Today's Teamster News 10.02.15

TEAMSTERS
Teamsters And Coalition Of Unions Ratify Agreement At American Red Cross  Teamster.org  ...After several months of serious negotiations and a month-long balloting process, the Teamsters, as part of a union coalition, have ratified a new contract for members working at American Red Cross. The agreement will impact more than 1,300 Teamsters at 18 different local unions across the United States. The Teamsters are part of a coalition of unions that negotiated the contract...
National Mediation Board Determines Single Carrier Status for Flight Options, Flexjet  Teamster.org  ...The National Mediation Board (NMB) has determined single carrier status for Flight Options, LLC, and Flexjet, LLC, after the Teamsters Union asserted that the two fractional carriers constitute a single transportation system. In its Sept. 30 decision, the NMB determined that Flight Options and Flexjet, wholly owned subsidiaries of OneSky Flight, LLC, are operating as a single transportation system for representation purposes under the Railway Labor Act...
United Airlines Fails to Reach Agreement with Teamster Aviation Maintenance Technicians  Teamster.org  ...United Airlines’ labor woes continue as talks with International Brotherhood of Teamsters-represented aviation maintenance technicians and related workers stalled today. “Delta and American are setting the pace and United is dragging its feet,” said Clacy Griswold, lead negotiator for the Teamsters...
Threshold and Teamsters in Negotiations  Press Banner  ...According to Steven Lua, Member Specialist of Local 912, Threshold Enterprises, Ltd., headquartered in ScottsValley, has approximately 800 employees; 600 of whom are union members in their ScottsValley and Santa Cruz manufacturing, warehouse, packaging, and distribution centers. The union has been representing the employees, seventy percent of whom are women, for the last three years. This will be their second contract...
Still no contract agreement between EVSC, Teamsters  Courier & Press  ...As soon as a contract agreement with the Evansville Vanderburgh School Board seems to be in sight, Teamsters Local 215 President Chuck Whobrey said something happens to stop progress. Throughout the process, which started in April and has consisted of sporadic meetings to negotiate new contracts for five EVSC employee groups represented by the union, Whobrey said there has been a mixture of positive open dialogue and setbacks...

GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
Negotiators signal that they’re close to final accord on Asia Pacific trade deal  Washington Post  ...U.S. negotiators on Thursday closed in on a final agreement on an expansive ­Asia-Pacific trade deal, but congressional leaders cautioned that the accord should not be rushed to completion over fears that a subpar deal could lose support among lawmakers. The Obama administration is hoping to cap a week of negotiations between the United States and 11 other nations with an announcement Friday...
Trade leaders demand White House ramp up talks on TPP  The Hill  ...Congressional trade leaders are demanding that the Obama administration immediately ramp up talks with lawmakers as negotiations on a massive Asia-Pacific agreement reach a critical stage. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), panel ranking member Sandy Levin (D-Mich.), Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and the panel's top Democrat, Ron Wyden (Ore.), said "we expect you to intensify these consultations"...
As Secret Trade Talks Reveal Cracks, Demonstrators Aim Death Blows at TPP  Common  Dreams  ...As trade ministers from around the world continued meeting in Atlanta on Thursday for final-stretch negotiations on the corporate-friendly Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), civil society groups demonstrated on the streets in a final salvo against a deal they describe as "a wholesale auction of our rights, our freedoms, and our democracy to multinational corporations who put profits over people"...
House lawmakers express concern about TPP autos provision  The Hill  ...A bipartisan group of House lawmakers are worried that proposed rule of origin standards on autos in a Pacific trade deal will hurt the U.S. industry. Reps. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) and Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) on Thursday led a bipartisan group 20 Democrats and one Republican — all who opposed fast-track authority for President Obama — calling on top U.S. trade officials to ensure that the United States doesn’t lower tariffs...
What’s still wrong with the TPP  (opinion) Politico  ...In theory, TPP could be a powerful lever to change this. The agreement includes enforceable worker rights and environmental standards that were first negotiated in an agreement on May 10th, 2007, by House Democrats. But the simple inclusion of this language, known as the May 10th Agreement, isn’t enough—the example of Mexico shows that countries must bring their laws and practices into compliance before Congress votes on TPP...
Latest TPP Biologics Proposal Is a Step in the Wrong Direction  (opinion) AARP  ...As negotiators meet on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in Atlanta, AARP is again urging them to be mindful of the consumers who depend on prescription drugs to manage their health conditions. We continue to have serious concerns with the direction of the TPP negotiations on key issues that will have long-lasting effects on access to affordable prescriptions in the U.S. and around the world...
TTIP: France threatens to walk away from negotiations  The Independent  ...A French minister has said that France is considering walking away from the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership negotiations. Matthias Fekl, France’s junior trade minister, told France’s Sud-Ouest paper on Monday that he was considering withdrawing France from the negotiations altogether because they are conducted in favour of American interests...
Swazi Trade Union Federation Sounds Alarm over Job Losses  Solidarity Center  ...Representatives of Swaziland’s trade union federation, TUCOSWA—who are in Washington, D.C., to receive a human rights award from the AFL-CIO in recognition of the courage and persistence of Swaziland’s workers in demanding their rights—say an alarming number of people are losing their jobs because of the country’s unwillingness to improve its poor human rights record...
Guatemalan Union Activist Murdered in Front of His Home  Solidarity Center  ...Mynor Rolando Ramos Castillo, a municipal worker in Jalapa, a city in southeast Guatemala, was shot and killed in front of his home over the weekend. His family detained the killer and turned him into the police. The killer confessed to accepting the hit for 1,500 quetzales (roughly $195). Ramos Castillo was a union activist with the Sindicato de Trabajadores de la Municipalidad de Jalapa (SITRAMJ)...

STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Alabama Makes Photo IDs Mandatory for Voting, Then Shutters DMV Offices in Black Counties  Common Dreams  ...Some observers say that Alabama's move to close dozens of drivers license offices is a discriminatory move that could trigger a civil rights probe. Here's why: in 2011 lawmakers approved a voter ID law requiring a government-issued ID to vote, and the 31 offices the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency set for closing will take a disproportionate hit on counties that are majority African-American...
Voter ID case put on hold until after March elections  Daily Tar Heel  ...N.C. Superior Judge Michael Morgan placed a hold on the case against the North Carolina voter ID law last week until after the March primary elections. The case before Morgan dealt with whether a June amendment allowing for exceptions to the 2013 law made existing complaints moot; he issued a hold because the amendment was not enough to dismiss the case. The General Assembly passed the voter ID law in August 2013...
Armstead says prevailing wage repeal “very likely” in next year’s session  MetroNews  ...House of Delegates Speaker Tim Armstead said Thursday it’s “very likely” prevailing wage will be repealed during next year’s legislative session. Armstead (R-Kanawha), speaking on MetroNews “Talkline”, said the new wage that came out from WorkForce West Virginia Wednesday was flawed. The Republican-controlled House and Senate passed a bill earlier this year spelling out a new way to determine the prevailing wage...
Montana’s minimum wage to stay at $8.05  Great Fall Tribune  ...Montanans earning minimum wage will see the rate remain at $8.05. An estimated 5,500 workers, or approximately 1.2 percent of the workforce, receive minimum wage.   In 2014, the industry with the largest number of workers earning minimum wage was the accommodations and food industry, followed by the retail trade industry...
UC system minimum wage increases to $13 per hour  Contra Costa Times  ...The University of California's plan to raise the minimum wage for all workers systemwide took effect Thursday, the first of three incremental raises expected to bring wages to at least $15 an hour by 2017. The minimum wage rose to $13 an hour for all university employees hired to work 20 hours or more a week. It will be increased to $14 an hour on Oct. 1, 2016, and to $15 an hour on the same day in 2017...

The Political Power of Takin’ it to the States  The Nation  ... Progressives historically have not paid enough attention to the state-level governmentin’, and, as usual, Republicans control the majority of state assembly chambers—that’s more power at the state level, in fact, than they’ve enjoyed since the 1920s. Republicans hold both the governorship and a legislative majority in 23 states...

U.S. LABOR
UAW rejects Fiat Chrysler contract; strikes loom  Reuters  ...Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV's (FCAU.N) (FCHA.MI) U.S. workers soundly rejected a four-year contract the automaker had agreed with the UAW, the union said on Thursday, setting the stage for at least localized strikes against the automaker. The tentative agreement was voted down by 65 percent of the 40,000 unionized workers who work at the 37 plants of Fiat Chrysler, the smallest of the three major Detroit automakers...
No decision as UAW grapples with next steps  Detroit Free Press  ...No decisions were made on the next steps in UAW negotiations with Detroit automakers after a marathon session of the union leadership that stretched into the night Thursday. Union leadership representing 40,000 Fiat Chrysler Automobiles employees across the country spent about six hours painstakingly dissecting why a tentative agreement was rejected...
T-Mobile Workers Say the Company Has Repeatedly Engaged in Union-busting  In These Times  ...Last month, 20 Democratic lawmakers wrote a letter to T-Mobile’s parent company in Germany expressing their concern over the treatment of T-Mobile workers in the United States. At the forefront of the struggle is the Communications Workers of America (CWA), which has been fighting to organize employees since Deutsche Telekom bought the company in 2001...
USW contract with Cliffs extended through October  Duluth News Tribune  ...The United Steelworkers of America have agreed to keep working under their old contract with Cliffs Natural Resources, at least for another month. The USW bargaining committee said it negotiated a 30-day extension of its current agreement with Cliffs beginning Oct. 1, along with a rolling 168-hour extension if they go past those 30 days...
Job growth falls short of expectations in September; jobless rate unchanged  Washington Post  ...The U.S. job market slowed sharply in September, according to government data released Friday morning, raising new questions about the sturdiness of the country's economic expansion amid weaker growth across the globe. The Labor Department reported that the nation added just 142,000 jobs in September, well below analysts' expectations...
Do We Value Low-Skilled Work?  (opinion) New York Times  ...The labels “low-skilled” or “unskilled” workers — the largest demographic being adult women and minorities — often inaccurately describe an individual’s abilities, but play a powerful role in determining their opportunity. The consequences are not only severe, but incredibly disempowering: poverty-level wages, erratic schedules, the absence of retirement planning, health benefits, paid sick or family leave and the constant threat of being replaced...

SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
The Immigration Act That Inadvertently Changed America  The Atlantic  ...The 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act, whose 50th anniversary comes on October 3, officially committed the United States, for the first time, to accepting immigrants of all nationalities on a roughly equal basis. The law eliminated the use of national-origin quotas, under which the overwhelming majority of immigrant visas were set aside for people coming from northern and western Europe...
Oregon college shootings: witnesses recall horror as Obama calls for action  The Guardian  ...Harrowing details have begun to emerge after at least nine people were killed at an Oregon community college by a gunman who witnesses said had demanded to know students’ religion before shooting them. A visibly frustrated Barack Obama reacted to the 45th school shooting to take place in the US this year by telling Americans that “somehow this has become routine”...
Paul Krugman: Never forget what the GOP’s really about it — “top-down class warfare”  Salon  ...New York Times’ columnist Paul Krugman wrote on Friday that the current field of Republican candidates are presenting the nation with tax plans that present a wealth of alternatives, from “huge cuts on the wealthy while blowing up the deficit” to “huge cuts on the wealthy while blowing up the deficit.” He acknowledges that Donald Trump’s plan would blow “an even bigger hole in the budget than Jeb’s,” but the reality is that they are all offering variations on the same voodooistic theme — an economically indefensible desire to cut taxing on the rich...
Vatican Says Pope's Meeting With Kim Davis Was Not an Endorsement  Slate  ...The Vatican says that Pope Francis' Washington, D.C. meeting with Kentucky clerk Kim Davis should not be considered a specific endorsement of her refusal to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.  Francis' apparent support for Davis' behavior was a disappointment for those who appreciated the generally non-confrontational tone he has taken toward divisive culture-war issues...

Battle against TPP heads to Atlanta

Trade officials involved in the negotiations of the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) may believe they are nearing the end of the process with meetings in Atlanta this week. But the Teamsters and other fair trade allies aren't going down without a fight.

Beginning tomorrow, unions members, environmentalists, health care advocates and others will take to streets of the Peach City as well as to the Internet to stress why this Pacific Rim trade agreement is bad. The pact, still largely a secret to the public, will result in thousands of U.S. jobs being shipped overseas, falling wages and unsafe food and products being shipped to our shores. It could also raise drug prices while hurting the environment.

Dissent remains rampant in this country and around the globe. This morning, for example, six House Democrats asked the U.S. State Department's inspector general to look into what led to Malaysia's upgrade on the agency's human trafficking list. Many believe the improved rating allowed fast track to proceed through Congress in June, The Hill newspaper reported:

The lawmakers said that given the significance of the report in helping to fight global human trafficking, they want to know if there was any request by officials at the Office of the United States Trade Representative, Commerce Department, or any other federal agency to influence or change Malaysia's standing in the latest report. 

They also want information about whether Malaysia’s promotion in status was “unduly influenced” by political considerations instead of unbiased expert analysis.

Meanwhile, Canadian dairy farmers brought their tractors and cows to Ottawa today to protest dairy concessions contained in the TPP.

As the Teamsters have said before, there are just no good reason for everyday Americans to support this agreement. First and foremost is the deal won't create any new jobs here. That is significant and can't be pushed aside by proponents. After all, TPP backers like to insist it will result in new work for Americans, although they can never quite explain how. There's a reason why their responses are so vague.

There is something for everyone to lose if the TPP moves forward. The U.S. and participating nations should keep that in mind as they mull this deal. Can they in good conscience say it will benefit the citizens of the world?

The answer is no.

TPP wipes out in Hawaii, and why it's good for workers

It seems the Teamsters and fellow fair-trade allies aren't the only ones who have problems with Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Several of the 12 nations currently negotiating the pact are raising concerns as well.

The U.S., Canada, Japan and Mexico are among the nations who still have major problems with the deal. Dairy, auto trade and medicines are some of the outstanding issues, the article stated. And now the future of the deal is in doubt, The New York Times reported:

[T]he failure to complete the deal — eight years in the making — means the next round of negotiations will push the United States ratification fight into 2016, a presidential election year. Most Republican candidates are very likely to back it, but a final agreement would force the Democratic front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton to declare her position, which she has avoided.

This agreement is not a good deal for this country, Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa said today. He noted that some 30,000 good-paying Teamster dairy jobs could be jeopardized, while in return store shelves in this country will be littered with cheap products and unsafe food. There are real moral implications if the deal is approved, he stated:

The Teamsters and other fair trade advocates have taken a staunch stand against the TPP because of how this far-reaching proposal will affect workers across the globe. It will result in thousands of U.S. jobs being shipped overseas, and does not adequately address forced labor and human rights violations that continue to be an issue in nations like Malaysia and Vietnam.

Those worries are still very real. That’s why even if this Pacific Rim trade pact is eventually approved, Congress must do the right thing and reject it.

The TPP also would do nothing to halt the practice of currency manipulation, which drives up the cost of American products abroad and drives down the price for foreign goods sold here. The practice has taken a toll on the U.S. automobile industry, stifling sales of American vehicles overseas. Yet the agreement does nothing to stop it.

It's time the productivity of American workers showed up in their paychecks, and that means no more unfair trade deals. Now Congress needs to ensure that happens.

Port drivers join Teamsters -- and the company is cool with it

On Friday the misclassified port truck drivers at the Port of Los Angeles/Long Beach scored a major victory. Drivers at Shippers Transport Express voted to be represented by Teamsters Local 848 -- and the company is fine with it.

The drivers had been misclassified as independent contractors until Jan. 1. In November, the company notified them it was changing its business model and hiring drivers as employees after the New Year. Shippers Transport Express agreed to respect the drivers' right to form a union and to remain neutral.

The port trucking industry is likely to follow Shippers Transport Express and hire the drivers who've been misclassified as independent contractors, according to the company's general manager.

Our friends at We Party Patriots wrote a terrific blog post about it. WPP tells us:

...General Manager Kevin Baddeley told the Press-Telegram, “This is the future of the industry, I think.  I think we’re just the first. I’m OK with it. It’s what the drivers want.” 

"The future of the industry" -- that's certainly music to our ears! So is this:

Baddeley further explained his company’s stance to CBS Los Angeles: 

Shippers’ transition to an employee-based business model is a crucial step in the drayage industry’s efforts to modernize, make the ports more efficient and reduce congestion at the ports and on our freeways.  On unionization, we took a neutral position because we respect our drivers’ right to form a union. Finally, through our productive dialogue with the Teamsters, we anticipate we will be able to improve operational efficiencies and stabilize our driver workforce.”

There's another reason the port companies are starting to classify their employees properly: to avoid legal liability and labor disruption such as the strikes that have rocked the ports over the past year.

Mike Acosta, a port truck driver now employed by Shippers, said he's grateful to company decided to remain neutral during the Teamsters organizing campaign.

“This has been a long struggle." Acosta said. "As Teamsters – and professional port truck drivers – we look forward to working with management to move port cargo more efficiently and to modernize the industry.”

Fred Potter, Teamsters international vice president, called the agreement 'hisoric.' He said it shows 'that labor and management can work together constructively to find solutions to challenges facing the industry and to the injustices facing the drivers.'

Today's Teamster News 11.26.14

Teamster News
Roma Food Drivers In California Vote Overwhelmingly To Join Teamsters  teamster.org   ... Food distribution drivers at Roma of Southern California, a Performance Food company, have voted overwhelmingly, 68-15, in favor of joining Teamsters Local 630 in Los Angeles. Of the 84 drivers in the bargaining unit, 83 participated in the Nov. 20 election...
Teamsters Lead Buffalo Snow Storm Relief Efforts  teamster.org   ...“Our members went above and beyond. They worked around the clock plowing roads; selecting and delivering bread, milk and other essential food products to local stores and supermarkets; delivering gas and diesel to service stations; and staffing the correctional facilities,” said Brian Dickman, President of Teamsters Local 264 in Cheektowaga, N.Y...
Walmart Needs To Show More Thanks For Its Workers  Huffington Post   ...Thanksgiving Day is a holiday where family and friends gather together and express gratitude for everything in their lives. But those who work at Walmart have little to be thankful for, at least when it comes to their employment...
Commissioners approve memorandum of understanding with union  Presque Isle Advance   ...The Onaway City Commission approved a memorandum of understanding with the Teamsters union Nov. 17 that will keep the current Department of Public Works (DPW) foreman Clayton Dunn at his current level of pay...
Trade
What ‘Free Trade’ Has Done to Central America  The Nation   ... the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement, or DR-CAFTA ... the pact has had a devastating effect on poverty, dislocation and environmental contamination in the region. And perhaps even worse, it’s diminished the ability of Central American countries to protect their citizens from corporate abuse......
U.S.-NAFTA Freight Jumps 8.2% From Year Earlier  Truckinginfo   ...The amount freight moved between the U.S. and its neighbors of Canada and Mexico totaled $102.2 billion in September, an 8.2% gain from a year ago, as all five major transportation carried more cargo, according to new U.S. Transportation Department figures...
War on Workers
$1 Billion: That’s How Much Walmart Avoids Paying in Taxes Each Year Through Loopholes  The Nation   ...Americans for Tax Fairness (ATF) found that the company “avoids $1 billion a year in taxes” through federal loopholes, and various political shenanigans drive this always-low tax rate: the big-box giant is absorbing government subsidies both directly and indirectly, through its retail operations as well as its ingenious accounting methods...
Walmart Still Avoiding Paying $7000 Fine For Worker Killed By Black Friday Shoppers In 2008  Consumerist   ...In 2008, a Walmart employee was killed when a mob of deal-desperate Black Friday shoppers tore the store’s doors from their hinges and stormed inside, trampling him to death. The chain was eventually fined $7000 for their role in the employee’s death — but six years and $2 million later, the world’s largest retailer has yet to pay up...
One Worker Killed, Another Injured When Jamaica Plain Porch Collapses  boston.com   ...One worker was killed and another critically injured when the decking they were installing on a third-story porch at 89 Forest Hills Street in Jamaica Plain suddenly gave way just before 11 a.m. Tuesday...
The Tech Worker Shortage Doesn't Really Exist  Bloomberg   ...The real issue, say Salzman and others, is the industry’s desire for lower-wage,more-exploitable guest workers, not a lack of available American staff. “It seems pretty clear that the industry just wants lower-cost labor,” Dean Baker, the co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, wrote...
Doggy Day Care Chain Makes Pet Sitters Sign Noncompetes To Protect 'Trade Secrets'  Huffington Post   ...According to a Camp Bow Wow “employee confidentiality and non-compete agreement” obtained by HuffPost, by signing the contract employees agree not to work for a competing business within 25 miles of their Camp Bow Wow location's "franchise territory" for a period of two years following the contract's termination...
Private Prisons Seek Broader Markets  The Austin Chronicle   ...A new report finds that prison corporations, stymied by prison reform, are seeking new markets for human product lines – if you can't jail ’em, find another way to make ’em pay...
Oil Trains Use 105-Year-Old Tunnel Below Seattle  KOMO   ...A train carrying up to three million gallons of highly flammable Bakken crude oil runs right under downtown Seattle through a century-old tunnel that does not meet modern safety standards, according to BNSF Railway and Seattle fire officials...
US Electricity Generated By Coal Would Likely Drop To 22% In 2020  Platts   ...The percent of US electricity generated by coal in 2020 would likely drop to 22%, with a decline in coal prices to follow as a result, according to a study of the cumulative impact of the US Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Power Plan and its other environmental programs...
Atlantic City's Taj Mahal Offers To Restore Workers' Health Care  NorthJersey.com   ...Trump Entertainment Resorts said Saturday it has offered to restore health insurance to its 3,000 workers for at least two years if the union will drop its appeal of a court order that canceled the health insurance and pension plan for casino workers. It made the offer in a letter to Bob McDevitt, president of Local 54 of the Unite-HERE casino workers union...
Miscellaneous
Railroads Sound Alarm Ahead of Chicago Gridlock Redux: Freight  Bloomberg   ...With last week’s 7 feet of snow in upstate New York heralding an early winter, railroads crisscrossing Chicago are rushing to open 24-hour command centers, install heaters to keep switches from freezing, and plotting ways to reroute traffic...

Today's Teamster News 10.16.14

Teamster News
Teamsters, Highway Safety Groups Sue Feds To Force Tougher Rule For New Trucker Training  AFL-CIO   ...What happened to Dorothy Wert’s late husband, David, on an unlit Pennsylvania highway three years ago shouldn’t happen to anyone.  Thanks to the lack of a tough federal rule for training rookie tractor-trailer drivers, the Teamsters and highway safety groups say, it did.  Now they’re suing in federal court to try to prevent such further tragedies...
Judge Reinstates Port Truckers Fired In Labor Dispute  Los Angeles Times   ...“This sends a message throughout the Port of Los Angeles and the shipping industry that misclassified drivers are in fact employees,” said Julie Gutman Dickinson, the attorney for the truckers and the Teamsters Union port division...
Clallam Rejects Mediator Proposal, But Is Willing To Work With Teamsters Union On New Labor Contract  Peninsula Daily News   ...The Clallam County commissioners unanimously rejected Tuesday a mediator’s proposal but said they are willing to continue working with Teamsters Local No. 589. Both county and union officials said that the county and its largest union are close to settling a new labor contract that has been in the works for 22 months...
Performance-Based Pay Accepted In 'Historic' Union Agreement  Brainerd Dispatch   ...The county also approved contracts with Teamsters Local 346, which includes nine corrections and dispatch sergeants, and with the Law Enforcement Labor Services of Minnesota (LELS) on behalf of communications officers in the sheriff's office...
Domestic Relations Court union in limbo  The Chronicle-Telegram   ...The push by Lorain County Adult Probation Department employees to unionize has had the unintended effect of throwing into question the legality of the [Teamsters] union representing workers at the county’s Juvenile Detention Home and other residential facilities under the control of the county’s Domestic Relations Court...
Trade
‘Tough’ issues still remain in Japan-U.S. TPP talks  Japan Times   ...“We were encouraged by the progress made this week during our negotiations,” Cutler said. “But we need to underscore that issues before us are tough.”...
Street Demonstrations In 21 European Countries Held To Protest Against TAFTA/TTIP; Another ACTA Revolt Brewing?  TechDirt   ..."Self-organised European Citizens' initiative Against TTIP and CETA"... was only launched last week, it has already collected over 600,000 signatures from European citizens at the time of writing...
State Battles
House Speaker gives his thoughts on what could help Ferguson rebound from months of turmoil  Missouri Digital News   ...Missouri's House Speaker said one of the ways the legislature could help Ferguson is by passing right-to-work legislation...
Opponents Ask Supreme Court To Block Texas Voter ID Law  Reuters   ... Civil rights lawyers on Wednesday asked a U.S. Supreme Court justice to block a Texas law requiring voters in the state to show certain forms of identification in order to cast a ballot...
Judge blocks Wisconsin law used in Walker probe  Associated Press   ...A federal judge Tuesday blocked enforcement of a Wisconsin election law that's at the center of an investigation into Gov. Scott Walker's 2012 recall campaign and more than two dozen conservative groups...
Investigation reveals influence of 'dark money' in Wisconsin against anti-mining senators  The Cap Times   ...The financial power and influence of an out-of-state mining company and business lobby Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce were used to directly target two Wisconsin lawmakers who stood in the way of the passage of a new state mining bill...
War on Workers
WalMart Makes Empty Gesture to End Minimum Wage Pay While Cutting Pay Levels  naked capitalism   ...pay levels, including benefits, are falling for WalMart workers, not rising...
Amid Ebola Fears, Airlines Share Few Cabin Cleaning Details  KSTP   ...flight attendants and others who work on planes are becoming increasingly concerned, while others are raising questions about just how clean airplane cabins are...
A Red Privatization Horror Story  Thom Hartmann  ...For Republicans, privatization is just a business opportunity. And they don’t care about the damage privatization does to our society because privatization destroys the one thing standing between them and the total corporate takeover of our democracy: our government...
Texas worker dies after electrocution at school  Associated Press   ...West Texas authorities say a contractor has died after being electrocuted while working on a light pole at a school...
Worker dies at nuclear facility in E. Tenn.  Associated Press   ... the employee fell into a vault where radioactive resins are unloaded before they are taken to be processed for disposal. He was taken to a hospital, where he died from his injuries...

Today's Teamster News 09.27.14

Teamsters
Hospitality union, Teamsters, quietly negotiating contract with Harrah's after employees unionize  NOLA.com   ...A pair of labor unions have for the last six months been quietly negotiating a contract with Harrah's Hotel and Casino that, when inked, would double the size of organized labor's tiny footprint in the New Orleans tourism economy...
Local 653 Secures Two Contracts For Workers At Reinhart Food, Bridgewater Public Works  teamster.org   ...Teamsters Local 653 continued its tradition of strong representation this week, securing first contracts for members at two employers – recently organized Reinhart Food Service and East Bridgewater Department of Public Works...
Why the Garbage Man Might Dislike Your Dog  New York Times   ...“I’ve had people, while I’m picking up the bags, they walk up and let the dog pee on the bag,” a trash collector named Kevin said as he paused before a townhouse on Charles Street in the West Village...
Trade
Glum outlook for reaching TPP agreement in Nov.  The Japan News   ...The forecast looks cloudy for reaching a broad agreement in November among countries participating in the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade negotiations, as Japan and the United States remain divided over specifics on sensitive issues...
Congress' Smackdown of Fast Track: Sweet 16 Bday  Huffington Post   ...Sixteen years ago today, 171 Democrats and 71 GOP Representatives united to vote down then-President Bill Clinton's request for Fast Track authority. As President Barack Obama now seeks to revive the extreme Nixon-era trade procedure, the 1998 Fast Track smackdown is worth remembering...
State Battles
ALEC Can't Hold On To Its Tech Giants Anymore  New Republic   ...With Yahoo becoming the latest company to cut ties with the American Legislative Exchange Council in a matter of days, it's official: ALEC has lost favor with tech giants. ALEC is the right-wing organization that writes model legislation on everything from unions to regulations and tries to push it at the state level...
International Paper Leaves ALEC  Common Cause   ...Spokesperson Tom Ryan told Common Cause on Friday that “we no longer have a membership with ALEC” and confirmed the company also no longer funds ALEC...
Scott Walker’s deficit, distortions, damage to state (opinion)  The Cap Times   ...Walker, who brags about closing a large budget deficit, can no longer cover up the fact his own budget manipulations will create an enormous $1.8 billion budget deficit for whoever is governor in January...
Conservative PAC Grow Missouri Asks St. Louis Journalists To Write for its Blog  Romenesko   ...Grow Missouri is a conservative political action committee funded by billionaire Rex Sinquefield – described as “the Show Me State’s version of the Koch brothers.” Apparently not knowing the ethics rules for journalists, a rep for Grow Missouri has asked St. Louis reporters – including one who covers Grow Missouri for the Post-Dispatch – to contribute to the PAC’s blog...
Los Angeles hotel workers win $15 minimum wage after city council vote  The Guardian   ...The city council voted on Wednesday night to establish a minimum hourly wage of $15.37 for employees of hotels with more than 125 rooms, a decision expected to boost campaigns for better wages in other industries and cities...
War on Workers
Amazon's new Baltimore warehouse has outdoor cages for smokers  Baltimore Business Journal   ...Jennings described security at Amazon warehouses as more stringent than airport screenings, saying the company is highly focused on maintaining strict inventory control. But the company also wants its employees to be happy, so it includes features such as the smoking cages in warehouses...
It happens: Seniors with student debt - and smaller Social Security checks  Reuters   ...The GAO found that 706,000 of households headed by those aged 65 or older have outstanding student debts. That’s just 3 percent of all households, but the debt they hold has ballooned from $2.8 billion in 2005 to about $18.2 billion last year. Some 27 percent of those loans are in default...
1 in 4 Americans 25-54 Not Working  The Weekly Standard   ...workplace participation overall is near a four-decade low...
Hyatt to pay ousted workers $1m in boycott-ending deal  Boston Globe   ...Hyatt Hotels Corp. has agreed to pay $1 million to 98 Boston-area housekeepers who were fired five years ago and replaced by lower-paid, outsourced workers...
Warren Calls for Hearings on New York Fed Allegations  Bloomberg   ...Carmen Segarra, a former New York Fed bank examiner who was fired in 2012, ...described how she felt that her Fed colleagues were afraid of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and handled it with kid gloves...
How Eric Holder Failed the Economy (opinion)  Bloomberg   ...Of 21 separate actions against major financial companies from 2009 through May 2014, only eight were accompanied by charges against individuals, and none of them were high-level executives….more than 1,000 people were charged after the savings-and-loan bust of the 1980s, and more than 100 company officers and directors served prison terms...
Oil field worker dies in mishap  Amarillo Globe-News   ...a man’s leg got caught in a ditch-digging machine. Responders provided emergency medical services on the man, but he died at the scene as a result of the injuries...
Police: Woman beheaded at Oklahoma workplace  Associated Press   ...A man fired from an Oklahoma food processing plant beheaded a woman with a knife and was attacking another worker when he was shot and wounded by a company official, police said Friday...
Chicago-area air traffic center fire grounds 1,750 flights  Reuters   ...The fire was set by a longtime employee of Harris Corp, which provides equipment and technical support for the Federal Aviation Administration facility in Chicago and many others, U.S. government officials said...
LIBRE Initiative criticized for its ties to the Koch brothers  VOXXI   ...The LIBRE Initiative bills itself as a non-profit group that pushes a message of economic freedom and limited government among the Latino community. But lately, the group has been taking a lot of heat for collecting millions of dollars from Charles and David Koch...

Today's Teamster News 09.09.14

Teamster News
Vote On County Pay Raises In The Offing  St. Petersburg Tribune   ...The Teamsters has asked for a $15 per hour minimum. Sholtes said the request has nothing to do with a national movement among fast-food workers for a $15 minimum wage. The union used data from the living wage calculator, which sets the minimum hourly wage at $15 to support two adults and $9.63 for one adult...
EVSC board votes to accept Teamsters contract  14 News   ...Evansville-Vanderburgh School Corporation board members voted Monday night to accept the contracts of several employee groups, including the Teamsters Union. Members of Teamsters Local 215 includes custodians, bus drivers, bus aids, and secretaries...
Teamsters Port Division Assisting Truck Drivers Fired By TTSI  teamster.org   ...On Wednesday evening, Sept. 3, 2014, at least thirty-three (33) port truck drivers who participated in recent unfair labor practice strikes and filed “wage and hour” claims with the California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE) were fired by their employer, Total Transportation Services Inc. (TTSI), when they refused to acquiesce to the company’s illegal demand to withdraw their claims for wage theft as misclassified “independent contractors.”...
Trade
The Transatlantic Trade And Investment Partnership: Getting The Criticism Right  The Journal   ...As an investment agreement, the TTIP is probably bad for everyone whose name does not end in Ltd, Plc, or something similar...
China’s Runaway Steel Industry  Trade Reform   ...production capacity for China’s steel industry has grown by an astonishing 200 million tons since late 2012, to 1.1 billion tons today. (By contrast, the entire U.S. steel industry produced only 87 million tons in 2013.) Yet first half domestic consumption of steel stands at 376.1 million tons, up an anemic 0.4 percent over the same period last year. Steel exports are growing but at the expense of “increasing trade conflicts and constant trade remedy investigations.”...
State Battles
The shortfall that wouldn't die  Uppity Wisconsin   ...Today's news that the budget shortfall is nearly 2 billion dollars and apparently rising leads one to believe that maybe too little cash is sticking in Madison.  Other recent news makes it clear that the administration has been helping put more cash in the pockets of some taxpayers (and out-of-staters) than others...
As lawyers prep for John Doe hearing, legal tab tops $672,000  Milwaukee Journal Sentinel   ...The cost to taxpayers for defending the state against lawsuits over an investigation into Gov. Scott Walker and his allies has quickly escalated to more than $672,000...
Voter ID On Trial in Texas (opinion)  New York Times   ...Laws like these used to be blocked by Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, which required that the federal government preapprove any voting rules enacted by states and localities with a history of discriminatory voting practices. But in a destructive ruling last year, the Supreme Court struck down Section 5 as unconstitutional. Only hours after that ruling, Texas resurrected its voter-ID law, which had been stopped by Section 5...
Ruling In Nebraska Could Have Big Overall Impact On Keystone XL  Nebraska Radio Network   ...A ruling by the state Supreme Court on the law that authorized the Keystone XL route through Nebraska could have ramifications well beyond this state. Attorney General Jon Bruning is confident the Supreme Court will uphold the law that set the route...
War On Workers
The Fast Food Strikes Have Been A Stunning Success For Organized Labor  Slate   ...at this early date, it’s more useful to think of them as the spearhead of a broader living wage movement that has also seen retail workers at stores such as Walmart protest for better pay. Framed that way, the effort has been startlingly effective. For the cost of a few Super Bowl ads, the SEIU and some dedicated fast food workers have managed to completely rewire how the public and politicians thinks about wages...
STILL 1.4 Million Fewer Full-Time Jobs Than in 2008  naked capitalism   ...It’s still 1.4 million below 2008? In 2008, the economy was in full collapse mode. The Fed has expanded its balance sheet by $3.7 trillion since August 2008 and there are fewer full-time jobs now than then? Remind me again what that $3.7 trillion has bought!...
Koch 101  Slate   ...The Koch brothers are paying millions to inject libertarian ideas into high school curriculums...
Koch Industries adopts new public posture to neutralize opponents, recast image  Washington Post   ...Koch Industries, which produces goods ranging from Angel Soft toilet paper to iPhone parts, is adopting a more visible strategy to neutralize critics on the left and promote a warm, patriotic image of its multinational empire...
Evidence Says That Students Do Better In Schools With Strong Teachers’ Unions  Addicting Info   ... Collective bargaining provides a legal, structured process in which local unions and management can develop reforms, such as peer review or performance-based pay...
Senate moves forward with amendment to the Constitution on elections  The Hill   ...The Senate on Monday advanced a constitutional amendment meant to reverse two recent Supreme Court decisions on campaign spending...
Some Uber Drivers Say Company’s Promise Of Big Pay Day Doesn’t Match Reality  Washington Post   ...The lure of taking home 80 percent of the fares he collected as a driver for Uber was a sweet incentive for Demek Dagnachew to sign up with the ride-sharing service in April. But soon after he started ferrying passengers around the District in his 2012 Toyota Camry, he said he noticed his earnings didn’t quite reflect the 80/20 split he’d been promised...
Sources: Taj To File For Bankruptcy, Close In November  CBS News   ...A source confirms to CBS 3 Eyewitness News that the Taj Mahal has already begun the process for bankruptcy and layoff notices could go out to workers next week. As of August, the casino hotel had more than 2,800 employees...
State Consultant Says Bridgeton Landfill Fire Spreading North  St. Louis Post Dispatch   ...The consultant hired by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources says the “subsurface fire” at the Bridgeton Landfill is expanding and moving closer to the radioactive West Lake Landfill...
Miscellaneous
Exclusive: Safety concerns dog Boeing 787  Aljazeera   ...Using a concealed camera, the worker films inside the Boeing South Carolina plant, recording his discussions with colleagues. He randomly asks 15 of his co-workers who assemble the 787 "Dreamliner" if they would fly on the plane. Ten say they would not...

Today's Teamster News 04.15.14

Teamster News
Teamsters say Rite Aid dishonest  West Virginia Metro News   ...Teamsters Local 175 said Monday it is developing a strategy in response to Rite Aid’s announcement that it will close its longtime distribution center in Poca within two years eliminating 230 jobs...
Teamsters complain prison bonus plan is a popularity contest  The Current   ...The union representing correctional officers in Florida prisons is protesting the $600 bonus plan for rewarding top-performing state employees, claiming that thousands of guards whose work was not evaluated by supervisors will be shut out through no fault of their own...
NY Teamsters ratify historic 5-year contract with Phoenix/Lobo Beverages  TeamsterNation   ...Here's great news from our brothers at Teamsters Local 812: They ratified a terrific contract that solidifies job security, pay increases, pension and medical protection...
Pasco County Florida Employees Ratify Teamster Contract  teamster.org   ...Pasco County employees have ratified their first Teamster contract, ushering in strong on-the-job representation for more than 1,100 public sector workers across the county...
Carriages Belong in Central Park (opinion by Liam Neeson)  New York Times   ...It has been my experience, always, that horses, much like humans, are at their happiest and healthiest when working. Horses have been pulling from the beginning of time. It is what they have been bred to do...
Oxford County To Offer Deputies Contract Deal  Oxford Hills Sun Journal   ...Oxford County Commissioners are expected to present a contract to the labor union representing sheriff's deputies in a negotiation session planned for later this month...
BLET Fighting to Protect Worker, Public Safety in Rulemaking  BLET   ...From the day FRA placed crew size before its Railroad Safety Advisory Committee, the railroads have attempted to hold the issue hostage to the implementation of Positive Train Control (PTC) technology, a stance that was publicly confirmed by the Association of American Railroads earlier this week...
Trade
Are The Administration's Claims Of Progress On Trans Pacific Partnership Negotiations In Japan Credible?  EconoMonitor   ...As readers may know, the mislabeled trade deal known as the Trans Pacific Partnership hasn't looked like it has great odds of being consummated. The WikiLeaks publication of two important draft chapters show considerable opposition...
State Battles
Missouri House Expected To Try Again To Collect Enough "Right To Work" Votes  St. Louis Public Radio   ...The Missouri House could vote as soon as Tuesday on a renewed attempt to garner enough votes to send to the state Senate a measure to put a “right to work” proposal on the August ballot...
Unions Attack Right-To-Work  Workplace Choice   ...The battle over right-to-work is heating up in Missouri, as proponents and opponents pour on the rhetoric. Advocates argue that right-to-work, approved by the Missouri House on Wednesday, would enhance individual freedom by giving workers the option to choose whether or not they become part of a union...
War on Workers
Labor Commissioner Cracks Down On Wage Theft; Orders Reparations To Maids Fired For Cooperating In Wage Theft Investigation  Digital Journal   ...California Labor Commissioner Julie A. Su fined San Carles-based Sunflowers Maid Service for $394,944 in unpaid wages and premiums to be paid back to affected workers, plus civil penalties...
Social Security stops trying to collect on old debts by seizing tax refunds  Washington Post   ...In many cases, the people whose refunds were intercepted had never heard of any debt, and the debts dated as far back as the middle of the past century...
In Many Cities, Rent Is Rising Out of Reach of Middle Class  New York Times   ...An analysis for The New York Times by Zillow, the real estate website, found 90 cities where the median rent — not including utilities — was more than 30 percent of the median gross income...
The Hedge Fund Managers Tax Break: Because Wall Streeters Want Your Money  truthout   ...or all the sneaky and squirrelly ways that the rich use to escape their tax liability, none can beat the hedge fund managers' tax break...
Primer On Who Subverted The NLRB Election At Volkswagon  The Hill   ...On Wednesday, the UAW subpoenaed Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), Tennessee Gov./Bill Haslam (R) and 18 other state officials to appear at the NRLB hearing into third party intervention in the union election at Volkswagen in Chattanooga...
Miscellaneous
Kain Colter's Unionization Effort Fueled By Compassion, Common Sense (opinion)  The Washington Post   ...Kain   ...Colter spoke about ensuring that the next generation of athletes diagnosed with concussions and other medical ailments, suffered while giving their bodies to old State U., would be taken care of after they graduate...

Today's Teamster News 03.23.14

Teamster News
Teamsters score a win against “sharecropping on wheels.” But will the trucking industry really change?  Washington Post   ...Along with auto technicians, fast food workers, and baggage handlers, another profession has been hit by the separation of labor from employer: Port truckers, who haul containers from cargo ships on short trips around the terminal...
Port trucking company agrees to labor settlement with drivers  Orange County Register   ...Carson-based Pacific 9 Transportation Inc. has agreed to a settlement with 50 independent truck drivers that could force the company to treat them as employees, not independent contractors, according to an agreement filed with a federal labor relations agency in Los Angeles...
Anheuser-Busch, Teamsters reach tentative deal  Associated Press   ...Anheuser-Busch and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters say they have reached a tentative deal on a five-year contract for workers at the beverage-maker's 12 U.S. breweries...
Canadian National Railway Company and Teamsters Canada Rail Conference resume negotiations  PR Newswire   ...Today, the Honourable Dr. K. Kellie Leitch, Minister of Labour and Minister of Status of Women, congratulated the Canadian National Railway (CN) and the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) for returning to the bargaining table and working to reach a new agreement...
Trade
Debate in US over trade deficit with China heats up  South China Morning Post   ...A chorus of voices in the United States has been calling for tougher trade action against China, alleging imports from the country are slashing jobs in the US...
State Battles
Right to work bill on the Missouri House schedule  Associated Press   ...Missouri House Republican leaders are vowing to consider legislation known to supporters as "right to work" when lawmakers return from their weeklong break...
Republican pitches alternative to liquor privatization  The Sentinel   ...A Bucks County Republican lawmaker opposed to selling off state-run liquor stores on Thursday unveiled an alternative to privatization of Pennsylvania’s market share of the industry...
State DOJ files first appeals in Capitol singalong cases  Wisconsin State Journal   ..The Wisconsin Department of Justice for the first time Friday appealed a Dane County judge’s decision to throw out tickets related to the Capitol singalong...
More than 100 USM students, faculty protest proposed budget cuts, layoffs  Bangor Daily News   ...University of Southern Maine students and faculty chanted, yelled and — in one case — stretched out on the floor of the hallway outside the office of Provost Michael R. Stevenson to protest during meetings Friday at which 15 full-time faculty members in nine departments were expected to be laid off...
The War on Workers
Spain austerity: Huge Madrid protest turns violent  BBC News   ...Violence has broken out at the end of an anti-austerity protest attended by tens of thousands of people in the Spanish capital Madrid...
When Minimum Wage Rises, Many Are Left Looking Up at It  New York Times   ...so many immigrants are willing to do this work that it is not hard for unscrupulous businesses to find people desperate enough to do it for less than what the law requires...
U.S. IRS audited fewer wealthy Americans in 2013  Reuters   ... The U.S. Internal Revenue Service said on Friday that it audited fewer high-income Americans in 2013 than it did in 2012 or 2011, while it conducted more audits of people with no income...
Pixel & Dimed: On Not Getting By in the Gig Economy  Fast Company   ...For one month, I became the “micro-entrepreneur” touted by companies like TaskRabbit, Postmates, and Airbnb. Instead of the labor revolution I had been promised, all I found was hard work, low pay, and a system that puts workers at a disadvantage...
Industries Across the U.S. Are Stealing Wages From Their Lowest Paid Workers  The Real News   ...about a quarter of workers had not been paid minimum wage in the week of the survey. Three-quarters of them had not been paid overtime pay even though they had worked overtime hours...
Out of Work, Out of Luck  Five Thirty Eight Economics   ...Many if not most of the 3.8 million Americans who have been out of work for more than six months will never again hold steady jobs...
The Stone Unturned: Credit Ratings  New York Times   ...It’s the one question about the 2008 financial crisis that people still ask me more than any other: Why have regulators done so little to rein in the credit rating agencies? Other institutions that contributed to the mortgage debacle have submitted to new rules and compliance requirements, but Moody’s Investors Service and Standard & Poor’s and their peers remained relatively untouched...
S&P Judge Tentatively Rules It Must Face Deception Claims  Bloomberg   ...McGraw Hill Financial Inc. (MHFI)’s Standard & Poor’s unit must face California’s claims it deceived the state’s pension funds in its ratings of mortgage-back securities, a judge said in a provisional ruling...

Today's Teamster News 02.26.14

Teamster News
Teamsters Local 722 Secures Three-Year Contract for School Bus Workers  teamster.org   ...More than 70 Teamster school bus workers in western Illinois have ratified a new three-year contract with First Student...
Anheuser-Busch Brewery Contract Extended Until March 31  teamster.org   ...The Teamster negotiators for the Anheuser-Busch brewery contract which covers 3,500 members at 12 breweries have reached a one-month extension agreement with the company...
State Battles
Mo. Republicans Fight for “Right-To-Work”  CBS St. Louis   ...Greater St. Louis Labor Council President Robert Soutier gave emotionally charged testimony. Everything that s being proposed will hurt workers, it hurts the very core people that we represent, said Soutier. It drives wages down. Why are we interesting in attracting low wage workers to this state? ...
Trade
The Trans-Pacific Partnership: No end in sight The Economist   ...opposition to TPP seems to be growing in America as well. The most obvious manifestation of this is that Barack Obama seems to have little immediate hope of winning “fast-track” authority (known now as “Trade-Promotion Authority” or TPA) to negotiate trade agreements that Congress cannot challenge clause by clause...
TPP Talks Fizzle Again under Broad Opposition  Public Citizen   ...The talks have missed a succession of deadlines due to opposition from negotiating countries to corporate-backed U.S. demands that would increase the cost of medicines, restrict financial stability measures, and empower corporations to challenge health and environmental safeguards...
War on Workers
Why We Oppose the Oakland Spy Center  The Oakland Privacy Working Group   ...there is great potential for abuse of civil liberties, and the city cannot afford it.  The city has no data retention and privacy policy or oversight committee for the DAC...
Credit Suisse 'cloak-and-dagger' tactics cost US taxpayers billions – senators  The Guardian   ...John McCain and Carl Levin say offshore schemes operated by Swiss firm helped 22,000 Americans hide billions from taxman...
JP Morgan to cut 8,000 jobs in mortgage and retail  BBC News   ...The bank reported profits of $17.9bn (£10.7bn) in 2013, down from $21.3bn a year earlier....
Bombshell Documents Vanish in the JPMorgan-Madoff Investigation  Wall Street on Parade   ...The Feds slap a $1.7 billion penalty on a bank, file a two-felony count indictment against it, put it on probation for two years – all for not filing a Suspicious Activity Report and yet when a bank did file a Suspicious Activity Report no documents exist to show there was ever an investigation. ...
Democrats again delay Senate minimum wage vote  Associated Press   ... Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin, the bill's author, said Tuesday they now expect to consider it after lawmakers return in late March...

Today's Teamster News 01.01.14

Settlement reached at Northern Tier Refinery in St. Paul Park Minneapolis Star Tribune ...Union and company negotiators reached a tentative agreement about 5 p.m. Tuesday, averting a strike that had been called to begin at midnight at the Northern Tier Refinery in St. Paul Park. The deal, which must still be voted on by about 190 workers, came just in time, said Chris Riley, business agent for Teamsters Local 120. “We went to the edge of the cliff,” Riley said…
Are we heading for the world's first TRILLIONAIRE? Tax Justice Network ...if you're under 60 years of age, you're likely to witness the emergence of the world's first trillionaire...
In No One We Trust (opinion) New York Times ...trust is becoming yet another casualty of our country’s staggering inequality:..
30 Million People Worldwide Are Living As Slaves Huffington Post ...The Global Slavery Index released a shocking report last week, estimating that almost 30 million people worldwide are living as slaves...
US population growing at slowest rate since 1930s, census data shows The Guardian ...“This sharp bump that we've seen in the last few years does suggest that the economy has a lot to do with it.”...
How NAFTA Drove Mexicans into Poverty and Sparked the Zapatista Revolt Alternet ...The North American Free Trade Agreement, passed 20 years ago, has resulted in increased emigration, hunger and poverty...
Case-Shiller Home Prices Double Digit Annual Increase Party May Be Over Economic Populist ...The October 2013 S&P Case Shiller home price index shows a seasonally adjusted 13.6% price increase from a year ago for both the 20 metropolitan housing markets and the top 10 housing markets. This is an incredible price run up and has not been seen since the height of the housing bubble, February 2006...
Only A Quarter Of Unemployed Americans Receiving Benefits After Congress Failed To Act: Data Huffington Post ...The number is the lowest since the Department of Labor began keeping records in 1946. Before Congress let the federal unemployment benefit-assistance plan expire on Dec. 28, 38 percent of unemployed Americans who paid unemployment taxes were receiving unemployment insurance either through their state or the federal government...
Residents allowed to return home after smoky North Dakota rail crash Reuters ...Mandatory evacuation orders were lifted on Tuesday in Casselton, North Dakota, where a fiery oil train crash a day earlier triggered a series of blasts and forced residents from their homes...
Business property tax cut could drive up other taxes, report says Indianapolis Star ...A new legislative report says cutting the business personal property tax could raise taxes for homeowners and workers across the state...
Pot Shops in Denver Open Door to $578 Million in Sales Bloomberg ...Fox’s shop is among 14 in Denver that got state and local licenses in time to sell marijuana to anyone 21 or older starting Jan. 1, just over a year after Colorado and Washington voters made their states the first to legalize recreational use. Washington’s shops are expected to open later in the year. Colorado projects $578.1 million a year in combined wholesale and retail marijuana sales to yield $67 million in tax revenue…
Solidarity Sing Along up; The YMCA of Dane County down Isthmus ...The state's Fourth District Court of Appeals rules that people who were charged for singing in the (Wisconsin) Capitol Rotunda during the noontime protests are allowed to use discovery in their defense, which means they can call witnesses and seek evidence the state has against them...

Today's Teamster News 12.07.13

A-B InBev makes progress in negotiations with Teamsters  St. Louis Post-Dispatch   ...In a joint statement on Friday, the two parties said they have finalized all local non-economic issues for the company's 12 U.S. breweries. They will reconvene on Dec. 16 to begin discussions about national non-economic issues...
McDonald's to Employees: Don't Forget to Tip Your Nannies  Gawker   ... On its employees-only "McResource Line" website, the fast-food behemoth posted a tipping etiquette guide that suggests holiday bonuses for such common hired helpers as au pairs (one week's pay or a gift from the family), housekeepers (one day's pay), and pool cleaners (the cost of one cleaning)...
Xerox calls police before layoffs at Cary call center  ABC11   ...Xerox called police to its Cary facility Friday morning just before laying off 168 employees. The company called 911 around 6 a.m. to request a police presence at their Crescent Green Drive facility. Cary Dispatch confirmed to ABC11 that Xerox said they "were expecting trouble."...
ALEC Opposed Divestment From South Africa’s Apartheid Regime  ...many American conservative organizations opposed his struggle by fighting against sanctions and divestment from the apartheid regime that oppressed him. For ALEC, that meant partnering with corporations that faced calls for South African divestment and creating template legislation to block the pro-Mandela movement...
What Dave Ramsey gets wrong about poverty  Belief Blog   ...When medical bills are the biggest cause of bankruptcy in the United States, there are systemic injustices at work...
U.S. deadline looms over negotiations on Trans-Pacific Partnership  AFP   ...analysts said an agreement on the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) was unlikely to be reached during the four-day meeting, owing to differences on key issues such as intellectual property protection...
USTR Reveals Few Details In Response To FOIA Request For TPP Info  Inside US Trade   ...The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has largely deflected an attempt by public interest group Intellectual Property Watch to shed new light on the substance of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations and the influence of Washington lobbyists over the contents of the trade deal...
LA city attorney sues Bank of America over lending  Associated Press   ...The Los Angeles city attorney is suing Bank of America for mortgage discrimination it claims led to a wave of foreclosures that cost the city a fortune in extra expenses and lost taxes...
Republic Windows ex-CEO gets 4 years in prison  Portside   ...Five years to the day after a sit-in by workers at an abruptly shuttered Chicago factory drew national attention, its former CEO pleaded guilty today to one count of theft for looting Republic Windows & Doors and was promptly sentenced to 4 years in prison...
Contractors Receive Huge Raise on Same Day Income Inequality Discussed  POGO   ...On the same day that the President spoke eloquently and fervently about the rising income inequality in the United States, the ever-contractor-friendly Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) in the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) increased the maximum amount of contractor compensation that can be charged to government contracts from a mere $763,029 per employee per year to what OFPP apparently considers a much more reasonable $952,308 per employee per year...
The Metro-North crash was preventable  Scientific American   ...Rail experts say an automated safety system already in place in Europe, but stalled in the U.S. despite a Congressional mandate, probably could have prevented a speeding commuter train from flying off the tracks while rounding a bend last weekend in New York City, killing four passengers and injuring 63 others...

Today's Teamster News 11.24.13

Teamsters contract to bring less than 2 percent raises  Ironton Tribune   ...The first Teamsters contract for employees of the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office will bring them raises over the next three years...
Anheuser-Busch InBev, Teamsters Conclude Round of Contract Talks  CBS St. Louis   ...Teamsters Local 6 Principal Officer Ron Shy says the three-week-long local talks wrapped up last night with what he says are a “couple of unresolved issues” they will take to the national talks that open in St. Petersburg, Florida on December 2...
Middletown Boro, Teamsters local reach agreement on holiday decoration volunteers  Fox 43   ...Earlier this fall, Arnold announced the Borough would be forced to suspend the decorating activities this year after members of Teamsters Local 776 filed grievances seeking compensation for the work the volunteers did last year...Under the terms of the settlement agreement, the union recognizes the Borough’s right to use volunteers so long as such use does not result in employee layoffs...
Walmart Protests Promised To Be Even Bigger This Black Friday  Huffington Post   ...Walmart workers and their supporters are planning to kick off this year's holiday shopping season with protests at 1,500 Walmart stores around the country on Nov. 29...
Civil Society Groups Demand Transparency and User Protections in TPP  Electronic Frontier Foundation   ...Civil society groups are coming out in force against the secretive Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations, following Wikileaks' publication of the “Intellectual Property” chapter...
An Orgy of Thieves  Counterpunch   ...There was indeed a vast criminal class coming to full vicious potential in the 1990s: a group utterly vacant of the most elementary instincts of social propriety, devoid of moral fiber, selfish to an almost unfathomable degree. The class comes in the form of our corporate elite...
Analysis: U.S. businesses back Tea Party Republicans after shutdown  Reuters   ...Eight of the most active business PACs wrote checks totaling $84,750 to 56 Republicans in the Senate and the House of Representatives after they voted against an October 16 deal to re-open the government that had been shut down since October 1 and avert an imminent debt default...
End the 1 percent’s free ride: Taxing land would solve America’s biggest problems  Salon   ...Just tax the stuff that humans had nothing to do with creating, and therefore have no basis to claim ownership over at all. You’ll find that almost all of it is “owned” by the fabled 1 percent...
Robert Samuelson Is Upset that the Government Gives One Thousand Times as Much Money to Billionaires Like Peter Peterson as It Does to Poor Children  Center for Economic Policy and Research   ...we should look at the billions of dollars in interest paid out on government bonds to rich people like Peter Peterson without taking account of the fact that Peterson and his billionaire friends paid for these bonds...
Watch economic insecurity spread like a virus over a quarter-century  Washington Post   ...the two great transformations of the economy over the late 20th century have been the rise in inequality and the increasing risk that households and workers bear...
Caught in a Revolving Door of Unemployment  New York Times   ... joblessness lasting more than six months is a major factor preventing people from getting rehired, with potentially grave consequences for tens of millions of Americans...
Susan J. Demas: How the Democrats blew it after Right to Work (opinion)  Michigan Live   ...they filed a couple long-shot lawsuits and essentially decided to give up...
Ohio unions optimistic about shifting Right to Work landscape  Keep Ohio's Heritage   ...Following this month’s colossal failure of the Ohioans for Workplace Freedom Election Day signature push, labor groups believe that Ohio voters are beginning to make their choice clear at the ballots...