Today's Teamster News 10.31.14

Teamster News
Data On Cross-Border Program Insufficient, FMCSA Committee Says; Mex Carriers Continue  Operation  Overdrive   ...A Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration advisory committee approved Oct. 28 a report critical of several elements of the U.S.-Mexico cross-border pilot program, which ended earlier this month...
Utilizing The Union Vote In The 2014 Midterms  MSNBC   ...Ed Schultz and Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa discuss labor’s major role in the 2014 midterms...
Trade
The TTIP: A Very Scary Proposal  Huffington Post   ...though the agreement would have huge impacts on everything from the food we eat to the energy we use, the European Commission and Office of the U.S. Trade Representative are negotiating the TTIP in complete secret...
Japan Can’t Ratify The TPP This Year  The Diplomat   ...The largest remaining sticking point for successfully concluding the agreement still remains Japan’s protection of its sensitive agriculture and automotive industries, both of which have powerful political lobbies that even the dominant LDP must heed....
State Battles
Hedge fund billionaire, unions trade blows in Phoenix pension fight  Reuters   ...A push to reform Phoenix's retirement system has become the latest front in a battle between union-backed groups and a Texas hedge fund billionaire over the future of America's public pensions. Hundreds of thousands of dollars, much of it anonymous out-of-state money, has been flowing to backers of a November 4 ballot initiative in Phoenix that aims to end traditional public pension plans for the city's new hires...
Donald Trump's WI Club for Growth donation among those detailed in new records  The Cap Times   ...Court documents from a John Doe investigation into potentially illegal coordination between the Walker campaign and groups supporting him indicate that Walker's campaign had made the Club for Growth the de facto campaign engine for Walker's 2012 effort to fend off a recall. Walker himself, according to an April 28, 2011, email from campaign consultant Kate Doner, was "encouraging all to invest in the Wisconsin Club for Growth."...
Union power on the ballot  Politico   ...The result has been a campaign that echoes the same “Main Street vs. Wall Street” divide that has roiled the Democratic Party in recent years. But, as always in California, there’s a twist: The race has also become a referendum on the power of the California Teachers Association...
War on Workers
Bare-Knuckled Advice From Veteran Lobbyist: ‘Win Ugly or Lose Pretty’  New York Times   ...“I get up every morning and I try to figure out how to screw with the labor unions — that’s my offense,” Mr. Berman said in his speech to the Western Energy Alliance. “I am just trying to figure out how I am going to reduce their brand...”
State Ecology Expects Full House For Meeting On Oil-By-Rail Safety Thursday Evening In Olympia  The Olympian   ...environmentalists want to see the state require more disclosure of oil shipments besides those from Bakken and boost tug-escort requirements for oil tankers on the Columbia River. She said there already is worry about risks from current levels of shipments of volatile Bakken crude oil primarily from North Dakota in the wake of the 2013 disaster in Lac-Megantic, Quebec, that killed 47 people...
Efforts to compromise with Maine nurse stall  Associated Press   ...Insisting she is perfectly healthy, nurse Kaci Hickox again defied the state's Ebola quarantine Thursday by taking a bike ride with her boyfriend, and Maine health authorities struggled to reach a compromise that would limit her contact with others...
Newest Legal Laborers In Bolivia: Children  Wall Street Journal   ...Newly Re-Elected President Morales Bucks World Trend in Legislating the Right for 10-Year-Olds to Work...
Name released of construction worker killed in Highway 68 crash  KSBW.com   ...A 50-year-old Salinas man is accused of hitting and killing a utility worker on Highway 68 Thursday morning while driving 90 miles per hour in a construction zone...
The Constitutional Right of Scabby the Rat  Atlantic   ..."Scabby the Rat," a giant inflatable rodent famous for blocking city sidewalks, is here to stay. The monstrous animal and the popular union protest tool is protected by the First Amendment, a New York district judge ruled this week...
Miscellaneous
Union-Made In America Halloween Candy Shopping List  AFL-CIO   ...If you want your Halloween to be all treats and no tricks, make sure all your candy is union-made in America. The Los Angeles County Federation of Labor's resource site, Labor 411, has an extensive list of union-made candies. Here are some highlights, featuring sweets made by the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM) and the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW)...
Poll: Voters Support Keystone XL Pipeline 60-30  Argus Leader   ...The Keystone XL pipeline has landslide support from South Dakota voters, an Argus Leader-KELO-TV poll says. A statewide survey shows 60 percent backing for the project, with 30 percent opposed and 10 percent undecided...
Congress Still Has No Idea How Much The NSA Spies On Americans  The Atlantic   ...even the most diligent, knowledgeable members of the Senate Intelligence Committee consistently lack basic information that's plainly needed for adequate oversight. No one who assesses the relevant evidence can credibly deny this...

KY Teamsters make WI news

Kentucky Teamsters from Locals 651 in Lexington and 89 in Louisville stood out in the rain last week to tell visiting Wisconsin Koch whore Gov. Scott Walker he wasn't welcome. Their protest was covered by the Lexington Herald-Leader.  The Hillbilly Report posted video of the action, and now we learn The Cap Times in Madison, Wisc., posted a story: "Scott Walker raises a ruckus in Kentucky, too."

Walker was campaigning for David Williams, Republican candidate for governor. According to The Cap Times,

...recent polls are showing Williams trailing Democratic incumbent Gov. Steve Beshear by large margins -- almost 29 percentage points in one poll. It will be curious to see if Walker will be considered a Republican asset in closer races.

We also have a few more pictures of the demonstration, thanks to brother Steve DeWeese.

Way to go, Kentucky Teamsters!!

Heckuva job in IN, Mitch

During his congressional testimoney last week, Koch whore Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker praised Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels for the great job he's doing.

Really.

Teamsters, members of other unions and community activists learned otherwise at a meeting held by Laborers Local 795 in New Albany, Ind., recently.  They learned one in five children in Indiana live in poverty and 400,000 Hoosiers currently depend on food stamps.

Btw, we don't think it's a coincidence that Daniels pretty much obliterated public sector unions in Indiana when he took away their collective bargaining rights by executive order in 2005. Since then, according to AFSCME spokesman Gregory King,

Daniels succeeded in reducing the paychecks of all Indiana workers. In 2004, Indiana ranked 18th in the U.S in personal per capita income. By 2009, Indiana ranked 40th.

Brother Jim Kincaid, business agent for Teamsters Local 89 in Louisville, Ky., was at the discussion. He believes education is key in fighting the war on workers and reviving the middle class.

We talked about different approaches to get working people to understand what is going on in the Statehouse and across the country. It’s about getting everyone to understand what is at stake, and how to communicate the seriousness of this to younger generations, older generations and non-union members. How you vote in the polls is directly relational to your jobs. People don’t always believe it, but now we’re seeing it.

Kincaid, who comes from a long generation of union members, said people have forgotten that the rights we have weren’t just handed to us.

Nothing we have was given us—we had to fight for everything. If we don’t stay vigilant, we run the risk of losing what we’ve fought for. We have to remember why we have unions and what unions have done for this country.