Fairness still eludes many mothers on the job

The two-income American family has become increasingly necessary is an age where a majority of workers are being stifled by stagnant or even falling wages. Mothers who entered in the workforce were in previous decades derided for such a decision. But that is not the case today.

Teamsters make sure women are treated fairly on the job.

A new study shows all-time high support of mothers holding down jobs by both teens and adults. For 12th graders, only 22 percent currently believe a preschool-aged child would suffer if their mother worked, down from 34 percent in the 1990s and 59 percent in the 1970s. Meanwhile, some 35 percent currently believe young children are hurt by having working mothers, down from 42 percent in 1998 and 68 percent in 1977.

Jean Twenge, a psychology professor at San Diego State University and a lead author of the study, said despite some stating that younger generations have turned against such a dynamic, the research doesn't bear that out:

This goes against the popular belief that millennials want to "turn back the clock," or that they are less supportive of working moms because their own mothers worked. Instead they are more supportive.

All this is as it should be. All women should be accepted in the workplace. After all, for many it is not a choice, but a necessity. Many single moms, for instance, are doing all they can to keep their families above water. But just because the public now supports the idea of moms on the job doesn't mean this country is making it easy for them to do so.

Take the lack of fairness in pay. Congress has repeatedly rejected the Paycheck Fairness Act in recent years. In essence, a majority of lawmakers are saying they don't have a problem with women making 78 cents on the dollar that men earn. It's nothing less than insulting.

Add to that the continuing problem of workers lacking paid sick leave as well as affordable childcare options, and working isn't really much of a deal for women. But many simply have no other option.

It is time U.S. elected officials recognize the value of women both at home and at work. They deserve equality in pay, and they should be allowed the flexibility to balance the home and work lives when events intervene.

Inequity is still an issue on Equal Pay Day

Women lawmakers took center stage today on Capitol Hill to demand fair pay for female workers in honor of Equal Pay Day. And the Teamsters are standing with them.

Teamster women receive equal pay. But many others don't.

Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), a repeated sponsor of the Paycheck Fairness Act, led the charge in urging Congress to take up and pass the legislation. The measure would help close the wage gap between women and men working equivalent jobs. The pay disparity costs women and their families $434,000 over the length of their careers.

She said:

We need to get equal pay in our law books and equal pay in our checkbooks, and to finally get rid of the harassment and intimidation women face in the marketplace when they even ask about how much pay they make or try to identify how much pay they should make. 

As it stands, women on average earn only 78 cents to every dollar made by a male. The Paycheck Fairness Act builds on the promise of the Equal Pay Act passed in 1963. It would empower women to negotiate for fair pay, close loopholes courts have created in the law, create incentives for companies to obey laws and bolster enforcement efforts.

The Teamsters are a strong supporter of the legislation. General President Jim Hoffa sent a letter to senators last fall telling them it was well past time for them to back efforts to equalize pay so that workers can better support their families.

The pay gap has barely budged in more than a decade. It hits nearly every occupation and is even worse for women of color. This not just a low-income problem. It is an every women problem. It is an American families problem.

It may be the 21st century, but for too many women it might as well be the Dark Ages. It is time for all of Congress to take a stand against this blatant inequity.

Today's Teamster News 09.17.14

Teamster News
Security Guard Killed On Set Of TNT’s ‘Falling Skies’  Deadline   ...A Teamsters security guard was killed Monday night on the set of TNT’s sci-fi drama Falling Skies when he was struck by an unattended truck that rolled down a hill and pinned him against a tree. ..
American Airlines, US Airways Passenger Service Agents Vote To Join Teamsters-CWA Association  teamster.org   ...The joint effort to organize passenger service agents was led by Communication Workers of America (CWA) which will represent about 7,500 new members; 1,300 new members will be represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters...
American Airlines, US Airways Workers Vote Overwhelmingly To Join Union  Huffington Post   ...In a combined union election, airline employees voted on whether to join CWA-IBT, a joint union of the Communications Workers of America and the Teamsters. An overwhelming 86 percent voted in favor of unionizing...
Bus drivers to school board: “We cannot promise labor peace”  Santa Rosa Press Gazette   ...Members of Teamsters Local 991 held a practice protest Thursday morning at the Santa Rosa County School District’s Professional Development Center...
Mobile Mini Workers in Kansas City Vote Unanimously to Join Teamsters Local 541  teamster.org   ...Local 541 is welcoming its new members at Mobile Mini in Kansas City, MO who voted unanimously for Teamster representation on September 10. There are four workers, plus temporary labor, included in the bargaining unit. “This is the first Mobile Mini unit that has been organized in the whole country that we know of,” said Local 541 Vice President and Business Representative Danny Gercone...
Con-way Freight Workers Vote To Organize In Laredo  DC Velocity   ...Con-way Freight workers in Laredo, Texas, agreed on Friday to unionize under the Teamsters union, the first time in the company's 31 years of operation that it will have to work with a bargaining unit...
Trade
Hoffa: TPA Might Move in Lame Duck  Politico   ...“The danger is, once the elections are over then they go into a smoke-filled room and pass an agreement which gives the president fast track,” Hoffa said at a press conference late Monday marking the start of a trade summit being held today in conjunction with Public Service International, a union representing public sector workers...
Public services unions open new trade agreements to public debate  PSI   ...Public services unions worldwide are determined to open to public scrutiy a new wave of global trade agreements, which are now being discussed behind closed doors...
Teamsters, Global Public Sector Trade Unions Warn Of Consequences Of Trade Policies  teamster.org   ...Meeting with global leaders of public sector unions, Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa and officials from Public Services International (PSI) discussed the growing concerns about the effects of public service trade policies as part of a public trade policy summit held today at Teamsters headquarters...
Teamsters, PSI Sound Alarm For Public Workers About Trade Deals  teamster.org   ...Three proposed trade deals could lead to millions of public sector workers losing their jobs worldwide if large corporations are allowed to impose their agenda, officials with the Teamsters and Public Services International (PSI) said today...
European Commission Denies EU Public Right To Express Views On TAFTA/TTIP And CETA  TechDirt   ...Since the European Commission refuses to take into account the public's views directly, people have turned to another mechanism to make their voices heard: a special kind of EU-wide petition called a European Citizens' Initiative (ECI). If sufficient signatures are obtained from around the EU, the European Commission is obliged to respond, but the bar to make that happen is set quite high...
State Battles
Walker Shrugs and Declares, "There are Plenty of Jobs Out There"  Uppity Wisconsin   ...The problem, though-- according to Walker-- isn't that enough jobs have been created, but that there aren't enough workers out there that can pass a drug test...
Electoral Chaos In Wisconsin (opinion)  New York Times   ...voter ID laws don’t stop fraud. They stop otherwise-eligible voters from coming to the polls. Richard Posner, a federal appellate judge who sits on the same court as the judges on the ruling panel, made just this point when he said last fall that he was mistaken to have approved a voter ID law in Indiana seven years ago...
State reports increase in 2013 workplace deaths  Associated Press   ...The Indiana Department of Labor reports the number of workplace deaths in Indiana was up in 2013, but it was still the third-lowest number of fatalities recorded in the past 22 years...
Keystone XL Operator Seeks South Dakota Approval  Bismarck Tribune   ...The operator of the long-delayed Keystone XL crude oil pipeline on Monday formally asked South Dakota's utility regulators to recertify the portion of the project that runs through the state...
Early voting schedule expanded by Secretary of State Jon Husted while court decision under appeal  cleveland.com   ...Secretary of State Jon Husted has set new early, in-person voting hours for all 88 Ohio counties to comply with a federal court judge's order that he continues to appeal...
Google Refuses to Respond to Letter Questioning ALEC Ties  The Progressive   ...The Center for Media and Democracy/Progressive Inc. (CMD) has joined more than 50 watchdog, advocacy, and labor groups in sending a letter to Google asking it to cut its ties to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). Google has not responded, telling the trade publication Ars Technica, "we aren't going to be commenting on this letter" and refusing to respond to repeated requests for comment made by the International Business Times...
ALEC Exodus Continues As Four More Companies Leave Lobby  Common Cause   ...Raytheon, Sempra Energy, Southern California Edison, and Illinois Tool Works all recently told Walden Asset Management that they no longer fund or have any involvement with ALEC...
War On Workers
500 truck drivers set to sue Walmart  UNI Global Union News   ...A federal district ruled on 10 September that over 500 current and former Walmart truck drivers in California can proceed with a class action lawsuit against the company it claims has violated state wage and hour laws...
Walmart's New Uniforms Made In Jordan, Despite 'Buy American' Campaign And Jordan Labor Controversy  International Business Times   ...The garment’s place of origin raised plenty of eyebrows due to the giant retailer’s recent pledge to buy more U.S.-made goods, as well as the slate of workers’ rights violations at Walmart suppliers in Jordan...
Lawmaker Assails Foreign Donations to Think Tanks  New York Times   ...Prominent Washington think tanks that routinely provide Congress with policy advice should refrain from taking foreign government donations, particularly from nations like Qatar that have been associated with financing extremist groups, a senior House lawmaker wrote this week in a letter to the president of the Brookings Institution...
Taxi unions to take on Uber app  itfglobal.org   ...Taxi worker unions meeting in Belgium today pledged to take action to prevent potentially unsafe competition by non-regulated freelance companies using app technologies...
New Jersey Loses 4th Casino As Trump Plaza Closes  ABC News   ...Theresa Volpe, a cocktail server at the Plaza for 26 years, is looking for a new job — along with about 8,000 others suddenly cut loose by Atlantic City's casinos since January. An unemployment assistance session will be held Wednesday at Boardwalk Hall...
Paycheck Fairness Act Blocked Again By Senate GOP  Huffington Post   ...The Paycheck Fairness Act would ban employers from retaliating against employees who share salary information with each other, impose harsher penalties for pay discrimination and require employers to be able to show that wage gaps between men and women are based on factors other than gender...
Narco Cash Flowed Through Citi, Deutsche Bank, BofA, Court Papers Say  100 Reporters   ...A Colombian cocaine cartel allegedly laundered millions of dollars in drug money through the international banking giants Citibank, Deutsche Bank and Bank of America, federal court papers reveal...
Chevron Draining Natural Gas After Worker Death  Washington Times   ...Authorities said that a Chevron Corp. subsidiary was still releasing natural gas Sunday from a pipeline off the Louisiana coast where a Saturday incident killed a maintenance worker...
Franchise Owners Flock To DC In Defense Of McDonald’s  The Hill   ...Fast food restaurateurs, hotel operators and other franchise owners from around the country are descending upon Washington on Tuesday to register their opposition to a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) finding they say threatens to undermine their business model...
A Hedge Fund Wants to Cut Jobs at Olive Garden, but Everyone Is More Worried About Losing Breadsticks  Slog The Stranger   ...The document is full of proposals to cut labor costs, including a call to modify "the front-of-the-house service to rely more on tipped servers, less on higher-salaried or higher-wage bussers and food runners," effectively moving payroll costs onto the customers, in addition to the company's attempts to train the customers to do the server's job themselves via tabletop tablet...
Miscellaneous
Why Tesla's Legal Breakthrough in Massachusetts Could Be a Big Deal  Bloomberg   ...Tesla (TSLA) appears to have finally blown by the last roadblock in its straight-to-consumers sales model in Massachusetts. The state’s supreme court on Monday rejected a legal challenge by the Massachusetts State Automobile Dealers Association that sought to shutter Tesla’s showroom just west of Boston...

Today's Teamster News 09.15.14

Teamster News
Con-Way Freight Workers in Texas Join Teamsters Local 657  teamster.org   ...On September 12, 2014, drivers and dockworkers at Con-Way Freight in Laredo, Texas voted to join Teamsters Local 657...
Gov. Brown Signs Teamster-Supported Bill to Stop Workplace Abuse  teamster.org   ...Teamsters celebrated as California Gov. Jerry Brown signed AB2053, a Local 2010-sponsored bill addressing workplace abuse, into law on this week, following months of Local 2010 members testifying and meeting with legislators...
Hoffa: Pass Paycheck Fairness  teamster.org   ...Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa urges Congress to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act...
Trade
The TTIP deal hands British sovereignty to multinationals  The Guardian   ...The actual aim is to strip away obstacles to large corporations making profits – such as regulations that protect our privacy, the environment, food safety and the economy from a rapacious financial sector. And – crucially – TTIP further opens up public services to private companies motivated primarily by profit rather than people’s needs...
Transparency and the TPP (opinion)  The Daily Camera   ...Fast Track should be off the table, here, for one reason alone: The entire process has been shrouded in secrecy, making debate nearly impossible...
State Battles
Gov. Chris Christie Economic Numbers Don't Add Up  International Business Times   ...The discrepancy surfaces amid intensifying criticism of the Christie administration's decision to triple the amount of pension money invested in high-fee private equity, venture capital, hedge fund, real estate and other "alternative investment" firms -- many of whose employees have made financial contributions to Republican organizations backing Christie's election campaigns...
War on Workers
Chevron Shuts Gas Pipeline After Accident  Wall Street Journal   ...A contract worker performing routine maintenance on an offshore gas pipeline was killed Saturday and two other workers were injured, the company said. The accident occurred 6 miles south of Timbalier Bay off the southeast coast of Louisiana, according to the U.S. Coast Guard...
California Home Sales Dive, Prices Hit Wall, Millennials Blamed  naked capitalism   ...92% of millennials who don’t already own a home do not plan on buying one in the future. Ever...
Letting the Rich Take All The Money (opinion)  firedoglake   ..."The current world situation is not nearly so dire, but there are parallels, particularly to 1937. Now, as then, people have been disappointed for a long time, and many are despairing. They are becoming more fearful for their long-term economic future...
Workers in Maine Buy Out Their Jobs, Set an Example for the Nation  truthout   ...More than 60 employees of three retail businesses - Burnt Cove Market, V&S Variety and Pharmacy, and The Galley - banded together to buy the stores and create the largest worker cooperative in Maine and the second largest in New England...
Miscellaneous
Google Driverless Future Vision at Odds With Automakers  Bloomberg   ...Google is sweeping up top talent and research, powered by an almost $400 billion stock-market value that tops those of Toyota Motor Corp., Volkswagen AG and General Motors Co. combined. It’s also keeping a tight grip on its mapping data and potential marketing plans for cars while helping to create what many in the auto industry consider unrealistic expectations for how quickly cars can safely become wholly driverless...
Should Oil Barons Like David Koch Be Funding Our Museums?  Vice   ..."You have more of these donors from the 1 percent who are embedding themselves in our cultural institutions and yet turning around and lobbying for the sequester and budget cuts for those same institutions..."

Today's Teamster News 09.14.14

Trade
Vietnam Rights Still Obstacle to TPP Membership  Voice of America   ...Vietnam is still facing challenges in its bid to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), despite optimism following 10 days of multi-national trade talks in Hanoi...
Chinese firms closing gap on US tech giants like Google  South China Morning Post   ...No Chinese company has wide international brand recognition, but e-commerce giant Alibaba may change that. Its initial public offering in New York on Friday, tipped to be the largest ever in the United States, has understandably gained global attention. If, as expected, US$21 billion is raised, the previous record flotation by Facebook and Visa will have been bested and its valuation could be almost as much as Amazon's. The listing will be a watershed moment for China's technology firms...
State Battles
Who’s Wrecking Michigan’s Public Education?  Democracy Tree   ...Judging by their actions, Republican lawmakers must think that the problem is too much money spent on education, given their unrelenting efforts to divert resources away from the School Aid Fund...
Ohio Has Lost 4,648 State Union Jobs Since John Kasich Took Office  Plunderbund   ...Some of these losses came when the Kasich administration privatized Ohio’s prison food service.  Kasich pitched the idea as a way to save the state money, but the contract with Aramark to provide meals to Ohio’s inmates has ended up causing nothing but problems as the company’s low-paid, poorly-trained workers have failed to show up for work, been caught having sex with the inmates and, again and again, can’t keep maggots out of the food...  
“Job Destruction” Rising Under Kasich, Top Economic Analyst Finds   Plunderbund   ...“July was the 21st consecutive month when Ohio’s job growth was below the USA national average,” Zeller, who resides in Cleveland, told ONB. “Ohio’s year over year job growth rate for July was 1.00%. The USA job growth for July was 1.92%. This was not just a one month fluke for July. It is a continual problem that has been ongoing for 21 straight months...
War on Workers
FedEx worker dies after being pinned by his delivery vehicle  Kansas City Star   ...the worker was outside of his delivery vehicle at a residence when it rolled and struck him. Authorities arrived and found the worker pinned between the vehicle and a house...
State Police Officer Dies in Pennsylvania Ambush  New York Times   ...Law enforcement officers from three states were searching on Saturday for a suspect or suspects who ambushed two troopers at a state police barracks in northeastern Pennsylvania, killing one and wounding the other...
7 women working tirelessly to attack equal rights for women  Salon   ...Here is a list of nine women who have made a career out of opposing women’s struggle for social, political and economic equality...
Student Loan Debt Burdens More Than Just Young People  New York Times   ...the number of aging Americans with outstanding student loans had almost tripled from about 700,000 in 2005, whether from long-ago loans for their own educations or more recent borrowing to pay for college degrees for family members...
Young Households Are Losing Ground in Income, Despite Education  New York Times   ...the median family headed by someone under 35 years of age earned $35,509 in 2013 dollars. Adjusted for inflation, that is 6 percent less than similar families reported in the first such survey, in 1989...
Miscellaneous
Spy court renews NSA metadata program  The Hill   ...With a surveillance reform bill stuck in the Senate, the federal court overseeing spy agencies on Friday reauthorized the National Security Agency’s controversial bulk collection of Americans' phone records...
France is a mess, and Europe is worried  Salon   ...Despite the pharaonic scale of the building work for the new railroad, the French economy has run out of steam...
Trying to Hit the Brake on Texting While Driving  New York Times   ...A chemical engineer who built a company that made motors and docking stations for NASA, Mr. Tibbitts, 57, spent the last five years coming up with a novel way to block incoming and outgoing texts and to prevent phone calls from reaching a driver...

Today's Teamster News 09.13.14

Teamster News
Con-Way Freight Workers in Texas Join Teamsters Local 657  teamster.org   ...On September 12, 2014, drivers and dockworkers at Con-Way Freight in Laredo, Texas voted to join Teamsters Local 657...There are 113 workers in the bargaining unit...
Teamsters file lawsuit to halt Quinn layoffs  Chicago Tribune   ...The Teamsters filed a lawsuit today to block the layoffs of dozens of workers Gov. Pat Quinn’s administration decided to let go...
Teamsters Push For FedEx Freight Union Vote In Indianapolis  Memphis Business Journal   ...The Teamsters union, as part of a national push to unionize FedEx Corp. employees, could soon ask for a secret vote in Indianapolis, Indiana...
Reading Of LRB Ruling Differs  Richmond News   ...Anita Dawson, who represents the 300 or so workers belonging to Teamsters Local 213, said talks resumed with the Swedish furniture giant Monday, and bargaining is expected to carry over into next week...
Teamsters Local 371 Endorse Anderson  Aledo Times Record   ...State Senate Candidate Neil Anderson (Rock Island) is honored to announce that the Teamsters Local 371 has endorsed his candidacy for the 36th District...
Trade
Outrage as EU blocks democratic challenge to US trade deal (opinion)  politics.co.uk   ...There is something rotten in the state of Europe when an unelected, unaccountable EU body can glibly inform millions of us that we no longer have the right to question its most dangerous and unpopular policies...
Sachs on TPP: "This is a NAFTA Treaty Writ Large"  Public Citizen   ..."These (trade deals) are largely industry- and lobby-driven activities. They are not yet in any way proved to be in the interest of American people, and this is a matter of significant concern...
State Battles
Federal appeals court reinstates voter ID law  Wisconsin State Journal   ...In a stunningly fast decision, a federal appeals court in Chicago reinstated Wisconsin’s voter photo identification law on Friday — just hours after three Republican-appointed judges heard arguments on reactivating the hotly debated law in time for the November election...
Uber Ride-Share Service Hits D.M. Today; Officials Balk  Des Moines Register   ...A popular ride-sharing service will debut today in Des Moines despite opposition from officials who say the company is not welcome unless it goes through the city's permitting process...
In The South, Workers Choosing To Unite And Triumph (opinion)  Raleigh News Observer   ...According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the five states last year with the most growth in union membership were all in the South...
NJ AFL-CIO files ethics complaint alleging pay-to-play in pension investment decisions by Christie Administration  NJ Politicker   ...New Jersey State AFL-CIO President Charles Wowkanech highlighted reports exposing what he sees as a disturbing pattern of big contributions to Christie for Governor or Republican organizations by firms handpicked to manage hundreds of millions in state pension funds...
War On Workers
Employers Are Stealing Billions Of Dollars A Year From Their Workers  New Republic   ...If wage theft is as prevalent in the rest of the United States as it is in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, then it costs workers more than $50 billion a year...
This Chart Shows How Meager U.S. Minimum Wage Truly Is  New Republic   ...minimum wage workers can buy much less with their wages than minimum wage workers in other developed countries...
A Showdown on the Pay Gap (opinion)  New York Times   ...The key vote, which will decide whether the Paycheck Fairness Act is allowed an up-or-down vote on the floor, is expected to occur on Monday....
Temporary foreign worker dies in freak accident, leaves chilling testimony  CBC News   ...A video uncovered by Radio-Canada paints a grim picture of the working conditions one temporary foreign worker allegedly experienced on an Ormstown, Que., farm...
Markets and Morality: Koch brothers foundation bankrolls Hope College student group  MLive   ...The Charles Koch Foundation supports more than 300 colleges and universities across the U.S., ranging from large public research institutions like Ohio State University to small private religious schools...
America's Poor, Deeper in Debt Than Ever  Bloomberg   ...More ominous is a steady increase in installment debt, a category that includes both student and auto loans -- areas that have recently seen a lot of questionable lending to lower-income borrowers...
It’s disgusting, and it’s still about race: Southern Republicans simply don’t want minorities to vote  Salon   ...the Republicans are actually creating the machinery for a carefully organized campaign to intimidate voters and to frighten members of minority groups from casting their ballots on November 3rd...
Miscellaneous
Wash. State Eyes WHL Teams Over Child Labor Laws  USA Today   ...Matt Erlich, a spokesman for the Washington Department of Labor and Industries, said that a 2013 complaint to the department pointed to how much money the players were paid in relation to time worked. The allegation hinted that it might be below the state's minimum wage...

Today's Teamster News 09.11.14

Teamster News
Teamsters Score Victory For Investor Rights At Sysco  teamster.org   ...The Teamsters Union scored a major victory for Sysco [NYSE: SYY] shareholders when the board of directors agreed this week to adopt the union’s proposal to amend company by-laws and provide shareholders with the right to call a special meeting. In 2015, a quorum of Sysco investors owning 25 percent of the company’s outstanding shares will be empowered to call a special meeting of shareholders...
Teamsters aim to organize FedEx Freight Indy drivers  Indianapolis Star   ...The Teamsters union is trying to whip up pro-union sentiment among 250 local FedEx Freight drivers as it lays the groundwork for a possible unionization vote...
NM Jail Employees In Union To Receive Retroactive Raise  Corrections One   ...It is the first contract for Teamsters Local 492 of Albuquerque, which was elected by jail employees to represent county detention sergeants, detention officers and booking specialists. The raise is for all union members regardless of their salary level...
Detroit's Creditors Are Morally Bankrupt (opinion)  teamster.org   ...Detroit city worker retirees have given more than their fair share when it comes to making pension concessions. So have current municipal employees. Together, they helped Motor City officials earlier this year cobble together a “grand bargain” as part of the city’s bankruptcy plan. But evidently, that’s still not enough for some...
Trade
U.S. groups leery of fast-track trade deals demand transparency  Reuters   ...More than 500 U.S. organizations on Wednesday urged the Obama administration to ditch the system of congressional authority to fast-track trade negotiations, demanding a more transparent method of handling trade negotiations...
U.S. Commerce Drops Duties On Turkish Steel Rebar Imports, Confirms Mexican Duties  Reuters   ...The U.S. Commerce Department on Tuesday dropped a preliminary decision to impose anti-dumping duties on steel rebar imports from Turkey while it confirmed anti-dumping duties on Mexican material of up to 66.7 percent...
State Battles
Gov. Brown Signs Bill Requiring Paid Sick Leave For Millions Of Workers  CBS Los Angeles   ...Assembly Bill 1522, known as The Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014, requires employers to provide paid sick leave to any employee who works in California for 30 or more days within a year from the commencement of employment starting on or after July 1, 2015...
Federal Panel Suggests Koch-Tied Judge Overreached When He Halted Walker Probe  Center for Media and Democracy   ...Tuesday's hearing suggested the 7th Circuit judges were wary of a federal court cutting off a state criminal investigation, being conducted under state law, and overseen by state courts...
Court Hears Arguments On Secret Scott Walker Investigation  MSNBC   ...A 7th Circuit Court of Appeals panel heard oral arguments Tuesday from Wisconsin prosecutors and attorneys for the conservative political group Wisconsin Club for Growth State prosecutors had been investigating since 2012 whether Walker and his campaign staff illegally coordinated with conservative groups to raise and spend campaign dollars in a way that skirted state contribution limits...
Minneapolis Leaders Consider $15-An-Hour Minimum Wage  Minneapolis Star Tribune   ...The new effort comes six weeks after the statewide minimum wage went up from $7.25 to $8 an hour — on its way to $9.50 in 2016.Cano is taking a measured approach. She said that process would begin with an update to the city’s rules for how it pays its contractors, then be expanded to include a higher minimum wage for all people working in Minneapolis, similar to Seattle’s recent minimum wage boost...
Tennessee Hasn't Inspected Tobacco Farms Since 2006  The Tennessean   ...unlike some other states, Tennessee has virtually no oversight of child labor on tobacco farms. The Tennessee Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the state agency charged with inspecting and enforcing safety and sanitation standards on the state's farms, has conducted no tobacco farm inspections since December 2006...
Homeowners steamrolled as Florida courts clear foreclosure backlog  Center for Public Integrity   ...“The state’s entire court system has been compromised,” says Matt Weidner, an outspoken foreclosure defense lawyer who practices in Tampa and St. Petersburg and blogs about the system. “They’re stripping away private property rights and transferring billions of dollars in assets from individuals to large entities...”
War On Workers
Senate advances Paycheck Fairness Act  The Hill   ...Senate Republicans decided not to block the advancement of the Paycheck Fairness Act. Democrats needed 60 votes to advance the legislation procedurally; the tally was 73-25 on Wednesday. The move will once again tie up the Senate in debate for days...
Republicans Make Big Advances Thanks to Citizens United  American Prospect   ...the ruling has significantly benefited Republican candidates for state legislatures -- especially in North Carolina and Tennessee...
Bible College President Admits He Used Foreign Students As Slave Labor  crooks and liars   ...Miller forced foreign students at his supposedly Christian "Bible college" to live in substandard living conditions, work long hours for little or no pay, and - when students complained - he threatened them with deportation...
Worker Killed After Being Run Over By Trash Truck  Tulsa's Channel 8   ...On Wednesday morning a Sand Springs sanitation worker lost his life while on the job...
Worker Killed In Johnston County Oil Rig Accident  KTEN   ...The sheriff's office says a man was killed when something went horribly wrong at an oil rig in Mannsville, Oklahoma...
Police and fire unions sue City of Indianapolis over alleged contract violations  Fox 58   ...Lawyers for the unions accuse city officials of violating union contracts. According to the lawsuit, the city plans to get rid of the current HMO advantage plan beginning this January. The plan would be replaced by a health savings account or (HSA)...
At The Uber For Home Cleaning, Workers Pay A Price For Convenience  Washington Post   ...At the end of a five-hour trip back and forth, averaged out, he has made $10 an hour, without any taxes being withheld, as they would be if he were an employee. What’s more, he doesn’t get workers’ compensation, unemployment insurance, time off or retirement benefits — all the perks and protections of working for a traditional business...
U.S. mortgage applications fall to lowest since Dec 2000: MBA  Reuters   ...Applications for U.S. home mortgages fell last week to the lowest since December 2000 as interest rates rose for the first time in four weeks, an industry group said on Wednesday...
Elizabeth Warren: Jamie Dimon Gets $8.5 Million Raise for Illegal Conduct at JPMorgan  Wall Street on Parade   ...despite the misconduct at these banks that generated tens of billions of dollars in settlement payments by the companies, not a single senior executive at these banks has been criminally prosecuted...
Senators and Other Experts to Appeals Court: NSA's Phone Records Program Is a Massive Invasion of Privacy  Electronic Frontier Foundation   ...Senators Ron Wyden, Mark Udall, and Martin Heinrich—members of the committee charged with overseeing the NSA—write that they “have seen no evidence that the bulk collection of Americans’ phone records has provided any intelligence of value that could not have been gathered through means that caused far less harm to the privacy interests of millions of Americans.”...
When A ‘Contractor’ Is Really A Cheated Employee (opinion) Tacoma News Tribune   ...‘Worker misclassification” is a dry term that smacks of paperwork mistakes and picayune regulations. But as a multi-state McClatchy Newspaper investigation has revealed, it’s often a deliberate scheme to cheat laborers out of wages and defraud the public...
Miscellaneous
Union Members Remember 9/11 By Rebuilding The World Trade Center  AFL-CIO   ...As millions of Americans took a moment this morning to remember the tragedy that occurred 11 years ago on Sept. 11 in New York City, Virginia and Pennsylvania, military veterans who’ve found careers through the Ironworkers, Laborers (LiUNA), Heat and Frost Insulators and Bricklayers (BAC) are rebuilding the World Trade Center in New York...