Showing posts with label online sales tax. Show all posts
Showing posts with label online sales tax. Show all posts

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Today's Teamster News 06.13.13

Inequality In U.S. Is Scarily High, Rising (INFOGRAPHIC)  Huffington Post   ...Half of the U.S. population is now considered poor or low-income...
The Trade Deal Scam  Truthout   ...There are two key facts people should know about these proposed trade deals. First, they are mostly not about trade. Second they are not intended to boost the economy in a way that will help most of us...
How Costco saves taxpayers money  CNNMoney   ...The discount retail chain has remained steadfast on giving decent pay and benefits for its rank and file, saving the company--and U.S. taxpayers--plenty of money in the process...
How Spy Agency Contractors Have Already Abused Their Power  The Nation   ...Two years ago, a batch of stolen e-mails revealed a plot by a set of three defense contractors (Palantir Technologies, Berico Technologies and HBGary Federal) to target activists, reporters, labor unions and political organizations...
Behind Cry for Help From China Labor Camp  New York Times   ...In interviews with more than a dozen people who were imprisoned at Masanjia and other camps around the country, they described a catalog of horrific abuse, including frequent beatings, days of sleep deprivation and prisoners chained up in painful positions for weeks on end...
Darrell Issa joins Democrats’ push on foreclosure review  Politico   ... Democrats and consumer advocates pushing federal banking regulators to release more details about an abandoned review of past foreclosure abuses have a new ally: Darrell Issa...
Greek state TV, radio broadcasts going off the air  Associated Press   ...Greek state TV and radio have begun going off the air, hours after the government said it would temporarily close all state-run broadcasts, with the loss of about 2,500 job, due to austerity cuts...
North Carolina Is the New Wisconsin  The Nation   ...Republicans have imported a slew of ALEC-inspired policies in an attempt to turn the New South back into the Old Confederacy...
City Council grapples with looming budget shortfall, union concerns  Fort Wayne News-Sentinel   ...Fort Wayne City Council on Tuesday decided to hold for another week an ordinance that, if passed as currently written, would strip the ability of unions to collectively bargain aspects of health insurance coverage with the city...
Montana attorney general forms coalition to oppose Internet sales tax bill in Congress  Great Falls Tribune   ...Montana Attorney General Tim Fox on Wednesday announced the formation of a multi-state coalition opposed to a proposed federal Internet sales tax bill that would force businesses to collect sales tax for other states, counties and cities...
Iowa law closes sales tax loophole for online sellers  Sioux City Journal   ...Gov. Terry Branstad signed legislation to close a loophole that lets out-of-state online retailers offer customers a purchase price without collecting the state’s sales tax...
Massachusetts Minimum Wage Hearing Draws Crowd  WTIC 1080   ...Advocates for a higher Massachusetts minimum wage packed a Statehouse hearing Tuesday, saying an increase is a matter of fairness and would boost the economy...
Hoffa: Congress Needs to Take Action to Keep College Affordable  IBT   ...Working people struggle and fight to form unions so their children can have better lives than they do. For many, that means sending their sons and daughters to college. Higher education has long been the stepping stone to a better life. But that stone is being swept away by a tide of student debt...
Leslie Marshall Show Discusses Our Victory Against Knives on Planes  IBT  ...The Teamsters Airline Division, as part of the Coalition of Flight Attendant Unions, claimed a big victory last week with the TSA’s decision to disallow knives on planes...
Teamsters, Community Leaders Speak Before Rhinebeck School Board  IBT   ...School bus drivers and monitors, along with Teamsters Local 445 and New York State United Teachers (NYSUT)leaders, spoke out at Tuesday night’s Rhinebeck School Board meeting about their ongoing fight for a fair contract from Durham School Services...
Teamsters Complaint Results In $600,000 Settlement For Correctional Officers  IBT   ...The U.S. Department of Labor is overseeing the award of a $603,237 settlement to current and retired employees of the State Prison Facility in Raiford after finding that more than 700 corrections officers were not being properly compensated...

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Today's Teamster News 05.08.13

Ex-South Carolina governor Sanford beats Colbert Busch in special House election  Washington Post   ...The conservative electorate of South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District voted Tuesday to resurrect the political career of disgraced former governor Mark Sanford (R) by returning him to his former House seat...
Texas tragedy may cost fertilizer plant only $1 million  RT Network   ...Fifteen people died and more than 200 others were injured following an explosion at a West, Texas fertilizer plant last month, and lawyers for the facility now admit that the plant’s owners aren’t prepared to pay for the damages totaling more than $100 million in destruction. But the attorneys say the factory had only $1 million in liability coverage...
Death toll of Bangladesh building collapse tops 700   Associated Press   ...Hundreds of survivors of last month’s collapse of a building housing garment factories in Bangladesh protested for compensation Tuesday, as the death toll from the country’s worst-ever industrial disaster passed 700...
Churn, baby, churn: The labor market won’t be healthy until people feel like they can quit their jobs Washington Post   ...America needs more quitters. Or the job market does, anyway. That’s the lesson to draw from the latest Labor Department report, which shows the soft underbelly of the U.S. jobs picture. The unemployment rate may be falling and the number of jobs rising. But there isn’t enough “churn” going on, a hallmark of a healthy job market, in which people freely move between positions...
Overtime pay vs. time off: GOP wants a choice, but Democrats say plan would hurt workers  Associated Press   ...It seems like a simple proposition: give employees who work more than 40 hours a week the option of taking paid time off instead of overtime pay...
Online Sales Tax Bill Passes Senate  Huffington Post   ...The Senate sided with traditional retailers and financially strapped state and local governments Monday by passing a bill that would widely subject online shopping – for many a largely tax-free frontier – to state sales taxes...
FAA reviewing lost pay for furloughed employees  The Washington Post   ...The Federal Aviation Administration says it is reviewing how and whether to make whole thousands of employees who were forced to take unpaid days off in April before Congress intervened, suspending the furloughs...
Exposing ALEC's Agenda to Defund and Dismantle Public Education (opinion)  Huffington Post   ...Iron Man 3 just opened this past weekend, followed soon by more would-be blockbusters. I'm sure a lot of these movies will be entertaining, but none will be more important or relevant than a half-hour documentary I recently watched: The United States of ALEC...
Hertz relocating corporate headquarters to Florida following Dollar Thrifty acquisition  Associated Press   ...Hertz will move its headquarters from New Jersey to Florida, putting the company in the heart of a key travel market and trimming corporate expenses after its $2.3 billion buyout of one-time rival, Dollar Thrifty...
South Jersey firms facing OSHA fines from Sandy repair jobs  Press of Atlantic City   ...Federal inspectors have assessed at least 26 companies with a total of $110,000 in fines for unsafe workplaces in New Jersey shore towns while cleaning up and repairing damage from Hurricane Sandy, an analysis of U.S. Department of Labor records shows...
Missouri lawmakers must finalize budget this week  News-Press   ...Missouri lawmakers have until Friday to finalize the state's roughly $25 billion operating budget...
Illinois Senate to vote on union-endorsed pension reform bill  Reuters ...A union-backed plan to reform the worst-funded state pension system in the United States will be introduced in the Illinois Senate this week, competing with a plan passed by the House last week...
More arrested as NC legislature protests continue  Associated Press   ...More than two dozen members of the NAACP and other activists were arrested Monday as part of continuing protests of Republican policies in the state capital, bringing to nearly 50 the number of nonviolent demonstrators facing charges...
Michigan launches $5 million veterans' homeowners assistance program  Michigan Live   ...Michigan veterans who have lost their homes or are struggling to keep them could benefit from a new $5 million housing assistance program...
Teamsters Urge Congress To Stop Dangerous Increases In Truck Weight And Size  IBT   ...Yesterday, the Teamsters, the Truck Safety Coalition, U.S. Rep. James McGovern (D-MA) and representatives of several families who have suffered death and injury as a result of truck crashes, held a news conference marking the re-introduction of legislation that would prevent an increase in size and weight allowances for trucks...
UPS Local Leaders Unanimously Endorse UPS Tentative Agreement  IBT   ...Leaders of Teamster Local Unions that represent UPS workers across the United States voted unanimously today to endorse the tentative UPS national agreement, paving the way for ballots to be prepared and sent to members...
UPS Freight Local Union Leaders Unanimously Recommend Tentative Agreement For Ratification  IBT   ...Teamster Local Union leaders representing UPS Freight workers across the country unanimously endorsed the tentative national agreement today, clearing the way for ballots to be prepared and sent to members...
US Air Mechanics File for Election to Become Teamsters  IBT   ...US Airways mechanics and related workers filed for an election today with the National Mediation Board (NMB) as part of their campaign to become Teamsters...
Osco Pharmacists Negotiations Enter Federal Mediation   IBT   ...After seven bargaining sessions over several weeks, contract negotiations for 500 Osco pharmacists have entered federal mediation...
Buy Union, Buy American: Support Teamsters Week  Labor 411   ...Consumer awareness and education are key to the success of the labor movement. We have no doubt that most Americans would choose union-made, American-made goods if only they knew which they were – and if they realized that buying those goods helps to support good middle class American jobs...
Bay City mid-management contract approval rescheduled to later this month  Michigan Live   ...The Bay City Commission has rescheduled the review of new deal with Teamsters Local 214, which represents mid-management positions including the chief accountant, information systems administrator and planning manager...

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Today's Teamster News 05.07.13

Austerity Has Cost The U.S. Economy 2.2 Million Jobs: Study  Huffington Post   ...There are more than 2 million unemployed Americans who might have jobs today if not for austerity...
Across The Country, Renters Are Getting Crushed By Housing Costs  Business Insider   ...In the grand scheme of personal finances, your take home pay is like an apple pie. Your bills are the hungry flock of kids banging their fists on the table to get their share. For renters in America, housing is usually the hungriest of the bunch...
Unemployment Benefit Cut Adds to Drag on U.S. Spending: Economy  Bloomberg News   ...Dentral Smith had to say no when her granddaughter asked for a treat on the way home from school. The government’s cut in unemployment payments leaves her with less spending money...
Online sales tax bill seen stalling in House  Chicago Tribune   ...Observers expect legislation that would give power to U.S. states to collect sales tax from online purchases will stall in the House. The Senate is expected to vote on the bill Monday although it has little chance of survival in the House, controlled by Republicans highly opposed to new taxes...
Koch Brothers Bought America's Universities, Now the Billionaires Want to Buy Our Free Press (opinion)   Huffington Post   ...The conservative oil tycoon billionaires, Koch Brothers, are after our free press and the newspapers that could serve as a broader platform for their conservative ideology. Newspapers provide our country with information and coverage that is essential for democracy. This is not a business investment for the billionaire brothers...
N.Y. to sue Bank of America, Wells Fargo over alleged violations of mortgage deal Washington Post   ...New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said Monday he intends to sue Bank of America and Wells Fargo for failing to help struggling homeowners under the $25 billion national mortgage settlement...
Wisconsin Bill Would Treat Organic Milk, Sharp Cheddar, Brown Eggs as "Junk Food"  PRWatch   ...Wisconsin ranks 44th in the nation for new job creation. Rather than rolling up their sleeves and finding new and innovative ways to help create jobs, the Wisconsin legislature is spending its time telling people needing food assistance what they should be eating...
Illinois Constitution may impede pension reform effort  Reuters   ...A House-backed plan to repair Illinois' underfunded pension system, that would increase employee contributions while reducing benefits, may face a Constitutional challenge...
Sanford, Colbert Busch Poll Shows South Carolina Candidates In Tight Race  Huffington Post    ...Days ahead of Tuesday's special election for South Carolina's open congressional seat, a new poll shows former Gov. Mark Sanford (R) gaining momentum on Democratic rival Elizabeth Colbert Busch, erasing the strong lead she posted in a previous poll...
Chris Christie rakes in $6.2 million  Politico   ...New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has raised just under $6.2 million for his reelection bid, his campaign announced Monday...
Despite reluctant GOP surrender, unions vow to fight Right to Work in Ohio   PR NewsChannel …Two bills that could’ve made Ohio a right-to-work state in both the public and private sectors were stalled in the legislature just hours after they were introduced. Now hundreds of thousands of union workers in the state, many of whom have watched Michigan’s struggles, are being urged to view these recent developments as a wakeup call despite the outcome…
Hoffa: ALEC's War on Workers  Huffington Post   ...Corporations are upping the ante in their attempt to take control of the political process. Under the guise of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the nation's most powerful are drafting legislation that is appearing in statehouses across the country. And the target is not just union members, but the entire middle class...
Massachusetts Firefighters Join Teamsters Local 170  IBT   ...They put their own lives at risk to protect the citizens of Webster, Mass. Now, the 41 part-time firefighters with the Webster Fire Department have their own protection—Teamster representation...
Video: Equal pay issue earns Teamster support for Staten Island City Council candidate Mendy Mirocznik  Staten Island Live   ...For his vocal support of what he called "equal pay for equal work," Democratic Mid-Island City Council Candidate Mendy Mirocznik Monday earned the endorsement of Teamsters 237, which represents school safety agents...

Thursday, May 2, 2013

Today's Teamster News 05.02.13

Tom Morello Offers Free 'Union Town' Tracks for May Day  Rolling Stone   ...Tom Morello has partnered with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters to give away tracks from Union Town, the 2011 album from the guitarist's Nightwatchman project. Fans can simply head to the Teamsters website and submit their email addresses for the tracks...
Bangladesh building collapse: Death toll passes 400  BBC News   ...The number of people killed in the collapse of a building in Bangladesh which housed garment factories last week has passed 400, officials say...
Tell Walmart and Other Retailers: Ensure basic safety and human rights for workers in Bangladesh  CREDO Action Alert   ...Urge these companies to take immediate steps to deploy safety improvements in their supplier factories and pay the compensation owed to injured workers and the families of workers killed while sewing their clothing in Bangladesh…
CEO-To-Worker Pay Ratio Ballooned 1,000 Percent Since 1950: Report  Huffington Post   ...We’ve made progress on a lot of things since the 1950s and so have CEOs -- in their quest for more money that is. The ratio of CEO-to-worker pay has increased 1,000 percent since 1950, according to data from Bloomberg...
Bill Moyers documentary examines 'United States of ALEC'  Sacramento Bee   ...Ever wonder how it is that the same bill pops up simultaneously in statehouses across the country? One way is through the work of the American Legislative Exchange Council, a group that promotes business-friendly model legislation for state lawmakers to introduce in their respective Capitols.
Michigan bill would make stores online charge 6% sales tax  Detroit Free Press   ...Dan Marshall knows he can comfortably compete with the Internet on the prices of instruments he sells at seven Marshall Music stores across the state. But where the president of the Lansing-based, family-owned business can’t compete is the 6% sales tax he has to charge customers who make purchases in his store.
Poll: Plurality Wants One Party To Control White House, Congress  Talking Points Memo   ...A national poll from Quinnipiac University released Wednesday suggested that Americans have had their fill of divided government...
GOP puts 'right-to-work' on agenda  Cincinnati.com  ...Republicans waded back into choppy political waters Tuesday when two lawmakers – including one from Lebanon – vowed to make Ohio a “right-to-work” state...
Secret “Free Trade” Negotiations Will Gut Regulations, Further Enrich Multinationals and Big Financial Firms  Naked Capitalism   ...It’s a sign of the times that a reputable economist, Dean Baker, can use the word “corruption” in the headline of an article describing two major trade deals under negotiation and no one bats an eye...
American job prospects make for dim May Day celebration  MSNBC   ...For working America, the trend over the last few decades has been toward lower wages, fewer workplace rights, and diminished voice in the public sphere...
How to ease economic anxiety (opinion)  Washington Post   ...The American public knows it’s downwardly mobile. What it doesn’t know is what it can do to arrest, much less reverse, that trend...
Koch Brothers Plan More Political Involvement for Their Conservative Network  New York Times   ...As the country’s leading conservative donors finished off plates of roast lamb and spaetzle in a Palm Springs, Calif., hotel ballroom on Monday, Charles G. Koch delivered a pep talk...
Corbett's liquor privatization plan on life support  The Morning Call   ...First came the cops. Then came the drug-and-alcohol counselors. Next up was the moms. And finally, the kids. All of them told a state Senate committee they oppose a plan to privatize wine and spirits sales and make beer more readily available under a House-approved bill supported by Gov. Tom Corbett...
Florida State pension reform issue dies in the Senate  The Miami Herald   ...After months of calling pension reform a top priority in his inaugural year as Florida House speaker, Will Weatherford could do nothing Tuesday as his plan went down to defeat in the Senate...
Blistering audit faults Wis. job creation agency  The Republic   ...A blistering audit released Wednesday said Republican Gov. Scott Walker's premier job creation agency repeatedly broke state law in its first year of operation, failed to adequately track money it awarded for economic development projects and sometimes gave money to ineligible recipients...

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Today's Teamster News 04.30.13

Texas Blast Recalls Chemical Safety Bill Sunk by Business Lobby  Bloomberg   ...Guess who fought against a 2009 bill aimed at tightening “security standards of chemical factors, fertilizer depots and water-treatment plants.” None other than “Mining companies, refiners, paint makers, explosive fabricators and fertilizer plants...the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and American Farm Bureau...”
How Austerity Is Literally Killing People (opinion)  Think Progress   ...Austerity in the United States and Europe isn’t just placing an unnecessary drag on economic growth that has harmed the global economic recovery from the Great Recession...
Banking group says new regulations could push consumers into risky payday loans  The Hill   ...A leading banking group says tighter guidelines on deposit advance loans could push consumers into higher-risk payday credit...
US electricity giant rejects privatization plan  Financial Times ...Push-back. President Obama recently floated the notion that it might be time to privatize the TVA. TVA’s Chief Executive says “the authority ‘isn’t broke’ and could fund the investment it needed while staying in the public sector.” TVA’s electricity prices are “significantly below the US average...”
Wealth Gap Among Races Has Widened Since Recession  New York Times   ... Millions of Americans suffered a loss of wealth during the recession and the sluggish recovery that followed. But the last half-decade has proved far worse for black and Hispanic families than for white families, starkly widening the already large gulf in wealth between non-Hispanic white Americans and most minority groups, according to a new study...
Bill to end sequester's air travel delays flies through Congress   Los Angeles Times ...Lawmakers, among the nation's most frequent fliers, OK a bill allowing the FAA to transfer $253 million to stop furloughs of air traffic controllers...
But the sequester could hurt federal tax collections, IRS says  Washington Post   ...The head of the Internal Revenue Service is warning that the government-wide spending cuts that took effect last month could hurt federal tax collections...
Push to Require Online Sales Tax Divides the G.O.P.  New York Times   ...Legislation that would force Internet retailers to collect sales taxes from their customers has put antitax and small-government activists like Grover Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform and the Heritage Foundation in an unusual position: they’re losing...
Sanford, Colbert Busch Campaign Day After Debate  Associated Press   ...Republican Mark Sanford and Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch planned to hit the campaign trail a day after a spirited debate in their race for a vacant congressional seat along the South Carolina coast. "I rocked it," Colbert Busch said…
Citations drop for child work violations in Mass.  Boston Globe   ...Child-labor laws in Massachusetts were tightened then following on-the-job deaths of several teenagers, including a 16-year-old who was killed after losing control of a golf cart at a Salem country club. But enforcement citations appear to have dropped ...
Minimum wage hike goes to Minnesota House for vote   Associated Press   ....Many Minnesota workers would get a pay hike, extra time to spend with newborns and recently adopted children and more overtime pay in the minimum wage bill that is headed to the House floor.
Tax Shuffle Could Shake Up Missouri  St. Louis Post-Dispatch   ...Missouri’s Republican-led legislature is poised to send Gov. Jay Nixon a bill that would cut the state income tax, especially for small businesses, while raising the sales tax to benefit three legislative priorities…
Right-to-work will lower wages and weaken the economy (opinion) Southeast Missourian   ...Currently, Missouri Republicans are bent on passing so called "right-to work" legislation. Even though the president pro tem of the Senate said it isn't a priority of the Senate and it faces veto by the governor, they press on while they could be working to modernize our economy...
Feds approve New Jersey's plan to spend $1.8 billion in Sandy aid  New Jersey Star-Ledger   ...The federal government has approved New Jersey's plan to spend more than $1.8 billion in disaster aid, Gov. Chris Christie announced yesterday...
Sandy credited for rise in NY construction jobs  Crain’s New York   ...Thanks, in part, to a boost from post-Sandy work, employment in New York state's construction industry is inching its way back to its pre-recession peak...
Art Pope Groups Push Extreme ALEC Tax Agenda in North Carolina  PR Watch …An array of right-wing organizations in North Carolina are arguing loudly for Gov. Pat McCrory to radically alter how corporations and people pay taxes in the state -- and the not-so-hidden hand behind the effort is North Carolina millionaire Art Pope, a close ally of the Koch brothers, who funds the groups…
Airport Privatization Takes Off in Puerto Rico  Truth-Out   ...About 17 years ago, lawmakers slipped an obscure section of text into the annual federal aviation bill. In February, the intent of that law was enacted for only the second time when the FAA approved the privatization of Puerto Rico's Luis Munoz Marin International Airport. Numerous elected officials, lawyers and economists have denounced it as a bad bargain...
Virginia can block out of state use of FOIA, Supreme Court rules  Associated Press   ...The Supreme Court ruled Monday that it's legal for a state to limit use of its Freedom of Information Act to its own residents...
Marvel filming most of latest 'Captain America' movie in L.A.  Los Angeles Times   ...Disney-owned Marvel Studios is producing most of 'Captain America: The Winter Soldier' in L.A., a region that has seen the steady exodus of big-budget features. Teamsters Local 399, represents the film’s casting directors, location managers and drivers...