Making college affordable is key to America's future

The cost of higher education is out of control, and has been for many years. As tuition soared sky-high, more and more U.S. young adults went deep into debt trying to finance their future. And today, many are being crushed by the weight of their borrowing.

College costs are hitting students hard.

Until recently, there didn't seem to be enough lawmakers demanding change when it came to the high cost of college. Sure, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) would decry student loan interest rates, but too many elected officials were silent on the bigger question of reducing the price tag for post-secondary education.

Now, however, there seems to be momentum for a broader solution, one that could even play a role in the 2016 elections. Some 20 Democratic senators support a measure that would spur government to tap down on the spiraling costs of higher ed.

As outlined in The Hill newspaper:

The resolution deals in broad strokes rather than granular details. It calls upon the federal government to provide more support to states, which can then “make increased investments in higher education that will result in lower tuition and costs for students.” It also backs increased financial aid for students — in contrast to the House GOP’s recent budget plan that would freeze Pell grants at their current level — as well as efforts to bend the cost curve of college education downward.

The need for such legislation cannot be overstated. While rising tuition has hampered many students, it has hit those that hail from low-income families the most. Even the brightest of those coming from economically challenged families often can't finish college. Meanwhile, their less intelligent but better-off classmates muddle through.

As detailed in Slate:

What happens to these bright, low-income students? It's not so much that they don't attend college—only 12.4 percent skip higher ed entirely. The problem is that most don't finish, or settle for less than a bachelor's degree, which of course limits their earning power later in life. Sometimes they try to save money on tuition by attending community college, even though most two-year schools have a spotty track record when it comes to helping students graduate. Sometimes they get lost or overwhelmed in a college's bureaucracy, because they don't have educated parents who can help guide them along. Sometimes they try to work through school and simply can't balance the demands of a job with their academics. For one reason or another, they don't make it as far as their talent suggests they should.

America simply cannot allow this continue to happen. It tramples on this nation's history as "The Land of Opportunity" and raises questions about whether working hard is the classroom ultimately does pay off for all students. And it tamps down on innovation and U.S. economic gains.

Education is at the core of what makes this country great. If lawmakers wants to get more people working in good middle-class jobs, they need to prioritize it.

Today's Teamster News 07.31.14

Teamster News
Consumer Watchdog Campaign: Teamsters, Transit Workers Back Prop 46 Campaign To Protect Patient Safety  Insurance News   ...Two powerful labor groups, the California Teamsters Public Affairs Council and the California Conference Board-Amalgamated Transit Union, have joined the growing list of organizations and individuals that support Proposition 46, the patient safety initiative on California's Nov. 4 ballot...
Police Union Endorses Lake County Sheriff’s Challenger, Jason Patt  Lake Forester   ...The Teamsters Local 700, the union representing corrections officers and supervisors along with lieutenants and sergeants of the Lake County Sheriff’s Highway Patrol Division, has endorsed the sheriff’s opponent in the upcoming election...
Teamsters Applaud Putnam County Decision To Reject Republic Services’ Florida Landfill Bid  teamster.org   ...The Teamsters Union is lauding the Putnam County (Fla.) Board of Commissioners today on its decision to reject Republic Services’ [NYSE: RSG] bid to buy the Putnam County landfill...
IKEA Canada To Pay Damages To The Teamsters Union  teamster.org   ...The British Columbia Labour Relations Board … concluded that Ikea violated the law when it negotiated directly with workers and offered to all workers who accepted to cross the picket line better working conditions (including a $2.50 an hour premium and a $500 bonus) than the working conditions that it had offered to the Teamsters at the bargaining table...
NLRB Reviews Local Teamster Petition to Expand Definition of 'Dual Employer'   National Legal and Policy Center   ...When does being employed by a contractor also mean being employed by the corporation with which it contracts? The National Labor Relations Board currently is reviewing this issue in a potential landmark case. If the board rules in favor of a Teamsters local, unions everywhere could have a powerful organizing weapon...
LA Unified reaches agreement with principals, police, teamsters  LA School Report   ...Teamsters Local 572, whose members include school administrative assistants, cafeteria managers, area operations supervisors and bus supervisors approved a similar contract with a bonus payment for the last year...
State Battles
Chris Christie Pension Cuts Could Damage Economy: Report  International Business Times   ...when combined with private pension benefits, the spending generated by the national retirement system supports more than 6 million jobs: 4.4 percent of the total national workforce. The report also says that the economic multiplier effect from retirees spending their pension benefits generates $135 billion a year in federal, state and local tax revenues...
N.J. Unions Update Lawsuits To Block Christie's Pension Cuts  Newark Star-Ledger   ...More than a dozen public-worker unions have updated their lawsuits aiming to stop Gov. Chris Christie from slashing scheduled payments to New Jersey's pension system for government employees...
In Kansas, Brownback tried a red-state ‘experiment.’ Now he may be paying a political price  Washington Post   ...Advised by Arthur Laffer, the father of supply-side economics, and supported by special interest groups backed by conservative billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, he pushed through legislation that cut taxes and spending, eliminated state jobs and denied far more applications for welfare assistance...
The Republican Occupation of Detroit  Daily Beast   ...City agencies and entire school districts have been outsourced or privatized; public employees have been laid off in droves; municipalities have sold off vast swaths of public land; and city employee unions have seen their contracts whittled down to nothing...
Cargill to close Milwaukee beef facility, cut 600 jobs  Milwaukee Journal Sentinel   ..."It is unfortunate that we must close any beef plant because of the impact to good people, their families and the community...
Democratic Assembly Candidates In Northern Wisconsin Say Act 10 Has Caused ‘Teacher Flight'  Wisconsin Public Radio   ...Gov. Scott Walker’s Act 10 law, saying it’s causing teachers to leave the state. When Walker pushed Act 10 through the Legislature in his first few months as governor in 2011, he called it a tool for local governments and school boards to balance budgets because it took away almost all union bargaining power...
Sick Leave Policies Pick Up Steam  CNN Money   ...the San Diego city council was one of two cities -- the other being Eugene, Ore. -- to pass new laws mandating paid sick leave on Monday...
War On Workers
Employees’ Pay in U.S. Is Smaller Slice of Income Pie  Bloomberg   ...Worker pay was a smaller piece of the U.S. income pie than earlier estimated as some Americans collected significantly more in interest and dividend payments over the past two years...
White Collar Wage Theft Is Trending: Companies Using Jail And Illegal Arrangements To Prevent Employees From Leaving  Forbes   ...white collar occupations such as engineers and developers are facing intricate wage theft schemes that are obfuscated by backroom deals and threats of criminal prosecution on a national scale...
A Bill to Get the Labor Movement Back on Offense  The Nation   ...The Ellison-Lewis legislation would amend the National Labor Relations Act to include protections found under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act to include labor organizing as a fundamental right. That would give workers a broader range of legal options if they feel discriminated against for trying to form a union...
Banks Cash In On Inversion Deals Intended To Elude Taxes  New York Times   ...Investment banks are estimated to have collected, or will soon collect, nearly $1 billion in fees over the last three years advising and persuading American companies to move the address of their headquarters abroad (without actually moving)...
The Charter School Profiteers  Jacobin   ...When we welcome schools that lack democratic accountability (charter school boards are appointed, not elected), when we allow public dollars to be used by those with a bottom line (such as the for-profit management companies that proliferate in Michigan), we open doors for opportunism and corruption...
Construction Worker Killed At FSU Construction Site  Tallahassee Democrat   ...A 25-year-old construction worker was killed Monday afternoon in a construction elevator accident on Florida State University campus, said Major Jim Russell, Florida State University Police Department spokesman...
Higher Minimum Wage, Faster Job Creation (opinion)  New York Times   ...The minimum wage has been raised many times without hurting employment...
Miscellaneous
Wall Street Analysts Predict The Slow Demise Of Walmart And Target  Huffington Post   ...Shoppers are increasingly turning to the web or to smaller, more conveniently located stores, cutting into the market share of big-box retailers like Walmart and Target, the analysts wrote...

Port truck driver: Workers' rights should be civil rights

Alex Paz urges other port drivers to join the fight.

Shouldn't federal law protect people for trying to organize -- just as it protects them from discrimination because of their race, religion, sex or national origin? 

Alex Paz thinks so. He's a port truck driver at LA/Long Beach who got fired for complaining that he was misclassified as an independent contractor. 

Today Alex joined U.S. Reps. John Lewis and Keith Ellison at a Capitol Hill news conference. The two congressmen announced they filed a bill to make labor organizing a civil right.

Their bill would change the National Labor Relations Act so it protects workers who ask for better wages or working conditions. George Zornick at The Nation explains:

The Ellison-Lewis legislation would amend the National Labor Relations Act to include protections found under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act to include labor organizing as a fundamental right. That would give workers a broader range of legal options if they feel discriminated against for trying to form a union. 

Currently, their only redress is through a grievance with the National Labor Relations Board—an important process, but one that workers and labor analysts frequently criticize as both too slow and often too lenient on offending employers. 

If the NLRA were amended, however, after 180 days a worker could take his or her labor complaint from the NLRB to a federal court. This is how the law works now for civil rights complaints, which gives workers the option, after 180 days, to step outside the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission process. 

Then, workers would have sole discretion on whether to push a complaint, as opposed to relying on a decision by the NLRB on whether to forge ahead. Workers could also move the process along much faster than the NLRB handles complaints, which can often take years.

Alex with Civil Rights icon John Lewis today.

Alex Paz's story shows why workers' rights should be more than the right to hope they don't get fired. He drove for TTSI in Rancho Dominguez, Calif. The truck he drove belonged to TTSI and it was registered to TTSI, but Alex had to pay for registering it. He also had to pay for insurance, fees, fuel, maintenance and tires. His costs amounted to $3,500 a month, leaving him with minimum wage for his work.

TTSI got away with it by calling him an independent contractor. "There was nothing independent in what I do," Alex said.

In June 2013, Alex complained to the California Labor Commissioner that TTSI misclassified him to avoid paying taxes and treating him as an employee. TTSI then sued him. He was served with papers on Christmas Eve. Alex then led the strike in April against Port of LA/Long Beach employers, including TTSI. In May, the Labor Commission held a hearing on his complaint. The company president showed up. Alex was fired four days after telling labor commissioners about the TTSI's scam.

"These companies are getting out of control," he said. "They used ruthless tactics to scare us, but we're not going to back down. I urge other port drivers to join us. Come along and join us in the fight."

If the Ellison-Lewis bill becomes law, the port drivers will have a powerful new tool in their arsenal.