TEAMSTERS
Teamsters Suspend Safeway Protests - For Now DC Labor ...Teamsters locals 730 and 639 have agreed to suspend their protests over the threatened closure of the Safeway Distribution Center in Upper Marlboro after State Senator Anthony Muse on Wednesday asked representatives of Safeway and Collington Services (which operates the center), along with the Teamsters, to participate in discussions aimed at preserving jobs at the center. The companies have until November 10 to respond to Muse’s request...
Despite Coca-Cola’s Regressive Proposals, Union Works to Fix Overtime Issues in Negotiations Local 727 ...As Coca-Cola management continued to drag its feet, the Teamsters Local 727 Bargaining Committee worked to tackle major non-economic issues during contract negotiations on Wednesday, November 4. The union revisited its proposal to clarify overtime assignments and ensure Coca-Cola effectively communicates with workers when posting mandatory overtime. The Teamsters’ proposal also establishes and guarantees 40-hour workweek schedules...
GLOBAL LABOR & TRADE
Pacific partners release TPP details Reuters ...The long-awaited text of a landmark US-backed Pacific trade deal has been released. It reveals the details of a pact aimed at freeing up commerce in 40 per cent of the world's economy but is criticised for its opacity. If ratified, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) will be a legacy-defining achievement for US President Barack Obama and his administration's pivot to Asia, aimed at countering China's rising economic and political influence...
TPP trade deal: text published online The Guardian ...New Zealand has put the text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) online, offering the first detailed look at the world’s largest free trade deal, the most ambitious effort in years to remove barriers to commerce. The New Zealand government, which signed on to the deal, put the contents of the agreement on its website on Thursday, saying it would continue to undergo legal review...
Full Text of TPP Released to Public... And It's Horrible Common Dreams ...It's a disaster for people, the planet, democracy, and the future of the global economy. That was the immediate assessment of informed critics as world governments, including the United States, on Thursday morning made the full text of the controversial Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) available to the public for the first time...
What to Look for When the Trans-Pacific Partnership Text Is Released Huffington Post ...The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) has been completed. The agreement is a big deal. It is said it writes the rules for doing business in the 21st century and covers 40 percent of the world's economy. The agreement will determine whether the giant corporations will increase their domination or if regular people will instead be able to fight back...
Trans-Pacific Partnership critics concerned about environment, IP clauses in trade pact's fine print ABC ...Critics of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) warn the full text of the agreement highlights serious concerns about environmental protections and intellectual property rights. For the first time the fine print of the agreement — which would eliminate 98 per cent of all tariffs between the 12 nations including Australia — has been released...
TPP leaders to meet on sidelines of APEC forum summit in Philippines Japan Times ...The leaders of 12 countries involved in the recently sealed Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade initiative will meet later this month in the Philippines to ensure early implementation of the pact, a government source said Wednesday. The meeting will be held on the sidelines of a two-day summit...
Thousands expected in student protest against austerity CBC ...Thousands of students from CEGEPs and universities are expected to take part in a large demonstration today against austerity measures imposed by the Quebec government. Close to 20 student associations representing more than 50,000 students have a strike mandate for the province-wide protest on Nov. 5...
Brazil President’s Own Party Resists Her Austerity Plans Wall Street Journal ...Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, who is struggling to get the country’s Congress to pass legislation meant to curb a widening budget gap, faces more resistance from members of her own party than almost any other grouping, according to a recent survey of lawmakers. Ms. Rousseff’s left-wing Workers’ Party is reluctant to embrace spending cuts...
STATE & LIVING WAGE BATTLES
Fast-food workers plan new strike, aim to sway election USA Today ...Fast-food workers, already a potent political force, are planning their largest nationwide strike yet next week and this time will leverage their crusade for a $15-an-hour wage in a bid to sway the 2016 presidential election. The group representing the workers, Fight for $15, plans on Tuesday to stage protests at restaurants in 270 cities, the most since it began organizing the demonstrations three years ago...
Missouri House sponsor of bill backers call ‘paycheck protection’ wants to bring it back in 2016 Missourinet ...The House sponsor of what supporters call “paycheck protection” and opponents call “paycheck deception” wants to file that bill again in 2016. A “right-to-work” bill was vetoed this year by Governor Nixon and supporters fell 13 votes short of overturning that veto in the state House. Some Republicans are now debating whether it should be brought back up in 2016...
400,000 People Could Lose Their Health Care Because No One Turned Out To Vote Think Progress ...If you live in Kentucky, you probably didn’t vote yesterday. Turnout in Tuesday’s gubernatorial election was simply dreadful. According to the state’s chief elections officer, preliminary results show that only 30.7 percent of voters actually cast a ballot in this off-off-year election. That compares with 45.9 percent of voters in 2014...
Will State Courts Fill a Void on Voting Rights? The Atlantic ...In recent years, as the U.S. Supreme Court has limited its protections of the right to vote, some state courts have stepped in to fill the void. State judges have looked to their state constitutions—which are more explicit in conferring the right to vote—to provide relief from onerous election laws. And, in doing so, they have shown how these documents can be powerful tools to improve America’s democracy...
Paid Sick Leave Wins At The Voting Booth Think Progress ...On Tuesday, voters in Elizabeth, New Jersey approved a paid sick days law that guarantees all residents the right to earn leave. Once it goes into effect, the city’s 25,000 private sector workers will be able to earn an hour of sick time for every 30 they work, capped at five days a year for those at companies with 10 or more employees and at three days at smaller companies, to care for themselves or a sick family member...
Campaign to raise Maine's minimum wage tops 90K signatures WCSH ...A proposal to raise Maine's minimum wage is set to appear on next year's ballot. The group "Mainers For Fair Wages" has collected more than 90,000 signatures, which is well over the minimum requirement to get the issue on the ballot. The proposal for the statewide ballot would raise Maine's minimum wage to $9 an hour in 2017...
Tacoma, Washington, Passes $12 Minimum Wage Huffington Post ...Residents of Tacoma, Washington, are ready to raise the minimum wage -- just not too quickly. Voters in the city of 200,000 appear to have approved a ballot measure this week that would gradually raise the minimum wage in the city to $12 per hour. At the same time, they seem to have turned down a more ambitious measure...
U.S. LABOR
UAW Warns of General Motors Strike If Workers Fail to Approve Contract Wall Street Journal ...United Auto Workers leaders are pressing members to ratify a proposed contract from General Motors Co. after a handful of factories turned it down in initial rounds of voting, with union officials saying a costly strike is likely unavoidable if the deal fails, according to several people familiar with the matter. The UAW’s voting on GM’s proposed agreement to 52,700 of its U.S. factory workers began late last week and ends Saturday...
UAW-GM agreement reportedly en route to ratification MLive ...A new, four-year contract between General Motors and 52,600 UAW workers in the U.S. appears headed for ratification. The Detroit Free Press reports that workers at GM's Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly, three sites in Pontiac and large plants in Missouri and Tennessee all gave the new contract clear majorities on Wednesday...
B&H Photo Warehouse Employees Vote to Join USW Union PR Newswire ...Today, workers at two B&H warehouses in Bushwick and in the Brooklyn Navy Yard voted by a 200-to-88 margin for representation by the United Steelworkers (USW) union. Workers had complained that they had been forced to work long hours in unsafe environments without proper training, while subject to discrimination...
NLRB Rejects Target’s Petition to Invalidate Union Vote in Brooklyn Wall Street Journal ...A small group of Target Corp. pharmacy workers in New York City are one step closer to becoming the retailer’s first ever union. The National Labor Relations Board on Tuesday rejected Target’s appeal to invalidate the group’s September vote to unionize. In a letter denying the appeal, the NLRB said Target hadn’t raised any “substantial issues warranting review”...
Oxfam Calls Out ‘Big Chicken’ for Rampant Labor Abuses In These Times ...One of the world’s most prominent hunger-fighting organizations has launched a publicity campaign aimed at improving wages and workplace safety in U.S. chicken processing plants. Oxfam kicked off the campaign with a report released October 26 that details substandard wages and benefits, unsafe working conditions, and a culture of hostility to labor rights for the estimated 250,000 workers employed in chicken plants...
Elizabeth Warren Wants to Give Seniors a Raise Mother Jones ...Elizabeth Warren wants to give seniors the same pay raise enjoyed by CEOs—and to raise taxes on some executive pay in the process. The liberal senator from Massachusetts is introducing a bill on Thursday to boost Social Security payments for 2016 with a one-time bump in benefits...
SOCIAL JUSTICE & OTHER NEWS
Half Of Black Millennials Know A Victim Of Police Violence. What That Means For The 2016 Election. Think Progress ...Far before the Black Lives Matter movement was launched and before high-profile cases of police brutality permeated the national media, more than half of black millennials said in 2009 that they knew a victim of police violence. The University of Chicago released a report titled “Black Millennials in America” with the 2009 survey data that highlights how many people of color know victims of police violence...
With Historic Release of Drug Offenders & Help for Re-entry, US Takes "First Step" on Prison Crisis Democracy Now ...In the largest one-time release of federal prisoners in U.S. history, more than 6,000 inmates have been freed early under a resentencing effort for people convicted of nonviolent drug crimes. Decisions by the U.S. Sentencing Commission last year reduced prison terms for certain drug offenses and applied those changes retroactively...
America’s Prison Population Is Falling, but Too Slowly to Undo Decades of Growth Mother Jones ...Here’s the good news: The number of prisoners in the United States dropped last year to its lowest point since 2005, a trend likely to continue following the release of about 6,000 inmates from federal prisons in the past few days. And here’s the bad: The prison population still only dropped by 1 percent in 2014...
Showing posts with label paycheck deception. Show all posts
Showing posts with label paycheck deception. Show all posts
Thursday, November 5, 2015
Friday, May 8, 2015
Today's Teamster News 05.08.15
Teamsters
Teamsters Support Alaska Airlines Contract Workers Fight for $15, Union Teamster.org ...The Teamsters Airline Division has pledged its support of contract workers at Alaska Airlines who are fighting for fair wages and union representation. The contract workers picketed outside airports across country today in an effort to raise public awareness of their fight...
Fired Workers Win Back Their Jobs Times News Weekly ...Allan Henry, an organizer for the Teamsters, said that after speaking out against Five Star Carting and their working conditions, Bush and Darden were told to sign papers deeming them terminated before they could receive their paychecks. “Now they both have their jobs back, but this is the type of working conditions and the type of retaliation these workers are dealing in this industry,” Henry said...
Strike At McMahon Distributeur Pharmaceutique Inc’s Montreal DC Materials Management & Distribution ...Unionized employees, represented by the Teamsters Québec, local 1999, are on strike at McMahon Distributeur pharmaceutique inc’s Montreal DC. The union rejected the company’s offer after several months of bargaining...
De Blasio Administration To Begin Horse-Carriage Outreach Capital New York ...The de Blasio administration began its outreach on Monday to horse-carriage drivers and others who would be affected by legislation to abolish the industry...
Global Labor & Trade
Costa Rica Announces Plan To Eradicate Child Labor By 2020 Tico Times ...During an event Monday morning, Costa Rica announced an initiative to get more than 40,000 children out of the workforce. The multi-pronged approach builds off previous efforts to reduce child labor and aims to eliminate the practice altogether by 2020...
TTIP Talks Dubbed Secretive And Undemocratic Sputnik ...As the EU Foreign Affairs Council re-starts discussions on Thursday on the trade and investment partnership with the United States (TTIP), a senior UN official has dubbed the talks undemocratic and secretive. The controversial TTIP agreement has been pushed through by US President Barack Obama, who has called for the negotiations for the world's biggest trade agreement to be speeded up. As the talks get underway in Brussels on May 7, the Independent Expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order, Alfred de Zayas, expressed deep concerns over the talks...
TPP, TTIP And TISA: How The Media Misrepresent Obama’s “Fast Track” “Secret” International Trade Deals Centre for Research on Globalization ...Both conservative and liberal ‘news’ media misrepresent U.S. President Barack Obama’s proposed international trade-deals as if they were about only such things as lowering tariffs and reducing national trade-protectionism — which are relatively minor surface-features of these huge proposed treaties: TTIP with Europe, TPP with Asia, and TISA (Trade in Services Agreement)...
Obama's Scheduled Visit To Nike Has Trade Deal Skeptics Scratching Their Heads Huffington Post ...Nike, which is regarded as a pioneer in overseas outsourcing, has a long and checkered labor history in Vietnam. The footwear and apparel giant was pilloried for alleged sweatshop conditions in its contracted factories in Vietnam back in the 1990s, bruising its public image. By most accounts, Nike has helped make significant safety improvements in factories through its own monitoring programs since then, but wages in Vietnam are still extremely low, and the government has a poor track record of enforcing labor laws there...
State & Living Wage Battles
Pennsylvania Senate OKs Public Employee Collective Bargaining Bills Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ...Republicans on Wednesday gave Senate approval to two bills that they said would increase transparency in collective bargaining for public employees, but which Democrats equated to union-busting...
Wisconsin GOP’s Latest Attack On Food Stamp Recipients Would Cost The State Millions Think Progress ...Wisconsin would have to spend millions of dollars to realize a Republican scheme to restrict how poor people shop for food, state fiscal analysts revealed Wednesday...
For Women In This State, Getting Pregnant Will No Longer Mean Losing A Job Think Progress ...On Tuesday, the New York State legislature passed a bill aimed at shielding pregnant women from workplace discrimination, which the governor has said he will sign...
Racist History Of ‘Right To Work’ Shows Threat To Black, Latino Workers Chicago Reporter ...Rauner may be a true believer in trickle-down ideology, but for major right-to-work supporters like the corporate-sponsored American Legislative Exchange Council (which pioneered the county-level approach Rauner is now taking), it’s all about removing unions as a political check on the power of corporations. But that will have real costs for working families in Illinois. And the costs will be highest for blacks and Latinos...
Why The FEC Won’t Crack Down On Campaign Finance Violations In 2016 Think Progress ...Though the election is more than a year away, several candidates and soon-to-be candidates have already been accused of campaign finance violations. But the head of the government’s main agency for investigating the claims and enforcing the laws on the books has publicly admitted that few violators will be brought to justice this election cycle...
Effort To Repeal Prevailing Wage Law Fails In Committee Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ...A bill to repeal the state's (Wisconsin) prevailing wage failed in committee Thursday, when Republican Sen. Howard Marklein joined the panel's two Democrats to block the measure...
Pence Signs Bill Repealing Indiana Construction Wage Law Indianapolis Business Journal ...Local boards will no longer set minimum wages for public construction projects in Indiana under a law signed Wednesday by Gov. Mike Pence. The bill will eliminate the boards that set what is known as the common construction wage that workers must be paid on most state or local government projects...
Senate Votes To Block Union Dues Deduction For Some Public Employees Houston Chronicle ...Senate Bill 1968 would allow the payroll deductions to continue for police, fire and emergency-services employees -- groups that generally vote Republican in most parts of Texas -- but would not allow them for other unions, such as those for teachers, construction trades and other unions...
U.S. Labor
The 40-Hour Work Week Is A Thing Of The Past Wall Street Journal ...The phrase “nine to five” is becoming an anachronism. About half of all managers work more than 40 hours a week, according to a new survey from tax and consulting firm EY, and 39% report that their hours have increased in the past five years. Little wonder, then, that one-third of workers say it’s getting more difficult to balance work and life...
U.S. Productivity Falls 1.9% In First Quarter Wall Street Journal ...U.S. worker productivity fell in the opening months of 2015, extending a poor track record since the recession and underscoring longer-term risks to American workers’ wages...
Making The Economy Work For The Many, Not The Few -- Step 1: Raise The Minimum Wage (opinion) Huffington Post ...If the minimum wage in 1968 had simply kept up with inflation it would be more than $10 today. If it also kept up with the added productivity of American workers since then, it would be more than $21 an hour. Some opponents say minimum wage workers are teenagers seeking some extra pocket money. Wrong. Half are 35 or older, and many are key breadwinners for their families. And don't believe scaremongers who say a $15 minimum will cause employers to cut employment. More money in people's pockets means more demand for goods and services, which means more jobs not fewer jobs...
U.S. Employers Add Solid 223,000 Jobs, Unemployment Rate Falls To 7-Year Low Huffington Post ...U.S. employers added 223,000 jobs in April, a solid gain that suggests that the economy may be recovering after stumbling at the start of the year. The Labor Department said Friday that the unemployment rate dipped to 5.4 percent from 5.5 percent in March. That is the lowest rate since May 2008, six months into the Great Recession...
Miscellaneous
Oil Train Erupts In Flames In North Dakota Wall Street Journal ...A BNSF Railway Co. train carrying crude oil derailed Wednesday morning in rural North Dakota, erupting into flames and sending billows of black smoke into the air...
What Will Happen To American Jobs, Incomes, And Wealth A Decade From Now? (opinion) Huffington Post ...We are now faced not just with labor-replacing technologies but with knowledge-replacing technologies. The combination of advanced sensors, voice recognition, artificial intelligence, big data, text-mining, and pattern-recognition algorithms, is generating smart robots capable of quickly learning human actions, and even learning from one another. A revolution in life sciences is also underway, allowing drugs to be tailored to a patient's particular condition and genome...
Break Up Big Banks (opinion) Huffington Post ...We don't hear it discussed much in the media, but the reality is that the middle class of this country, once the envy of the world, is collapsing, 45 million Americans are living in poverty, and the gap between the rich and everyone else is growing wider and wider...
Wall Street Had Five Years To Prove They Can Control Their Computers. They Failed. Think Progress ...Regulators have struggled to explain the 2010 flash crash, first blaming it on legitimate trades made by a Kansas-based firm and then charging one individual trader with intentionally creating the crash from his parents’ basement. It’s not clear that either explanation is correct, though, and that very inability to convincingly diagnose what happened that day underscores how loose human control over digitized trading strategies has become...
Trucking Company Shows Facebook Road To Future New York Times ...Frustrated by Swift Transportation’s co-founder and chief executive, Jerry Moyes, the company’s shareholders will be voting at Friday’s annual meeting whether to eliminate a dual-share structure that grants him control. Owners of Facebook and other similarly feudalistic frameworks one day may find themselves similarly frustrated...
Teamsters Support Alaska Airlines Contract Workers Fight for $15, Union Teamster.org ...The Teamsters Airline Division has pledged its support of contract workers at Alaska Airlines who are fighting for fair wages and union representation. The contract workers picketed outside airports across country today in an effort to raise public awareness of their fight...
Fired Workers Win Back Their Jobs Times News Weekly ...Allan Henry, an organizer for the Teamsters, said that after speaking out against Five Star Carting and their working conditions, Bush and Darden were told to sign papers deeming them terminated before they could receive their paychecks. “Now they both have their jobs back, but this is the type of working conditions and the type of retaliation these workers are dealing in this industry,” Henry said...
Strike At McMahon Distributeur Pharmaceutique Inc’s Montreal DC Materials Management & Distribution ...Unionized employees, represented by the Teamsters Québec, local 1999, are on strike at McMahon Distributeur pharmaceutique inc’s Montreal DC. The union rejected the company’s offer after several months of bargaining...
De Blasio Administration To Begin Horse-Carriage Outreach Capital New York ...The de Blasio administration began its outreach on Monday to horse-carriage drivers and others who would be affected by legislation to abolish the industry...
Global Labor & Trade
Costa Rica Announces Plan To Eradicate Child Labor By 2020 Tico Times ...During an event Monday morning, Costa Rica announced an initiative to get more than 40,000 children out of the workforce. The multi-pronged approach builds off previous efforts to reduce child labor and aims to eliminate the practice altogether by 2020...
TTIP Talks Dubbed Secretive And Undemocratic Sputnik ...As the EU Foreign Affairs Council re-starts discussions on Thursday on the trade and investment partnership with the United States (TTIP), a senior UN official has dubbed the talks undemocratic and secretive. The controversial TTIP agreement has been pushed through by US President Barack Obama, who has called for the negotiations for the world's biggest trade agreement to be speeded up. As the talks get underway in Brussels on May 7, the Independent Expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order, Alfred de Zayas, expressed deep concerns over the talks...
TPP, TTIP And TISA: How The Media Misrepresent Obama’s “Fast Track” “Secret” International Trade Deals Centre for Research on Globalization ...Both conservative and liberal ‘news’ media misrepresent U.S. President Barack Obama’s proposed international trade-deals as if they were about only such things as lowering tariffs and reducing national trade-protectionism — which are relatively minor surface-features of these huge proposed treaties: TTIP with Europe, TPP with Asia, and TISA (Trade in Services Agreement)...
Obama's Scheduled Visit To Nike Has Trade Deal Skeptics Scratching Their Heads Huffington Post ...Nike, which is regarded as a pioneer in overseas outsourcing, has a long and checkered labor history in Vietnam. The footwear and apparel giant was pilloried for alleged sweatshop conditions in its contracted factories in Vietnam back in the 1990s, bruising its public image. By most accounts, Nike has helped make significant safety improvements in factories through its own monitoring programs since then, but wages in Vietnam are still extremely low, and the government has a poor track record of enforcing labor laws there...
State & Living Wage Battles
Pennsylvania Senate OKs Public Employee Collective Bargaining Bills Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ...Republicans on Wednesday gave Senate approval to two bills that they said would increase transparency in collective bargaining for public employees, but which Democrats equated to union-busting...
Wisconsin GOP’s Latest Attack On Food Stamp Recipients Would Cost The State Millions Think Progress ...Wisconsin would have to spend millions of dollars to realize a Republican scheme to restrict how poor people shop for food, state fiscal analysts revealed Wednesday...
For Women In This State, Getting Pregnant Will No Longer Mean Losing A Job Think Progress ...On Tuesday, the New York State legislature passed a bill aimed at shielding pregnant women from workplace discrimination, which the governor has said he will sign...
Racist History Of ‘Right To Work’ Shows Threat To Black, Latino Workers Chicago Reporter ...Rauner may be a true believer in trickle-down ideology, but for major right-to-work supporters like the corporate-sponsored American Legislative Exchange Council (which pioneered the county-level approach Rauner is now taking), it’s all about removing unions as a political check on the power of corporations. But that will have real costs for working families in Illinois. And the costs will be highest for blacks and Latinos...
Why The FEC Won’t Crack Down On Campaign Finance Violations In 2016 Think Progress ...Though the election is more than a year away, several candidates and soon-to-be candidates have already been accused of campaign finance violations. But the head of the government’s main agency for investigating the claims and enforcing the laws on the books has publicly admitted that few violators will be brought to justice this election cycle...
Effort To Repeal Prevailing Wage Law Fails In Committee Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ...A bill to repeal the state's (Wisconsin) prevailing wage failed in committee Thursday, when Republican Sen. Howard Marklein joined the panel's two Democrats to block the measure...
Pence Signs Bill Repealing Indiana Construction Wage Law Indianapolis Business Journal ...Local boards will no longer set minimum wages for public construction projects in Indiana under a law signed Wednesday by Gov. Mike Pence. The bill will eliminate the boards that set what is known as the common construction wage that workers must be paid on most state or local government projects...
Senate Votes To Block Union Dues Deduction For Some Public Employees Houston Chronicle ...Senate Bill 1968 would allow the payroll deductions to continue for police, fire and emergency-services employees -- groups that generally vote Republican in most parts of Texas -- but would not allow them for other unions, such as those for teachers, construction trades and other unions...
U.S. Labor
The 40-Hour Work Week Is A Thing Of The Past Wall Street Journal ...The phrase “nine to five” is becoming an anachronism. About half of all managers work more than 40 hours a week, according to a new survey from tax and consulting firm EY, and 39% report that their hours have increased in the past five years. Little wonder, then, that one-third of workers say it’s getting more difficult to balance work and life...
U.S. Productivity Falls 1.9% In First Quarter Wall Street Journal ...U.S. worker productivity fell in the opening months of 2015, extending a poor track record since the recession and underscoring longer-term risks to American workers’ wages...
Making The Economy Work For The Many, Not The Few -- Step 1: Raise The Minimum Wage (opinion) Huffington Post ...If the minimum wage in 1968 had simply kept up with inflation it would be more than $10 today. If it also kept up with the added productivity of American workers since then, it would be more than $21 an hour. Some opponents say minimum wage workers are teenagers seeking some extra pocket money. Wrong. Half are 35 or older, and many are key breadwinners for their families. And don't believe scaremongers who say a $15 minimum will cause employers to cut employment. More money in people's pockets means more demand for goods and services, which means more jobs not fewer jobs...
U.S. Employers Add Solid 223,000 Jobs, Unemployment Rate Falls To 7-Year Low Huffington Post ...U.S. employers added 223,000 jobs in April, a solid gain that suggests that the economy may be recovering after stumbling at the start of the year. The Labor Department said Friday that the unemployment rate dipped to 5.4 percent from 5.5 percent in March. That is the lowest rate since May 2008, six months into the Great Recession...
Miscellaneous
Oil Train Erupts In Flames In North Dakota Wall Street Journal ...A BNSF Railway Co. train carrying crude oil derailed Wednesday morning in rural North Dakota, erupting into flames and sending billows of black smoke into the air...
What Will Happen To American Jobs, Incomes, And Wealth A Decade From Now? (opinion) Huffington Post ...We are now faced not just with labor-replacing technologies but with knowledge-replacing technologies. The combination of advanced sensors, voice recognition, artificial intelligence, big data, text-mining, and pattern-recognition algorithms, is generating smart robots capable of quickly learning human actions, and even learning from one another. A revolution in life sciences is also underway, allowing drugs to be tailored to a patient's particular condition and genome...
Break Up Big Banks (opinion) Huffington Post ...We don't hear it discussed much in the media, but the reality is that the middle class of this country, once the envy of the world, is collapsing, 45 million Americans are living in poverty, and the gap between the rich and everyone else is growing wider and wider...
Wall Street Had Five Years To Prove They Can Control Their Computers. They Failed. Think Progress ...Regulators have struggled to explain the 2010 flash crash, first blaming it on legitimate trades made by a Kansas-based firm and then charging one individual trader with intentionally creating the crash from his parents’ basement. It’s not clear that either explanation is correct, though, and that very inability to convincingly diagnose what happened that day underscores how loose human control over digitized trading strategies has become...
Trucking Company Shows Facebook Road To Future New York Times ...Frustrated by Swift Transportation’s co-founder and chief executive, Jerry Moyes, the company’s shareholders will be voting at Friday’s annual meeting whether to eliminate a dual-share structure that grants him control. Owners of Facebook and other similarly feudalistic frameworks one day may find themselves similarly frustrated...
Wednesday, March 4, 2015
Today's Teamster News 03.04.15
Teamsters
Teamsters ratify four-year contract at AMR nwLaborPress.org …Members of Teamsters Portland Local 223 and Vancouver Local 58 ratified a new four-year collective bargaining agreement at American Medical Response (AMR). The 450-member bargaining unit provides ambulance service to Multnomah and Clackamas counties in Oregon, and Clark and Cowlitz counties in Washington...
Bus Drivers Ratify New Contract With First Student WTOC ...After several long months of negotiations, Savannah First Student employees represented by Teamsters have overwhelmingly ratified their new contract, 117 to four, according to a spokesperson from Teamsters 728...
Teamsters Want Mexican Trucking Row Revisited In TPP Law360 …The International Brotherhood of Teamsters on Monday publicly called on U.S. trade officials to use the Trans-Pacific Partnership talks to reopen deliberations on Mexico's cross-border trucking services, blasting the administration's move to open the border to Mexican truckers earlier this year...
Teamsters To Protest Republic Services Teamsters Local 728 ...On Wed., March 4 at 12 p.m., sanitation workers who work for Republic Services, Inc. [NYSE: RSG] will hold an informational picket to educate the public on the company's human rights violations. Workers at Republic allege that Republic has broken federal laws that protect workers' rights, by unilaterally changing pay and working conditions without negotiating with their union...
S.F. politician calls for labor peace at bus stops USA Today …With labor unions in negotiations with the transportation companies that ferry Silicon Valley tech workers, a San Francisco legislator is calling on the city to consider "labor harmony" when granting permits to corporate shuttles...
Coming detraction: Tax credit ax? Boston Herald …Sean O’Brien, president of Teamsters Local 25, drivers for the movie biz, [said] “Through the tax credit, we have created an industry where people can make a good living and provide for their families,” he said...
Miller, State Attorneys General Join FTC In Challenging Sysco-US Foods Merger Storm Lake Pilot Tribune ...Attorney General Tom Miller and a bipartisan group of state attorneys general today joined the Federal Trade Commission's administrative complaint challenging a proposed merger between food distribution giants Sysco and US Foods...
Canadian National Railway and the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, representing rail traffic controllers, reach a collective agreement Yahoo! News ...The collective agreement covering about 185 rail traffic controllers expired on December 31, 2014...
Trade
Japanese official: Adding currency rules would kill Pacific trade pact Reuters …Any effort to add rules against currency cheating in a 12-nation Pacific trade pact would mean the end of negotiations, a senior Japanese negotiator said on Tuesday...
TPP Free Trade Agreement Would Increase Cost of Medicine In Mexico, Peru, Chile, And Other Countries Latin Times …TPP -- the Trans-PacificPartnership -- is making waves from Peru to Australia, concerning public health officials and consumer advocates. TPP, which would expand trade in 11 Pacific Rim countries, includes draft provisions for unprecedented expansion of pharmaceutical patent protection that could drive up the cost of medicine...
Let's Debate The Trans-Pacific Partnership -- History's Largest Trade Deal -- Before OKing It (opinion) Los Angeles Times ...If you haven't heard much about the TPP, that's part of the problem. It would be the largest trade deal in history — involving countries stretching from Chile to Japan, representing 792 million people and about 40% of the world economy. Yet it's been devised in secret, with a disproportionate amount of advice coming from corporations and Wall Street. This secrecy is the norm since NAFTA...
State Battles
Gov. Rauner asks community to back right to work in 'voter empowerment agenda' address Chicago Sun Times ...Rauner, who has in recent weeks focused on an agenda to allow “right to work” zones in targeted areas of the state, spent much of his address selling that point. It had one Illinois union saying Rauner held a “political obsession with crushing the unions that advocate for the middle class.”...
What a Right-to-Work Law Could Mean For Wisconsin Unions WUWM ...nion membership would likely fall in Wisconsin, if the state enacts such a measure It’s the trend, according to Cheryl Maranto. She’s a management professor at Marquette University. Maranto says union numbers tend to drop in right-to-work states, partly because many unions think it’s futile to expand into new workplaces there...
Minnesota Jobs Committee chair working to bring businesses from Wisconsin to Minnesota State Representative Pat Garofalo ...In light of legislation passed by the Wisconsin State Senate and being debated in the Wisconsin State Assembly that would make Wisconsin a "Right To Work" state, Job Growth and Energy Affordability Committee Chairman Rep. Pat Garofalo, R-Farmington, has extended an invitation to two Wisconsin businesses offering assistance relocating their headquarters to Minnesota...
Right To Work For Less: Gov. Scott Walker Wants To Lower Worker Pay In Wisconsin (opinion) Washington Post ...Look, there are no perfect institutions in America, and unions are no exception. But they exist for a critically important reason: to balance out the inherent power of employers over workers and, thus, to enforce a more equitable distribution of the fruits of growth. In this regard, it is not a coincidence that as unions have diminished in numbers and power, the earnings of the middle class have stagnated...
Bill restricting union dues collection fails but not dead yet in Pa. Senate PennLive ...An attempt to pass a controversial amendment to a bill that would restrict union dues collection from state and school employees' paychecks narrowly failed in the state Senate on Monday. But most likely, we haven't seen the last of this amendment to this so-called paycheck protection bill...
Common Construction Repeal May Require Further Study Indiana Public Media ...The Indiana House easily approved legislation repealing the state’s common construction wage, and the bill’s support in the Senate looks strong. That means pushing the issue to summer study committee could be opponents’ best hope...
Bill Would Reestablish N.H. Minimum Wage, Raise It To $10 An Hour By 2018 NHPR ...Under the bill backed by seven Democratic state Senators, the increased minimum wage would take effect at the beginning of 2016. The bill calls for further increases to $9 an hour in 2017 and $10 an hour in 2018...
War on Workers
NLRB Election Rules Near Test in Congress; Changes Said to ‘Streamline' Board Process Bloomberg BNA ...Congress is about to take up proposals to block the National Labor Relations Board from implementing changes in its representation case rules and procedures set to take effect April 14...
Being a poor corporate citizen is hurting McDonald’s Washington Post …McDonald’s, that once-great American symbol of ingenuity and ruthless efficiency, is having some major difficulties, as its plummeting profits and recent C-suite shake up can attest…
Accident In The Zoo Interchange: 33-Year-Old Construction Worker Killed; Investigation Underway WITI ...A construction worker was killed while working on the Zoo Interchange project near 91st Street in Milwaukee on Saturday morning, February 28th...
Worker Killed At Natchitoches Parish Paper Mill KSLA ...Natchitoches Parish authorities have confirmed with KSLA News 12 that a man was killed in a paper mill accident...
Miscellaneous
Maine Bill Takes On NSA Spying With Transpartisan Support Tenth Amendment Center ...A bill filed in the Maine Senate late last week represents a transpartisan effort taking on the surveillance state. The legislation would not only support efforts to turn off NSA’s water in states where a physical NSA facility is located, but would also have immediate practical effects on how surveillance is used in some situations...
Teamsters ratify four-year contract at AMR nwLaborPress.org …Members of Teamsters Portland Local 223 and Vancouver Local 58 ratified a new four-year collective bargaining agreement at American Medical Response (AMR). The 450-member bargaining unit provides ambulance service to Multnomah and Clackamas counties in Oregon, and Clark and Cowlitz counties in Washington...
Bus Drivers Ratify New Contract With First Student WTOC ...After several long months of negotiations, Savannah First Student employees represented by Teamsters have overwhelmingly ratified their new contract, 117 to four, according to a spokesperson from Teamsters 728...
Teamsters Want Mexican Trucking Row Revisited In TPP Law360 …The International Brotherhood of Teamsters on Monday publicly called on U.S. trade officials to use the Trans-Pacific Partnership talks to reopen deliberations on Mexico's cross-border trucking services, blasting the administration's move to open the border to Mexican truckers earlier this year...
Teamsters To Protest Republic Services Teamsters Local 728 ...On Wed., March 4 at 12 p.m., sanitation workers who work for Republic Services, Inc. [NYSE: RSG] will hold an informational picket to educate the public on the company's human rights violations. Workers at Republic allege that Republic has broken federal laws that protect workers' rights, by unilaterally changing pay and working conditions without negotiating with their union...
S.F. politician calls for labor peace at bus stops USA Today …With labor unions in negotiations with the transportation companies that ferry Silicon Valley tech workers, a San Francisco legislator is calling on the city to consider "labor harmony" when granting permits to corporate shuttles...
Coming detraction: Tax credit ax? Boston Herald …Sean O’Brien, president of Teamsters Local 25, drivers for the movie biz, [said] “Through the tax credit, we have created an industry where people can make a good living and provide for their families,” he said...
Miller, State Attorneys General Join FTC In Challenging Sysco-US Foods Merger Storm Lake Pilot Tribune ...Attorney General Tom Miller and a bipartisan group of state attorneys general today joined the Federal Trade Commission's administrative complaint challenging a proposed merger between food distribution giants Sysco and US Foods...
Canadian National Railway and the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, representing rail traffic controllers, reach a collective agreement Yahoo! News ...The collective agreement covering about 185 rail traffic controllers expired on December 31, 2014...
Trade
Japanese official: Adding currency rules would kill Pacific trade pact Reuters …Any effort to add rules against currency cheating in a 12-nation Pacific trade pact would mean the end of negotiations, a senior Japanese negotiator said on Tuesday...
TPP Free Trade Agreement Would Increase Cost of Medicine In Mexico, Peru, Chile, And Other Countries Latin Times …TPP -- the Trans-PacificPartnership -- is making waves from Peru to Australia, concerning public health officials and consumer advocates. TPP, which would expand trade in 11 Pacific Rim countries, includes draft provisions for unprecedented expansion of pharmaceutical patent protection that could drive up the cost of medicine...
Let's Debate The Trans-Pacific Partnership -- History's Largest Trade Deal -- Before OKing It (opinion) Los Angeles Times ...If you haven't heard much about the TPP, that's part of the problem. It would be the largest trade deal in history — involving countries stretching from Chile to Japan, representing 792 million people and about 40% of the world economy. Yet it's been devised in secret, with a disproportionate amount of advice coming from corporations and Wall Street. This secrecy is the norm since NAFTA...
State Battles
Gov. Rauner asks community to back right to work in 'voter empowerment agenda' address Chicago Sun Times ...Rauner, who has in recent weeks focused on an agenda to allow “right to work” zones in targeted areas of the state, spent much of his address selling that point. It had one Illinois union saying Rauner held a “political obsession with crushing the unions that advocate for the middle class.”...
What a Right-to-Work Law Could Mean For Wisconsin Unions WUWM ...nion membership would likely fall in Wisconsin, if the state enacts such a measure It’s the trend, according to Cheryl Maranto. She’s a management professor at Marquette University. Maranto says union numbers tend to drop in right-to-work states, partly because many unions think it’s futile to expand into new workplaces there...
Minnesota Jobs Committee chair working to bring businesses from Wisconsin to Minnesota State Representative Pat Garofalo ...In light of legislation passed by the Wisconsin State Senate and being debated in the Wisconsin State Assembly that would make Wisconsin a "Right To Work" state, Job Growth and Energy Affordability Committee Chairman Rep. Pat Garofalo, R-Farmington, has extended an invitation to two Wisconsin businesses offering assistance relocating their headquarters to Minnesota...
Right To Work For Less: Gov. Scott Walker Wants To Lower Worker Pay In Wisconsin (opinion) Washington Post ...Look, there are no perfect institutions in America, and unions are no exception. But they exist for a critically important reason: to balance out the inherent power of employers over workers and, thus, to enforce a more equitable distribution of the fruits of growth. In this regard, it is not a coincidence that as unions have diminished in numbers and power, the earnings of the middle class have stagnated...
Bill restricting union dues collection fails but not dead yet in Pa. Senate PennLive ...An attempt to pass a controversial amendment to a bill that would restrict union dues collection from state and school employees' paychecks narrowly failed in the state Senate on Monday. But most likely, we haven't seen the last of this amendment to this so-called paycheck protection bill...
Common Construction Repeal May Require Further Study Indiana Public Media ...The Indiana House easily approved legislation repealing the state’s common construction wage, and the bill’s support in the Senate looks strong. That means pushing the issue to summer study committee could be opponents’ best hope...
Bill Would Reestablish N.H. Minimum Wage, Raise It To $10 An Hour By 2018 NHPR ...Under the bill backed by seven Democratic state Senators, the increased minimum wage would take effect at the beginning of 2016. The bill calls for further increases to $9 an hour in 2017 and $10 an hour in 2018...
War on Workers
NLRB Election Rules Near Test in Congress; Changes Said to ‘Streamline' Board Process Bloomberg BNA ...Congress is about to take up proposals to block the National Labor Relations Board from implementing changes in its representation case rules and procedures set to take effect April 14...
Being a poor corporate citizen is hurting McDonald’s Washington Post …McDonald’s, that once-great American symbol of ingenuity and ruthless efficiency, is having some major difficulties, as its plummeting profits and recent C-suite shake up can attest…
Accident In The Zoo Interchange: 33-Year-Old Construction Worker Killed; Investigation Underway WITI ...A construction worker was killed while working on the Zoo Interchange project near 91st Street in Milwaukee on Saturday morning, February 28th...
Worker Killed At Natchitoches Parish Paper Mill KSLA ...Natchitoches Parish authorities have confirmed with KSLA News 12 that a man was killed in a paper mill accident...
Miscellaneous
Maine Bill Takes On NSA Spying With Transpartisan Support Tenth Amendment Center ...A bill filed in the Maine Senate late last week represents a transpartisan effort taking on the surveillance state. The legislation would not only support efforts to turn off NSA’s water in states where a physical NSA facility is located, but would also have immediate practical effects on how surveillance is used in some situations...
Friday, October 17, 2014
Today's Teamster News 10.17.14
Teamster News
Ebola outbreak: CDC, Frontier Airlines hunt passengers who flew with nurse Fox News ...Amber Joy Vinson, 29, a nurse at Texas Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas who cared earlier this month for the first U.S. patient to die of the virus, flew on two Frontier Airlines flights between Dallas and Cleveland. Two days after she returned to work, she became the third confirmed case of Ebola in the United States. [Teamsters represent Frontier pilots]..
Airline notifying more passengers of Ebola Associated Press ...Frontier Airlines is expanding the circle of passengers being notified that they flew with a nurse who later tested positive for Ebola, or flew on a later flight using the same plane...
Hoffa Hits The Road To GOTV In Philadelphia teamster.org ...Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa visited more than 150 members employed by Penn Auto Team today, urging them to get out and vote on Nov. 4...
No Golden Gate Bus Strike Tomorrow PR Newswire ...Teamsters 856 and 665 members working for the Golden Gate Highway & Transportation District will not be holding a bus service strike tomorrow in order to allow for the membership to vote on the District's latest offer...
Connelly returns to talk health insurance in Foster Township The Bradford Era ...Connelly said the supervisors would have to begin with non-union employees, asking them to pay copays and deductibles. Then when it’s time to bargain with the Teamsters union, officials could say other workers are paying those...
Safety groups, congressmen say new poll proves public doesn’t want truckers’ hours increased; ‘misleading’ says ATA The Trucker ...Safety advocacy groups, The Teamsters Union, a couple of Democratic congressmen and a research group today disclosed a new public opinion poll they said shows “dramatically” and overwhelmingly that the general public would be opposed to truckers being able to increase their work week from 70 to 82 hours...
Ambulance Workers Unionize The Spectrum ...Citing a lack of facilities available to the company's 20-plus paramedics and Emergency Medical Technicians working in the St. George area, as well as pay starting as low as $11 per hour for paramedics, employees approached the Utah Teamsters about organizing earlier this year, said Spencer Hogue, secretary treasurer and business agent with the Teamsters Local 222 in Salt Lake City. Employees voted to join in September, and the union has already initiated negotiations with Gold Cross management about improving work conditions, Hogue said...
New Concerns About The Bridgeton Landfill Fire CBS News ...It’s not what they know, but what they don’t know about where the Bridgeton Landfill fire is. That’s why Pattonville Fire Department Assistant Chief Matt LaVanchy says the state Department of Natural Resources is sending a letter to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, asking for more information on where the fire is in relation to buried nuclear waste...
Trade
Trade Talk Documents Suggest Access to Medicines May Become Harder Wall Street Journal ...As the latest round of talks for the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement begins in Australia next week, negotiators will be discussing revisions in a key document that consumer advocacy groups say would strengthen patent rights for drug makers at the expense of patients in poor countries...
Latest Intellectual Property Chapter Of TPP Agreement Leaked: Would Be A Disaster For Public Health TechDirt ...A bunch of countries are pushing for the right to cancel a patent if it "is used in a manner determined to be anti-competitive," but of course, the US and Japan are completely against such a thing...
State Battles
Pa. Senate Defeats Union Dues Measure Pittsburgh Post Gazette ...A controversial proposal that would have ended automatic dues deductions and political contributions from unionized public school employees was defeated in the state Senate Wednesday...
Arkansas Voter ID Law Struck Down Politico ...Arkansas’ highest court on Wednesday struck down a state law that requires voters to show photo identification before casting a ballot, ruling the requirement unconstitutional just days before early voting begins for the Nov. 4 election...
Minnesota Unemployment Rate Drops To 4.1 Percent 610KDAL ...The unemployment rate of 4.1 percent is the lowest Minnesota jobless rate in eight years. The U-S unemployment rate was at 5.9 percent in September...
War on Workers
US hospital worker who may have handled Ebola samples quarantined on cruise ship MyFox8 ...A Texas hospital health worker who may have handled Thomas Eric Duncan’s fluid samples has been quarantined on a cruise ship in Belize — another reminder of the widespread fears of the deadly virus...
Private Prisons Face Suits, Federal Probes Clarion Ledger ...Florida-based GEO got the boot in Mississippi after a federal judge in 2012 called the Walnut Grove Correctional Facility "a cesspool of unconstitutional and inhuman acts and conditions. In Idaho, the FBI is investigating the Tennessee-based Corrections Corporation of America after allegations emerged that records were falsified to cover up staff shortages at the Idaho Correctional Center, that gangs ruled and that violence was so rampant it was called "Gladiator School."...
Worker killed in accident at candy plant in Va. Associated Press ...a worker died Wednesday from injuries suffered in what appeared to be an industrial accident at Helms Candy Co. Police identified the worker as 50-year-old Gary Bowers of Washington County, Virginia. Police say Bowers was employed by At Work Personnel, a temporary employment agency...
Tomorrow’s Taxi Commission Hearing Could Limit How Uber And Lyft Operate In New York City BuzzFeed ...The Taxi and Limousine Commission will be holding a public hearing on Thursday morning to discuss a proposed change to its rules that could place new restrictions on app-based car services like Lyft and Uber operate in New York City...
Miscellaneous
Bill that would stop Tesla direct sales in Michigan reaches Snyder's desk Crain's Detroit Business ...Legislation that would prevent Tesla Motors Inc. from directly selling its electric vehicles in Michigan has cleared the state’s legislative chambers and is awaiting the signature of Gov. Rick Snyder...
Ebola outbreak: CDC, Frontier Airlines hunt passengers who flew with nurse Fox News ...Amber Joy Vinson, 29, a nurse at Texas Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas who cared earlier this month for the first U.S. patient to die of the virus, flew on two Frontier Airlines flights between Dallas and Cleveland. Two days after she returned to work, she became the third confirmed case of Ebola in the United States. [Teamsters represent Frontier pilots]..
Airline notifying more passengers of Ebola Associated Press ...Frontier Airlines is expanding the circle of passengers being notified that they flew with a nurse who later tested positive for Ebola, or flew on a later flight using the same plane...
Hoffa Hits The Road To GOTV In Philadelphia teamster.org ...Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa visited more than 150 members employed by Penn Auto Team today, urging them to get out and vote on Nov. 4...
No Golden Gate Bus Strike Tomorrow PR Newswire ...Teamsters 856 and 665 members working for the Golden Gate Highway & Transportation District will not be holding a bus service strike tomorrow in order to allow for the membership to vote on the District's latest offer...
Connelly returns to talk health insurance in Foster Township The Bradford Era ...Connelly said the supervisors would have to begin with non-union employees, asking them to pay copays and deductibles. Then when it’s time to bargain with the Teamsters union, officials could say other workers are paying those...
Safety groups, congressmen say new poll proves public doesn’t want truckers’ hours increased; ‘misleading’ says ATA The Trucker ...Safety advocacy groups, The Teamsters Union, a couple of Democratic congressmen and a research group today disclosed a new public opinion poll they said shows “dramatically” and overwhelmingly that the general public would be opposed to truckers being able to increase their work week from 70 to 82 hours...
Ambulance Workers Unionize The Spectrum ...Citing a lack of facilities available to the company's 20-plus paramedics and Emergency Medical Technicians working in the St. George area, as well as pay starting as low as $11 per hour for paramedics, employees approached the Utah Teamsters about organizing earlier this year, said Spencer Hogue, secretary treasurer and business agent with the Teamsters Local 222 in Salt Lake City. Employees voted to join in September, and the union has already initiated negotiations with Gold Cross management about improving work conditions, Hogue said...
New Concerns About The Bridgeton Landfill Fire CBS News ...It’s not what they know, but what they don’t know about where the Bridgeton Landfill fire is. That’s why Pattonville Fire Department Assistant Chief Matt LaVanchy says the state Department of Natural Resources is sending a letter to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, asking for more information on where the fire is in relation to buried nuclear waste...
Trade
Trade Talk Documents Suggest Access to Medicines May Become Harder Wall Street Journal ...As the latest round of talks for the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement begins in Australia next week, negotiators will be discussing revisions in a key document that consumer advocacy groups say would strengthen patent rights for drug makers at the expense of patients in poor countries...
Latest Intellectual Property Chapter Of TPP Agreement Leaked: Would Be A Disaster For Public Health TechDirt ...A bunch of countries are pushing for the right to cancel a patent if it "is used in a manner determined to be anti-competitive," but of course, the US and Japan are completely against such a thing...
State Battles
Pa. Senate Defeats Union Dues Measure Pittsburgh Post Gazette ...A controversial proposal that would have ended automatic dues deductions and political contributions from unionized public school employees was defeated in the state Senate Wednesday...
Arkansas Voter ID Law Struck Down Politico ...Arkansas’ highest court on Wednesday struck down a state law that requires voters to show photo identification before casting a ballot, ruling the requirement unconstitutional just days before early voting begins for the Nov. 4 election...
Minnesota Unemployment Rate Drops To 4.1 Percent 610KDAL ...The unemployment rate of 4.1 percent is the lowest Minnesota jobless rate in eight years. The U-S unemployment rate was at 5.9 percent in September...
War on Workers
US hospital worker who may have handled Ebola samples quarantined on cruise ship MyFox8 ...A Texas hospital health worker who may have handled Thomas Eric Duncan’s fluid samples has been quarantined on a cruise ship in Belize — another reminder of the widespread fears of the deadly virus...
Private Prisons Face Suits, Federal Probes Clarion Ledger ...Florida-based GEO got the boot in Mississippi after a federal judge in 2012 called the Walnut Grove Correctional Facility "a cesspool of unconstitutional and inhuman acts and conditions. In Idaho, the FBI is investigating the Tennessee-based Corrections Corporation of America after allegations emerged that records were falsified to cover up staff shortages at the Idaho Correctional Center, that gangs ruled and that violence was so rampant it was called "Gladiator School."...
Worker killed in accident at candy plant in Va. Associated Press ...a worker died Wednesday from injuries suffered in what appeared to be an industrial accident at Helms Candy Co. Police identified the worker as 50-year-old Gary Bowers of Washington County, Virginia. Police say Bowers was employed by At Work Personnel, a temporary employment agency...
Tomorrow’s Taxi Commission Hearing Could Limit How Uber And Lyft Operate In New York City BuzzFeed ...The Taxi and Limousine Commission will be holding a public hearing on Thursday morning to discuss a proposed change to its rules that could place new restrictions on app-based car services like Lyft and Uber operate in New York City...
Miscellaneous
Bill that would stop Tesla direct sales in Michigan reaches Snyder's desk Crain's Detroit Business ...Legislation that would prevent Tesla Motors Inc. from directly selling its electric vehicles in Michigan has cleared the state’s legislative chambers and is awaiting the signature of Gov. Rick Snyder...
Tuesday, July 1, 2014
Today's Teamster News 07.01.14
Teamster News
Union Representing RTC Workers Authorizes Strike Reno Gazette-Journal ...A labor union local representing Washoe County public transit system employees voted overwhelmingly Sunday to authorize a strike, but a contract extension until July 31 is possible, the union said...
Horizon Air Aircraft Technicians, Fleet Service Agents Ratify New Six-Year Contract Aviation Pros ...Horizon Air's aircraft technicians and fleet service agents have ratified a new six-year contract, the airline and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) announced today...
Contract Between EVSC and Teamsters Expires at Midnight Tristatehomepage.com ...For months, the school system and local union have been working on a new contract. But no agreements were reached. The contract applies to a union made up of bus drivers, custodians, secretaries, and others...
Medford Residents Win Teamster Scholarships Medford Transcript ...Medford residents Olivia Stewart and Tristan Whalen were recently awarded $2,000 scholarships each by Teamsters Local 25...
What Happens If Uber Drivers Start Organizing Too? BuzzFeed ...More than 1,000 D.C. cabbies on Wednesday drove through the streets and refused to pick up passengers in protest of popular ridesharing apps like Uber and Lyft — companies they say are unfairly breaking the law and taking away their business. Their protest is just the latest in cities in the United States and worldwide, as Uber in particular continues its massive expansion from boutique service to a major company, valued at just over $18 billion this year...
Trade
Japan, U.S. resume bilateral TPP talks before Ottawa meeting Mainichi ...Japan and the United States on Monday resumed bilateral talks on a Pacific free trade pact in Tokyo, aiming to bridge remaining differences as far as possible before officials from all 12 negotiating members gather in Canada later this week...
State Battles
Michigan's minimum-wage bill could render your vote null and void (opinion) Michigan Radio ...Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville, R-Monroe, believes in democracy, except when he doesn’t. In the past, Richardville has staunchly supported Michigan voters’ decisions to outlaw gay marriage and affirmative action. But he doesn’t want to allow voters to vote to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour...
AFT Pennsylvania Position Payroll Deduction/Paycheck Deception AFT Pennsylvania ...Legislation prohibiting payroll deduction would wipe out collective bargaining rights that public employees have held for decades. It deprives teachers, nurses, college professors, school bus drivers and other public employees of their right to negotiate payroll deductions for union dues and voluntary political contributions to their union political action committees...
War On Workers
Ruling Against Union Fees Contains Damage to Labor New York Times ...The Supreme Court dealt a limited blow to organized labor on Monday by ruling that some government employees did not have to pay any fees to the unions representing them. But the court declined to strike down a decades-old precedent that required many public sector workers to pay union fees...
SCOTUS Ruling Doesn’t Gut Public Unions, But Creates New Challenges for Care Workers The Next New Deal ...The decision in Harris v. Quinn blocks the right-wing assault against one of the most important pillars of progressive infrastructure, public employee unions, but will add to the challenge of raising wages and benefits in the surging low-wage workforce...
Corporations Are People, And They Have More Rights Than You Huffington Post ... the Supreme Court endorsed corporate personhood -- holding that business firms have rights to religious freedom under federal law. Not only do corporations have rights, their rights are stronger than yours...
A Grieving Father Pulls a Thread That Unravels Illegal Bank Deals New York Times ...A bus bombing two decades ago — and a New Jersey father’s quest for justice — inadvertently set off a chain of events that led American prosecutors to accuse some of the world’s biggest banks of transferring money for nations like Iran. On Monday, that crackdown culminated with the guilty plea of BNP Paribas, which admitted to doing billions of dollars in deals with Iran ...
The Implications of Flat or Declining Real Wages for Inequality Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta ...what we thought had been a decade of essentially flat real wages (since 2002) has actually been a decade of declining real wages...
For Tipped Workers, A Different Minimum Wage Battle NPR ...according to a White House report, tipped workers are more than twice as likely as other workers to experience poverty...
Facebook's massive psychology experiment likely illegal BoingBoing ...there's a federal law that prohibits universities from conducting this kind of experiment without explicit, separate consent (none of this burying-consent-in-the-fine-print bullshit). Two of the three researchers who worked on this were working for federally funded universities with institutional review boards, and the project received federal funds...
Wyden Releases Details of Backdoor Searches of Americans’ Communications Ron Wyden ...When the FBI says it conducts a substantial number of searches and it has no idea of what the number is, it shows how flawed this system is and the consequences of inadequate oversight. This huge gap in oversight is a problem now, and will only grow as global communications systems become more interconnected...
Rio’s Maracanã Stadium is Privatized The Rio Times ...Taking into account the R$304 million of taxpayer money spent on renovations for the 2007 Pan-American games, this brings the total amount spent by the state on Maracanã to about R$1.4 billion, compared to the R$775.6 million it will have received (or not had to spend) after 35 years...
Miscellaneous
Americans Losing Confidence in All Branches of U.S. Gov't Gallup ...Americans' confidence in all three branches of the U.S. government has fallen, reaching record lows for the Supreme Court (30%) and Congress (7%), and a six-year low for the presidency (29%)...
Union Representing RTC Workers Authorizes Strike Reno Gazette-Journal ...A labor union local representing Washoe County public transit system employees voted overwhelmingly Sunday to authorize a strike, but a contract extension until July 31 is possible, the union said...
Horizon Air Aircraft Technicians, Fleet Service Agents Ratify New Six-Year Contract Aviation Pros ...Horizon Air's aircraft technicians and fleet service agents have ratified a new six-year contract, the airline and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) announced today...
Contract Between EVSC and Teamsters Expires at Midnight Tristatehomepage.com ...For months, the school system and local union have been working on a new contract. But no agreements were reached. The contract applies to a union made up of bus drivers, custodians, secretaries, and others...
Medford Residents Win Teamster Scholarships Medford Transcript ...Medford residents Olivia Stewart and Tristan Whalen were recently awarded $2,000 scholarships each by Teamsters Local 25...
What Happens If Uber Drivers Start Organizing Too? BuzzFeed ...More than 1,000 D.C. cabbies on Wednesday drove through the streets and refused to pick up passengers in protest of popular ridesharing apps like Uber and Lyft — companies they say are unfairly breaking the law and taking away their business. Their protest is just the latest in cities in the United States and worldwide, as Uber in particular continues its massive expansion from boutique service to a major company, valued at just over $18 billion this year...
Trade
Japan, U.S. resume bilateral TPP talks before Ottawa meeting Mainichi ...Japan and the United States on Monday resumed bilateral talks on a Pacific free trade pact in Tokyo, aiming to bridge remaining differences as far as possible before officials from all 12 negotiating members gather in Canada later this week...
State Battles
Michigan's minimum-wage bill could render your vote null and void (opinion) Michigan Radio ...Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville, R-Monroe, believes in democracy, except when he doesn’t. In the past, Richardville has staunchly supported Michigan voters’ decisions to outlaw gay marriage and affirmative action. But he doesn’t want to allow voters to vote to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour...
AFT Pennsylvania Position Payroll Deduction/Paycheck Deception AFT Pennsylvania ...Legislation prohibiting payroll deduction would wipe out collective bargaining rights that public employees have held for decades. It deprives teachers, nurses, college professors, school bus drivers and other public employees of their right to negotiate payroll deductions for union dues and voluntary political contributions to their union political action committees...
War On Workers
Ruling Against Union Fees Contains Damage to Labor New York Times ...The Supreme Court dealt a limited blow to organized labor on Monday by ruling that some government employees did not have to pay any fees to the unions representing them. But the court declined to strike down a decades-old precedent that required many public sector workers to pay union fees...
SCOTUS Ruling Doesn’t Gut Public Unions, But Creates New Challenges for Care Workers The Next New Deal ...The decision in Harris v. Quinn blocks the right-wing assault against one of the most important pillars of progressive infrastructure, public employee unions, but will add to the challenge of raising wages and benefits in the surging low-wage workforce...
Corporations Are People, And They Have More Rights Than You Huffington Post ... the Supreme Court endorsed corporate personhood -- holding that business firms have rights to religious freedom under federal law. Not only do corporations have rights, their rights are stronger than yours...
A Grieving Father Pulls a Thread That Unravels Illegal Bank Deals New York Times ...A bus bombing two decades ago — and a New Jersey father’s quest for justice — inadvertently set off a chain of events that led American prosecutors to accuse some of the world’s biggest banks of transferring money for nations like Iran. On Monday, that crackdown culminated with the guilty plea of BNP Paribas, which admitted to doing billions of dollars in deals with Iran ...
The Implications of Flat or Declining Real Wages for Inequality Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta ...what we thought had been a decade of essentially flat real wages (since 2002) has actually been a decade of declining real wages...
For Tipped Workers, A Different Minimum Wage Battle NPR ...according to a White House report, tipped workers are more than twice as likely as other workers to experience poverty...
Facebook's massive psychology experiment likely illegal BoingBoing ...there's a federal law that prohibits universities from conducting this kind of experiment without explicit, separate consent (none of this burying-consent-in-the-fine-print bullshit). Two of the three researchers who worked on this were working for federally funded universities with institutional review boards, and the project received federal funds...
Wyden Releases Details of Backdoor Searches of Americans’ Communications Ron Wyden ...When the FBI says it conducts a substantial number of searches and it has no idea of what the number is, it shows how flawed this system is and the consequences of inadequate oversight. This huge gap in oversight is a problem now, and will only grow as global communications systems become more interconnected...
Rio’s Maracanã Stadium is Privatized The Rio Times ...Taking into account the R$304 million of taxpayer money spent on renovations for the 2007 Pan-American games, this brings the total amount spent by the state on Maracanã to about R$1.4 billion, compared to the R$775.6 million it will have received (or not had to spend) after 35 years...
Miscellaneous
Americans Losing Confidence in All Branches of U.S. Gov't Gallup ...Americans' confidence in all three branches of the U.S. government has fallen, reaching record lows for the Supreme Court (30%) and Congress (7%), and a six-year low for the presidency (29%)...
Thursday, June 26, 2014
Today's Teamster News 06.26.14
Teamster News
Downtown D.C. Traffic Gridlocked As Taxi Drivers Protest Uber, Lyft, Sidecar Washington Post ...Drivers in and around downtown D.C. were gridlocked in traffic Wednesday as a caravan of angry taxi drivers made its way from East Potomac Park to Freedom Plaza — in a protest against app-based ride sharing services such as UberX...
DC Cabbies Join Protest Against Online Services The Hill ... The protest is being organized by the Washington, D.C. Taxi Operators Association, which is affiliated with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters union. The union said cab drivers in the nation’s capital are upset because Internet-based taxi services don't face the same regulations as rank-and-file operators...
Teamsters hold 'Just Practicing' picket in Mobile to protest waste company's proposed health insurance plan changes AL.com ...Republic wants to be able to change health insurance plans without having to bargain with its workers, even though the National Labor Relations Board ruled that Republic is required to bargain over any changes to workers' health care," Jim Gookins, secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 991, said in a press release...
How Do Los Angeles Uber Drivers Protest? They Take a Beach Day Bloomberg ...DeWolf says he and his fellow drivers were spurred by concerns over the company’s refusal to shoulder responsibility for insuring drivers; capricious-seeming policy changes, such as a recent announcement that pre-2010 cars will be phased out for Uber Black or Uber SUV services; and opaque disciplinary procedures...
Teamsters go on strike against concrete company Turnto10 ...Twenty-two men from the Teamsters union in Smithfield and Cranston went on strike Wednesday morning. "We believe in a fair day's work for a fair day's pay," said Stu Mundy, a union supporter...
Teamsters Local 43 Overwhelmingly Votes To Merge With Local 200 Teamsters Local 200 ... Teamsters Local 200 announced that members of Local 43 in Racine, Wisc. overwhelmingly voted to merge with the Milwaukee-based chapter. With the vote, the more than 600 members of Local 43 will join the 3,700 members of Local 200...
Trade
Capitol Hill Shines Spotlight on #SOSJobs manufacture this ...The fight to Save Our Steel Jobs came to Capitol Hill on Wednesday, as the Senate Finance Committee held a hearing looking at how enforcing trade rules can level the playing field for U.S. companies and workers...
Mexican Shale Industry Hoist on Nafta-Induced Gang Violence Petard naked capitalism ...There’s perilous little recognition in the US of how much of the rise in gang violence and drug wars, as well as much harsher economic conditions for ordinary people, is the direct result of Nafta...
State Battles
Union Dues Deduction Bill Advances In Pennsylvania WHTM ...Business-backed legislation that would restrict labor union deductions from the paychecks of unionized public employees is advancing in the Pennsylvania state Legislature...
Under Scott Walker, Wisconsin keeps increasing its long-term borrowing The Cap Times ...Under Walker’s 2013-15 budget, debt service will climb even higher, claiming 5.26% of general fund dollars in 2014 and 4.88% in 2015, according to WISTAX. The state’s historical debt level target has been 4%...
War On Workers
U.S. Economy Shrank in First Quarter by Most in Five Years Bloomberg ...Gross domestic product fell at a 2.9 percent annualized rate, more than forecast and the worst reading since the same three months in 2009, after a previously reported 1 percent drop, the Commerce Department said today in Washington...
Microsoft lawyer says future is ‘bleak’ because of NSA surveillance RT ...Microsoft’s top lawyer doesn’t see much reason to be optimistic going forward if the National Security Agency doesn’t stop its bulk collection of private data, pointing to a “bleak future” and a lack of justice and accountability...
Walmart Flunks Its Fact-Check: The Truth Behind Its Sarcastic Response To The Times Salon.com ...Walmart isn’t going away and any conversation about wages, manufacturing and the reliance on public benefits by the employees of America’s largest corporations is ultimately going to include its participation. This latest salvo seems to indicate it remains intent on making it as unproductive a conversation as possible...
Miscellaneous
Supreme Court Issues Bold Ruling On Cell Phone Privacy Think Progress ...As of today, in nearly all circumstances, the police must obtain a warrant before they can search through your cell phone...
Fifty Years After Freedom Summer, The Voting Rights Act Is Needed More Than Ever (opinion) Moyers & Company ...All across the country, we’re seeing the most significant push to restrict voting rights since Reconstruction...
Downtown D.C. Traffic Gridlocked As Taxi Drivers Protest Uber, Lyft, Sidecar Washington Post ...Drivers in and around downtown D.C. were gridlocked in traffic Wednesday as a caravan of angry taxi drivers made its way from East Potomac Park to Freedom Plaza — in a protest against app-based ride sharing services such as UberX...
DC Cabbies Join Protest Against Online Services The Hill ... The protest is being organized by the Washington, D.C. Taxi Operators Association, which is affiliated with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters union. The union said cab drivers in the nation’s capital are upset because Internet-based taxi services don't face the same regulations as rank-and-file operators...
Teamsters hold 'Just Practicing' picket in Mobile to protest waste company's proposed health insurance plan changes AL.com ...Republic wants to be able to change health insurance plans without having to bargain with its workers, even though the National Labor Relations Board ruled that Republic is required to bargain over any changes to workers' health care," Jim Gookins, secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 991, said in a press release...
How Do Los Angeles Uber Drivers Protest? They Take a Beach Day Bloomberg ...DeWolf says he and his fellow drivers were spurred by concerns over the company’s refusal to shoulder responsibility for insuring drivers; capricious-seeming policy changes, such as a recent announcement that pre-2010 cars will be phased out for Uber Black or Uber SUV services; and opaque disciplinary procedures...
Teamsters go on strike against concrete company Turnto10 ...Twenty-two men from the Teamsters union in Smithfield and Cranston went on strike Wednesday morning. "We believe in a fair day's work for a fair day's pay," said Stu Mundy, a union supporter...
Teamsters Local 43 Overwhelmingly Votes To Merge With Local 200 Teamsters Local 200 ... Teamsters Local 200 announced that members of Local 43 in Racine, Wisc. overwhelmingly voted to merge with the Milwaukee-based chapter. With the vote, the more than 600 members of Local 43 will join the 3,700 members of Local 200...
Trade
Capitol Hill Shines Spotlight on #SOSJobs manufacture this ...The fight to Save Our Steel Jobs came to Capitol Hill on Wednesday, as the Senate Finance Committee held a hearing looking at how enforcing trade rules can level the playing field for U.S. companies and workers...
Mexican Shale Industry Hoist on Nafta-Induced Gang Violence Petard naked capitalism ...There’s perilous little recognition in the US of how much of the rise in gang violence and drug wars, as well as much harsher economic conditions for ordinary people, is the direct result of Nafta...
State Battles
Union Dues Deduction Bill Advances In Pennsylvania WHTM ...Business-backed legislation that would restrict labor union deductions from the paychecks of unionized public employees is advancing in the Pennsylvania state Legislature...
Under Scott Walker, Wisconsin keeps increasing its long-term borrowing The Cap Times ...Under Walker’s 2013-15 budget, debt service will climb even higher, claiming 5.26% of general fund dollars in 2014 and 4.88% in 2015, according to WISTAX. The state’s historical debt level target has been 4%...
War On Workers
U.S. Economy Shrank in First Quarter by Most in Five Years Bloomberg ...Gross domestic product fell at a 2.9 percent annualized rate, more than forecast and the worst reading since the same three months in 2009, after a previously reported 1 percent drop, the Commerce Department said today in Washington...
Microsoft lawyer says future is ‘bleak’ because of NSA surveillance RT ...Microsoft’s top lawyer doesn’t see much reason to be optimistic going forward if the National Security Agency doesn’t stop its bulk collection of private data, pointing to a “bleak future” and a lack of justice and accountability...
Walmart Flunks Its Fact-Check: The Truth Behind Its Sarcastic Response To The Times Salon.com ...Walmart isn’t going away and any conversation about wages, manufacturing and the reliance on public benefits by the employees of America’s largest corporations is ultimately going to include its participation. This latest salvo seems to indicate it remains intent on making it as unproductive a conversation as possible...
Miscellaneous
Supreme Court Issues Bold Ruling On Cell Phone Privacy Think Progress ...As of today, in nearly all circumstances, the police must obtain a warrant before they can search through your cell phone...
Fifty Years After Freedom Summer, The Voting Rights Act Is Needed More Than Ever (opinion) Moyers & Company ...All across the country, we’re seeing the most significant push to restrict voting rights since Reconstruction...
Friday, May 16, 2014
Woot! Missouri lawmakers end session without RTW, Paycheck Deception on ballot
Both were a top priority of Missouri House Speaker Tim Jones and a small group of lobbyists from Washington D.C. Jones billed “Paycheck Protection” legislation as another way to “skin the cat” to make Missouri a “Right to Work” state.
Jones' goal was to impress shadowy Washington D.C. groups with plenty of money to donate to his potential run for statewide office. Jones tried to hand control of Missouri's Statehouse over to one of America's most prominent corporate shills. It was only the strong bipartisan opposition to these anti-worker bills that prevented such a takeover.
This is a significant victory but there isn't much time to celebrate. “Right to Work” and Paycheck Deception bills are expected back in Missouri. The next session will begin January 2015. This is a good time to redouble efforts to get involved to help elect legislators who support working families.
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
Today's Teamster News 05.13.14
Teamster News
Teamsters End Strike At PepsiCo Plant Indianapolis Star ...A 10-day strike involving about 350 Teamsters who work at a PepsiCo bottling plant on the Northwest side ended after they approved a new five-year contract...
National Labor Relations Board Rules In Favor Of Teamsters Against Durham teamster.org ...School bus drivers and monitors in Santa Rosa County, Fla., who are members of Teamsters Local 991 in Mobile, Ala., have won a major victory in a decision handed down by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in Washington, D.C...
AGY, Union Leaders Remain Mum As 'Lock Out' Continues Aiken Standard ...Employees aren't the only ones being "locked out" after Aiken's AGY plant reportedly deactivated the access badges of all it's workers more than a week ago...
Trade
The Free-Trade Regime: Oligarchy In Action Asia Times ...The United States is not really a democracy. That's the (simplified) conclusion of a recent study from Princeton University. Instead, economic elites and special interest groups enjoy tremendous sway in Washington, while "the preferences of the average American...
Trade accord carries health warning Stuff ...a trade deal is interfering with New Zealand doing the right thing to control cigarettes...
State Battles
Missouri Senate Republicans send two priorities back to House after late-night deal is struck St. Louis Post-Dispatch ...Democrats agreed to stand down on a constitutional amendment to allow some early voting in Missouri and a measure to extend the waiting period before an abortion. In exchange, Senate Republicans agreed not to push for voter photo identification or the paycheck deduction bill...
Florida Couple Fined $746 For Crime Of Feeding Homeless People Think Progress ...After feeding the hungry in a Daytona Beach park every weekend for more than a year, it's just as easy to imagine Chico and Debbie Jiminez given a ticker-tape parade as what they actually got: a slew of citations and a permanent ban from the park...
GOP Vote Scheme Finally Imploding: Why The End May Be Here Salon.com ...it seems that the recent landmark court ruling in WI, followed by last week’s towel toss in Pennsylvania and embarrassing revelations in Iowa, may be seen in the not-too-distant future as the moment that the GOP “voter fraud” fraud finally began to permanently unravel...
For State Workers, a Thaw in Frozen Wages Stateline ...Government workers across the U.S. are expected to get raises this year, many of them for the first time since the Great Recession spurred states to freeze wages, furlough employees and slash workforces...
War On Workers
Looting The Pension Funds Rolling Stone Magazine ...In the final months of 2011, almost two years before the city of Detroit would shock America by declaring bankruptcy in the face of what it claimed were insurmountable pension costs, the state of Rhode Island took action to avert what it called its own looming pension crisis...
A Deal to Dodge the Tax Man in America New York Times ...Pfizer’s pursuit of AstraZeneca raises a huge public policy red flag. It plans to move its holding company to Britain from the United States so it can achieve a much lower tax rate and use cash that it has held abroad to avoid paying United States taxes...
ALEC Fires Back, But Proves Its 'Pro-Business' State Index Is Bogus Los Angeles Times ...Plainly stung by the chorus of ridicule that has greeted their latest attempt to paint anti-union policies and tax cuts for the rich as pathways to economic nirvana, the folks at the American Legislative Exchange Council have struck back with a "response to the critics"...
Despite Falling Revenues, Walmart Increases Pay for Top Execs firedoglake ...despite falling revenues, and despite only reluctantly paying minimum wage to its workers, Walmart increased the pay for its top executives...
Making Ends Meet At Walmart New York Times ...This has not been a good year for Walmart shareholders. Amid a torrid market over the last 12 months, this giant retailer's stock has flat lined, reflecting a slowdown in sales growth...
The Minimum Wage Loophole That's Screwing Over Waiters And Waitresses Mother Jones ...As Republicans stonewall President Obama's initiative to raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to $10.10 an hour by 2016, some state lawmakers have taken the matter into their own hands...
Players Union Has Been Beneficial For Baseball Philadelphia Inquirer ...A prominent plaque at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum contains this familiar quotation from French-born historian Jacques Barzun: "Whoever wants to learn the heart and mind of America had better learn baseball"...
Teamsters End Strike At PepsiCo Plant Indianapolis Star ...A 10-day strike involving about 350 Teamsters who work at a PepsiCo bottling plant on the Northwest side ended after they approved a new five-year contract...
National Labor Relations Board Rules In Favor Of Teamsters Against Durham teamster.org ...School bus drivers and monitors in Santa Rosa County, Fla., who are members of Teamsters Local 991 in Mobile, Ala., have won a major victory in a decision handed down by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in Washington, D.C...
AGY, Union Leaders Remain Mum As 'Lock Out' Continues Aiken Standard ...Employees aren't the only ones being "locked out" after Aiken's AGY plant reportedly deactivated the access badges of all it's workers more than a week ago...
Trade
The Free-Trade Regime: Oligarchy In Action Asia Times ...The United States is not really a democracy. That's the (simplified) conclusion of a recent study from Princeton University. Instead, economic elites and special interest groups enjoy tremendous sway in Washington, while "the preferences of the average American...
Trade accord carries health warning Stuff ...a trade deal is interfering with New Zealand doing the right thing to control cigarettes...
State Battles
Missouri Senate Republicans send two priorities back to House after late-night deal is struck St. Louis Post-Dispatch ...Democrats agreed to stand down on a constitutional amendment to allow some early voting in Missouri and a measure to extend the waiting period before an abortion. In exchange, Senate Republicans agreed not to push for voter photo identification or the paycheck deduction bill...
Florida Couple Fined $746 For Crime Of Feeding Homeless People Think Progress ...After feeding the hungry in a Daytona Beach park every weekend for more than a year, it's just as easy to imagine Chico and Debbie Jiminez given a ticker-tape parade as what they actually got: a slew of citations and a permanent ban from the park...
GOP Vote Scheme Finally Imploding: Why The End May Be Here Salon.com ...it seems that the recent landmark court ruling in WI, followed by last week’s towel toss in Pennsylvania and embarrassing revelations in Iowa, may be seen in the not-too-distant future as the moment that the GOP “voter fraud” fraud finally began to permanently unravel...
For State Workers, a Thaw in Frozen Wages Stateline ...Government workers across the U.S. are expected to get raises this year, many of them for the first time since the Great Recession spurred states to freeze wages, furlough employees and slash workforces...
War On Workers
Looting The Pension Funds Rolling Stone Magazine ...In the final months of 2011, almost two years before the city of Detroit would shock America by declaring bankruptcy in the face of what it claimed were insurmountable pension costs, the state of Rhode Island took action to avert what it called its own looming pension crisis...
A Deal to Dodge the Tax Man in America New York Times ...Pfizer’s pursuit of AstraZeneca raises a huge public policy red flag. It plans to move its holding company to Britain from the United States so it can achieve a much lower tax rate and use cash that it has held abroad to avoid paying United States taxes...
ALEC Fires Back, But Proves Its 'Pro-Business' State Index Is Bogus Los Angeles Times ...Plainly stung by the chorus of ridicule that has greeted their latest attempt to paint anti-union policies and tax cuts for the rich as pathways to economic nirvana, the folks at the American Legislative Exchange Council have struck back with a "response to the critics"...
Despite Falling Revenues, Walmart Increases Pay for Top Execs firedoglake ...despite falling revenues, and despite only reluctantly paying minimum wage to its workers, Walmart increased the pay for its top executives...
Making Ends Meet At Walmart New York Times ...This has not been a good year for Walmart shareholders. Amid a torrid market over the last 12 months, this giant retailer's stock has flat lined, reflecting a slowdown in sales growth...
The Minimum Wage Loophole That's Screwing Over Waiters And Waitresses Mother Jones ...As Republicans stonewall President Obama's initiative to raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to $10.10 an hour by 2016, some state lawmakers have taken the matter into their own hands...
Players Union Has Been Beneficial For Baseball Philadelphia Inquirer ...A prominent plaque at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum contains this familiar quotation from French-born historian Jacques Barzun: "Whoever wants to learn the heart and mind of America had better learn baseball"...
Wednesday, May 7, 2014
Today's Teamster News 05.07.14
Teamster News
AGY Seeks 'Collective Bargaining Agreement' Aiken Standard ...AGY released a statement in response to a demonstration by employees that was initially called a strike, but is now being called a "lockout". Employees of the plant began standing outside the plant entrances on Wagener Road and U.S. 78 on Friday...
Teamsters back cutting Swift CEO voting power with stock structure changes Overdrive ...The Teamsters union is pushing a plan to change Swift Transportation’s dual-class stock structure in order to give stockholders equal voting power...
Jeff Klein Snags Teamsters Endorsement New York Observer ...State Senator Jeff Klein, who is facing a Democratic primary challenge, is set to snag the endorsement of the teamsters union later this morning–marking one of his largest union nods so far...
Convention Center: Teamsters, Carpenters could be out by weekend Philly.com ...THE TEAMSTERS and carpenters who set up exhibits at the Pennsylvania Convention Center could find themselves out of work by Saturday, after refusing yesterday to sign a labor agreement that changes their work rules...
Trade
U.S. Trade Deficit Drops 3.6 Percent In March ABC News ...The U.S. trade deficit narrowed in March as exports rebounded to the second highest level on record, led by strong gains in sales of aircraft, autos and farm goods...
State Battles
Missouri Senate Looks To Curb Union Fee Collection The Missourian ...The Missouri Senate is expected to debate legislation this week that would curb the ability of public employee unions to collect fees from workers' paychecks...
Surprise! 'Pro-business' policies hurt state economic growth (opinion) Los Angeles Times ...What's worst about these ALEC policies, Chinn reports, is that the relentless budget-cutting they require leave crucial state services, particularly education, gasping for breath. That's a formula for long-term decline, not growth...
Tax Breaks Abound in Wisconsin, but Job Growth Remains Slow Wisconsin Budget Project ...Wisconsin lawmakers have cut taxes 43 times since 2011, reducing revenue by $1.9 billion over that period and limiting investments in Wisconsin’s schools, workforce, and transportation networks. Despite – or because of – the substantial tax cuts, private sector job growth in Wisconsin has been slower than the national average...
Companies Ramp Up Fight Against $10.10 Wage CNN Money ...Businesses are pulling out all the stops to fight a federal minimum wage increase to $10.10 from $7.25 an hour. A new commercial went up on cable news channels last week from the Employment Policies Institute...
War On Workers
Even Millionaires Think The Rich Should Pay Higher Taxes Huffington Post ...In the heated debate of inequality, the wealthy are usually portrayed as the cause rather than the solution. But CNBC's first-ever Millionaire Survey reveals that 51 percent of American millionaires believe inequality is a "major problem" for the U.S. and nearly two-thirds support higher taxes on the wealthy...
Billionaires try to convince Americans it’s good to import foreign workers, increase immigration Bangor Daily News ...Since 2007, political lobbies spent a whopping $1.5 billion to expand immigration, according to the watchdog Sunlight Foundation...
Jungle Jack Frustrated With The Koch Brothers Involvement In Columbus Zoo Levy WBNS ...One of the most recognized faces in Central Ohio - Jack Hanna, Director Emeritus of the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium - says he is frustrated by the involvement of a Washington, DC based group and it's efforts to defeat the Columbus Zoo levy...
Koch Group Tries To Sink Ohio Zoo’s Tax Proposal: ‘There Is No Issue We Won’t Get Involved In’ Think Progress ...a proposal for a modest tax increase to fund the zoo’s programs has attracted the attention of Americans for Prosperity, a national group funded by conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch...
Bombshell Report: $100 Million in Taxpayer $$ Wasted or Stolen by Deregulated Charter Industry Diane Ravitch's Blog ...A new report reveals massive waste, fraud, and corruption in the charter industry, where private corporations control public funds with minimal oversight or accountability...
Oregon Woman Wins 3-Year Fight Against Wells Fargo Foreclosure ABC News ... her mortgage payments have been deposited by Wells Fargo. Despite efforts to clear up the mistake and paying more than $12,000 in attorney fees, her home went into judicial foreclosure...
Miscellaneous
The World Will Have Its First Trillionaire Within 25 Years Think Progress ...Billionaires will finally have someone to envy by 2040. The world will mint its first trillionaire within 25 years as the wealthiest people's investment gains push global inequality wider and wider...
How the Middle Class Lifestyle Became Unaffordable oftwominds.com ...As the real economy stagnated, the state (which includes the Federal Reserve) incentivized financialization and speculative credit bubbles to keep the money flowing to feed its own spending...
Oh, Good: More Sports Teams Asking Taxpayers To Pay For Their Stadiums Mother Jones ...Cleveland's professional sports teams have poured more than a million dollars into a fight they're hoping will end in victory on Tuesday. The end goal isn't a championship, though--it's a municipal tax extension...
AGY Seeks 'Collective Bargaining Agreement' Aiken Standard ...AGY released a statement in response to a demonstration by employees that was initially called a strike, but is now being called a "lockout". Employees of the plant began standing outside the plant entrances on Wagener Road and U.S. 78 on Friday...
Teamsters back cutting Swift CEO voting power with stock structure changes Overdrive ...The Teamsters union is pushing a plan to change Swift Transportation’s dual-class stock structure in order to give stockholders equal voting power...
Jeff Klein Snags Teamsters Endorsement New York Observer ...State Senator Jeff Klein, who is facing a Democratic primary challenge, is set to snag the endorsement of the teamsters union later this morning–marking one of his largest union nods so far...
Convention Center: Teamsters, Carpenters could be out by weekend Philly.com ...THE TEAMSTERS and carpenters who set up exhibits at the Pennsylvania Convention Center could find themselves out of work by Saturday, after refusing yesterday to sign a labor agreement that changes their work rules...
Trade
U.S. Trade Deficit Drops 3.6 Percent In March ABC News ...The U.S. trade deficit narrowed in March as exports rebounded to the second highest level on record, led by strong gains in sales of aircraft, autos and farm goods...
State Battles
Missouri Senate Looks To Curb Union Fee Collection The Missourian ...The Missouri Senate is expected to debate legislation this week that would curb the ability of public employee unions to collect fees from workers' paychecks...
Surprise! 'Pro-business' policies hurt state economic growth (opinion) Los Angeles Times ...What's worst about these ALEC policies, Chinn reports, is that the relentless budget-cutting they require leave crucial state services, particularly education, gasping for breath. That's a formula for long-term decline, not growth...
Tax Breaks Abound in Wisconsin, but Job Growth Remains Slow Wisconsin Budget Project ...Wisconsin lawmakers have cut taxes 43 times since 2011, reducing revenue by $1.9 billion over that period and limiting investments in Wisconsin’s schools, workforce, and transportation networks. Despite – or because of – the substantial tax cuts, private sector job growth in Wisconsin has been slower than the national average...
Companies Ramp Up Fight Against $10.10 Wage CNN Money ...Businesses are pulling out all the stops to fight a federal minimum wage increase to $10.10 from $7.25 an hour. A new commercial went up on cable news channels last week from the Employment Policies Institute...
War On Workers
Even Millionaires Think The Rich Should Pay Higher Taxes Huffington Post ...In the heated debate of inequality, the wealthy are usually portrayed as the cause rather than the solution. But CNBC's first-ever Millionaire Survey reveals that 51 percent of American millionaires believe inequality is a "major problem" for the U.S. and nearly two-thirds support higher taxes on the wealthy...
Billionaires try to convince Americans it’s good to import foreign workers, increase immigration Bangor Daily News ...Since 2007, political lobbies spent a whopping $1.5 billion to expand immigration, according to the watchdog Sunlight Foundation...
Jungle Jack Frustrated With The Koch Brothers Involvement In Columbus Zoo Levy WBNS ...One of the most recognized faces in Central Ohio - Jack Hanna, Director Emeritus of the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium - says he is frustrated by the involvement of a Washington, DC based group and it's efforts to defeat the Columbus Zoo levy...
Koch Group Tries To Sink Ohio Zoo’s Tax Proposal: ‘There Is No Issue We Won’t Get Involved In’ Think Progress ...a proposal for a modest tax increase to fund the zoo’s programs has attracted the attention of Americans for Prosperity, a national group funded by conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch...
Bombshell Report: $100 Million in Taxpayer $$ Wasted or Stolen by Deregulated Charter Industry Diane Ravitch's Blog ...A new report reveals massive waste, fraud, and corruption in the charter industry, where private corporations control public funds with minimal oversight or accountability...
Oregon Woman Wins 3-Year Fight Against Wells Fargo Foreclosure ABC News ... her mortgage payments have been deposited by Wells Fargo. Despite efforts to clear up the mistake and paying more than $12,000 in attorney fees, her home went into judicial foreclosure...
Miscellaneous
The World Will Have Its First Trillionaire Within 25 Years Think Progress ...Billionaires will finally have someone to envy by 2040. The world will mint its first trillionaire within 25 years as the wealthiest people's investment gains push global inequality wider and wider...
How the Middle Class Lifestyle Became Unaffordable oftwominds.com ...As the real economy stagnated, the state (which includes the Federal Reserve) incentivized financialization and speculative credit bubbles to keep the money flowing to feed its own spending...
Oh, Good: More Sports Teams Asking Taxpayers To Pay For Their Stadiums Mother Jones ...Cleveland's professional sports teams have poured more than a million dollars into a fight they're hoping will end in victory on Tuesday. The end goal isn't a championship, though--it's a municipal tax extension...
Saturday, April 5, 2014
Today's Teamster News 04.05.14
Teamster News
Judge Approves $1.25 Million Wage Settlement For Baltimore City School Bus Workers teamster.org ... The settlement covers damages for 372 class members over unpaid wages dating back to 2010...
Teamsters Hail ‘Groundbreaking’ LA-Area Waste Reduction Plan teamster.org ...Teamster leaders are hailing a vote by the Los Angeles City Council this week to overhaul the city’s waste-collection system so that more materials are diverted from landfills, and will give responsible employers a better chance to do the work...
Teamsters Airline Division Statement On Republic Pilots' Vote teamster.org ...pilots of Republic Airlines, represented by Teamsters Local Union 357 in Plainfield, Ind. and the Teamsters Airline Division, voted down a tentative agreement by the count of 289-1,643...
Teamsters Union Members Receive Raise As Ypsilanti Township Reigns In Legacy Costs Ann Arbor News ...Ypsilanti Township approved a 3 percent pay increase for five of its ten Teamsters Union members, but in exchange received significant savings in legacy costs...
Trade
US allows Boeing airplane component sales to Iran BBC News ...The US Treasury has granted plane manufacturer Boeing a licence to export certain spare commercial parts to Iran, a company spokesman says...
Teamsters: House USTR Hearing Raises Warnings of ‘Back To The Future’ With Trade teamster.org ...Unfortunately for working Americans, there is reason to doubt U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman’s outlook on how the Trans-Pacific Partnership and other trade agreements will affect their ability to support their families in the future...
State Battles
California Truckers Will Get $2.2 Million In Back Pay For Being Misclassified ThinkProgress ...A California logistics company must pay more than $2.2 million in back pay to seven short-haul truck drivers it had illegally misclassified as independent contractors, a state labor board ruled on Wednesday, continuing a streak of victories for drivers who are asserting their labor rights in the state...
MO House Narrowly Approves Bill Dubbed 'Paycheck Deception' By Opponents Crooks and Liars ...The bill, approved 83-69, now goes to the Senate. If they approve it, through a clause, it'll bypass the governor and go up for a referendum on the August ballot...
GOP governor uses taxpayer money to bust unions MSNBC ...There are bombshell revelations about GOP Gov. Bill Haslam’s influence in stopping the UAW from unionizing the Tennessee VW plant...
War on Workers
Hoffa Pushes Back On Labor Attacks At Public Colleges teamster.org ...Watch General President Jim Hoffa on “Real Money” as he takes on Republicans who want to block public universities from offering courses on labor issues...
Walmart Admits: 'Our Profits' Depend on 'Their Poverty' Common Dreams ...Although a notorious recipient of "corporate welfare," Walmart has now admitted that their massive profits also depend on the funding of food stamps and other public assistance programs...
Ruling Spurs Rush for Cash in Both Parties New York Times ...The ruling allows donors to make the maximum contribution to an unlimited number of campaigns, freeing donors from caps that required them to pick and prioritize from among each party’s candidates and national committees...
U.S. Creates 192,000 Jobs In March, Unemployment Rate Holds At 6.7% Associated Press ...The U.S. economy added 192,000 jobs in March, as the unemployment rate remained at 6.7 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday...
3 reasons to worry about March's jobs report CNN ...Average hourly wages fell in March...
Chicago McDonald's Workers Protest Against Wage Theft Progress Illinois ...As fans filed into the McDonald's All-American Games Wednesday evening, paying as much as $135 for a ticket to watch basketball played by future millionaires, fast food workers stood across the street in hopes of simply being paid what they are owed...
Loss Of Unemployment Benefits Has Now Cost Almost $5 Billion As Congress Dithers ThinkProgress ...The Senate moved one small step closer to passing a restoration of long-term jobless benefits that lapsed in December, costing states billions...
Sure, Bigwigs Want Labor Rights—But Only for Themselves In These Times ...What do Apple, the NCAA and Tennessee Republicans all have in common?...
More Than 20 Striking Students Arrested, Belying University of California’s Era of ‘Labor Peace’ In These Times ...A system-wide strike by graduate assistants at the University of California started with what their union calls an ugly irony. The work stoppage, staged in protest of past alleged attempts by UC to intimidate graduate workers for labor organizing, was quickly met with the arrest of 20 students at UC Santa Cruz who were picketing early Wednesday morning...
Hopkins Hospital Workers Speak Out against "Poverty Wages" The Real News ...The Real News talks to workers at Baltimore's internationally renowned Johns Hopkins Hospital as they prepare for a possible strike in order to obtain a $15 hourly wage...
Miscellaneous
Northwestern Football Union Leaders Take Their Case To Capitol Hill Washington Post ...As Northwestern's football players attempt to unionize, their leaders came to Capitol Hill this week to lobby for the effort and to protect their interests in advance of potential legislative battles...
How the Latest Supreme Court Ruling Will Mint Millions for Mass Media AlterNet ...The same companies which operate on our publicly owned airwaves stand to gain the most from McCutcheon and its earlier obscene counterpart, Citizens United...
Judge Approves $1.25 Million Wage Settlement For Baltimore City School Bus Workers teamster.org ... The settlement covers damages for 372 class members over unpaid wages dating back to 2010...
Teamsters Hail ‘Groundbreaking’ LA-Area Waste Reduction Plan teamster.org ...Teamster leaders are hailing a vote by the Los Angeles City Council this week to overhaul the city’s waste-collection system so that more materials are diverted from landfills, and will give responsible employers a better chance to do the work...
Teamsters Airline Division Statement On Republic Pilots' Vote teamster.org ...pilots of Republic Airlines, represented by Teamsters Local Union 357 in Plainfield, Ind. and the Teamsters Airline Division, voted down a tentative agreement by the count of 289-1,643...
Teamsters Union Members Receive Raise As Ypsilanti Township Reigns In Legacy Costs Ann Arbor News ...Ypsilanti Township approved a 3 percent pay increase for five of its ten Teamsters Union members, but in exchange received significant savings in legacy costs...
Trade
US allows Boeing airplane component sales to Iran BBC News ...The US Treasury has granted plane manufacturer Boeing a licence to export certain spare commercial parts to Iran, a company spokesman says...
Teamsters: House USTR Hearing Raises Warnings of ‘Back To The Future’ With Trade teamster.org ...Unfortunately for working Americans, there is reason to doubt U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman’s outlook on how the Trans-Pacific Partnership and other trade agreements will affect their ability to support their families in the future...
State Battles
California Truckers Will Get $2.2 Million In Back Pay For Being Misclassified ThinkProgress ...A California logistics company must pay more than $2.2 million in back pay to seven short-haul truck drivers it had illegally misclassified as independent contractors, a state labor board ruled on Wednesday, continuing a streak of victories for drivers who are asserting their labor rights in the state...
MO House Narrowly Approves Bill Dubbed 'Paycheck Deception' By Opponents Crooks and Liars ...The bill, approved 83-69, now goes to the Senate. If they approve it, through a clause, it'll bypass the governor and go up for a referendum on the August ballot...
GOP governor uses taxpayer money to bust unions MSNBC ...There are bombshell revelations about GOP Gov. Bill Haslam’s influence in stopping the UAW from unionizing the Tennessee VW plant...
War on Workers
Hoffa Pushes Back On Labor Attacks At Public Colleges teamster.org ...Watch General President Jim Hoffa on “Real Money” as he takes on Republicans who want to block public universities from offering courses on labor issues...
Walmart Admits: 'Our Profits' Depend on 'Their Poverty' Common Dreams ...Although a notorious recipient of "corporate welfare," Walmart has now admitted that their massive profits also depend on the funding of food stamps and other public assistance programs...
Ruling Spurs Rush for Cash in Both Parties New York Times ...The ruling allows donors to make the maximum contribution to an unlimited number of campaigns, freeing donors from caps that required them to pick and prioritize from among each party’s candidates and national committees...
U.S. Creates 192,000 Jobs In March, Unemployment Rate Holds At 6.7% Associated Press ...The U.S. economy added 192,000 jobs in March, as the unemployment rate remained at 6.7 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday...
3 reasons to worry about March's jobs report CNN ...Average hourly wages fell in March...
Chicago McDonald's Workers Protest Against Wage Theft Progress Illinois ...As fans filed into the McDonald's All-American Games Wednesday evening, paying as much as $135 for a ticket to watch basketball played by future millionaires, fast food workers stood across the street in hopes of simply being paid what they are owed...
Loss Of Unemployment Benefits Has Now Cost Almost $5 Billion As Congress Dithers ThinkProgress ...The Senate moved one small step closer to passing a restoration of long-term jobless benefits that lapsed in December, costing states billions...
Sure, Bigwigs Want Labor Rights—But Only for Themselves In These Times ...What do Apple, the NCAA and Tennessee Republicans all have in common?...
More Than 20 Striking Students Arrested, Belying University of California’s Era of ‘Labor Peace’ In These Times ...A system-wide strike by graduate assistants at the University of California started with what their union calls an ugly irony. The work stoppage, staged in protest of past alleged attempts by UC to intimidate graduate workers for labor organizing, was quickly met with the arrest of 20 students at UC Santa Cruz who were picketing early Wednesday morning...
Hopkins Hospital Workers Speak Out against "Poverty Wages" The Real News ...The Real News talks to workers at Baltimore's internationally renowned Johns Hopkins Hospital as they prepare for a possible strike in order to obtain a $15 hourly wage...
Miscellaneous
Northwestern Football Union Leaders Take Their Case To Capitol Hill Washington Post ...As Northwestern's football players attempt to unionize, their leaders came to Capitol Hill this week to lobby for the effort and to protect their interests in advance of potential legislative battles...
How the Latest Supreme Court Ruling Will Mint Millions for Mass Media AlterNet ...The same companies which operate on our publicly owned airwaves stand to gain the most from McCutcheon and its earlier obscene counterpart, Citizens United...
Friday, April 4, 2014
Today's Teamster News For April 4, 2014
Teamster News
CCTA strike ends; Service resumes Friday WPTZ.com ...The Chittenden County Transit Authority Board of Commissioners unanimously approved a three-year contract for its bus drivers Thursday afternoon, effectively restoring service...
Trade
Vietnamese Fish are Unsafe for American Consumption, but the WTO Won’t Let Us Protect Ourselves Economy in Crisis ...U.S. production is half of what once was. 60 percent of all catfish in U.S. markets is imported from Vietnam, which has driven half of all American catfish farms out of production. These imported fish are often raised in polluted water and have been found to contain illegal antibiotics and harmful substances such as pesticides and fungicides...
Japan, And The Trans-Pacific Partnership: All In, Or Out? Roll Call ...U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman will give Congressional lawmakers an update on the Obama administration's trade agenda Thursday, including its efforts to close out Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations...
U.S. Trade Deficit Hits $42.3 Billion In February ABC News ...The U.S. trade deficit climbed to the highest level in five months in February as demand for American exports fell while imports increased slightly...
State Battles
House Gives Initial Approval To Paycheck Legislation OzarksFirst ...The Missouri House of Representatives has given initial passage to legislation that is alternately called "paycheck protection" by its supporters and "paycheck deception" by its opponents...
Public Sector Unions Protest Changes To Dues Collection Missourian ...Public employee union members tried to knock out two birds with one stone Wednesday afternoon. The Communication Workers of America and the Service Employees International Union fanned out across the Capitol for their annual public workers' lobby day...
Interfaith Partnership Opposes "Right-To-Work" Legislation St. Louis Review ...The Cabinet of the Interfaith Partnership of Greater St. Louis has issued a statement opposing all proposed right-to-work/freedom-to-work legislation or calls for referendum being considered by the Missouri Legislature...
War on Workers
Ruling’s Breadth Hints That More Campaign Finance Dominoes May Fall New York Times ... there is no reason to think that the march toward deregulating election spending will stop with the ruling in McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission...
Do-Nothing Congress Does Something: Gives GE A Big Tax Break Testosterone Pit ...Congress is infamous for doing nothing, as people who have lost their unemployment benefits viscerally know. However, today the Senate Financial Services Committee started the process of enacting the “Expiring Provisions Improvement Reform and Efficiency (EXPIRE) Act.”...
Congressional Progressive Caucus Calls For Stronger Action Against Wage Theft Washington Post ...The leaders of the Congressional Progressive Caucus this week sent a letter to Labor Secretary Thomas Perez urging the Labor Department to step up its enforcement actions against wage theft...
Hamburgled: Nine Out Of Ten Fast Food Workers Have Experienced Wage Theft Think Progress ...A new poll finds that 89 percent of fast food workers nationwide say they experience wage theft. That means 9 out of 10 fast food workers don't get the pay they earned...
Miscellaneous
Northwestern Football Players To Vote On Union April 25 Chicago Tribune ...Northwestern football players are set to vote April 25 on whether they want to be represented by a union...
Rogue alcoholic court reporter kept writing ‘I hate my job’ New York Post ...An alcoholic Manhattan court stenographer went rogue, channeling his inner “Shining” during a high-profile criminal trial and repeatedly typing, “I hate my job, I hate my job” instead of the trial dialogue...
CCTA strike ends; Service resumes Friday WPTZ.com ...The Chittenden County Transit Authority Board of Commissioners unanimously approved a three-year contract for its bus drivers Thursday afternoon, effectively restoring service...
Trade
Vietnamese Fish are Unsafe for American Consumption, but the WTO Won’t Let Us Protect Ourselves Economy in Crisis ...U.S. production is half of what once was. 60 percent of all catfish in U.S. markets is imported from Vietnam, which has driven half of all American catfish farms out of production. These imported fish are often raised in polluted water and have been found to contain illegal antibiotics and harmful substances such as pesticides and fungicides...
Japan, And The Trans-Pacific Partnership: All In, Or Out? Roll Call ...U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman will give Congressional lawmakers an update on the Obama administration's trade agenda Thursday, including its efforts to close out Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations...
U.S. Trade Deficit Hits $42.3 Billion In February ABC News ...The U.S. trade deficit climbed to the highest level in five months in February as demand for American exports fell while imports increased slightly...
State Battles
House Gives Initial Approval To Paycheck Legislation OzarksFirst ...The Missouri House of Representatives has given initial passage to legislation that is alternately called "paycheck protection" by its supporters and "paycheck deception" by its opponents...
Public Sector Unions Protest Changes To Dues Collection Missourian ...Public employee union members tried to knock out two birds with one stone Wednesday afternoon. The Communication Workers of America and the Service Employees International Union fanned out across the Capitol for their annual public workers' lobby day...
Interfaith Partnership Opposes "Right-To-Work" Legislation St. Louis Review ...The Cabinet of the Interfaith Partnership of Greater St. Louis has issued a statement opposing all proposed right-to-work/freedom-to-work legislation or calls for referendum being considered by the Missouri Legislature...
War on Workers
Ruling’s Breadth Hints That More Campaign Finance Dominoes May Fall New York Times ... there is no reason to think that the march toward deregulating election spending will stop with the ruling in McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission...
Do-Nothing Congress Does Something: Gives GE A Big Tax Break Testosterone Pit ...Congress is infamous for doing nothing, as people who have lost their unemployment benefits viscerally know. However, today the Senate Financial Services Committee started the process of enacting the “Expiring Provisions Improvement Reform and Efficiency (EXPIRE) Act.”...
Congressional Progressive Caucus Calls For Stronger Action Against Wage Theft Washington Post ...The leaders of the Congressional Progressive Caucus this week sent a letter to Labor Secretary Thomas Perez urging the Labor Department to step up its enforcement actions against wage theft...
Hamburgled: Nine Out Of Ten Fast Food Workers Have Experienced Wage Theft Think Progress ...A new poll finds that 89 percent of fast food workers nationwide say they experience wage theft. That means 9 out of 10 fast food workers don't get the pay they earned...
Miscellaneous
Northwestern Football Players To Vote On Union April 25 Chicago Tribune ...Northwestern football players are set to vote April 25 on whether they want to be represented by a union...
Rogue alcoholic court reporter kept writing ‘I hate my job’ New York Post ...An alcoholic Manhattan court stenographer went rogue, channeling his inner “Shining” during a high-profile criminal trial and repeatedly typing, “I hate my job, I hate my job” instead of the trial dialogue...
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
Today's Teamster News 04.01.14
Teamster News
CCTA Management and Drivers Still Make No Deal Burlington Free Press ...After another marathon negotiation session, no deal was reached between Chittenden County Transportation Authority management and the Teamsters Local 597 bus drivers' union, the two sides said Saturday...
City of Chicago Member wins Primary Election for Cook County Board Local 700 ...Teamsters Local 700 member Luis Arroyo, Jr. will soon transition from a motor truck driver for the City of Chicago to a democratic nominee for the Cook County Board of Commissioners...
Tom O’Donnell Replaces Leo Reed As Director Of Teamsters Deadline Hollywood ...Tom O’Donnell, the current president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 817 in New York, has been named director of the Teamsters Motion Picture and Theatrical Trades Division, replacing the venerable Leo Reed, who left the post in January after 25 years at the helm...
Teamsters: Lack of county pay raises hurts services Topeka Capital Journal ...Shawnee County’s ability to provide quality services is suffering because the county commission isn’t giving employees pay raises, Teamsters Union members said at Monday’s commission meeting...
Trade
Trans-Pacific Partnership: Geopolitics, Not Growth The National Interest ...If you have to pick a winner, it’s Vietnam by a significant margin. By 2025, Vietnam would stand to gain nearly $96 billion or 28 percent of its GDP. This is largely due to exports increasing an estimated 37 percent...
Why do a majority of Americans oppose fast-tracking the TPP? The New American ...A recent poll reveals a majority of Americans oppose giving President Obama an end run around the constitution by fast tracking the Trans Pacific Partnership...
State Battles
Right to Work Vote in Missouri House Could Have Narrow Margin St. Louis Post-Dispatch ...One business priority touted by Republican Leadership has been slow to move out of the Missouri House this session. Right-to-work legislation has stalled partly because of divisions within the Republican Party and concerns the issue could endanger Republicans in swing districts...
Employee misclassification affects Illinois workers' compensation benefits Digital Journal ...The independent contractor versus employee classification may affect whether you will qualify for workers' compensation benefits following an on-the-job injury...
New York state joins NYC in suing FedEx for shipping untaxed cigarettes Reuters ...New York State joined New York City in suing package delivery company FedEx Corp for allegedly violating state and federal laws by illegally delivering contraband cigarettes to people's homes...
New York Times suggests Wisconsin voting changes are part of larger GOP swing-state effort Cap Times ...A story this weekend notes that laws like the new one to reduce voting hours in Wisconsin are also being passed in other states where the electorate swings between Republicans and Democrats...
'Paycheck protection' lets some workers get free benefits (Opinion) Patriot News ...The Paycheck Protection Act would destroy the current system of union dues and fair share payments for public employees and put in its place an unfair one...
Detroit: bankrupt city readies for divisive $450m Red Wings arena The Guardian ...Billionaire Mike Illitch to build new hockey stadium but critics question use of $284.5m of public money...
Arizona GOP gives private prison company $1 million to house inmates who don’t exist Raw Story ...Lobbyists for the private prison company GEO Group convinced lawmakers to include almost $1 million extra in funding despite the fact that the Arizona Department of Corrections claimed the money wasn’t needed...
War on Workers
U.S. Regulators Say Oil Industry Withholding Data on Rail Crashes Oil Price ...Federal regulators said on March 28 that the oil industry was withholding key information related to the series of train derailments and explosions involving transporting crude oil...
Chemical industry-funded senators want to hide chemical industry funding of studies Raw Story ...OSHA chief David Michaels wants to update guidelines for working with silica dust, a significant hazard for construction workers and others exposed to the industrial byproduct that can cause lung cancer and other deadly diseases...
Walmart Realizes It’s Losing Billions Of Dollars By Denying Workers More Hours ThinkProgress ...Walmart will begin adding worker hours this year as part of an effort to address complaints about empty shelves at the company’s understaffed stores. Fixing the chain’s stocking problems could be worth $3 billion per year, a tacit acknowledgment that Walmart’s notorious efforts to wring productivity out of skeleton crews have hurt its bottom line...
Walmart Has A Lower Hiring Rate Than Harvard Admissions Rates Crooks and Liars ...It’s hard to find oneself among the freshman class at America’s top universities–and it should be! However, you may find it surprising to know that it is actually tougher to find a job at Walmart than it is to attend one of these schools...
Payday loans, overdraft fees can drain finances Post and Courier ...A new federal report has detailed reasons why payday lending is a financial horror that traps people in a cycle of high-interest debt...
Miscellaneous
New Alabama food truck regulations prevent local churches from feeding the homeless The Raw Story ...Food truck regulations that went into effect on January 1, 2014 are preventing churches in Birmingham, Alabama from feeding the homeless...
CCTA Management and Drivers Still Make No Deal Burlington Free Press ...After another marathon negotiation session, no deal was reached between Chittenden County Transportation Authority management and the Teamsters Local 597 bus drivers' union, the two sides said Saturday...
City of Chicago Member wins Primary Election for Cook County Board Local 700 ...Teamsters Local 700 member Luis Arroyo, Jr. will soon transition from a motor truck driver for the City of Chicago to a democratic nominee for the Cook County Board of Commissioners...
Tom O’Donnell Replaces Leo Reed As Director Of Teamsters Deadline Hollywood ...Tom O’Donnell, the current president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 817 in New York, has been named director of the Teamsters Motion Picture and Theatrical Trades Division, replacing the venerable Leo Reed, who left the post in January after 25 years at the helm...
Teamsters: Lack of county pay raises hurts services Topeka Capital Journal ...Shawnee County’s ability to provide quality services is suffering because the county commission isn’t giving employees pay raises, Teamsters Union members said at Monday’s commission meeting...
Trade
Trans-Pacific Partnership: Geopolitics, Not Growth The National Interest ...If you have to pick a winner, it’s Vietnam by a significant margin. By 2025, Vietnam would stand to gain nearly $96 billion or 28 percent of its GDP. This is largely due to exports increasing an estimated 37 percent...
Why do a majority of Americans oppose fast-tracking the TPP? The New American ...A recent poll reveals a majority of Americans oppose giving President Obama an end run around the constitution by fast tracking the Trans Pacific Partnership...
State Battles
Right to Work Vote in Missouri House Could Have Narrow Margin St. Louis Post-Dispatch ...One business priority touted by Republican Leadership has been slow to move out of the Missouri House this session. Right-to-work legislation has stalled partly because of divisions within the Republican Party and concerns the issue could endanger Republicans in swing districts...
Employee misclassification affects Illinois workers' compensation benefits Digital Journal ...The independent contractor versus employee classification may affect whether you will qualify for workers' compensation benefits following an on-the-job injury...
New York state joins NYC in suing FedEx for shipping untaxed cigarettes Reuters ...New York State joined New York City in suing package delivery company FedEx Corp for allegedly violating state and federal laws by illegally delivering contraband cigarettes to people's homes...
New York Times suggests Wisconsin voting changes are part of larger GOP swing-state effort Cap Times ...A story this weekend notes that laws like the new one to reduce voting hours in Wisconsin are also being passed in other states where the electorate swings between Republicans and Democrats...
'Paycheck protection' lets some workers get free benefits (Opinion) Patriot News ...The Paycheck Protection Act would destroy the current system of union dues and fair share payments for public employees and put in its place an unfair one...
Detroit: bankrupt city readies for divisive $450m Red Wings arena The Guardian ...Billionaire Mike Illitch to build new hockey stadium but critics question use of $284.5m of public money...
Arizona GOP gives private prison company $1 million to house inmates who don’t exist Raw Story ...Lobbyists for the private prison company GEO Group convinced lawmakers to include almost $1 million extra in funding despite the fact that the Arizona Department of Corrections claimed the money wasn’t needed...
War on Workers
U.S. Regulators Say Oil Industry Withholding Data on Rail Crashes Oil Price ...Federal regulators said on March 28 that the oil industry was withholding key information related to the series of train derailments and explosions involving transporting crude oil...
Chemical industry-funded senators want to hide chemical industry funding of studies Raw Story ...OSHA chief David Michaels wants to update guidelines for working with silica dust, a significant hazard for construction workers and others exposed to the industrial byproduct that can cause lung cancer and other deadly diseases...
Walmart Realizes It’s Losing Billions Of Dollars By Denying Workers More Hours ThinkProgress ...Walmart will begin adding worker hours this year as part of an effort to address complaints about empty shelves at the company’s understaffed stores. Fixing the chain’s stocking problems could be worth $3 billion per year, a tacit acknowledgment that Walmart’s notorious efforts to wring productivity out of skeleton crews have hurt its bottom line...
Walmart Has A Lower Hiring Rate Than Harvard Admissions Rates Crooks and Liars ...It’s hard to find oneself among the freshman class at America’s top universities–and it should be! However, you may find it surprising to know that it is actually tougher to find a job at Walmart than it is to attend one of these schools...
Payday loans, overdraft fees can drain finances Post and Courier ...A new federal report has detailed reasons why payday lending is a financial horror that traps people in a cycle of high-interest debt...
Miscellaneous
New Alabama food truck regulations prevent local churches from feeding the homeless The Raw Story ...Food truck regulations that went into effect on January 1, 2014 are preventing churches in Birmingham, Alabama from feeding the homeless...
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