of Scott Walker as potentially fraudulent...

[Breaking] Andrew Manning’s attorney confirms FBI investigating Kasich, allies  Plunderbund   ...“FBI agents interviewed Andrew Manning last week. He answered questions about the statements in his affidavit, which he sent to the Justice Department in March of this year, that top allies of Gov. John Kasich offered him special influence over gubernatorial appointments if he agreed not to run for the state GOP central committee.”...

FMCSA Provides Glimpse of What Trucker Sleep Apnea Regulations May Look Like  Law & Moran Attorneys at Law   ...Some of the factors that contribute to sleep apnea that the FMCSA is considering include: drivers with a small or recessed jaw, a BMI of 35 or greater, small airway, neck sizes greater that 17 inches for males and 15.5 inches for females, Hypertension (treated or untreated), Type 2 diabetes (treated or untreated), Hypothyroidism (untreated)....

Today's Teamster News 03.06.12

Rght-to-work hearing canceled  Post-Tribune   ...the vacation of the TRO doesn’t change anything for the time being. “The legislation will have its time in court, where both sides will have their chance for good debate,” Corbin said...
Kasich turns down federal disaster aid  Cincinnati Enquirer   ...his decision means tornado-ravaged towns in Ohio will not get federal aid now and are not eligible at this time for potentially millions of dollars in payments and loans...
Judge rules Michigan's PLA ban unconstitutional  AFL-CIO Now   ...A federal judge has ruled that Michigan’s ban on the use of project labor agreements—pushed by Gov. Rick Snyder (R) and anti-worker lawmakers—is unconstitutional...
Trial of Iceland ex-PM Haarde over 2008 crisis begins  BBC News   ...The trial of former Icelandic Prime Minister Geir Haarde, on charges of negligence over the 2008 financial crisis, has begun in Reykjavik. Mr Haarde is thought to be the first world leader to face criminal charges over the crisis...
Spain's sovereign thunderclap and the end of Merkel's Europe  The Telegraph   ...Premier Mariano Rajoy has refused point blank to comply with the austerity demands of the European Commission and the European Council...There comes a point when a democracy can no longer sacrifice its citizens to please reactionary ideologues determined to impose 1930s scorched-earth policies...
Dartmouth Students Urge Trustee Diana Taylor To End Sotheby's Lockout  Teamsters Local 814   ...Teamsters art handlers are continuing their seven-month-long campaign to end their lockout by Sotheby's auction house...

Sh*t John Kasich says at his State of the State

Plunderbund edits the Ohio governor's nutty, 90-minute State of the State speech down to 6 minutes. You still may not be able to stand watching the whole thing.

Today's Teamster News 11.18.11

68% of the Sons of the 1% Work at Their Dad's Company  The Atlantic Monthly   ...If the members of the top 1 percent are there because of connections or political power—rather than by the force of their talent, energy, and motivation—then we should be rightly critical about claims that they merit their fortunes, and question the contribution they make to economic productivity...
Goldman Sachs Sets Aside $10 Billion for Bonuses While Hemorrhaging Money  International Business Times   ...The company's stock, meanwhile, has fallen by 43 percent since the beginning of 2011, and 1,300 employees were laid off in the third quarter alone, with 1,000 more layoffs expected by the end of the year...
Americans for Prosperity Florida Bringing Some Interesting Individuals on "Education" Tour  Broward-Palm Beach New Times   ...Among the "influential leaders" AFP Florida is bringing on this tour is Brandon Darby, the former FBI informant who infiltrated groups that were planning protests of the 2008 Republican National Convention...
Mayor Urges Detroit to Accept Drastic Action to Fix Finances  New York Times   ...Mayor Dave Bing told Detroit on Wednesday evening that its finances were in dismal shape and that without major concessions from unions, the privatizing of some city services and layoffs, Detroit would run out of money by early next year...
‘Right-to-work,’ employment law reform top Chamber legislative priorities  PoliticMo   ...Weeks away from the start of the 2012 session of the Missouri General Assembly, Missouri’s leading business group released its list of legislative priorities...
Kasich promises talks on new workers’ comp plan  Columbus Dispatch   ...Organized labor erupted when Gov. John Kasich and Republican lawmakers proposed, passed and signed major changes to collective bargaining for public employees. Kasich doesn’t want the same thing to happen with potential changes to the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation... 

Today's Teamster News 10.02.11

Hundreds arrested in Wall Street protest  Financial Times   ...More than 700 anti-Wall Street protesters have been arrested for blocking traffic on Brooklyn Bridge during an unauthorised march...
"Recall Scott Walker" banner flown during Badger pregame  WEAU 13 News   ...Anti-Walker demonstrators made sure they were seen in the sky during the Wisconsin vs. Nebraska pregame on Saturday at Camp Randall...
Walker’s Agenda Riddled with ALEC ideas  The Progressive   ...there are more than a dozen special interest giveaways in the GOP jobs package (which also)... includes at least two pieces of ALEC model legislation...
Scott can't stop Workforce funds, Rep. Brown says  Orlando Sentinel   ...U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown has waded into the uproar surrounding Workforce Central Florida, insisting that Gov. Rick Scott has no authority to block federal funding of the region's embattled jobs agency...
John Kasich Replaces Rick Scott As Most Unpopular Governor In 2011  Huffington Post   ...Public Policy Polling surveyed Florida voters and found 52 percent disapprove of Republican Gov. Rick Scott -- an improvement in his poll numbers that leaves Ohio Gov. John Kasich as the most unpopular governor the Democratic-leaning firm has polled in 2011...
SEC investigating Missouri sweetener project  Associated Press   ...A recent disclosure indicates the Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating a so-far unsuccessful effort to build an artificial sweetener plant in the central Missouri town of Moberly...  

Today's Teamster News 09.29.11

Walker’s Special Session for Private Companies  The Progressive   ...“It is an abuse of power to talk about job creation and bipartisanship as a cover for advancing a partisan agenda that rewards Republican donors and special interests at the expense of Wisconsin’s working, middle-class families,” said Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca...
Ohio Gov. John Kasich's job approval numbers, support for SB5 still lagging but improving  Cleveland Plain Dealer   ...Ohio Gov. John Kasich's job approval number has hit 40 percent, his highest mark since he took office in January, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll...
LePage Gives New Reason for Removing Labor Mural  WABI   ,,,LePage told him he ordered the mural removed because the money the state spent on it came from a fund meant to provide benefits to the unemployed.  Previously he said he had the mural removed to show that Maine treats employees and employers equally...
Florida Gov. Rick Scott changes arithmetic on jobs pledge  Sun-Sentinel   ...Gov. Rick Scott said this week that Florida is making progress attracting new business but changed his arithmetic on how many jobs the state must create to meet his No. 1 campaign pledge...
Little saved from lower debit fees  Politico   ...In a continuing big bank versus consumer battle, the lower fees that banks begin charging Saturday for debit card swipes might not in the end generate that much savings...
More Americans Are Doubling-Up  Wall Street Journal   ...More people are living with family amid high unemployment rates and a slow economy, but while the phenomenon is keeping the poverty rate lower, it has wider negative economic consequences...Fewer households means fewer consumers for businesses desperate for demand... 

Today's Teamster News 09.25.11

80 Arrested as Financial District Protest Moves North  New York Times   ...The police made scores of arrests on Saturday as hundreds of people, many of whom had been encamped in the financial district as part of a lengthy protest, marched north to Union Square...
Unions Breathe Easier After GOP Assault On NLRB Fails  Talking Points Memo   ...The AFL-CIO and organized labor in general is breathing a sigh of relief after the Senate Appropriations Committee narrowly defeated -- in a tie vote Wednesday night -- an effort to gut the National Labor Relations Board and prevent it from filing suits against companies that move operations to right-to-work states...
Natural Gas Gold Rush, Utica Shale Edition Courtesy of John Kasich  DeSmogBlog   ...the Ohio Governor's 21st Century and Economic Summit began, hosted by the controversial union-busting Governor John Kasich (R-OH), coming on the heels of an oil and natural gas funded study claiming that claimed, as the Cleveland Plain Dealer put it, "Ohio's natural gas and oil reserves are a multibillion-dollar bonanza that could create more than 204,500 jobs..."
“Walkergate” Player’s Link to Privatization point to Scott Walker agenda as County Exec, Governor  Badger Democracy   ...All ... share Scott Walker’s passion for privatization and de-regulation – first for Milwaukee County, then for the State of Wisconsin...
Gov. Rick Scott Brags About Laying Off 15,000 Government Workers After Decrying Florida’s High Unemployment  ThinkProgress   ...Scott’s reminder that he laid of thousands of Floridians drew big applause from the conservative crowd...
ILWU Ladies Auxiliary protests alleged police brutality  The Daily News   ...About 50 women, most of them members of the International Warehouse and Longshore Union's Ladies Auxiliary, staged a protest in West Kelso Saturday afternoon, alleging their members were brutalized by police during a protest at the EGT grain terminal Wednesday...

Today's Teamster News 09.21.11

Cautionary lessons from Michigan  New York Times   ...Jennifer M. Granholm, the former Democratic governor of the state, (said) ... “Laissez-faire, passivity, tax cuts, hands-off does not work. And, really, that’s the lesson from this laboratory of democracy which is Michigan...”
Kasich on public employees: "we are at war with these people"  Plunderbund   ...Right now we don’t have absolute proof that Kasich said “we are at war with these people (i.e. public employees)” or that he promised to bring back parts of SB5 after it’s defeated, or that he promised to use the legislature to “ram it through”, but these statements are consistent with things Kasich has said in the past and it seems highly likely that Kasich would say something like this again, especially in a room full of people he thought were friendly to his agenda...
Walker Latest Scheme: Public Can Pay $50 to Hear His Job Ideas  One Wisconsin Now   ...Gov. Scott Walker, facing a steadily-increasing state unemployment rate despite passing $2.3 billion in tax cuts to corporations and the wealthy, has announced his latest scheme: charge the public $50 to attend a state-sponsored “jobs summit.” Walker’s fee will likely restrict public access, particularly the unemployed and those in need of jobs...
FBI Raid's Target Was Point Person for Scott Walker's Anti-Labor Program  The Nation   ...That person? Cynthia Archer, the subject of last week’s FBI raid, which removed a crate of documents from her Madison home, collected her computer’s hard drive and revealed to most Wisconsinites that a “Joe Doe” probe has targeted key aides to Walker during his service as county executive and governor....
NH State Rep: Right to Work Bill is "Absolute Hogwash"  We Party Patriots   ...Democrat Christopher Serlin...(said) Sponsors would have the public believe RTW laws are about “choice”, “freedom” and “equity”. That’s absolute hogwash....
Sikorsky's 'Worldwide' Cuts Will Mostly Hit Connecticut  Hartford Courant   ...The helicopter-maker will cut 567 jobs around the world, with 419 in Connecticut, and 384 of those are union workers ...The Teamsters union confirmed the proposed cuts that would affect its ranks...

Today's Teamster News 09.18.11

Protesters invade NYC Financial District   msnbc.com   ...More than 1,000 demonstrators descended on New York City's Financial District on Saturday for what could be a days-long protest of what they said was corporate greed favoring the rich at the expense of ordinary people...
When’s John Kasich’s job creators going to live up to that name  Plunderbund   ...Ohio’s unemployment ranks are growing, the ranks of the employed is shrinking, and the number of people either working or looking for work in Ohio has nosedived since, well, right around the time John Kasich’s “Jobs Budget” was being passed...
Fighting Bob Fest attendees say it's up to the people to recall Scott Walker  The Capital TImes   ...To pull off a recall of Walker -- a task that involves collecting roughly half a million signatures within 60 days -- many on Saturday said they're putting their faith in the power of the people until a state Democratic Party with a bit more drive and determination steps in to beat back Republican gains made during the November 2010 elections in Wisconsin...
Flint City Council supports referendum on emergency financial manager law  mlive.com   ...The council on Monday passed a resolution in favor of putting the newly amended law on the ballot for possible repeal, even as the city undergoes the financial review process spelled out in the law...
GM-UAW agree on new contract  Associated Press   ...the union said the contract will ensure that laid-off workers will be hired back. The union said the contract also will improve health care benefits and profit-sharing plans...
Slave empire uncovered in major police raid  The Guardian   ...Twenty-four modern day slaves were released from bondage on Sunday after a pre-dawn police raid found them emaciated, hungry and living in "filthy and cramped" conditions on a caravan site...

Today's Teamster News 09.14.11

Legislature begins fall session with arrests, heated debate  WKOW.com   ...After showing up for a pre-planned protest event called a "camera flash mob" in the State Assembly gallery, two people were arrested for videotaping Tuesday afternoon's session...
JobsOhio makes first big investment… in high-priced lawyers  Plunderbund   ... as we predicted and everyone fully expected, JobsOhio is facing legal challenges over its constitutionality...
State: Buss can't testify in prison privatization lawsuit  Tallahassee Democrat   ...The state does not want recently ousted Department of Corrections Secretary Ed Buss testifying in a lawsuit ... to stop privatization of prisons in South Florida...  
Council May Challenge Voter ID Law  Channel9News   ...A new law requiring Tennessee voters to provide photo identification at the polls goes into effect next year, but the Chattanooga city council is considering a challenge to the new law...
Christie: A Koch and a smile (opinion)  phillyburbs.com   ...The troubling relationship between the oil billionaire Koch brothers and Gov. Chris Christie has been confirmed by the recent release of a recording of the keynote speech the governor delivered at a fundraising convention hosted by the fossil-fuel industry giants in June...
South Carolina governor faces scrutiny over trips  Boston Herald   ...Haley, a Tea Party-backed Republican who has decried wasteful spending since she took office this year, is fending off criticism that the trip was more of a personal vacation than an economic development mission...
Gov. Corbett, Keep Our State Parks Public  (opinion)  Nazareth Patch   ... Gov. Tom Corbett recently told reporters that our stunning state park system tops his short list of state assets to privatize -- along with liquor stores and prisons...
Bankruptcy protection case tossed  Kennebec Journal   ...The largest chunk of this debt is $5.3 million for the New England Teamsters & Trucking Industry Pension Fund of Burlington, Mass...
Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2010  U.S. Census Bureau   ...The U.S. Census Bureau announced today that in 2010, median household income declined, the poverty rate increased and the percentage without health insurance coverage was not statistically different from the previous year...

Today's Teamster News 09.12.11

Manufacturers Move to Block Union Rule  Wall Street Journal   ...The National Association of Manufacturers has sued the National Labor Relations Board, seeking to block a rule requiring employers to post notices informing workers of their right to join a union and act together to improve wages and working conditions...
Ohio governor appoints union law opponent to bench  Associated Press   ...Ohio Gov. John Kasich (KAY'-sik) has appointed a longtime state lawmaker and opponent of the state's collective bargaining law to serve as juvenile court judge in Geauga (jee-AW'-guh) County...
Florida's Bloody Election History Casts Long Shadow over Voter Suppression Efforts  History News Network   ...There’s voter suppression afoot in central Florida—and no one seems to care...
Koch Exclusive Ignites Political Firestorms in New Jersey  Scoop   ..."This is the smoking gun that shows he's been working with the Koch brothers from the beginning," Jeff Tittel, director of the New Jersey Sierra Club, told AP...
Art and politics meet in collection of labor images  Washingon Post   ...The events depicted in the murals verifiably happened and can’t be expunged from the record to suit political taste...
The magical world of voodoo 'economists'  Washington Post   ...If you came up with a bumper sticker that pulls together the platform of this year’s crop of Republican presidential candidates, it would have to be:  Repeal the 20th century. Vote GOP...

Today's Teamster News 09.09.11

Scott Stymied on Outsourcing as Florida Prison Health Plan Snags  Bloomberg   ...Florida’s plan to outsource health care in the third-largest U.S. prison system to save $30 million has stalled, hindering efforts by Governor Rick Scott and lawmakers to hire private operators for state services...
Walker's fundraiser to restore mansion raises some eyebrows  Milwaukee Journal Sentinel   ...One recipient of an invitation was put off by the talk of designer handbags and croquet matches during this time of austere budgets and program cuts...
Kasich says he’ll raise taxes on business if Issue 2 fails  Plunderbund   ...Kasich also warned yesterday that if Senate Bill 5 were repealed “don’t be surprised if you see an increase in the (commercial-activities) tax to bail out a pension system...”
Committee Considers Cutting Union Deals For Public Projects  Indiana Public Media   ...the legislature is weighing whether to prohibit PLAs entirely from public projects...
Maine Labor Mural Gets Rebirth at Maryland Arts Center  AFL-CIO   ...the Maine AFL-CIO and artist Judy Taylor arranged for a reproduction of the mural to be displayed at Rockville, Md.’s nonprofit arts center, VisArts...
Hoffa Says All Americans Need To Come Together To Solve The Jobs Crisis  IBT   ...Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa today applauded President Obama for presenting a jobs program with specific goals and a realistic means of achieving them...

Today's Teamster News 09.03.11

Dick Meister: Busting the union busters, a labor day lament  San Francisco Chronicle   ...This is not a very happy Labor Day for labor, considering the continued heavy attacks on public employee unions, which have become the vanguard of organized labor...
Republican lawmakers mull Labor Day participation  Associated Press   ...State Sen. Pam Galloway says she's attending a parade even though she knows some people won't be happy to see her. Other Republicans are staying away. Walker plans to spend Monday with his family...
The Bachmann wing  Politico   ...Michigan Senate candidate Pete Hoekstra, fresh off endorsements from Iowa Rep. Steve King, Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey and Ohio Gov. John Kasich, seeks to associate himself with Michele Bachmann...
State spends $80k on renovations for Gov. Rick Scott's office  Miami Herald   ...Scott said, "It's a normal process they go through where DMS does this..."
Republican Party leader in NH calls it quits  Boston Globe   ...Embattled New Hampshire Republican Party Chairman Jack Kimball resigned last night, ending a bitter internal battle that pitted Tea Party activists against long-time Republicans...
Deal could make it easier for farmworkers to organize  Los Angeles Times   ...A bill stemming from an agreement between advocates and Gov. Jerry Brown would let a state board certify a union if it finds a grower has acted illegally to affect the outcome of a labor election...

Today's Teamster News 08.30.11

Kasich To Give Public Money To Private Groups Supporting His Agenda  ProgressOhio   ...Gov. John Kasich is finalizing plans today to funnel public money to private groups that support Senate Bill 5. And a new analysis shows these groups and their affiliates have donated nearly a half-million dollars to pro-SB 5 candidates and causes...
Pro-SB 5 campaign has work cut out  Columbus Dispatch   ...The key question now is whether the coalition of Democrats and union supporters pushing for a repeal can keep those signees in their camp and get them to show up to vote in November...
Republican Politicians Banned From Labor Day Parade In Wisconsin  Huffington Post   ... A group of Wisconsin union officials has voted to ban Republican politicians from a local Labor Day parade...
Pay cut tied to state employee health care ruled unconstitutional  Detroit Free Press   ...Affirming a lower court decision out of Ingham County, the three-judge appellate panel said the deduction, enacted by the Legislature and former Gov. Jennifer Granholm, illegally bypassed the state Civil Service Commission, which has primary jurisdiction over state employee compensation...
Union protests company CEO who backs right-to-work bill  Boston Globe   ...Around 20 union members protested today outside the office of Fred Kfoury Jr., president and CEO of Central Paper Products in Manchester, N.H., who appeared in a pro-Mitt Romney video supporting right-to-work legislation...
NYC workers fight for 40-hour week  Crain's New York Business   ...Now that manufacturing jobs have been replaced by retail and other service positions, workers are again fighting for a 40-hour week. Only this time, the battle has been turned upside down...
Most Referendums Since 1998 Give U.S. Voters a Chance to Reject State Laws  Bloomberg   ...Citizen-initiated ballot measures are one response to polarized statehouses, where laws pass by slim margins along party lines...

Today's Teamster News 08.29.11

Walker tells students to take a (tuition) hike  The UWM Post   ...UW-Milwaukee undergraduates and faculty will bear the brunt of Governor Scott Walker’s controversial biennial budget cuts to the UW System this semester, paying 51 percent of the $16.8 million dollars lost annually in state revenue...
Gov. John Kasich's administration moves closer to privatizing lottery  Clevelan Plain Dealer   ...The administration plans to hire a consultant to look at the nuts and bolts of converting the $2.6 billion lottery into a quasi-government agency and determine its value...
Where are all the jobs LePage was going to create? (opinion)  Kennebec Journal   ...Gov. Paul LePage has hired an expensive New York lawyer to negotiate the contract with the union. The union has put forth in good faith cost-savings measures only to have this administration turn them down...
Farmworkers trek through valley on way to Sacramento  The Modesto Bee   ...The march started in Madera on Tuesday and will reach the capital on Sept. 4. A small group is doing the entire route, but bigger crowds are expected for various segments...
NLRB chairwoman departs; political fights loom for labor panel  The Hill   ...Without new people to fill those seats, the five-member board will be down to just two – not enough to have the legal authority to issue decisions, due to a 2010 Supreme Court ruling...
The case of the US jobless recovery: Assertive management meets the double hangover  VoxEU   ...The US is missing millions of jobs. This column argues that the total is 10.4 million. It claims that 3 million of these can be traced to the weakened bargaining position of labour and the growing assertiveness of management in slashing costs to maintain share prices...