More late-breaking election news (some of it good)

Here's some more news on what happened in yesterday's election: 

Voters said yes to paid sick days in Massachusetts and several cities in New Jersey and California. According to CNN Money,

Businesses with at least 11 employees in Massachusetts now have to grant up to 40 hours of paid sick time per year. The measure also bars employers from punishing workers for taking sick time. 

It's a huge victory for low-wage workers. Two thirds of workers at the bottom 25% of the pay scale -- the country's lowest earners -- do not receive paid time off for illness, according to the Labor Department. Three quarters of part time employees are not paid when they miss work due to illness. Worse, some lose their jobs. 

In Massachusetts alone, the new law will benefit nearly 1 million workers who couldn't take sick time, according to a statement from Yes on Question 4, an advocacy group that campaigned for sick days in the state. 

In New Jersey, voters in Trenton and Montclair also backed a similar plan. A similar measure also passed in Oakland, Calif.

Jobs With Justice tells us the minimum wage was increased in five states:

In Alaska, Arkansas, Illinois, Nebraska and South Dakota, voters called for a raise in the minimum wage. In California, residents of Oakland and San Francisco all voted to raise the wage for workers in their cities. And in Wisconsin, voters in nine counties and four cities all indicated it was time to raise the minimum wage.

The Center for Media and Democracy, however, warns us to watch out for ALEC:

...keep an eye out for bills promoted by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) designed to crush that momentum and limit local control... 

Despite widespread, bipartisan public support on issues like the minimum wage and paid sick days, ALEC has conjured up an array of bills to thwart the ability of voters to have a say on economic justice measures. 

In 2006, ALEC adopted a "Resolution to Preserve the Legislative Process" warning specifically that the "determination of state minimum wage levels" should be left to legislators rather than voters. It has also called for a repeal of the minimum wage altogether. 

ALEC has long promoted a bill it calls the "Living Wage Mandate Preemption Act" to prohibit any city or county from enacting a wage higher than the state's minimum, and reapproved it in 2013. This bill was adopted in Oklahoma earlier this year, with Gov. Mary Fallin (an ALEC alum) signing it into law. 

And in the three years since a paid sick days preemption bill enacted by Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker was shared at ALEC's August 2011 meeting, eleven states -- all controlled by Republicans -- have blocked voters or local governments from enacting paid sick day laws.

Some random news:

• California Teamsters saluted their winning candidates in Oakland: Libby Schaaf for mayor and Annie C. Washington and Abel Guillen for city council
• Teamster-endorsed Gary Peters won the Senate seat in Michigan. In New York, Andrew Cuomo won re-election as governor with Teamster help. 
• Democrats held on to the Kentucky state House, which effectively derails right-to-work for the near future. 
• Gov. Maggie Hassan was re-elected to New Hampshire, so right-to-work is unlikely there as well.
• Former UPS Teamster steward Rick Nolan won re-election to the U.S. House of Representatives from Minnesota's 8th District. 
• New Jersey sent a union electrician -- IBEW member Rick Norcross -- to Congress for the first time since 1920.
• Bruce Rauner Wins Illinois Governor's Race according to the Huffington Post. He defeated Pat Quinn, a former Teamster endorsed by the Teamsters.

No rest for weary Teamsters in final get-out-the-vote push

This evening thousands of Teamsters will learn the results of their fervent efforts to register Teamster voters and to get them to the polls to vote for pro-worker candidates.

Hoffa urges a brother Teamster to vote at USF Holland in Michigan.

Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa barnstormed Georgia, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Illinois and his home state of Michigan in the weeks leading up to Nov. 4. He visited the newly organized FedEx Freight facility in Philadelphia, a produce market in Chicago, BMWED offices in Novi, Mich., USF Holland and DHL in Detroit, union halls in Milwaukee, breweries, distributions centers and UPS yards. Hoffa also appeared on radio, television and in print to urge Teamsters to vote.

Urging Teamsters to vote early (and having fun) at the Giant Eagle safety picnic. That's Al Mixon, principal officer of Teamsters Local 507 in Cleveland and a Teamsters international vice president. 

All over the country, Teamsters registered new voters outside of worksites, at safety picnics, during general meetings and wellness clinics. They phone banked, knocked on doors, passed out literature, rallied and marched with candidates who support working people. Many locals opened their halls to hear what the candidates had to say. You can get an idea of what Teamster boots on the ground look like by visiting the election photo galleries here, here and here.

Teamsters Local 769 in North Miami started an innovative Get Out The Vote program by posting selfies of members holding "I'm a Teamster and I Vote" signs. Here's just one:

Don Marr, Melvin Alexander, and John Salazar are Teamsters and they VOTE! #Local769Votes #TeamsterPower

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters quickly seized on the idea, and hundreds of "I Vote" selfies have appeared on the teamster.org website and Facebook page.

Teamsters Local 638's Super Phone Banker

Sister Diane Ersbo shared this photo of Maggie, the Super Phone Banker from Teamsters Local 638 in Minnesota. Maggie made shirts from the 'I Vote' signs for herself and others. (And you betcha she voted!)

Teamsteers Local 337 Coca-Cola drivers from the Highland Park distribution center.
L to R, Mike Bond, Adam Escobedo, Charles Dilard, Darryl Welton and Vashawn
Glover. They're smiling because they vote!

Geoffrey Morin, a Teamster with Local 337 in Detroit, told us:

A couple of weeks ago our Local 337 in Detroit sent a rep out to set us up with the forms for requesting absentee ballots. Very cool!

Phone banking in Denver

Teamsters Local 455 went all out with phone banking and worksite visits.  Local 959 rallied to get out the vote in in Alaska.

Rallying in Alaska

At 5 a.m. today in California, UPS Teamsters from Local 948 in Visalia woke up and felt their Teamster Power!

Feeling the power in California!

Today's Teamster News 11.01.14

Teamster News
FedEx Freight Workers In New Jersey Vote To Join Teamsters Local 701  teamster.org   ...A group of 113 drivers at FedEx Freight’s South Brunswick, N.J., terminal voted today to join Teamsters Local 701. The vote was 66 to 42...
Teamsters Local 988 Laundry Drivers Ratify Contract  teamster.org   ...Laundry drivers and members of Teamsters Local 988 in Houston have voted unanimously to ratify a two-year contract with Angelica Textile...
The Ballot Box Is The Great Equalizer For Workers (opinion)  Huffington Post   ...There are real consequences for workers if they don't make it to the ballot box,...
NYC Carriage Horses Clip-Clop Away While De Blasio Stalls  Bloomberg Businessweek   ...New York Mayor Bill de Blasio assured animal-rights activists during his run for City Hall that he would rid Central Park of horse-drawn carriages, which he called inhumane….Now, 10 months into his term, tourists still pay $50 for a 20-minute trot through the park, while at City Hall, a draft for legislation has yet to be written and no one is saying why....
Nicholas Lanzilli Secures Additional Endorsements  Medford Transcript   ...I am honored to receive additional endorsements by a number of respected groups in the area. ...Teamsters Local 25...
Teamsters Trumpet Unemployment Payout To LA-LB Port Truck Driver  Journal of Commerce   ...A Los Angeles-Long Beach port truck driver who said she was misclassified as an independent contractor was awarded a check for $9,000 in unemployment benefits by the California Employment Development Department this week, giving Teamsters fuel in their campaign to organize local drayage drivers...
Unfinished Construction Has Protesters Marching Near The West Lake Landfill  Fox 2 St. Louis   ...Unfinished construction work along St. Charles Rock Road has demonstrators raising public health concerns...
Trade
TTIP Debate Suffering From Lack Of Transparency  The Parliament Magazine   ...The transatlantic trade and investment partnership (TTIP), currently being negotiated between the EU and the US, is by far the most controversial agreement the EU has ever negotiated. Since the start of discussions, opposition has been growing among the civilian population and certain political parties, despite the fact that the final content of the project cannot be discussed in detail, even one year on...
State Battles
McConnell victory could make Kentucky right-to-work  Politico   ... “Should the Kentucky House go Republican,” writes Labor & Employment’s Mike Elk, “state Senate Majority Leader Damon Thayer has already said that his first priority will be to pass a right-to-work bill.” Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear would likely veto, but to no avail: In Kentucky, all it takes to override a gubernatorial veto is a simple majority of both houses...
Mark Schauer will ax the 'retirement tax' - and Republicans will help him  Michigan Live   ...If Mark Schauer is elected governor, you can probably kiss the reviled "retirement tax" and other tax hikes goodbye...
All about absentees? Michigan Democratic Party push appears to be paying off in early returns  Michigan Live   ...One out of every three or four residents who vote in Michigan's general election could do so via absentee ballot before the polls even open on Tuesday, and early indications suggest the trend may benefit Democrats...
Ohio May Disenfranchise Voters For Technical Errors  ThinkProgress   ...election officials in Ohio can throw out legitimate absentee and provisional ballots that have small errors — such as leaving out a middle name — and in many cases they don’t have to give the voter a chance to fix the problem...
Closing Argument: Kochs Fight To Save Candidate Cronies In Critical Election  RealKochFacts   ...learn more about Republican candidates who share the Koch agenda and are being propped up by the secretive billionaires in North Carolina, Colorado, Iowa, New Hampshire, Kentucky, Michigan, Oregon,Wisconsin, and Florida...
Midterms 2014: Candidates With Ties To Pension Business May Gain Control Of State Pension Funds  International Business Times   ...government ethics experts express concern that governors drawn from the ranks of companies that manage pension money could bring an inherent conflict of interest: Their duty to do right by taxpayers and retirees could be pitted against their personal financial interests and their loyalties to longtime Wall Street associates...
“Indescribably insane”: A public school system from hell  Salon   ...The needs of [Philadelphia] children are secondary, however, to a right-wing governor in Tom Corbett who remains fixated on breaking the district in order to crush the teachers union and divert money to unproven experiments like vouchers and privately run charters. If the city’s children are left uneducated and impoverished among the smoldering wreckage of a broken school system, so be it...
San Francisco To Raise Minimum Wage To $11.05 Per Hour  Reuters   ...San Francisco will raise the city's minimum wage to $11.05 per hour from the start of next year, up from $10.74 currently, the mayor's office said on Thursday...
Kansas tax cuts fail again, as new revenue numbers plague Sam Brownback but help Paul Davis  Kansas City Star   ...In October, individual income tax receipts were almost $27 million below what the state had estimated it would take in, or a jarring 15 percent off expectations. Why does that matter? Because this is the tax that Brownback and the Legislature cut in 2012. The promise then was that more jobs would flood Kansas, eventually pumping back up income tax collections. That’s not working — at all...
More Than 750 people Turn Out For Meeting On Oil-Train Study  Seattle Times   ...State officials are proposing more funding and more regulatory authority to step up oversight of the surging numbers of oil trains carrying crude through Washington, and to better prepare for any possible spills...
Donors get special access to GOP governors as potential 2016 contenders  Washington Post   ...One key to the [Republican Governors' Association] fundraising prowess is the exclusive donor access effort, called the Executive Roundtable program, which gives wealthy contributors up-close access to governors at quarterly policy seminars. The initiative has helped create a permanent network of high-net-worth donors who augment the group’s funding from corporation...
War on Workers
Judge in Maine Eases Restrictions on Nurse  New York Times   ...In a victory for a nurse who treated Ebola patients in West Africa, a judge in Maine on Friday rejected arguments by the state that her movements should be firmly restricted, praising her “compassion” even as he acknowledged the public’s fears about the virus...
Casino Closings Take Toll On Atlantic City Travel  Press of Atlantic City   ...Fewer cars, buses, airport passengers and rail riders are heading to Atlantic City following the shutdown of three casinos in recent weeks, the latest travel figures show...
Police: Construction worker killed by dump truck  DelawareOnLine   ...State troopers and emergency crews are on the scene of a fatality in Lewes where a construction worker was hit by a dump truck, police said...
Lafayette construction worker dies on the job  KLFY   ...Scott Police responded to a 911 call just before 9 a.m. Tuesday regarding a Scott Materials employee that was fatally injured on the job...
Miscellaneous
Starbucks to deliver coffee to your desk starting in 2015  Los Angeles Times   ...The delivery service will be available through Starbucks Corp.’s mobile app, which currently lets customers pay at the store through their phone, Schultz said...
Lack of mechanics threatens U.S. Air Force target date for F-35  Reuters   ...The U.S. Air Force may miss its target of August 2016 to start using the Lockheed Martin Corp F-35 fighter jet in combat if Congress blocks the service's plan to retire its A-10 tank-killer aircraft, a top U.S. general said...

Today's Teamster News 10.26.14

Teamsters
Teamsters show support for FairPoint strikers  Lewiston-Auburn Sun Journal  ...Teamsters Local 340 came to support the striking FairPoint workers on Davis Farm Road in Portland on Saturday. Business agents from Local 340 brought hamburgers and hot dogs for 500, letting IBEW members know that they were not alone in their dispute with FairPoint management...
U.S. Sen. Carper, Tennant lead Democrats at South Charleston rally  West Virginia Sunday Gazette-Mail   ...U.S. Sen. Tom Carper, of Delaware, makes an appearance in support of Natalie Tennant and other Democrats at a rally held at the Teamsters Local 175 headquarters in South Charleston on Saturday...
Trade
Japan Market Access Still Hurdle at Trans-Pacific Partnership Talks  Wall Street Journal   ...Japan will come under renewed pressure to further open up its automotive and agriculture industries to global trade during Trans-Pacific Partnership talks here over coming days, amid heightened calls for Tokyo to ensure increased market access remains a key plank of its structural reform agenda under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe...
Momentum building on TPP deal despite U.S.-Japan impasse  Japan Times   ...Froman said there was now an opportunity to narrow differences ahead of leaders meetings in Asia in coming weeks. The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Beijing and G20 summit in Brisbane will both take place next month...
State Battles
Another 150,000 Detroit Residents Are About To Become Homeless Under GOP Governor’s Emergency Manager  Addicting Info   ...there has been a ‘billionaire’s buying spree‘, as the rich swoop in like the vultures they are, to buy up the property of the very people they made poor, through their own criminal activity...
Walker Claims Next Budget Will Start With Surplus, Though Evidence Indicates Otherwise  Wisconsin Public Radio   ... the bureau found that the state would begin the next budget with a gross balance of zero dollars — a far cry from the half-billion the governor is claiming...
Scott Walker’s Corruption Problem  The Progressive   ...Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, who is locked in a dead-heat for reelection on November 4, has been dogged throughout his tenure by secret criminal investigations that so far have led to 15 felony indictments of six of his closest aides and associates. This week, new documents released on a judge’s orders show that Walker, while he was Milwaukee County executive, helped his longtime campaign treasurer get inside information for a bid to lease office space to the county...
North Carolina Fights To Take Voting Site Away From Pesky College Kids  Moyers & Co.   ...Early voting starts today, Thursday in North Carolina, even as the state has pushed to move early voting sites farther away from college campuses...
Christie wants GOP control of voting rules, election officials  msnbc   ...New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) stunned voting-rights advocates this week, arguing that Republican governors should control “voting mechanisms” in order to help the party win the 2016 presidential election...
Rick Explains It All  You Got Schooled   ...During his first year as governor, Rick Snyder made drastic cuts to education. He’s been trying to explain his way out of this for years, but this handy-dandy graph shows that his math doesn’t quite add up...
War on Workers
FairPoint and striking unions brace for a long stalemate  Portland Press Herald   ...While workers get ready to go without paychecks, the company pays for police details at picketing sites...
Ebola outbreak: US nurse criticises quarantine treatment  BBC News   ...A nurse quarantined on her return to the US from treating Ebola patients in Sierra Leone has criticised the way she was dealt with at Newark airport. Kaci Hickox said the experience was frightening and could deter other health workers from travelling to West Africa to help tackle the Ebola virus...
High school cafeteria worker tried to stop gunman  USA Today   ... A high school cafeteria worker tried to stop a gunman who killed one girl and shot four other students before taking his own life inside the cafeteria at a school north of Seattle, officials said Saturday...
'Koch Congress' Could Make Oligarchy Official  The Progressive   ...At a time when most Americans agree that the country has too much power in too few hands, the world’s two wealthiest men are only six seats away from seizing the Senate and consolidating their current control of the House...
Dark Money Will Decide Which Party Controls the Senate  Center for Public Integrity   ...In the most competitive U.S. Senate races this year, big-money special interests that proliferated after the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision are routinely out-muscling and out-messaging the candidates themselves...

Today's Teamster News 10.24.14

Teamster News
Teamsters Continue Get-Out-The-Vote Effort in Chicago  teamster.org   ...Brewers and bottlers at Lagunitas Brewery Company, members of Teamsters Local 727 in Chicago, today confirmed they will be voting in advance of the Nov. 4 election during a visit by Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa...
Uber Drivers Protest Company's Business Practices Outside Santa Monica Office  CBS Local   ...Teamsters Local 989 organized the demonstration at 11 a.m. outside Uber Technology offices, 1437 Seventh St. in Santa Monica...
Online petition calls for living wage for Facebook drivers  USA Today   ...Activist group CREDO Action is calling on Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to support paying a living wage to shuttle bus drivers who ferry Facebook workers to and from the company's Menlo Park, Calif., campus...
Facebook drivers plan union vote  Fusion   ...Facebook’s bus drivers have scheduled an election to unionize to seek better working conditions...
How Fedex is trying to save the business model that saved it millions  Washington Post   ...In FedEx’s case, courts in several states, including California and Massachusetts, have told the company that its strategy of treating drivers as independent contractors doesn’t fly, prompting the shift to the independent service provider model. Now, at least one court has questioned whether even this new model passes muster...
Trade
The Trans-Pacific Partnership – One Sick Treaty?  RT   ...The TPP will help to maximize profits by increasing the ability of large corporations to acquire or hold international monopolies on a product for longer periods than they are currently able to. They can use this position to ensure that prices remain high – too high for many. Those unable to afford necessary medicine will suffer, become sicker, and in many cases die...
State Battles
Kansas and Wisconsin Continue to Lag Nation  Econbrowser   ...Some observers have argued that Wisconsin’s poor performance is attributable to regional shocks; if so, it is strange that Minnesota — Wisconsin’s next door neighbor — has failed to evidence a similar slowdown relative to the United States...
St. Pete Plans $12.50 Minimum Wage For City Workers  St. Petersburg Tribune   ...St. Petersburg is planning to introduce a $12.50 per hour minimum wage for all city workers. ... That will mean a pay raise for about 70 city workers who earn below that amount, including library assistants, sanitation workers, custodians and laborers. Increasing their pay will cost about $125,000...
Kansas Faces Additional Revenue Shortfalls After Tax Cuts  New York Times   ...Revenue numbers for July through September, the first three months of fiscal year 2015, suggest Kansas’ revenue gap is permanent, not temporary...
Judge Extends Blocking Wisconsin Campaign Law  FOX6   ...A federal judge has extended until Nov. 12 his order blocking a Wisconsin campaign coordination law that’s at the center of an investigation into Gov. Scott Walker’s 2012 recall campaign and more than two dozen conservative groups...
Gov. Rick Scott To Avoid Testifying In Public Records Lawsuit Before Election  WESH   ...Scott was scheduled to give a deposition this Friday over private Google email accounts set up by the governor and two former aides...
War on Workers
Compensation shrinks for all income groups – except the very highest  Aljazeera America   ...Average pay for 2013 was $43,041 — down $79 from the previous year when measured in 2013 dollars. Worse, average pay fell $508 below the 2007 level, my analysis of the new Social Security Administration data shows...
Elizabeth Warren Demands An Investigation Of Mortgage Companies  Mother Jones   ...Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) called on the Government Accountability Office to investigate non-bank companies that service Americans' mortgages, noting in a letter co-signed by Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) that an increasing number of lawsuits has been filed in recent years against these firms—which are not regulated as strictly as banks...
Port Has Valid Concerns About Oil Trains (opinion)  The Olympian   ...all South Sound residents should worry about the environmental and economic impacts of building terminals that could bring dangerous oil tanker trains moving 175,000 barrels of highly flammable Bakken crude oil per day through Thurston County...
SC Construction Worker Killed In Hit And Run On Highway 170  WSAV   ...A construction worker was killed early Thursday morning in a hit and run on S.C. Highway 170 near Cherry Point. Beaufort County Deputy Coroner David Ott identifies the man as 53-year-old Barry Asbury...
Construction worker dies on-site in southern Saskatchewan  Leader-Post   ...A 43-year-old man from Kelvington is dead after a construction-site accident in southern Saskatchewan...
The Bottom 90 Percent Are Poorer Today Than They Were In 1987  Washington Post   ...Once upon a time, the American economy worked for everybody, and even the middle class got richer. But this story has only been a fairy tale for almost 30 years now. The new, harsh reality is that the bottom 90 percent of households are poorer today than they were in 1987...
Miscellaneous
Owners: Taj Mahal To Stay Open Throughout November  NBC News   ...Trump Entertainment Resorts is dropping its threat to close Atlantic City's Taj Mahal casino on Nov. 13. The company said Wednesday it still cannot guarantee the Taj Mahal won't close by the end of the year, but added it will definitely remain open throughout the month of November...
Why Was The NSA Chief Playing The Market?  Foreign Policy   ...At the same time that he was running the United States' biggest intelligence-gathering organization, former National Security Agency Director Keith Alexander owned and sold shares in commodities linked to China and Russia, two countries that the NSA was spying on heavily...

Today's Teamster News 11/03/10

G.O.P. Captures House, but not Senate New York Times ...discontented voters, frustrated about the nation's continuing economic woes, turned sharply against President Obama...

In 2009 the White House Underestimated the Economic Devastation, in 2010 Democrats Paid the Price Huffington Post ...Democrats...better do something about the economic devastation...

Secret union ballot measure gains approval CNN ...Four states -- Arizona, Utah, South Carolina and South Dakota -- Voters approved a measure that will guarantee workers the right to vote by secret ballot on whether they want union representation...

More mixed signals for jobs CNN ...companies added more jobs in October, but announced more staff cuts to come...

Solyndra to close a factory, delay expansion New York Times ...Solyndra, a Silicon Valley solar panel maker ... will shut down an older plant and lay off workers ...American solar companies ... now face intense price competition from Chinese manufacturers...