TEAMSTERS
Teamsters Call On Solutions One Industries To Recognize Union, Honor Contract Teamster.org ...Teamsters that provide logistical and warehousing support for the men and women who serve at the Fort Irwin National Training Center are fighting an effort by One Solutions Industries to deny the wages and benefits guaranteed to the workers under their collective bargaining agreement. Solutions One Industries (SOI) was awarded the federal contract that covers the 23 members of Teamsters Local 166 on Nov. 1, 2015...
Cargill: Tried to resolve issues before firing Colorado Muslim workers Denver Post ...About 190 workers, mostly Somali, were let go after they left the meatpacking line to protest changes to prayer policy. The workers earn $14 per hour and up and are represented by a union, Teamsters Local 455. More than 2,000 people are employed at the plant...
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
Strike deadline set in Ontario corrections talks Canadian Labour Reporter ...Ontario correctional workers will be in a legal strike or lockout position on Jan. 10. The Ontario Ministry of Labour issued a “no board” report on Dec. 24, 2015, with respect to negotiations between the provincial government and Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) members in the Correctional Bargaining Unit of the Ontario Public Service...
With European trade deal unfinished, Obama to head to Germany in the spring Washington Post ...President Obama will head to Hannover, Germany in late April to attend a trade fair, the White House announced Wednesday, part of the administration's push to secure a European trade deal before he leaves office. Administration officials are hoping to make progress on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), negotiations between the United States and the European Union that have taken a back seat to the recently-forged Trans Pacific Partnership...
Business leaders announce support for TPP The Hill ..A group of the nation's chief executives is endorsing a sweeping Asia-Pacific trade agreement, calling on Congress to pass the pact this year. The Business Roundtable announced support Tuesday for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) saying it is a “significant” agreement that will open foreign markets and create U.S. jobs. BRT is the second major business group this week to announce support for the 12-nation TPP deal...
The five biggest lobbying fights to watch in 2016 Washington Post ...1. Trans-Pacific Partnership: TPP, the sweeping trade deal reached in October between the United States and 11 other Pacific Rim nations, is expected to be hotly contested, both from members of Congress and from a wide swath of interest groups. It will be the biggest showdown among lawmakers, interest groups and the White House in 2016...
Chile will sign the TPP in February Fresh Plaza ...The Chilean government announced that it would sign the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) in February in New Zealand. For this purpose, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Heraldo Munoz, will travel to New Zealand to complete the processing of an arrangement that involves 12 countries, including the United States, Japan, Mexico, Canada, and Peru...
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Dems say paid sick leave bill a priority WCAX ...Vermont lawmakers will return to Montpelier Tuesday. With a budget to balance, a revenue bill to compose and potentially marijuana legalization to debate, their schedule is full. Democrats also have their sights set on changing the way some companies do business. The two political parties differ wildly over whether mandating that employers offer paid sick leave is a good idea...
Cuomo Lifts Minimum Wage for Workers at New York Universities New York Times ...Continuing a push for the payment of higher wages for public-sector jobs, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York announced a plan on Monday to raise the minimum wage for state university workers to $15. Mr. Cuomo’s action was the latest to address what he sees as subpar wages: He used a state wage board to increase hourly pay to $15 for fast-food workers last summer and unveiled a similar plan for an estimated 10,000 state workers in November...
16 Michigan political issues to watch in 2016 MLive ...There is a legislative appetite to repeal prevailing wage in the state which provides union-scale wages on publicly funded construction projects. But Gov. Rick Snyder has telegraphed that it's not a priority of his. The ballot proposal could essentially circumvent the governor, repealing prevailing wage by getting 252,523 signatures and submitting it to the legislature...
N.H.'s Voter ID Law Remains Big Unknown for Presidential Primary Day NHPR ...New Hampshire’s primary is just five weeks away, and state election officials are anticipating record turnout. There’s something else on their minds too—this will be the first presidential primary with the state’s new voter ID law in place. The law, which passed three and a half years ago, was part of a wave of stricter voter laws pushed by Republicans across the country...
Right-to-work law would hurt workers, weaken labor unions in West Virginia (opinion) Herald Dispatch ...One piece of legislation likely to be considered in West Virginia in 2016 is misleadingly called "right to work," or RTW. It really has nothing to do with that right but a lot to do with targeting all working families. It's more like "right to work for less." According to current law, if most eligible workers in a private-sector job vote to join a union in a National Labor Relations Board election, all belong...
U.S. LABOR
Volkswagen appeals UAW election at Chattanooga plant Times Free Press ...In the latest salvo between Volkswagen and the United Auto Workers, VW has asked in an appeal of the union election at its Chattanooga plant this month that regulators scrap key cases on which the UAW based much of its legal footing. Lawyers for VW said the Specialty Healthcare legal cases on which the UAW depended to organize a small group of workers should be abandoned...
UAW receives notice of 936 layoffs at Freightliner plant WSOCTV ...A representative of the United Auto Workers Union told channel 9 on Monday that the union received a notice that 936 people will be laid off from the Cleveland Freightliner plant in Rowan County. The representative said the UAW received a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notice dated Dec. 31. The last day of work will be Friday...
Richmond Baking Company workers strike Pal-Item ...The company was notified Sunday by the Bakery Workers Union that employees would begin a strike at 2 p.m. Monday, and they did just that. Workers held signs saying "On strike unfair contract," "We have pride too," "More work? Less pay? No way," "Work up; family and pay down," "United We Stand Local 1," "Fair work fair pay" and "Honk 2 Help"...
Mediation begins in Valley bus union-operator negotiations KTAR ...Mediation begins Monday between the union representing bus drivers in the metro Phoenix area and the company that operates them. There is a new middle man in the fight between Transdev and the Amalgamated Transit Union. Former Arizona Supreme Court Chief Justice Ruth McGregor has been hired to help the two parties settle a collective bargaining agreement in hopes of avoiding a bus driver strike...
Analysis of NLRB Elections Shows Quicker Elections, More Union Wins BNA ...Since the National Labor Relations Board’s controversial amendments to its representation election rules took effect last April, supporters and opponents alike have asked two questions: Have the new rules served to speed up the election process? And, if so, has this pickup in tempo favored unions more than employers? Bloomberg BNA has released a report, Election Speed and the NLRB: How Unions Fare in the Representation Process, which suggests that the answer to both questions is yes...
The middle class is just this screwed: Janet Yellen declares victory while workers drown Salon ...Earlier this month when Fed chair Janet Yellen offered her rationale for raising interest rates, it was sadly reminiscent of President George W. Bush’s infamous “Mission Accomplished” speech, given on the USS Abraham Lincoln when he declared that major combat operations in Iraq were over in 2003. Between 2010 and 2014 poverty increased in one third of America’s 3,000 counties...
Who’s Fighting the Mental-Health Crisis on Campus? Unions. The Nation .... Though Yale’s Mental Health Services system is supposed to provide general psychiatric care for all students and employees, Yale’s Graduate Employee Student Organization (GESO) - the UNITE HERE!–affiliated labor group that Yale graduate employees have been trying to turn into an official union for over a decade - argues that services on campus are deeply inadequate and fraught with bureaucratic barriers...
Women Can’t Expect Equality In The Boardroom Until At Least 2065 Think Progress ...The share of women on corporate board seats among hundreds of the country’s biggest corporations has doubled over the last 17 years. But even if the rate of change significantly increased, it will take decades until women reach equality. In 2014, women made up about 16 percent of board seats among companies in the S&P 1500 index...
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
'Don't open the door,' immigrants are warned as family deportation roundup continues LA Times ...More than a hundred immigrants, mostly Central American families, were detained in a handful of states through the weekend in a federal effort to deport those who recently entered the country and stayed illegally, according to officials and advocates. As part of the operation, 121 people were taken into custody -- primarily in Georgia, North Carolina and Texas -- and are being processed for deportation...
Robert Reich: The Economy in 2016: On the Edge of Recession Common Dreams ...Economic forecasters exist to make astrologers look good, but I’ll hazard a guess. I expect the U.S. economy to sputter in 2016. That’s because the economy faces a deep structural problem: not enough demand for all the goods and services it’s capable of producing. American consumers account for almost 70 percent of economic activity, but they won’t have enough purchasing power in 2016 to keep the economy going on more than two cylinders. Blame widening inequality..
5 Things You Need to Know About Oregon’s Militia Movement U.S. Uncut ...The ‘Patriot’ movement is a child of the White Power movement. Many of the tactics and talking points being used were popularized in the 1970s by the white supremacist group Posse Comitatus. This group promoted the “Christian Patriot” movement, advocated the formation of “Citizens Militias,” helped forge an idiosyncratic reading of the Constitution...
Here’s What Happened When Black People Tried Armed Occupation Think Progress ...30 years ago, a similar standoff between police and a black anti-government group in Philadelphia played out very differently. Armed members of a fringe liberation group called MOVE were bombed and burned alive for directing their weapons at police. The bombing highlighted the stark contrast in the way cops treat black and white radicals...
How the Leader of the Oregon Armed Protest Benefited From a Federal Loan Program Mother Jones ...As one of the leaders of a band of armed, anti-government activists who have taken over a Fish and Wildlife Service building in Oregon, Ammon Bundy has denounced the "tyranny" of the federal government. But not long ago, Ammon Bundy sought out help from the government he now decries and received a federal small-business loan guarantee...
The Melting Arctic's Dramatic Impact on Global Weather Patterns Truthout ...Arctic sea ice is melting at a record pace - and every summer looks grimmer. This past summer saw the ice pack at its fourth-lowest level on record, and the overall trend in recent decades suggests this will only continue. "Using satellites, scientists have found that the area of sea ice coverage each September has declined by more than 40 percent since the late 1970s, a trend that has accelerated since 2007"...
Showing posts with label paid sick days. Show all posts
Showing posts with label paid sick days. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 5, 2016
Thursday, July 9, 2015
Fairness still eludes many mothers on the job
The two-income American family has become increasingly necessary is an age where a majority of workers are being stifled by stagnant or even falling wages. Mothers who entered in the workforce were in previous decades derided for such a decision. But that is not the case today.
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| Teamsters make sure women are treated fairly on the job. |
A new study shows all-time high support of mothers holding down jobs by both teens and adults. For 12th graders, only 22 percent currently believe a preschool-aged child would suffer if their mother worked, down from 34 percent in the 1990s and 59 percent in the 1970s. Meanwhile, some 35 percent currently believe young children are hurt by having working mothers, down from 42 percent in 1998 and 68 percent in 1977.
Jean Twenge, a psychology professor at San Diego State University and a lead author of the study, said despite some stating that younger generations have turned against such a dynamic, the research doesn't bear that out:
This goes against the popular belief that millennials want to "turn back the clock," or that they are less supportive of working moms because their own mothers worked. Instead they are more supportive.
All this is as it should be. All women should be accepted in the workplace. After all, for many it is not a choice, but a necessity. Many single moms, for instance, are doing all they can to keep their families above water. But just because the public now supports the idea of moms on the job doesn't mean this country is making it easy for them to do so.
Take the lack of fairness in pay. Congress has repeatedly rejected the Paycheck Fairness Act in recent years. In essence, a majority of lawmakers are saying they don't have a problem with women making 78 cents on the dollar that men earn. It's nothing less than insulting.
Add to that the continuing problem of workers lacking paid sick leave as well as affordable childcare options, and working isn't really much of a deal for women. But many simply have no other option.
It is time U.S. elected officials recognize the value of women both at home and at work. They deserve equality in pay, and they should be allowed the flexibility to balance the home and work lives when events intervene.
Tuesday, July 7, 2015
ALEC continues push to crush democracy
Elected officials from coast to coast, frustrated by Capitol Hill's lack of action to address the pitifully low U.S. minimum wage, have decided to take the issue on themselves by raising the wage floor. Sometimes, it's been through the local or state halls of power. Other times, it's been at the ballot box.
But in a handful of states, corporate apologist lawmakers are clamping down on the rights of the people who want to raise the incomes of low-wage workers. Just last week, for example, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder signed a bill into law that blocks cities in the state from passing their own minimum wage hikes or paid sick leave requirements. And a similar bill was passed by the Missouri Legislature, a reaction to efforts of workers in both Kansas City and St. Louis who are trying to institute a minimum wage increase themselves.
Not surprisingly, there is a constant in the efforts to shut down these minimum wage increases nationwide -- the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). The buddy of conservative state lawmakers continues to reek havoc in states across the country, and has offered modeled legislation that has been used by lawmakers to institute their preemption laws nationwide.
As the Center for Media and Democracy's PR Watch noted:
Lawmakers -- both at the state and federal levels -- need to listen to their constituents, not corporate power brokers. Hardworking Americans are the lifeblood of this great nation. But that won't remain the case if they keep on being ignored by their elected officials.
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| Teamsters have rallied against ALEC's efforts. |
Not surprisingly, there is a constant in the efforts to shut down these minimum wage increases nationwide -- the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). The buddy of conservative state lawmakers continues to reek havoc in states across the country, and has offered modeled legislation that has been used by lawmakers to institute their preemption laws nationwide.
As the Center for Media and Democracy's PR Watch noted:
ALEC is aggressively pursuing a war on local democracy, pushing "preemption" bills that block cities and counties from enacting ordinances that threaten corporate profits to promote the public good.Unfortunately, there is proof the effort is working. While only 12 states have banned local governments from instituting changes to minimum wage or paid sick day laws, nine have taken place since 2013. That's what an effort powered by big dollars from billionaire industrialists the Koch Brothers and others can get you.
Lawmakers -- both at the state and federal levels -- need to listen to their constituents, not corporate power brokers. Hardworking Americans are the lifeblood of this great nation. But that won't remain the case if they keep on being ignored by their elected officials.
Monday, June 15, 2015
Today's Teamster News 0615.15
Teamsters
Hoffa Statement on Fast Track Trade Package Vote Teamster.org ...Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa in response to the House’s rejection of a Senate-approved fast track trade package that would have made it easier for bad trade deals like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) to move through Congress: “For more than two decades, the Teamsters and our fair trade allies have stood up for workers and all Americans by fighting to stop fast track"...
West Coast Truckers Poised to Strike, Say They’re Owed Nearly $1 Billion in Stolen Wages In These Times ...IBT, which moves merchandise for Sony, Toyota, General Electric, Target and JC Penney, among others, is a subsidiary of the Chinese Government-owned COSCO Logistics Americas network and employes 88 drivers, according to the union supporting driver efforts, Teamsters Local 848. The drivers contest that their status as independent contractors is wrong and creates wage theft that amounts to almost $1 billion yearly in California alone, according to estimates by local allies...
Teamster support split between Van Hollen, Edwards in Md. Senate race Washington Post ...U.S. Senate candidate Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) announced Friday that he has won the endorsement of the Washington-area Joint Council of Teamsters — not to be confused with Teamsters Local 639, which endorsed his rival, Rep. Donna Edwards (D-Md.), on Wednesday. Van Hollen and Edwards are competing for the Democratic nomination to fill the seat of Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.)...
Global Labor & Trade
House Democrats rebuff Obama on trade, delivering major defeat Washington Post ...House Democrats dealt President Obama a humiliating defeat on his free-trade initiative Friday, derailing a key priority for the president and rebuffing his rare, personal pleas for their support. The defeat at the hands of his own party placed Obama’s trade agenda in limbo and exposed deep party divisions on economic policy, leaving the pro-trade Democrats marginalized by the anti-corporate wing of the party...
House Fast-Track Rejection a Blow to Global Trade Negotiations Bloomberg ...President Barack Obama’s efforts to strike a trade deal with Pacific Rim nations stumbled Friday when his fellow Democrats blocked legislation giving him enhanced negotiating authority that he and analysts said is crucial to concluding the talks. Trade promotion authority, or fast-track, is important because leaders in other countries won’t risk political capital selling trade deals to their constituents knowing Washington could then amend the pact...
How labor beat Obama on trade — for now Washington Post ...A massive trade deal with 12 Pacific Rim countries was supposed to be the one thing President Obama could get through Congress in the second half of his last term in office. It was also one of the biggest fights organized labor has picked after years and years of declining influence and legislative defeat. And while the war isn't over, the fact that the House failed today to pass “fast track” authority is a significant triumph for the unions that had staked much of their political capital on its defeat...
Labor’s Might Seen in Failure of Trade Deal as Unions Allied to Thwart It New York Times ...Depleted by decades of diminishing reach and struggling to respond to recent anti-union laws, the labor movement has nonetheless found a way to assert itself politically by wreaking havoc on President Obama’s trade agenda, a top priority of his final years in office...
Hillary Clinton calls on Obama to negotiate a better trade deal Washington Post ...Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton broke weeks of silence on the trade debate that has deeply divided her party, telling a crowd here Sunday that she sides with House Democrats who led a rebellion against President Obama's trade agenda...
Fast Track Down Huffington Post ...The Fast Track trade authority package was rejected Friday because two years of effort by a vast corporate coalition, the White House and GOP leaders -- and weeks of deals swapped for yes votes -- could not assuage a majority in the House of Representatives facing constituents' concerns that more of the same trade policy would kill more jobs, push down wages and open a Pandora's box of other damaging consequences...
Liberals Deal Obama a Stunning Blow on Trade—but One More Showdown Awaits The Nation ...The House of Representatives threw President Obama’s trade agenda off the rails Friday, dealing Obama arguably his biggest defeat as president—and one that was fueled by sustained opposition from the party’s left flank. There’s one more vote coming Tuesday before we can officially say fast-track authority is indefinitely dead...
Brazil teacher strike in Sao Paulo state ends BBC News ...After almost three months of strikes, public school teachers in the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo have voted to return to work. Thousands of protesters from one of the largest teachers' unions in the Americas met in the centre of Sao Paulo to cast their vote. It began after the state government failed to offer a salary increase. A union leader said the strike had lost force when strike payments had had to be reduced...
State & Living Wage Battles
Oregon Becomes Fourth State To Pass Law Guaranteeing Paid Sick Days Think Progress ...On Friday, Oregon’s state House passed a bill that would require most employers to offer five days of paid sick leave to their employees. If the governor signs it into law as advocates believe she will, it will be the fourth state in the country with such a requirement. Oregon’s bill applies to businesses with 10 or more employees and allows workers to accrue an hour of sick time for every 30 they work...
Maine House rejects ‘right-to-work’ bills Portland Press Herald ...The Democrat-controlled Maine House rejected several “right-to-work” bills Friday that are backed by the LePage administration but opposed by the state’s labor unions. The votes followed more than an hour of debate on an issue that has cropped up repeatedly in the Legislature in recent years...
Scott Walker and the Fate of the Union NYTimes Magazine ...Walker credits Act 10 in part for the decline in Wisconsin’s unemployment rate since he took office in 2011 and has said he considers right-to-work “one more arrow in that quiver” for the creation of jobs. But since 2011, the state has fallen to 40th out of the 50 states in job growth and 42nd in wage growth. Wisconsin legislators are now considering repealing the state’s prevailing-wage law. Like right-to-work, the prevailing-wage bill is being promoted by the American Legislative Exchange Council in states across the country...
The GOP plan to beat Snyder, labor on prevailing wage Detroit Free Press ...It's the Republican legislative majority's No. 1 priority: Repeal a 50-year-old Michigan law that requires contractors to pay union-scale wages to workers on taxpayer-funded construction projects. But the obstacles are formidable: Gov. Rick Snyder supports the existing law. So do organized labor and (if you believe a recent union-commissioned poll) most Michigan voters...
Andrew Cuomo Goes Full Scott Walker The Albany Project ...Democratic state Senator Mike Gianaris raised a few eyebrows last month when he directly compared Andrew Cuomo to a fellow Koch-funded governor, Scott Walker of Wisconsin. Gianaris was referring at the time to Cuomo’s increasingly bitter war on public school teachers. But yesterday, Andrew Cuomo went even further, attacking those who oppose his giveaway to a handful of hedge fund billionaires on constitutional grounds...
Los Angeles mayor enacts $15-an-hour minimum wage USA Today ...In becoming the largest city in the country to mandate a $15-an-hour minimum wage, Los Angeles could put the pressure on other cities in what is sure to become a potent issue in next year's presidential election. Mayor Eric Garcetti signed the measure into law Saturday. It will require employers to gradually raise minimum wages until they reach $15 an hour...
U.S. Labor
These Carwashers Were Being Paid as Little as $125 a Week The Nation ...The New York City Council just pushed through landmark legislation to revamp labor protections in one of the city’s least-regulated industries and pave the way for unionization.The new licensing rules aim to prevent the wage theft that drives one of the classic little luxuries of urban life. Carwashes are known as a “runaway” industry running on the exploitation of immigrant workers...
The SEIU's efforts to mobilize at McDonald's Daily Herald ...Despite so much movement on the wage front, however, for the other part of the workers' demand -- the full slogan is "$15 and a union" -- the path appears much less clear. As far as the campaign is aware, fast food workers haven't actually tried for union elections at any of their employers. For them, a "union" means something different from the strict work rules and grievance processes common to organized labor...
FairPoint workers win Maine unemployment benefits for time on strike Portland Press Herald ...The Maine Bureau of Unemployment Compensation has determined that FairPoint Communications workers involved in the four-month strike that ended in February are entitled to receive unemployment benefits for the time they were off the job, a decision that is expected to be appealed by the Charlotte, North Carolina-based company...
Miscellaneous
Dark Money Under Fire as Election 2016 Heats Up Common Dreams ...While Democratic candidates are lining up to denounce the huge influence that dark money is having on politics in the U.S., a new report says that 2016 presidential candidates are relying on such secret contributions "like never before." In a speech before thousands, likely watched by millions more, Hillary Clinton formally launched her presidential bid on Saturday. During the address given on New York's Roosevelt Island, the Democratic frontrunner railed against the "endless flow of secret, endless money" in politics...
Elizabeth Warren dresses down Jamie Dimon: Senator fires back at JPMorgan’s mansplainer-in-chief Salon ...Elizabeth Warren ascended to political stardom with a no-holds-barred willingness to rake Wall Street executives over the coals — and the Massachusetts senator displayed that trademark grit late this week, in the wake of JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon’s suggestion this week that the former Harvard Law professor doesn’t quite understand how global banking works...
CIA torture appears to have broken spy agency rule on human experimentation The Guardian ...CIA director George Tenet approved abusive interrogation techniques, including waterboarding, designed by CIA contractor psychologists. But the revelation of the guidelines has prompted critics of CIA torture to question how the agency could have ever implemented what it calls “enhanced interrogation techniques” – despite apparently having rules against “research on human subjects” without their informed consent...
Hoffa Statement on Fast Track Trade Package Vote Teamster.org ...Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa in response to the House’s rejection of a Senate-approved fast track trade package that would have made it easier for bad trade deals like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) to move through Congress: “For more than two decades, the Teamsters and our fair trade allies have stood up for workers and all Americans by fighting to stop fast track"...
West Coast Truckers Poised to Strike, Say They’re Owed Nearly $1 Billion in Stolen Wages In These Times ...IBT, which moves merchandise for Sony, Toyota, General Electric, Target and JC Penney, among others, is a subsidiary of the Chinese Government-owned COSCO Logistics Americas network and employes 88 drivers, according to the union supporting driver efforts, Teamsters Local 848. The drivers contest that their status as independent contractors is wrong and creates wage theft that amounts to almost $1 billion yearly in California alone, according to estimates by local allies...
Teamster support split between Van Hollen, Edwards in Md. Senate race Washington Post ...U.S. Senate candidate Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) announced Friday that he has won the endorsement of the Washington-area Joint Council of Teamsters — not to be confused with Teamsters Local 639, which endorsed his rival, Rep. Donna Edwards (D-Md.), on Wednesday. Van Hollen and Edwards are competing for the Democratic nomination to fill the seat of Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.)...
Global Labor & Trade
House Democrats rebuff Obama on trade, delivering major defeat Washington Post ...House Democrats dealt President Obama a humiliating defeat on his free-trade initiative Friday, derailing a key priority for the president and rebuffing his rare, personal pleas for their support. The defeat at the hands of his own party placed Obama’s trade agenda in limbo and exposed deep party divisions on economic policy, leaving the pro-trade Democrats marginalized by the anti-corporate wing of the party...
House Fast-Track Rejection a Blow to Global Trade Negotiations Bloomberg ...President Barack Obama’s efforts to strike a trade deal with Pacific Rim nations stumbled Friday when his fellow Democrats blocked legislation giving him enhanced negotiating authority that he and analysts said is crucial to concluding the talks. Trade promotion authority, or fast-track, is important because leaders in other countries won’t risk political capital selling trade deals to their constituents knowing Washington could then amend the pact...
How labor beat Obama on trade — for now Washington Post ...A massive trade deal with 12 Pacific Rim countries was supposed to be the one thing President Obama could get through Congress in the second half of his last term in office. It was also one of the biggest fights organized labor has picked after years and years of declining influence and legislative defeat. And while the war isn't over, the fact that the House failed today to pass “fast track” authority is a significant triumph for the unions that had staked much of their political capital on its defeat...
Labor’s Might Seen in Failure of Trade Deal as Unions Allied to Thwart It New York Times ...Depleted by decades of diminishing reach and struggling to respond to recent anti-union laws, the labor movement has nonetheless found a way to assert itself politically by wreaking havoc on President Obama’s trade agenda, a top priority of his final years in office...
Hillary Clinton calls on Obama to negotiate a better trade deal Washington Post ...Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton broke weeks of silence on the trade debate that has deeply divided her party, telling a crowd here Sunday that she sides with House Democrats who led a rebellion against President Obama's trade agenda...
Fast Track Down Huffington Post ...The Fast Track trade authority package was rejected Friday because two years of effort by a vast corporate coalition, the White House and GOP leaders -- and weeks of deals swapped for yes votes -- could not assuage a majority in the House of Representatives facing constituents' concerns that more of the same trade policy would kill more jobs, push down wages and open a Pandora's box of other damaging consequences...
Liberals Deal Obama a Stunning Blow on Trade—but One More Showdown Awaits The Nation ...The House of Representatives threw President Obama’s trade agenda off the rails Friday, dealing Obama arguably his biggest defeat as president—and one that was fueled by sustained opposition from the party’s left flank. There’s one more vote coming Tuesday before we can officially say fast-track authority is indefinitely dead...
Brazil teacher strike in Sao Paulo state ends BBC News ...After almost three months of strikes, public school teachers in the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo have voted to return to work. Thousands of protesters from one of the largest teachers' unions in the Americas met in the centre of Sao Paulo to cast their vote. It began after the state government failed to offer a salary increase. A union leader said the strike had lost force when strike payments had had to be reduced...
State & Living Wage Battles
Oregon Becomes Fourth State To Pass Law Guaranteeing Paid Sick Days Think Progress ...On Friday, Oregon’s state House passed a bill that would require most employers to offer five days of paid sick leave to their employees. If the governor signs it into law as advocates believe she will, it will be the fourth state in the country with such a requirement. Oregon’s bill applies to businesses with 10 or more employees and allows workers to accrue an hour of sick time for every 30 they work...
Maine House rejects ‘right-to-work’ bills Portland Press Herald ...The Democrat-controlled Maine House rejected several “right-to-work” bills Friday that are backed by the LePage administration but opposed by the state’s labor unions. The votes followed more than an hour of debate on an issue that has cropped up repeatedly in the Legislature in recent years...
Scott Walker and the Fate of the Union NYTimes Magazine ...Walker credits Act 10 in part for the decline in Wisconsin’s unemployment rate since he took office in 2011 and has said he considers right-to-work “one more arrow in that quiver” for the creation of jobs. But since 2011, the state has fallen to 40th out of the 50 states in job growth and 42nd in wage growth. Wisconsin legislators are now considering repealing the state’s prevailing-wage law. Like right-to-work, the prevailing-wage bill is being promoted by the American Legislative Exchange Council in states across the country...
The GOP plan to beat Snyder, labor on prevailing wage Detroit Free Press ...It's the Republican legislative majority's No. 1 priority: Repeal a 50-year-old Michigan law that requires contractors to pay union-scale wages to workers on taxpayer-funded construction projects. But the obstacles are formidable: Gov. Rick Snyder supports the existing law. So do organized labor and (if you believe a recent union-commissioned poll) most Michigan voters...
Andrew Cuomo Goes Full Scott Walker The Albany Project ...Democratic state Senator Mike Gianaris raised a few eyebrows last month when he directly compared Andrew Cuomo to a fellow Koch-funded governor, Scott Walker of Wisconsin. Gianaris was referring at the time to Cuomo’s increasingly bitter war on public school teachers. But yesterday, Andrew Cuomo went even further, attacking those who oppose his giveaway to a handful of hedge fund billionaires on constitutional grounds...
Los Angeles mayor enacts $15-an-hour minimum wage USA Today ...In becoming the largest city in the country to mandate a $15-an-hour minimum wage, Los Angeles could put the pressure on other cities in what is sure to become a potent issue in next year's presidential election. Mayor Eric Garcetti signed the measure into law Saturday. It will require employers to gradually raise minimum wages until they reach $15 an hour...
U.S. Labor
These Carwashers Were Being Paid as Little as $125 a Week The Nation ...The New York City Council just pushed through landmark legislation to revamp labor protections in one of the city’s least-regulated industries and pave the way for unionization.The new licensing rules aim to prevent the wage theft that drives one of the classic little luxuries of urban life. Carwashes are known as a “runaway” industry running on the exploitation of immigrant workers...
The SEIU's efforts to mobilize at McDonald's Daily Herald ...Despite so much movement on the wage front, however, for the other part of the workers' demand -- the full slogan is "$15 and a union" -- the path appears much less clear. As far as the campaign is aware, fast food workers haven't actually tried for union elections at any of their employers. For them, a "union" means something different from the strict work rules and grievance processes common to organized labor...
FairPoint workers win Maine unemployment benefits for time on strike Portland Press Herald ...The Maine Bureau of Unemployment Compensation has determined that FairPoint Communications workers involved in the four-month strike that ended in February are entitled to receive unemployment benefits for the time they were off the job, a decision that is expected to be appealed by the Charlotte, North Carolina-based company...
Miscellaneous
Dark Money Under Fire as Election 2016 Heats Up Common Dreams ...While Democratic candidates are lining up to denounce the huge influence that dark money is having on politics in the U.S., a new report says that 2016 presidential candidates are relying on such secret contributions "like never before." In a speech before thousands, likely watched by millions more, Hillary Clinton formally launched her presidential bid on Saturday. During the address given on New York's Roosevelt Island, the Democratic frontrunner railed against the "endless flow of secret, endless money" in politics...
Elizabeth Warren dresses down Jamie Dimon: Senator fires back at JPMorgan’s mansplainer-in-chief Salon ...Elizabeth Warren ascended to political stardom with a no-holds-barred willingness to rake Wall Street executives over the coals — and the Massachusetts senator displayed that trademark grit late this week, in the wake of JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon’s suggestion this week that the former Harvard Law professor doesn’t quite understand how global banking works...
CIA torture appears to have broken spy agency rule on human experimentation The Guardian ...CIA director George Tenet approved abusive interrogation techniques, including waterboarding, designed by CIA contractor psychologists. But the revelation of the guidelines has prompted critics of CIA torture to question how the agency could have ever implemented what it calls “enhanced interrogation techniques” – despite apparently having rules against “research on human subjects” without their informed consent...
Thursday, June 11, 2015
Time is a valuable asset for workers
America's workforce finds itself at two different polar ends. There are those struggling in largely low-income jobs who many times can't get enough hours to cover their bills. And then there are those at the professional level who are seemingly expected to work around the clock. In both instances, families are suffering.
There's been a lot of words written on the working poor, and rightfully so. Millions struggle each day to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table. They lack dignity at work and are forced to fight and scrape for everything they get. Their plight is a sign of why joining a union like the Teamsters is so important.
There's been a lot of words written on the working poor, and rightfully so. Millions struggle each day to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table. They lack dignity at work and are forced to fight and scrape for everything they get. Their plight is a sign of why joining a union like the Teamsters is so important.
Less talked about, however, is the 24/7 work culture that is becoming increasingly prevalent for many. A study soon to be published by Harvard University's Gender Initiative shows that men and women are struggling to keep their lives in balance given the expectations in the workplace.
As The New York Times noted in an article on the report:
The time Americans spend at work has sharply increased over the last four decades. We work an average of 1,836 hours a year, up 9 percent from 1,687 in 1979, according to Current Population Survey data analyzed by Lawrence Mishel, president of the Economic Policy Institute. Some reasons include a more competitive and global economy as well as technology that enables people to work at any hour and location.
This sets up unrealistic expectations that leaves workers in such jobs drained and unable to spend any real quality time with their families. And that's not good for anybody.
Meanwhile, there are a few signs that things could be looking up for those working on the other end of the pay scale. Casual Mexican food chain Chipotle announced that it will offer paid sick leave and vacation time to it's hourly employees, improving their quality of life. It's a small step, but one that could set a precedent for other fast-food outlets.
Workers shouldn't have to be slaves to their employers. Whether it means being forced to log long hours or not having access to paid time off, neither is good option. The public and private sector need to take steps to guarantee workers' time and effort is respected in the workplace.
Monday, November 24, 2014
Here's what ALEC has in store for workers in 2015
The corporate dating service for state lawmakers known as ALEC once again has working men and women in its sights. And not in a good way. Early in December, ALEC (or the American Legislative Exchange Council) will present its plans on empowering corporations, pauperizing workers and eradicating private education in Washington, D.C., according to our friends at the Center for Media and Democracy.
Newly elected state lawmakers will be flown at taxpayers' or ALEC's expense to the nation's capital. There they'll be treated to three days of expensive meals and access to corporate lobbyists with big bankrolls. If they want to continue to enjoy ALEC's largesse, they'll sign up, go home and try to pass bills written by the corporate lobbyists.
ALEC's whole mission is to sever the ties between elected representatives and the people who elected them -- and to replace the will of the people with the will of the corporation.
One of the ways ALEC will try to crush democracy is to make it harder for local governments to pass laws governing wages and sick time.
The National Restaurant Association, an ALEC member, wants state legislatures to pass "Minimum Wage Preemption Policies.” These would block municipal governments from passing laws to raise the minimum wage or require paid sick days. ALEC legislators have also been active in banning local paid sick day efforts. They've managed to pass 10 anti-sick day laws after Wisconsin's version was shared at an ALEC meeting in August 2011.
ALEC claims it's for free markets, but it isn't. What ALEC really wants is protection for big corporations from government, consumers and small businesses. Here's an example:
Of course there's nothing better for empowering corporations than a giant trade deal like Nafta, and you can bet ALEC is supporting all the new bad trade deals coming down the pike: TPP, TTIP and TISA.
ALEC's big insurance members want to tilt the playing field in their favor by limiting the ability of small businesses or consumers to dispute a property insurance claim they deny. ALEC's plan lets insurance companies get around state law by writing exceptions into the policy. It also lets them shorten deadlines for claim filing and statute of limitation deadlines. Finally, it makes it harder for businesses or consumers to hire lawyers or dispute denials by restricting awards of attorney fees or penalty interest.ALEC also wants to take away public control of education and turn it over to corporations. Expect ALEC to promote its "Public Charter School Act" in 2015. The bill lifts caps on the number of for-profit schools in a state, excuse them from following many state laws and releases them from any existing collective bargaining agreements.
Of course there's nothing better for empowering corporations than a giant trade deal like Nafta, and you can bet ALEC is supporting all the new bad trade deals coming down the pike: TPP, TTIP and TISA.
But wait -- there's some good news. Corporations are realizing their employees and their customers aren't pleased with their membership in an anti-worker, anti-consumer lobbying group. So they're leaving ALEC in drovers. The Center for Media and Democracy fills us in on the latest:
Emerson Electric is the latest corporation to confirm it has ended funding for the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), joining a notable wave of recent corporate defectors that has included Microsoft, Google, Facebook, AOL and Yahoo.
The Teamsters will be fighting ALEC's anti-worker legislation in Statehouses around the country -- until the last corporation leaves and turns out ALEC's lights.
Wednesday, November 5, 2014
More late-breaking election news (some of it good)
Here's some more news on what happened in yesterday's election:
Voters said yes to paid sick days in Massachusetts and several cities in New Jersey and California. According to CNN Money,
Voters said yes to paid sick days in Massachusetts and several cities in New Jersey and California. According to CNN Money,
Businesses with at least 11 employees in Massachusetts now have to grant up to 40 hours of paid sick time per year. The measure also bars employers from punishing workers for taking sick time.
It's a huge victory for low-wage workers. Two thirds of workers at the bottom 25% of the pay scale -- the country's lowest earners -- do not receive paid time off for illness, according to the Labor Department. Three quarters of part time employees are not paid when they miss work due to illness. Worse, some lose their jobs.
In Massachusetts alone, the new law will benefit nearly 1 million workers who couldn't take sick time, according to a statement from Yes on Question 4, an advocacy group that campaigned for sick days in the state.
In New Jersey, voters in Trenton and Montclair also backed a similar plan. A similar measure also passed in Oakland, Calif.Jobs With Justice tells us the minimum wage was increased in five states:
In Alaska, Arkansas, Illinois, Nebraska and South Dakota, voters called for a raise in the minimum wage. In California, residents of Oakland and San Francisco all voted to raise the wage for workers in their cities. And in Wisconsin, voters in nine counties and four cities all indicated it was time to raise the minimum wage.The Center for Media and Democracy, however, warns us to watch out for ALEC:
...keep an eye out for bills promoted by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) designed to crush that momentum and limit local control...
Despite widespread, bipartisan public support on issues like the minimum wage and paid sick days, ALEC has conjured up an array of bills to thwart the ability of voters to have a say on economic justice measures.
In 2006, ALEC adopted a "Resolution to Preserve the Legislative Process" warning specifically that the "determination of state minimum wage levels" should be left to legislators rather than voters. It has also called for a repeal of the minimum wage altogether.
ALEC has long promoted a bill it calls the "Living Wage Mandate Preemption Act" to prohibit any city or county from enacting a wage higher than the state's minimum, and reapproved it in 2013. This bill was adopted in Oklahoma earlier this year, with Gov. Mary Fallin (an ALEC alum) signing it into law.
And in the three years since a paid sick days preemption bill enacted by Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker was shared at ALEC's August 2011 meeting, eleven states -- all controlled by Republicans -- have blocked voters or local governments from enacting paid sick day laws.Some random news:
- California Teamsters saluted their winning candidates in Oakland: Libby Schaaf for mayor and Annie C. Washington and Abel Guillen for city council
- Teamster-endorsed Gary Peters won the Senate seat in Michigan. In New York, Andrew Cuomo won re-election as governor with Teamster help.
- Democrats held on to the Kentucky state House, which effectively derails right-to-work for the near future.
- Gov. Maggie Hassan was re-elected to New Hampshire, so right-to-work is unlikely there as well.
- Former UPS Teamster steward Rick Nolan won re-election to the U.S. House of Representatives from Minnesota's 8th District.
- New Jersey sent a union electrician -- IBEW member Rick Norcross -- to Congress for the first time since 1920.
- Bruce Rauner Wins Illinois Governor's Race according to the Huffington Post. He defeated Pat Quinn, a former Teamster endorsed by the Teamsters.
Wednesday, October 8, 2014
Worker power wins in California
 |
| Teamstesrs and Taylor Farms workers in Sacramento |
The California Federation of Labor describes how important laws for workers were passed because of the work of Teamsters, IATSE, SAG-AFTRA, LIUNA, Taylor Farms workers, OUR Walmart and more.
In the Labor's Edge blog, we learn how entertainment workers helped to keep television and film jobs in California with a tax incentive for the industry. We learn how Taylor Farms workers helped protect temporary workers by winning passage of a law that holds employers liable for temporary workers. And we learn how OUR Walmart workers got three paid sick days for nearly every employee in California.
Here's Labor's Edge:
Throughout the year, workers and union members gathered, worked, petitioned, called, rallied, lobbied, testified, protested at the Capitol for pro-worker legislation. They engaged their coworkers in their fight for better jobs and a brighter future. They took days off work and risked their jobs to tell their stories and to push for greater worker protections.
Their activities culminated in a Mobilization Day in Sacramento where hundreds of union workers demonstrated their crafts through a make-up transformation, erection of a blue screen from the set of the TV hit Scandal and presentation of the crew, cast and talent of hit shows. Every dollar of a film tax incentive investment goes to support a union job – with the Teamsters, IATSE, SAG-AFTRA, IBEW, LIUNA, AFM, DGA. Their collective efforts produced success – the Governor signed AB 1839 (Gatto/Bocangera), creating a $330 million film tax incentive for five years, on September 18.Two-thirds of Taylor Farms workers have little or no protection from wage theft or dangerous working conditions because they work for staffing agencies.
All this will change because Governor Brown signed AB 1897 into law on September 28. This landmark bill will hold employers responsible for the wages, health and safety, and workers compensation for contracted employees doing their work while on their premises. This bill was enacted because of the courage, the power, the voice of workers at Taylor Farms. Over and over again, Taylor Farms workers and the Teamsters would descend on the Capitol, speak their truth, testify in committee, bird dog corporate lobbyists, claim valuable real estate at “The Gate” where lobbyists can meet with legislators off the floor. Taylor Farms workers and Teamsters would line up in the hallway and flush out the corporate lobbyists. And it all worked!And here's how OUR Walmart won three sick days for nearly all California workers:
Members of the OUR Walmart campaign worked the stores, talking to associates about what it would take to make their jobs at Walmart better jobs. Resoundingly, the lack of paid sick days, being forced to work when they or their family member is sick…or else face discipline and the threat of losing their jobs is what they heard as a top priority for Walmart associates. OUR Walmart members from throughout the state gathered at the state Capitol in the final weeks of the legislative session to fight for paid sick days. They spent time on the doors lobbying for three paid sick days and gathered at the Senators entrance to the Senate floor to engage in valuable face time with legislators. Their efforts produced success – Gov. Jerry Brown signed AB 1522, creating three paid sick days for nearly all California workers on September 10.Great work everybody!
Friday, November 1, 2013
No rest for sick workers
More Americans are denied sick leave at work, thanks in part to ALEC's efforts to ban local governments from mandating paid sick days for workers.
ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council, functions as a corporate dating service for state legislators. In state after state, ALEC is succeeding in getting laws passed for its corporate members who don't want their workers to take sick days off.
And more Americans are showing up to work sick -- over 90 percent of workers show even when they know that they will infect somebody else.
Small wonder when over 40 million Americans don't have any paid sick leave and almost a quarter of workers have lost or were threatened with losing their job because they took
time off for illness.
Last week, Pennsylvania became the 14th state to introduce the ALEC bill, thanks to ALEC member and Pennsylvania state Rep. Seth Grove. Eight states have already passed some form of the bill including Florida, where over 50,000 voters had already signed a petition for a countrywide paid sick leave law.
These so-called pre-emption laws are devastating to local communities and workers. This ALEC bill forces workers to choose between paying their rent and getting better -- even in communities that want all workers to be covered with paid sick leave.
Paid sick leave is not just pro-worker reform; it is good for businesses as well. Studies have shown mandatory sick leave has no impact on businesses -- unless it helps the business make money:
With all of the benefits from paid sick leave, only an heinous anti-worker group could deny workers the right to recover from illness.
But ALEC is fine with doing just that.
ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council, functions as a corporate dating service for state legislators. In state after state, ALEC is succeeding in getting laws passed for its corporate members who don't want their workers to take sick days off.
And more Americans are showing up to work sick -- over 90 percent of workers show even when they know that they will infect somebody else.
Small wonder when over 40 million Americans don't have any paid sick leave and almost a quarter of workers have lost or were threatened with losing their job because they took
time off for illness. Last week, Pennsylvania became the 14th state to introduce the ALEC bill, thanks to ALEC member and Pennsylvania state Rep. Seth Grove. Eight states have already passed some form of the bill including Florida, where over 50,000 voters had already signed a petition for a countrywide paid sick leave law.
These so-called pre-emption laws are devastating to local communities and workers. This ALEC bill forces workers to choose between paying their rent and getting better -- even in communities that want all workers to be covered with paid sick leave.
Paid sick leave is not just pro-worker reform; it is good for businesses as well. Studies have shown mandatory sick leave has no impact on businesses -- unless it helps the business make money:
Multiple national studies have found that providing paid sick leave can benefit businesses through higher morale and productivity, less absenteeism, and lower rates of turnover, offsetting some or all of an employer’s direct cost of providing paid leave.Paid sick leave allows parents to stay home with sick kids and prevents diseases being spread to coworkers and customers.
With all of the benefits from paid sick leave, only an heinous anti-worker group could deny workers the right to recover from illness.
But ALEC is fine with doing just that.
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Today's Teamster News 10.15.13
Workplaces Go Without Safety Inspections During The Shutdown ThinkProgress ...When the government shut down on October 1, 90 percent of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) inspectors were furloughed...
The sun is setting on dollar supremacy, and with it, American power The Telegraph ...A serious alternative to the dollar is still a long way off, but the latest shenanigans on Capitol Hill have given the search for them renewed momentum...
Normalcy eludes many a year after Sandy hit NJ Courier-Post ...full recovery from Superstorm Sandy is still elusive nearly a year after the storm pummeled the state Oct. 29...
WSJ: More Homes for Sales, Fewer Sales, Slowing Price Increases in Certain Areas Calculated Risk ...The sharp home-price rally in some of the hardest-hit housing markets is likely to fade in the coming months amid a pullback in investor purchases and steady increases in the number of homes listed for sale...
Banks Are Still Failing At Ten Times the Pre-2008 Crash Rate Wall Street on Parade ...Before Wall Street took a bazooka loaded with credit default swaps and toxic mortgage securitizations and fired it directly at the heart of the U.S. economy, we had a very stable banking system...
100,000 applications for 10,000 temporary jobs paying €427-490 a month ENet ...At last count, in July, there were 1,374,054 people recorded as unemployed in Greece by the Hellenic Statistics Authority (Elstat). But of the 1,004,000 unemployed on OAED's books, only 145,865 – about 10% – were entitled to unemployment benefit...
Are Our Parents Stealing from Our Kids? No, They're Not Portside ...the data suggest that more spending on seniors is associated with more spending on kids...
Garment workers held boss captive until he paid promised bonus Salon ...Bangladeshi workers on minimum wage held factory boss for over 18 hours after months of tense labor disputes...
Hospital giant fails in bid to swipe nurses’ sick days Salon ...After nine strikes, nurses won the right to keep taking paid sick days rather than spreading disease to patients...
Report: NSA collecting millions of contact lists The Guardian ... the spy agency intercepts hundreds of thousands of email address books every day from private accounts on Yahoo, Gmail, Facebook and Hotmail. The NSA also collects about a half-million buddy lists daily from chat services and email accounts...
The sun is setting on dollar supremacy, and with it, American power The Telegraph ...A serious alternative to the dollar is still a long way off, but the latest shenanigans on Capitol Hill have given the search for them renewed momentum...
Normalcy eludes many a year after Sandy hit NJ Courier-Post ...full recovery from Superstorm Sandy is still elusive nearly a year after the storm pummeled the state Oct. 29...
WSJ: More Homes for Sales, Fewer Sales, Slowing Price Increases in Certain Areas Calculated Risk ...The sharp home-price rally in some of the hardest-hit housing markets is likely to fade in the coming months amid a pullback in investor purchases and steady increases in the number of homes listed for sale...
Banks Are Still Failing At Ten Times the Pre-2008 Crash Rate Wall Street on Parade ...Before Wall Street took a bazooka loaded with credit default swaps and toxic mortgage securitizations and fired it directly at the heart of the U.S. economy, we had a very stable banking system...
100,000 applications for 10,000 temporary jobs paying €427-490 a month ENet ...At last count, in July, there were 1,374,054 people recorded as unemployed in Greece by the Hellenic Statistics Authority (Elstat). But of the 1,004,000 unemployed on OAED's books, only 145,865 – about 10% – were entitled to unemployment benefit...
Are Our Parents Stealing from Our Kids? No, They're Not Portside ...the data suggest that more spending on seniors is associated with more spending on kids...
Garment workers held boss captive until he paid promised bonus Salon ...Bangladeshi workers on minimum wage held factory boss for over 18 hours after months of tense labor disputes...
Hospital giant fails in bid to swipe nurses’ sick days Salon ...After nine strikes, nurses won the right to keep taking paid sick days rather than spreading disease to patients...
Report: NSA collecting millions of contact lists The Guardian ... the spy agency intercepts hundreds of thousands of email address books every day from private accounts on Yahoo, Gmail, Facebook and Hotmail. The NSA also collects about a half-million buddy lists daily from chat services and email accounts...
Monday, September 23, 2013
Today's Teamster News 09.23.13
Big Business Planning Attack On Low Wage Worker Organizing Portside ...Business and labor are going to war over the nonprofit worker centers that union officials increasingly see as the future of their movement...
Ending corporate tax avoidance/evasion could reduce our long-term revenue problem Economic Policy Institute ...the latest CBO report suggests strongly that in containing projected long-run deficits, the U.S. has a tax problem, not a spending problem...
Slow economic recovery reflected in stagnant income and poverty data Economic Policy Institute ...incomes for most households grew only slightly if at all in 2012 after deteriorating between 2007 and 2011...
President Obama Asks Congress To Give Up Its Oversight On Secret TPP Agreement techdirt ...Trade Promotion Authority offers no benefit to the public at all. All it does is make sure that the USTR has less oversight and fewer limitations on selling out the public for a few big special interests...
Bangladesh police fire rubber bullets at garment workers seeking $100 month minimum wage Agence France-Press ...Protesters threw stones and bricks at factories just outside the capital in Kaliakoir that make clothes for some of the world’s top retailers. Others marched along a key highway and blocked traffic, police said...
6 Shocking Revelations About How Private Prisons Make Their Money Alternet ...Private prison companies are striking deals with states that contain clauses to guarantee high prison occupancy rates...
Supreme Court may strike new blow to campaign funding laws Los Angeles Times ...The Supreme Court, in a new campaign funding case, may lift a lid on the total the wealthy can give to all candidates and parties...
Bruce Schneier: NSA Spying Is Making Us Less Safe MIT Technology Review ...What these leaks reveal is how robust NSA surveillance is, how pervasive it is, and to what degree the NSA has commandeered the entire Internet and turned it into a surveillance platform...
Job And Business Growth Strong Under Seattle’s Paid Sick Days Law ThinkProgress ...Job growth was actually stronger in the city in 2013 after the ordinance went into effect than during the first part of 2012, including in retail and food service jobs that were particularly impacted...
Superman’s Shop Floor: An Inquiry into Charter School Labor in Philadelphia Viewpoint Magazine ...Philadelphia’s current plight illustrates a broader national trend: public schools are being intentionally underfunded and dismantled...
Conservative Lawmaker Defies Open-Records Law to Keep ALEC Dealings Secret Bill Moyers and Company ...Wisconsin State Senator Leah Vukmir, a key confidante of Governor Scott Walker who serves as ALEC’s national treasurer, has for months been stonewalling a legitimate open-records request from the Madison-based Center for Media and Democracy (CMD), which ... revealed how the corporate-funded council has been working with state legislators across the country to enact measures developed by special interest groups...
Tiny North Dakota town braces against neo-Nazi plans for all-white community The Guardian ...Town of Leith, population 24, has sought outside help amid news that a white supremacist group plans to call it home...
Ending corporate tax avoidance/evasion could reduce our long-term revenue problem Economic Policy Institute ...the latest CBO report suggests strongly that in containing projected long-run deficits, the U.S. has a tax problem, not a spending problem...
Slow economic recovery reflected in stagnant income and poverty data Economic Policy Institute ...incomes for most households grew only slightly if at all in 2012 after deteriorating between 2007 and 2011...
President Obama Asks Congress To Give Up Its Oversight On Secret TPP Agreement techdirt ...Trade Promotion Authority offers no benefit to the public at all. All it does is make sure that the USTR has less oversight and fewer limitations on selling out the public for a few big special interests...
Bangladesh police fire rubber bullets at garment workers seeking $100 month minimum wage Agence France-Press ...Protesters threw stones and bricks at factories just outside the capital in Kaliakoir that make clothes for some of the world’s top retailers. Others marched along a key highway and blocked traffic, police said...
6 Shocking Revelations About How Private Prisons Make Their Money Alternet ...Private prison companies are striking deals with states that contain clauses to guarantee high prison occupancy rates...
Supreme Court may strike new blow to campaign funding laws Los Angeles Times ...The Supreme Court, in a new campaign funding case, may lift a lid on the total the wealthy can give to all candidates and parties...
Bruce Schneier: NSA Spying Is Making Us Less Safe MIT Technology Review ...What these leaks reveal is how robust NSA surveillance is, how pervasive it is, and to what degree the NSA has commandeered the entire Internet and turned it into a surveillance platform...
Job And Business Growth Strong Under Seattle’s Paid Sick Days Law ThinkProgress ...Job growth was actually stronger in the city in 2013 after the ordinance went into effect than during the first part of 2012, including in retail and food service jobs that were particularly impacted...
Superman’s Shop Floor: An Inquiry into Charter School Labor in Philadelphia Viewpoint Magazine ...Philadelphia’s current plight illustrates a broader national trend: public schools are being intentionally underfunded and dismantled...
Conservative Lawmaker Defies Open-Records Law to Keep ALEC Dealings Secret Bill Moyers and Company ...Wisconsin State Senator Leah Vukmir, a key confidante of Governor Scott Walker who serves as ALEC’s national treasurer, has for months been stonewalling a legitimate open-records request from the Madison-based Center for Media and Democracy (CMD), which ... revealed how the corporate-funded council has been working with state legislators across the country to enact measures developed by special interest groups...
Tiny North Dakota town braces against neo-Nazi plans for all-white community The Guardian ...Town of Leith, population 24, has sought outside help amid news that a white supremacist group plans to call it home...
Monday, August 12, 2013
Today's Teamster News 08.12.13
Highlights of the DHL Tentative National Agreement and 2-Person Meeting Review Now Available IBT ...Below are links to a highlights flier of the Tentative National Master DHL Agreement, as well as a newsletter describing the August 7 2-person meeting in Washington, D.C...
Australia Has $16 Minimum Wage and Is the Only Rich Country to Dodge the Global Recession truth-out ...Ordinary workers, people who do, you know, grocery store checkout or fast food, simply do much better in the rest of the developed world than they do in the United States...
Sorry, It's Not A 'Law Of Capitalism' That You Pay Your Employees As Little As Possible Business Insider ...One of the big reasons the U.S. economy is so lousy is that big American companies are hoarding cash and "maximizing profits" instead of investing in their people and future projects...
Women leaders promote paid sick days for all N.J. workers NJ.com ...A group of women lawmakers, union officials and other community leaders gathered at the Statehouse today to promote legislation that would give every worker in New Jersey at least five paid sick days a year — a benefit they say 1.2 million New Jersey employees don't have...
Big Banks Conspiracy is destroying America Market Watch ...Forget politicians, Big Banks rule the world...
Wealth advisers pounce on retirement nest eggs of American Air pilots Reuters ...When American Airlines dumped about $3.5 billion of retirement money into the laps of its pilots late last month, the winners were the wealth managers who got a piece of the action...
'Moral Monday' protests aim past Raleigh Associated Press ..."When you see people go to Raleigh for 13 straight weeks, go to jail together ... you know this is more than just a momentary event," Barber said...
Singing protesters arrested in Wisconsin statehouse requesting jury trials Examiner ...Capitol police have issued 223 citations or recommended charges in the last two weeks against participants in the noontime Solidarity Singalong. For over two years, these protesters have been gathering in the Capitol rotunda to protest the policies of Gov Scott Walker and his Republican administration...
The Workers Defense Project, a Union in Spirit New York Times ...The Workers Defense Project, founded in 2002, has emerged as one of the nation’s most creative organizations for immigrant workers...
Judge orders 60-day cooling-off period to prevent 2nd BART strike Los Angeles Times ...After a brief but extraordinary weekend hearing, a San Francisco Superior Court judge Sunday morning ordered a 60-day cooling-off period to prevent a second damaging transit strike in the Bay Area...
Australia Has $16 Minimum Wage and Is the Only Rich Country to Dodge the Global Recession truth-out ...Ordinary workers, people who do, you know, grocery store checkout or fast food, simply do much better in the rest of the developed world than they do in the United States...
Sorry, It's Not A 'Law Of Capitalism' That You Pay Your Employees As Little As Possible Business Insider ...One of the big reasons the U.S. economy is so lousy is that big American companies are hoarding cash and "maximizing profits" instead of investing in their people and future projects...
Women leaders promote paid sick days for all N.J. workers NJ.com ...A group of women lawmakers, union officials and other community leaders gathered at the Statehouse today to promote legislation that would give every worker in New Jersey at least five paid sick days a year — a benefit they say 1.2 million New Jersey employees don't have...
Big Banks Conspiracy is destroying America Market Watch ...Forget politicians, Big Banks rule the world...
Wealth advisers pounce on retirement nest eggs of American Air pilots Reuters ...When American Airlines dumped about $3.5 billion of retirement money into the laps of its pilots late last month, the winners were the wealth managers who got a piece of the action...
'Moral Monday' protests aim past Raleigh Associated Press ..."When you see people go to Raleigh for 13 straight weeks, go to jail together ... you know this is more than just a momentary event," Barber said...
Singing protesters arrested in Wisconsin statehouse requesting jury trials Examiner ...Capitol police have issued 223 citations or recommended charges in the last two weeks against participants in the noontime Solidarity Singalong. For over two years, these protesters have been gathering in the Capitol rotunda to protest the policies of Gov Scott Walker and his Republican administration...
The Workers Defense Project, a Union in Spirit New York Times ...The Workers Defense Project, founded in 2002, has emerged as one of the nation’s most creative organizations for immigrant workers...
Judge orders 60-day cooling-off period to prevent 2nd BART strike Los Angeles Times ...After a brief but extraordinary weekend hearing, a San Francisco Superior Court judge Sunday morning ordered a 60-day cooling-off period to prevent a second damaging transit strike in the Bay Area...
Friday, April 12, 2013
Today's Teamster News 04.12.13
The TPP Could Destroy the American Middle Class Economy in Crisis ...Now the United States is moving forward with a disastrous, misguided agreement that would expand this sort of arrangement to even more low-wage countries: the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)...
U.S. Warns WTO Global Trade Talks "Hurtling Towards Irrelevance" Reuters ...The United States launched a blistering attack on fellow World Trade Organization member states on Thursday for failing to do more to cut global barriers to trade, criticizing India in particular for trying to introduce a "massive new loophole..."
Ex-IMF official warns austerity ‘untenable’ FT ...Ashoka Mody, the IMF’s former mission chief to Ireland, said on Thursday it was time to ease up on Europe’s policy of austerity, warning further delay in changing course risked dragging out the continent’s economic recovery...
Elizabeth Warren Tears Into Federal Regulators For Shielding Big Banks Think Progress ...Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) embarrassed government regulators during a Senate Banking Committee hearing on Thursday morning as she demanded to know why they won’t reveal how frequently big banks illegally foreclosed on homeowners...
IRS: We Can Read Emails Without Warrant The Hill ...The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has claimed that agents do not need warrants to read people's emails, text messages and other private electronic communications, according to internal agency documents...
Wal-Mart Executive Who Called Sales “Total Disaster" Has Left Reuters ...Jerry Murray, the mid-level Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N) executive who called the chain's early February sales "a total disaster" in an email made public by Bloomberg, left the world's largest retailer last week, Wal-Mart confirmed on Wednesday...
Correct flawed partisan redistricting process Facebook ...Freshmen Democratic legislators from the (Wisconsin) State Assembly today announced new legislation that would remove the redistricting authority from politicians and assigns it to a non-partisan body...
State employees say LePage pressured them to deny jobless benefits Maine Sun Journal ...Gov. Paul LePage pressured hearing officers at the Department of Labor to decide unemployment-benefit cases in favor of business owners over workers...
Poll: Voters back paid sick days, distrust lawmakers Orlando Sentinel ...Florida residents strongly back laws requiring paid sick time and "living wages" for workers, but they don't trust state lawmakers to handle such issues, a statewide poll released today finds....
Comcast Looms Large in Paid Sick Days Fight in Philly Center for Media and Democracy ...Almost all of the $108,429.25 Comcast spent on lobbying in 2011 was in opposition to paid sick days. It also is a major contributor to Mayor Nutter, contributing $7,500 to his campaign in 2011 and an additional $8,500 in 2012...
72% of 2012 NYC Construction Deaths Took Place on Non-Union Work Sites We Party Patriots ...A new report from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) shows that construction deaths more than tripled on NYC work sites last year with 21 workplace fatalities versus six the year before...
Missouri Residents: Take Action to Stop Paycheck Deception Bill AFL-CIO Now ...Despite testimony overwhelmingly opposing the bill and universal opposition from the committee's Democrats, the Missouri legislature's House Workforce Development and Workplace Safety Committee passed S.B. 29, a paycheck deception bill, which is now headed to the House floor...
MEDC says right to work may generate big profits Lansing State Journal ...The state agency tasked with attracting business investment to Michigan claims the state’s new right-to-work laws will mean “higher potential profits” for companies, but officials at the Michigan Economic Development Corp. declined this week to provide data to back up their statement or answer questions on why the claim was made...
Red Cross Workers in Pomona, CA, Join Local 63 IBT ...Workers in the Logistics, Kitting and Warehouse departments of the American Red Cross in Pomona, California, have recently voted to become members of Local 63. Local 63 already represents other job titles at the Pomona facility and this new unit brings the total to nearly 200...
Hernando County, FL, Employees Ratify Teamster Contract IBT ...Teamster members working in utilities, DPW, road maintenance, office/clerical and facilities management for Hernando County, Florida, have ratified a new agreement...
Teamsters strike at AFC Cable South Coast Today ...Local 59 Teamsters went on strike Wednesday at AFC Cable Systems, picketing in front of a company site inside the New Bedford Business Park...
U.S. Warns WTO Global Trade Talks "Hurtling Towards Irrelevance" Reuters ...The United States launched a blistering attack on fellow World Trade Organization member states on Thursday for failing to do more to cut global barriers to trade, criticizing India in particular for trying to introduce a "massive new loophole..."
Ex-IMF official warns austerity ‘untenable’ FT ...Ashoka Mody, the IMF’s former mission chief to Ireland, said on Thursday it was time to ease up on Europe’s policy of austerity, warning further delay in changing course risked dragging out the continent’s economic recovery...
Elizabeth Warren Tears Into Federal Regulators For Shielding Big Banks Think Progress ...Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) embarrassed government regulators during a Senate Banking Committee hearing on Thursday morning as she demanded to know why they won’t reveal how frequently big banks illegally foreclosed on homeowners...
IRS: We Can Read Emails Without Warrant The Hill ...The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has claimed that agents do not need warrants to read people's emails, text messages and other private electronic communications, according to internal agency documents...
Wal-Mart Executive Who Called Sales “Total Disaster" Has Left Reuters ...Jerry Murray, the mid-level Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N) executive who called the chain's early February sales "a total disaster" in an email made public by Bloomberg, left the world's largest retailer last week, Wal-Mart confirmed on Wednesday...
Correct flawed partisan redistricting process Facebook ...Freshmen Democratic legislators from the (Wisconsin) State Assembly today announced new legislation that would remove the redistricting authority from politicians and assigns it to a non-partisan body...
State employees say LePage pressured them to deny jobless benefits Maine Sun Journal ...Gov. Paul LePage pressured hearing officers at the Department of Labor to decide unemployment-benefit cases in favor of business owners over workers...
Poll: Voters back paid sick days, distrust lawmakers Orlando Sentinel ...Florida residents strongly back laws requiring paid sick time and "living wages" for workers, but they don't trust state lawmakers to handle such issues, a statewide poll released today finds....
Comcast Looms Large in Paid Sick Days Fight in Philly Center for Media and Democracy ...Almost all of the $108,429.25 Comcast spent on lobbying in 2011 was in opposition to paid sick days. It also is a major contributor to Mayor Nutter, contributing $7,500 to his campaign in 2011 and an additional $8,500 in 2012...
72% of 2012 NYC Construction Deaths Took Place on Non-Union Work Sites We Party Patriots ...A new report from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) shows that construction deaths more than tripled on NYC work sites last year with 21 workplace fatalities versus six the year before...
Missouri Residents: Take Action to Stop Paycheck Deception Bill AFL-CIO Now ...Despite testimony overwhelmingly opposing the bill and universal opposition from the committee's Democrats, the Missouri legislature's House Workforce Development and Workplace Safety Committee passed S.B. 29, a paycheck deception bill, which is now headed to the House floor...
MEDC says right to work may generate big profits Lansing State Journal ...The state agency tasked with attracting business investment to Michigan claims the state’s new right-to-work laws will mean “higher potential profits” for companies, but officials at the Michigan Economic Development Corp. declined this week to provide data to back up their statement or answer questions on why the claim was made...
Red Cross Workers in Pomona, CA, Join Local 63 IBT ...Workers in the Logistics, Kitting and Warehouse departments of the American Red Cross in Pomona, California, have recently voted to become members of Local 63. Local 63 already represents other job titles at the Pomona facility and this new unit brings the total to nearly 200...
Hernando County, FL, Employees Ratify Teamster Contract IBT ...Teamster members working in utilities, DPW, road maintenance, office/clerical and facilities management for Hernando County, Florida, have ratified a new agreement...
Teamsters strike at AFC Cable South Coast Today ...Local 59 Teamsters went on strike Wednesday at AFC Cable Systems, picketing in front of a company site inside the New Bedford Business Park...
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