Teamsters
Gregory Floyd Named Teamsters International Trustee Teamster.org ...The International Brotherhood of Teamsters announced today that Gregory Floyd was appointed to serve as an International Trustee on the General Executive Board. Floyd is the President of Teamsters Local 237 in New York City, the union’s largest local chapter with more than 24,000 members that work in the public sector...
Ron Herrera Appointed Teamsters Western Region International Vice President Teamster.org ...Herrera has served on the General Executive Board as an International Trustee since 2012. Herrera, who was also recently appointed director of the Teamsters Solid Waste, Recycling and Related Industries Division, has spent his entire career as a vocal advocate for workers in Southern California. He is also Secretary-Treasurer of Teamsters Local 396 in Covina, Calif., Executive Director of the National Hispanic Caucus and Recording Secretary of Joint Council 42...
Willbros' Investors Call for Sale of Oil & Gas Business; Launch Watchdog Website Teamster.org ...The International Brotherhood of Teamsters have joined with other investors of Willbros Group [NYSE: WG] to demand swift and drastic actions by Willbros’ board of directors including the sale of its Oil and Gas segment. Willbros stock price has dropped 73 percent over the past year, hitting a record low of $1.50 in recent weeks...
Teamsters Gain Ally In Mexican Trucking Challenge Law360 ...A truck drivers' lobbying group has launched a bid to join the International Brotherhood of Teamsters' Ninth Circuit challenge of an Obama administration move to open the U.S. border to Mexican trucking services...
Failed fast track is nearly upon us -- again TeamsterNation ...Despite the Teamsters and our allies making clear that U.S. residents will be hurt if fast track can be used to quickly push secret trade deals like the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) through Congress, some lawmakers had decided to side with big business instead...
Global Labor & Trade
Greece defends bailout tactics as latest deadline looms The Guardian ...Eurozone officials disagreed with this assessment, saying Athens was still able to meet its international obligations, and regarded its ability to pay public sector wages and pensions as a domestic problem, according to the report. They deplored Greece’s unwillingness to discuss cuts to public sector pensions...
50 Reasons We Cannot Afford the TPP Public Citizen ...The TPP would extend the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) model that has contributed to massive U.S. trade deficits and job loss, downward pressure on middle class wages, unprecedented levels of inequality, lagging exports, new floods of agricultural imports, and the loss of family farms...
When corporate profit trumps human rights, we all lose (opinion) The Hill ...The United States is the largest economy in the world and a global leader in the advancement of human rights. We should not reward countries that abuse the human rights of LGBT people and women with a trade agreement that would establish those countries as privileged trading partners...
What Is a 'Corporatist Agenda,' and Where Can We Find One? (opinion) Huffington Post ...The White House has several serious challenges with this narrative. First, TPP looks like a corporatist agenda, walks like one, quacks like one, and has the same effect on my daily life as a corporatist agenda. When you say, "It's not a corporatist agenda," you immediately put your credibility in doubt...
What's driving Seattle's opposition to international trade pact? Income inequality, Bellevue rep says Puget Sound Business Journal ...The massive Trans Pacific Partnership is in “real trouble,” and much of that is because average voters find nothing in it for them. Regional debate about the 12-nation TPP trade agreement has been fiery recently, with the Seattle City Council last month unanimously voting to oppose it in the current form...
State & Living Wage Battles
Judge Overturns Gov. Rauner’s Order Restricting Union Dues CBS ...A judge has issued an order requiring Illinois government agencies to immediately reinstate mandatory union dues for nonmembers. Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner last month issued an executive order ending the dues, which nonmembers must pay to cover the cost of non-political union activities that benefit all employees...
Gov. Rauner hopes deal will speed resolution of union dues dispute State Journal-Register ...Gov. Bruce Rauner's administration has agreed to allow government agencies to resume taking fees from the paychecks of nonunion members to cover union representation while his lawsuit challenging the legality of the fees is resolved in court...
Reining in payday loans falls by wayside in New Mexico Associated Press ...High-interest lending practices have been a target of consumer advocates for decades in New Mexico, one of the poorest states in the country. They failed again this year in the Legislature, however, as bills that would have capped interest rates on payday loans at 36 percent fell by the wayside...
Why the federal government still sometimes doesn’t obey its own minimum wage laws Washington Post ...The Service Contract Act is obscure, and the Department of Labor has to police every complaint, so sometimes it's just overlooked. In its complaint, Good Jobs Nation says in total the violations have deprived 65 workers of $1,578,700 in wages at three workplaces over the two years the statute covers. Their findings illustrate the difficulty the federal government has had in enforcing its own laws...
Federal janitors and zoo groundskeepers file wage theft complaint Daily Kos ...The minimum wage isn't the only wage rate that applies—or should apply—to many federal contract workers, and a group of people who work in Washington, DC, institutions say they're not getting the pay they're legally entitled to. Janitors at the Department of Education, groundskeepers at the National Zoo, and tour bus drivers under a contract with the National Park Service say they haven't been getting the SCA-mandated prevailing wage
Workers Sue Walmart For Manipulating Employee Classification To Deny Them Overtime Pay Think Progress ...because they are labeled managers, they are exempt from federal overtime laws that require employers to pay workers time and a half for more than 40 hours of work a week. The lawsuit alleges that they “were ‘managers’ in name only because they did not have the managerial duties or authority”...
U.S. Labor
Doctors at University of California health clinics go on strike LA Times ...Unionized doctors began a strike Saturday at student health clinics on University of California campuses in Southern California, saying administrators had acted unfairly during negotiations for the physicians' first contract...
Striking Lyondell Houston refinery workers to weigh final offer Reuters ...More than 400 striking hourly workers represented by the United Steelworkers union (USW) at Lyondell Basell Industries' Houston refinery are scheduled to vote on the company's last, best and final offer on Monday and Tuesday, a local union official said on Sunday...
NEA: No Child Left Behind rewrite doesn’t level the playing field Washington Post ...The head of the country’s largest teachers union said that her organization does not support a bipartisan proposal in the Senate to replace the nation’s main federal education law because it does not go far enough to create equal educational opportunities for poor children...
Miscellaneous
Report Reveals How Corporate Tax Dodgers Avoid Paying Their Fair Share - or Any Share At All Common Dreams ...Pointing to egregious examples of Fortune 500 corporations "manipulating the tax system to avoid paying even a dime in tax on billions of dollars in U.S. profits," a new report from Citizens for Tax Justice makes a sharp case for corporate tax reform..,
Will Hillary's Constant Feeding at the Corporate Trough Make it Hard for Her to Embrace Needed Populism? (opinion) Alternet ...The Clinton campaign plans to focus on “economic security” – but the question is: whose? Clinton can adopt classical Democratic positions based on expanding the safety and boosting wages, but her ability to truly transform America's economy and reduce economic inequality will be hampered if she feels indebted to the very same corporations that made her husband and her rich...
Showing posts with label payday loans. Show all posts
Showing posts with label payday loans. Show all posts
Monday, April 13, 2015
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...
Saturday, March 15, 2014
Today's Teamster News 03.15.14
Teamster News
Donora OKs four-year Teamster contract for police Pittsburgh Tribune-Review ...The Donora, Penn. council unanimously approved a tentative four-year contract with Teamsters Local 205 that includes a wage increase and one-time bonuses for four full-time officers and several part-time officers...
Teamsters Secure New Contract with Richland Township Penn Live ...Richland Township employees will receive a raise of at least 75 cents per hour for this year, approved March 5, the same night that township supervisors endorsed a new five-year contract with Teamsters Local 205, based in White Oak, Penn., which represents six full-time public-works employees...
Food contracts cycle underway again for Southern Calif. Teamsters, UFCW People's World ...A historic core industry of the two major unions (Teamsters and UFCW) in Southern California, retail food, has begun its every-five-years-or-so cycle of bare-knuckle contract negotiations...
3 Labor Organizations Endorse Deb Goldberg for MA Treasurer GoLocalWorchester ...Deb Goldberg's campaign for Massachusetts Treasurer received a boost Thursday after receiving endorsements from Teamsters Local 25, Painters DC #35 and Brookline Fire Fighters Local 950, citing her dedication to wage equality and respect for workers...
Time for Congress to Move on Income Inequality teamster.org ...A Senate committee took up discussion of income inequality during a hearing this week focused on how to improve the lives of working families. But unfortunately, not everyone agreed that Capitol Hill needed to lend a hand to lift wages...
Trade
Teamsters: U.S.-Korea Trade Deal Marks Two Years of Failure teamster.org ...On the two-year anniversary of the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS), the Teamsters Union denounces the pact as another failed trade deal that enriches global corporations while eliminating middle-class jobs in the United States...
REPORT: NAFTA’s Deadly Legacy: Corporate Profits Over People And Planet MintPress News ...Ahead of Transatlantic and Transpacific trade deals, report authors warn: 'Remember NAFTA'...
State News
Attack on Labor The Tribune-Review ...In Harrisburg, legislation has been proposed to prevent the automatic withholding of union dues from public employees' paychecks...This legislation serves only to undermine the timely, efficient payment of monies that are rightfully due to unions. Automatic withholding is routinely used by employers to collect money owed for charitable contributions, for insurance premiums, for child support and for taxes...
Alabama House approves payday loan database Associated Press ...The Alabama House of Representatives on Thursday voted to create a state database to enforce an existing $500 limit on how much people can borrow at one time from the short-term lenders...
Bill targeting predatory lending sent to Maine governor Associated Press ...The Democratic-controlled House and Senate gave final approval to the bill this week that aims to protect Mainers from unlicensed online lenders who offer illegitimate short-term loans that can drain consumers' bank accounts with high interest rates and fees...
New York union membership grows 8% from 2012 to 2013 Long Island Newsday ...Unions in New York State added 145,000 members last year, the first increase since 2007, new federal data show. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Thursday that the ranks of private-sector and government unions in the state totaled nearly 2 million in 2013, a gain of 8 percent from a year earlier...
War on Workers
Wall Street and Multinationals Get Theirs While America Suffers Economic Populist ...corporations are stockpiling cash, tax free, abroad and added $206 billion to their coffers in 2013. The offshore cash holdings now are $1.95 trillion. Three of the biggest labor arbitragers and offshore outsourcers of them all, Microsoft, IBM and Apple, account for 18.2% of the 2013 offshore cash holdings increase. All of these companies have fired top tier Scientists and Engineers and replaced them with cheaper foreign guest workers as well as moved R&D jobs offshore...
Obama: If You 'Work More, You Should Get Paid More' WBNI ...President Obama signed a memo directing his labor secretary to rewrite the rules governing overtime in the country...
People Think We’re in a Recession. Don’t Blame Them. New York Times ... 57 percent still think the economy is in recession... for much of America, despite years of modest gross domestic product growth and strong stock market gains, the economy isn’t good...
A Relentless Widening of Disparity in Wealth New York Times ...the economic forces concentrating more and more wealth into the hands of the fortunate few are almost sure to prevail for a very long time...
Greek unemployment rises to 27.5 percent Associated Press ...Official figures show the unemployment rate in Greece increased to 27.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2013 as the economy struggled to emerge from a protracted recession...
New York City transit workers have personal info exposed Associated Press ...The Social Security numbers and other personal information of about 15,000 New York City transit workers has been found on a CD inside a refurbished computer sold by a retailer, according to a letter obtained by The Associated Press...
Bank of America back in court over $2.1 billion fraud penalties Reuters ...A U.S. judge wrestled on Thursday with a U.S. Justice Department request that Bank of America Corp pay $2.1 billion in penalties after being found liable for fraud over defective mortgages sold by its Countrywide unit...
Debt Collectors Go After Service Members Despite Protections Truthout ...Debt collectors are targeting members of the Armed Services by calling their superior officers, threatening reduction in rank and even courts-martial, despite stepped-up efforts to protect them from abuse, according to a government report issued last week...
More Than 900 Workers Have Already Died Building Qatar’s World Cup Facilities Smithsonian ...400 Nepalese migrant workers had already died at building sites. Between 2010 and 2012 more than 700 workers from India lost their lives working on construction sites in Qatar, too...
For the first time in years, contract talks between city and unions show both sides want a deal New York Daily News ...Talks began this week between the de Blasio administration and city unions over labor contracts for 300,000 municipal workers. It was night and day compared to the Bloomberg era...
Donora OKs four-year Teamster contract for police Pittsburgh Tribune-Review ...The Donora, Penn. council unanimously approved a tentative four-year contract with Teamsters Local 205 that includes a wage increase and one-time bonuses for four full-time officers and several part-time officers...
Teamsters Secure New Contract with Richland Township Penn Live ...Richland Township employees will receive a raise of at least 75 cents per hour for this year, approved March 5, the same night that township supervisors endorsed a new five-year contract with Teamsters Local 205, based in White Oak, Penn., which represents six full-time public-works employees...
Food contracts cycle underway again for Southern Calif. Teamsters, UFCW People's World ...A historic core industry of the two major unions (Teamsters and UFCW) in Southern California, retail food, has begun its every-five-years-or-so cycle of bare-knuckle contract negotiations...
3 Labor Organizations Endorse Deb Goldberg for MA Treasurer GoLocalWorchester ...Deb Goldberg's campaign for Massachusetts Treasurer received a boost Thursday after receiving endorsements from Teamsters Local 25, Painters DC #35 and Brookline Fire Fighters Local 950, citing her dedication to wage equality and respect for workers...
Time for Congress to Move on Income Inequality teamster.org ...A Senate committee took up discussion of income inequality during a hearing this week focused on how to improve the lives of working families. But unfortunately, not everyone agreed that Capitol Hill needed to lend a hand to lift wages...
Trade
Teamsters: U.S.-Korea Trade Deal Marks Two Years of Failure teamster.org ...On the two-year anniversary of the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS), the Teamsters Union denounces the pact as another failed trade deal that enriches global corporations while eliminating middle-class jobs in the United States...
REPORT: NAFTA’s Deadly Legacy: Corporate Profits Over People And Planet MintPress News ...Ahead of Transatlantic and Transpacific trade deals, report authors warn: 'Remember NAFTA'...
State News
Attack on Labor The Tribune-Review ...In Harrisburg, legislation has been proposed to prevent the automatic withholding of union dues from public employees' paychecks...This legislation serves only to undermine the timely, efficient payment of monies that are rightfully due to unions. Automatic withholding is routinely used by employers to collect money owed for charitable contributions, for insurance premiums, for child support and for taxes...
Alabama House approves payday loan database Associated Press ...The Alabama House of Representatives on Thursday voted to create a state database to enforce an existing $500 limit on how much people can borrow at one time from the short-term lenders...
Bill targeting predatory lending sent to Maine governor Associated Press ...The Democratic-controlled House and Senate gave final approval to the bill this week that aims to protect Mainers from unlicensed online lenders who offer illegitimate short-term loans that can drain consumers' bank accounts with high interest rates and fees...
New York union membership grows 8% from 2012 to 2013 Long Island Newsday ...Unions in New York State added 145,000 members last year, the first increase since 2007, new federal data show. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Thursday that the ranks of private-sector and government unions in the state totaled nearly 2 million in 2013, a gain of 8 percent from a year earlier...
War on Workers
Wall Street and Multinationals Get Theirs While America Suffers Economic Populist ...corporations are stockpiling cash, tax free, abroad and added $206 billion to their coffers in 2013. The offshore cash holdings now are $1.95 trillion. Three of the biggest labor arbitragers and offshore outsourcers of them all, Microsoft, IBM and Apple, account for 18.2% of the 2013 offshore cash holdings increase. All of these companies have fired top tier Scientists and Engineers and replaced them with cheaper foreign guest workers as well as moved R&D jobs offshore...
Obama: If You 'Work More, You Should Get Paid More' WBNI ...President Obama signed a memo directing his labor secretary to rewrite the rules governing overtime in the country...
People Think We’re in a Recession. Don’t Blame Them. New York Times ... 57 percent still think the economy is in recession... for much of America, despite years of modest gross domestic product growth and strong stock market gains, the economy isn’t good...
A Relentless Widening of Disparity in Wealth New York Times ...the economic forces concentrating more and more wealth into the hands of the fortunate few are almost sure to prevail for a very long time...
Greek unemployment rises to 27.5 percent Associated Press ...Official figures show the unemployment rate in Greece increased to 27.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2013 as the economy struggled to emerge from a protracted recession...
New York City transit workers have personal info exposed Associated Press ...The Social Security numbers and other personal information of about 15,000 New York City transit workers has been found on a CD inside a refurbished computer sold by a retailer, according to a letter obtained by The Associated Press...
Bank of America back in court over $2.1 billion fraud penalties Reuters ...A U.S. judge wrestled on Thursday with a U.S. Justice Department request that Bank of America Corp pay $2.1 billion in penalties after being found liable for fraud over defective mortgages sold by its Countrywide unit...
Debt Collectors Go After Service Members Despite Protections Truthout ...Debt collectors are targeting members of the Armed Services by calling their superior officers, threatening reduction in rank and even courts-martial, despite stepped-up efforts to protect them from abuse, according to a government report issued last week...
More Than 900 Workers Have Already Died Building Qatar’s World Cup Facilities Smithsonian ...400 Nepalese migrant workers had already died at building sites. Between 2010 and 2012 more than 700 workers from India lost their lives working on construction sites in Qatar, too...
For the first time in years, contract talks between city and unions show both sides want a deal New York Daily News ...Talks began this week between the de Blasio administration and city unions over labor contracts for 300,000 municipal workers. It was night and day compared to the Bloomberg era...
Friday, March 7, 2014
Today's Teamster News 03.07.14
Teamster News
Listen to Teamster Nation News for March 6-12 teamster.org ...McKesson CEO takes a $45 million cut to his pension after shareholders raised a stink at annual meeting, but is still set to make $114 million in retirement while some workers can’t afford healthcare. Thanks for listening to this podcast episode and be sure to subscribe...
Teamsters and Sarasota County agree on raises Herald-Tribune...After two and half years of negotiations, Sarasota County and the Teamsters Local 173 in Bradenton, Florida signed off on a new collective bargaining agreement for nearly 400 workers...
A Cuomo-de Blasio Airport Partnership (opinion by Joe Sitt and George Miranda) New York Daily News ...De Blasio must now take up the mantle as well — and use his powerful platform and microphone to drive improvements at our airports...
Mayor de Blasio Falls Short on Job Approval, But Handled Snow OK: NBC4 Poll NBC4 ...Two months into Mayor de Blasio's first term, fewer than four in 10 voters approve of his job performance as mayor, but a majority applauds his response to a series of storms during one of the snowiest winters in New York City history...
Teamsters: Ending Currency Manipulation Will Bring Worker Security teamster.org ...Efforts by other nations to keep the value of their currency artificially low are killing U.S. jobs and is a major reason why this country currently has an annual trade deficit in excess of $700 billion, a new Economic Policy Institute (EPI) report explains. Changing the system, the document states, would create 5.8 million jobs here...
Trade
Protesters oppose trade agreement Wisconsin State Farmer ...The group Family Farm Defenders organized a march to Rep. Ron Kind’s office in La Crosse Friday to urge him to oppose “fast track” authority and the pending Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) a trade agreement with Pacific Rim countries...
Radioactive Imported Dog Food Bowls. Trade Reform ...Petco has determined that one of its foreign suppliers used stainless steel mistakenly containing small quantities of Cobalt-60 when fabricating certain orders of certain SKUs/models of stainless steel pet food bowls. Cobalt-60 is a radioactive material commonly used in industrial gauging equipment and other uses...
State Battles
Conservative group Alec trains sights on city and local government The Guardian ...It has already quietly set up, and is making plans for the public launch of, an offshoot called the American City County Exchange (ACCE) that will target policymakers from “villages, towns, cities and counties”. The new organisation will offer corporate America a direct conduit into the policy making process of city councils and municipalities. Lobbyists acting on behalf of major businesses will be able to propose resolutions and argue for new profit-enhancing legislation in front of elected city officials, who will then return to their council chambers and seek to implement the proposals...
Miss. House passes bills meant to restrict unions Clarion Ledger ...Mississippi lawmakers are moving ahead with a package of bills to restrict some labor union organizing and picketing practices...
Republican Governor Will Protect His State’s Residents From Food Stamp Cuts ThinkProgress ...Gov. Tom Corbett (R-PA) will be the third governor (and the first Republican) to block Congress's food stamp cuts in his state...
10,000 state workers still without back pay KOAT 7 Albuquerque ...As much as $50 million has yet to arrive after a union beat state in a case that went to the New Mexico Supreme Court...
Illinois Legislation Supports Interest-Free Student Loans WIFR News ...Students nationwide are graduating college on average, up to $30,000 in debt and now new Illinois legislation could help offer interest-free loans...
Nebraska bill could benefit low-income parents Associated Press ...Some low-income parents would have a greater incentive to seek raises and promotions at work and to save for a child's college education, under a bill in the Nebraska Legislature...
No, Connecticut’s History-Making Paid Sick Leave Law Did Not Hurt Business ThinkProgress ...When Connecticut was considering whether to become the first state to require employers to offer their workers paid sick leave, businesses raised concerns that it would create an unbearable cost, forcing some to close, and that abuse would be rampant. But a new survey of employers in the state a year and a half after the law took effect shows those fears were unfounded...
Louisiana lawmakers seek to cap payday loan rates Associated Press ...Louisiana organizations that represent the elderly, the poor and others on fixed incomes want stiffer regulation of payday lending businesses that offer short-term loans with high interest rates of no greater than 36 percent annually...
Oklahoma House votes to make trooper dash cam videos public records News OK ...The Oklahoma Highway Patrol would be required to make trooper dash camera videos available for public viewing under a bill passed Wednesday by the state House of Representatives...
West Virginia House Passes Chemical Storage Bill In Effort To Prevent Future Spills ThinkProgress ...Nearly two months after Freedom Industry's leaky chemical storage tank on the Elk River in West Virginia contaminated the drinking water supply for 300,000 people, the House of Representatives passed a new bill late Wednesday night regulating chemical storage tanks...
War on Workers
Real World Evidence That Increasing The Minimum Wage Doesn’t Cost Jobs ThinkProgress
...Last month, conservatives seized on a Congressional Budget Office report showing that increasing the minimum wage could result in job loss to argue that President Obama’s push to pay workers more would undermine the American economy and stifle growth. But a growing body of real world experiences is already proving the nonpartisan economists wrong...
'Paycheck protection' is bad for unions, good for free-riding deadbeats (Opinion) Penn Live ...Once again, legislation has been proposed to prevent the automatic withholding of union dues from public employees' paychecks (House Bill 1507). This legislation serves only to undermine the timely, efficient payment of monies which are rightfully due to the union...
Miscellaneous
Bernie Sanders: ‘I Am Prepared to Run for President of the United States’ The Nation ...he says his political instincts tell him America is ready for a “political revolution.”...
Meet the Company That Can Track Everywhere You've Been and Tell Police About It AlterNet ...A security company collects data from license plate readers and shares it with police and federal law enforcement, no warrant needed...
New Report Says Rich Are Richer And Spending More Than Ever AlterNet ...A new report released this week by the elitist property management firm Knight Frank confirms the ranks of the rich are expanding, and they're spending their money with the gilded abandon so characteristic of our era...
Listen to Teamster Nation News for March 6-12 teamster.org ...McKesson CEO takes a $45 million cut to his pension after shareholders raised a stink at annual meeting, but is still set to make $114 million in retirement while some workers can’t afford healthcare. Thanks for listening to this podcast episode and be sure to subscribe...
Teamsters and Sarasota County agree on raises Herald-Tribune...After two and half years of negotiations, Sarasota County and the Teamsters Local 173 in Bradenton, Florida signed off on a new collective bargaining agreement for nearly 400 workers...
A Cuomo-de Blasio Airport Partnership (opinion by Joe Sitt and George Miranda) New York Daily News ...De Blasio must now take up the mantle as well — and use his powerful platform and microphone to drive improvements at our airports...
Mayor de Blasio Falls Short on Job Approval, But Handled Snow OK: NBC4 Poll NBC4 ...Two months into Mayor de Blasio's first term, fewer than four in 10 voters approve of his job performance as mayor, but a majority applauds his response to a series of storms during one of the snowiest winters in New York City history...
Teamsters: Ending Currency Manipulation Will Bring Worker Security teamster.org ...Efforts by other nations to keep the value of their currency artificially low are killing U.S. jobs and is a major reason why this country currently has an annual trade deficit in excess of $700 billion, a new Economic Policy Institute (EPI) report explains. Changing the system, the document states, would create 5.8 million jobs here...
Trade
Protesters oppose trade agreement Wisconsin State Farmer ...The group Family Farm Defenders organized a march to Rep. Ron Kind’s office in La Crosse Friday to urge him to oppose “fast track” authority and the pending Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) a trade agreement with Pacific Rim countries...
Radioactive Imported Dog Food Bowls. Trade Reform ...Petco has determined that one of its foreign suppliers used stainless steel mistakenly containing small quantities of Cobalt-60 when fabricating certain orders of certain SKUs/models of stainless steel pet food bowls. Cobalt-60 is a radioactive material commonly used in industrial gauging equipment and other uses...
State Battles
Conservative group Alec trains sights on city and local government The Guardian ...It has already quietly set up, and is making plans for the public launch of, an offshoot called the American City County Exchange (ACCE) that will target policymakers from “villages, towns, cities and counties”. The new organisation will offer corporate America a direct conduit into the policy making process of city councils and municipalities. Lobbyists acting on behalf of major businesses will be able to propose resolutions and argue for new profit-enhancing legislation in front of elected city officials, who will then return to their council chambers and seek to implement the proposals...
Miss. House passes bills meant to restrict unions Clarion Ledger ...Mississippi lawmakers are moving ahead with a package of bills to restrict some labor union organizing and picketing practices...
Republican Governor Will Protect His State’s Residents From Food Stamp Cuts ThinkProgress ...Gov. Tom Corbett (R-PA) will be the third governor (and the first Republican) to block Congress's food stamp cuts in his state...
10,000 state workers still without back pay KOAT 7 Albuquerque ...As much as $50 million has yet to arrive after a union beat state in a case that went to the New Mexico Supreme Court...
Illinois Legislation Supports Interest-Free Student Loans WIFR News ...Students nationwide are graduating college on average, up to $30,000 in debt and now new Illinois legislation could help offer interest-free loans...
Nebraska bill could benefit low-income parents Associated Press ...Some low-income parents would have a greater incentive to seek raises and promotions at work and to save for a child's college education, under a bill in the Nebraska Legislature...
No, Connecticut’s History-Making Paid Sick Leave Law Did Not Hurt Business ThinkProgress ...When Connecticut was considering whether to become the first state to require employers to offer their workers paid sick leave, businesses raised concerns that it would create an unbearable cost, forcing some to close, and that abuse would be rampant. But a new survey of employers in the state a year and a half after the law took effect shows those fears were unfounded...
Louisiana lawmakers seek to cap payday loan rates Associated Press ...Louisiana organizations that represent the elderly, the poor and others on fixed incomes want stiffer regulation of payday lending businesses that offer short-term loans with high interest rates of no greater than 36 percent annually...
Oklahoma House votes to make trooper dash cam videos public records News OK ...The Oklahoma Highway Patrol would be required to make trooper dash camera videos available for public viewing under a bill passed Wednesday by the state House of Representatives...
West Virginia House Passes Chemical Storage Bill In Effort To Prevent Future Spills ThinkProgress ...Nearly two months after Freedom Industry's leaky chemical storage tank on the Elk River in West Virginia contaminated the drinking water supply for 300,000 people, the House of Representatives passed a new bill late Wednesday night regulating chemical storage tanks...
War on Workers
Real World Evidence That Increasing The Minimum Wage Doesn’t Cost Jobs ThinkProgress
...Last month, conservatives seized on a Congressional Budget Office report showing that increasing the minimum wage could result in job loss to argue that President Obama’s push to pay workers more would undermine the American economy and stifle growth. But a growing body of real world experiences is already proving the nonpartisan economists wrong...
'Paycheck protection' is bad for unions, good for free-riding deadbeats (Opinion) Penn Live ...Once again, legislation has been proposed to prevent the automatic withholding of union dues from public employees' paychecks (House Bill 1507). This legislation serves only to undermine the timely, efficient payment of monies which are rightfully due to the union...
Miscellaneous
Bernie Sanders: ‘I Am Prepared to Run for President of the United States’ The Nation ...he says his political instincts tell him America is ready for a “political revolution.”...
Meet the Company That Can Track Everywhere You've Been and Tell Police About It AlterNet ...A security company collects data from license plate readers and shares it with police and federal law enforcement, no warrant needed...
New Report Says Rich Are Richer And Spending More Than Ever AlterNet ...A new report released this week by the elitist property management firm Knight Frank confirms the ranks of the rich are expanding, and they're spending their money with the gilded abandon so characteristic of our era...
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
Today's Teamster News 02.25.14
Teamster News
Here's 30 Billion Reasons Why Mexican Trucks Are No Joke Huffington Post ...The Mexican trucking industry has repeatedly failed to get its own carriers to participate in a cross-border pilot program created in 2011 to study whether Mexican truckers are meeting basic safety standards set up in the wake of NAFTA...
CCTA says it's open to continued contract negotiations with Teamsters Burlington Free Press ...The general manager of the Chittenden County Transportation Authority says CCTA is open to continued contract negotiations with the Teamsters Local 597, a bus drivers’ union that has suggested a work action could begin March 10 without a deal...
Academy Awards 2014: Workers Who Make Oscar Statuettes In Labor Dispute Reuters ...A labor dispute is playing out between Teamsters Local 743 and R.S. Owens in Chicago, where Academy Awards are manufactured...
Crews stage large rally in Burbank to support film tax credit Los Angeles Times ...More than 1,000 entertainment industry workers, including members of Teamsters Local 399, gathered in Burbank on Saturday, launching a campaign to support an expansion of California's film and TV tax credit program...
The War on Workers
Union: Detroit Restructuring Plan ‘A Gut Punch To City Workers And Retirees CBS News ... Now that Detroit’s emergency manager has laid out a plan for bankruptcy, city retirees are getting a look of what their future might include: big cuts to both their pensions and health insurance funds...
Bye Bye Chained CPI and Other Budget Surprises Economic Populist ... Only time will tell if chained CPI is really gone and the threat to reduce retirement benefits along with it...
The Grand Bargain’s dead. What now? msnbc ...Hopes for a Grand Bargain between the White House and Congress to overhaul entitlements and taxes disappeared many months ago. But President Obama is making the end of that era official in his 2015 budget...
This Is Your Brain on Poverty: What Science Tells Us About Poverty Truthout ...People in poverty suffer from many different psychological and physical problems and once they escape it, they become healthier...
Long-term unemployed describe lack of mobility, depression in personal stories PBS Newshour ...Amid a difficult economic landscape for out-of-work Americans, more than 1.7 million have lost their emergency unemployment benefits since Dec. 28...
Wal-Mart and Other Retailers Consider Higher Wages (Opinion) Wall Street Journal ...Note to the National Retail Federation: You can't keep fighting increases in the minimum wage and then wonder why consumers aren't spending more money in your members' stores...
Worse than Wal-Mart: Amazon’s sick brutality and secret history of ruthlessly intimidating workers Salon ...You might find your Prime membership morally indefensible after reading these stories about worker mistreatment...
Truckers: if Hampton Roads port traffic isn't fixed, work will stop Daily Press ...Though the independent truck drivers avoided talk of unionizing, a number of the drivers said collective action is needed to ensure executives at Hampton Roads' container ports take seriously the congestion at their facilities causing drivers to spend more of their days in lines and less time making money...
How Covert Agents Infiltrate the Internet to Manipulate, Deceive, and Destroy Reputations The Intercept ...western intelligence agencies are attempting to manipulate and control online discourse with extreme tactics of deception and reputation-destruction...
State Battles
Missouri lawmakers considering payday loan changes Associated Press ...A proposed overhaul of Missouri's loan industry would give borrowers more time to pay but could allow lenders to charge higher fees and interest...
Union asks Supreme Court to affirm right-to-work law is unconstitutional NWI Times ...The International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 150, is urging the Indiana Supreme Court to uphold Lake Superior Judge John Sedia's ruling that portions of the state's 2012 right-to-work law are unconstitutional...
Trade
Trans-Pacific Partnership: No deal at Singapore meeting BBC News ...An ambitious 12-nation free trade plan, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), has hit a new roadblock after four days of negotiations in Singapore. Sticking points over market access and differences over tariffs on imported goods were the main reasons cited…
'Trade' Deals on the Ropes Huffington Post ...The globalization agenda of American financial elites that has dominated both parties' trade policy for three decades is on the verge of crashing and burning. There is escalating, perhaps fatal, opposition to the proposed Pacific and Atlantic deals in both the U.S. Congress and among partner nations...
Japan, U.S. must play last card to successfully conclude TPP talks Japan News ...The Trans-Pacific Partnership trade talks appear to be reaching a make-or-break point over whether a broad agreement can be reached...
Miscellaneous
In Missouri, Rand Paul says the GOP needs more people with tattoos Kansas City Star ...“We need a more diverse party. People with tattoos, and without tattoos. With earrings, and without earrings,” said Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, a Republican, at a recent event...
Woes of Megacity Driving Signal Dawn of ‘Peak Car’ Era Bloomberg ...The world will reach “Peak Car” -- a point at which annual global sales growth will top out -- in the next decade, several auto-industry analysts predict...
Here's 30 Billion Reasons Why Mexican Trucks Are No Joke Huffington Post ...The Mexican trucking industry has repeatedly failed to get its own carriers to participate in a cross-border pilot program created in 2011 to study whether Mexican truckers are meeting basic safety standards set up in the wake of NAFTA...
CCTA says it's open to continued contract negotiations with Teamsters Burlington Free Press ...The general manager of the Chittenden County Transportation Authority says CCTA is open to continued contract negotiations with the Teamsters Local 597, a bus drivers’ union that has suggested a work action could begin March 10 without a deal...
Academy Awards 2014: Workers Who Make Oscar Statuettes In Labor Dispute Reuters ...A labor dispute is playing out between Teamsters Local 743 and R.S. Owens in Chicago, where Academy Awards are manufactured...
Crews stage large rally in Burbank to support film tax credit Los Angeles Times ...More than 1,000 entertainment industry workers, including members of Teamsters Local 399, gathered in Burbank on Saturday, launching a campaign to support an expansion of California's film and TV tax credit program...
The War on Workers
Union: Detroit Restructuring Plan ‘A Gut Punch To City Workers And Retirees CBS News ... Now that Detroit’s emergency manager has laid out a plan for bankruptcy, city retirees are getting a look of what their future might include: big cuts to both their pensions and health insurance funds...
Bye Bye Chained CPI and Other Budget Surprises Economic Populist ... Only time will tell if chained CPI is really gone and the threat to reduce retirement benefits along with it...
The Grand Bargain’s dead. What now? msnbc ...Hopes for a Grand Bargain between the White House and Congress to overhaul entitlements and taxes disappeared many months ago. But President Obama is making the end of that era official in his 2015 budget...
This Is Your Brain on Poverty: What Science Tells Us About Poverty Truthout ...People in poverty suffer from many different psychological and physical problems and once they escape it, they become healthier...
Long-term unemployed describe lack of mobility, depression in personal stories PBS Newshour ...Amid a difficult economic landscape for out-of-work Americans, more than 1.7 million have lost their emergency unemployment benefits since Dec. 28...
Wal-Mart and Other Retailers Consider Higher Wages (Opinion) Wall Street Journal ...Note to the National Retail Federation: You can't keep fighting increases in the minimum wage and then wonder why consumers aren't spending more money in your members' stores...
Worse than Wal-Mart: Amazon’s sick brutality and secret history of ruthlessly intimidating workers Salon ...You might find your Prime membership morally indefensible after reading these stories about worker mistreatment...
Truckers: if Hampton Roads port traffic isn't fixed, work will stop Daily Press ...Though the independent truck drivers avoided talk of unionizing, a number of the drivers said collective action is needed to ensure executives at Hampton Roads' container ports take seriously the congestion at their facilities causing drivers to spend more of their days in lines and less time making money...
How Covert Agents Infiltrate the Internet to Manipulate, Deceive, and Destroy Reputations The Intercept ...western intelligence agencies are attempting to manipulate and control online discourse with extreme tactics of deception and reputation-destruction...
State Battles
Missouri lawmakers considering payday loan changes Associated Press ...A proposed overhaul of Missouri's loan industry would give borrowers more time to pay but could allow lenders to charge higher fees and interest...
Union asks Supreme Court to affirm right-to-work law is unconstitutional NWI Times ...The International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 150, is urging the Indiana Supreme Court to uphold Lake Superior Judge John Sedia's ruling that portions of the state's 2012 right-to-work law are unconstitutional...
Trade
Trans-Pacific Partnership: No deal at Singapore meeting BBC News ...An ambitious 12-nation free trade plan, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), has hit a new roadblock after four days of negotiations in Singapore. Sticking points over market access and differences over tariffs on imported goods were the main reasons cited…
'Trade' Deals on the Ropes Huffington Post ...The globalization agenda of American financial elites that has dominated both parties' trade policy for three decades is on the verge of crashing and burning. There is escalating, perhaps fatal, opposition to the proposed Pacific and Atlantic deals in both the U.S. Congress and among partner nations...
Japan, U.S. must play last card to successfully conclude TPP talks Japan News ...The Trans-Pacific Partnership trade talks appear to be reaching a make-or-break point over whether a broad agreement can be reached...
Miscellaneous
In Missouri, Rand Paul says the GOP needs more people with tattoos Kansas City Star ...“We need a more diverse party. People with tattoos, and without tattoos. With earrings, and without earrings,” said Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, a Republican, at a recent event...
Woes of Megacity Driving Signal Dawn of ‘Peak Car’ Era Bloomberg ...The world will reach “Peak Car” -- a point at which annual global sales growth will top out -- in the next decade, several auto-industry analysts predict...
Friday, November 22, 2013
Today's Teamster News 11.22.13
Teamsters Joint Council 42 and Local 911 Endorse Lee Rogers for Congress Inland Empire ...Dr. Lee Rogers, candidate for Congress in California’s 25th District, announced today that he has picked up the endorsements of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 911 and their umbrella organization, Joint Council 42. Rogers, a podiatrist, is a member of the Teamsters Union...
Use Teamster-Made Ingredients for Thanksgiving teamster.org ...For your Thanksgiving recipes, use Teamster-made ingredients and support your brothers and sisters at these companies...
Waste Workers Near San Diego Ratify First Teamster Contract teamster.org ...Drivers and mechanics at Waste Management in Carlsbad, California, who voted to join Teamsters Local 683 in San Diego, have ratified their first contract...
New contract gives wage increases for dining workers The Daily Pennsylvanian ...Penn dining workers have finished negotiations with Bon Appetit, which will increase their wages and provide a healthcare package. Negotiations began in September, after the workers joined Teamsters Local 929...
Massena, highway department union reach four-year deal North Country Now ...The Town Council in Messena, New York, unanimously agreed to a four-year contract with the Teamsters Local 687 to cover the town Highway Department’s eight employees on Wednesday night...
Hoffa to Corporate America: 'Have You No Sense of Decency?' Huffington Post ...the average American family pays $6,000 a year to cover government tax breaks for big business....
Senator Sounds The Alarm On Social Security teamster.org ...The median retirement savings of U.S. workers near retirement age is only $12,000....
Walmart Workers Strike At Seven Stores In Dallas ThinkProgress ...Walmart workers called out or walked off the job at seven stores in Dallas, according to OUR Walmart activists, the group that has been organizing strikes and protests against the company...
Wal-Mart labor group promises 1,500 Black Friday protests next week Salon ...Amid scrutiny of Wal-Mart taking up employee-to-employee charity, strike wave continues against retail giant...
The Middle Class Is Disappearing Despite The Economic Recovery ThinkProgress ...There were nearly 700,000 fewer middle-income households since the began than during the economic crisis, according to new Census Bureau data...
The U.S. ranks 26th for life expectancy, right behind Slovenia Washington Post ...Back in the 1970s, Americans typically lived longer than residents of other countries. Not anymore, according to a new report...
‘I Watched My Patients Die of Treatable Diseases Because They Were Poor’ AlterNet ...A Galveston medical student describes life and death in the non-existent Texas safety net...
Tea party groups can't shield donors, FEC rules Politico ...The panel voted 3-2 against a proposal that would have allowed the Tea Party Leadership Fund to shield the names and information of their donors from public scrutiny...
What will happen to truck drivers when self-driving vehicles take over? Washington Post ...Google's test vehicles for its self-driving technology are a Lexus and a Prius. That suggests that Google sees self-driving as a technology for passenger cars. But self-driving technology will almost certainly affect industry and commerce first...
5 Signs the Rich Have Way Too Much Money AlterNet ...You can get a $5,000 hamburger for lunch. The Fleur de Lys restaurant in Las Vegas at Mandalay Bay offers the "Fleurburger 5000" for $5,000...
Cash America fined over claims of robo-signing, gouging military families Washington Post ...The $19 million settlement is the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s first with a payday lender...
UPS increasing rates by 4.9% in 2014 Associated Press ...The shipping company said that the number is an average of its UPS Ground, Air and International, and Air Freight rate increases for the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico...
Spanish court sentences 'Robin Hood' mayor Associated Press ...A Spanish court has sentenced a town mayor and four others to seven months in prison for occupying unused military land they wanted to be loaned to farmers hard hit by the economic crisis...
NY Signs DOL Deal to Tackle Misclassification; Payroll Fraud Protection Act of 2013 Introduced The We Party ...The state of New York has signed into an agreement with the U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division in an attempt to stop the misclassification of employees as independent contractors. New York is the 15th state to sign such an agreement...
Targets seek stay of investigation into Scott Walker's recall campaign and other groups Wisconsin State Journal ...Three unnamed petitioners are asking that a judge be ordered to temporarily halt a secret investigation into campaign activity by Gov. Scott Walker’s recall campaign and more than two dozen conservative political groups...
Wisconsin Employment: October 2013 Econbrowser ...Two numbers to remember: 84 thousand and 107 thousand. The first number is the amount by which actual October employment lags Governor Walker's promised path; the second is the amount by which the Administration's own forecast for January 2015 lags Walker's promised 250,000 net new jobs figure...
Use Teamster-Made Ingredients for Thanksgiving teamster.org ...For your Thanksgiving recipes, use Teamster-made ingredients and support your brothers and sisters at these companies...
Waste Workers Near San Diego Ratify First Teamster Contract teamster.org ...Drivers and mechanics at Waste Management in Carlsbad, California, who voted to join Teamsters Local 683 in San Diego, have ratified their first contract...
New contract gives wage increases for dining workers The Daily Pennsylvanian ...Penn dining workers have finished negotiations with Bon Appetit, which will increase their wages and provide a healthcare package. Negotiations began in September, after the workers joined Teamsters Local 929...
Massena, highway department union reach four-year deal North Country Now ...The Town Council in Messena, New York, unanimously agreed to a four-year contract with the Teamsters Local 687 to cover the town Highway Department’s eight employees on Wednesday night...
Hoffa to Corporate America: 'Have You No Sense of Decency?' Huffington Post ...the average American family pays $6,000 a year to cover government tax breaks for big business....
Senator Sounds The Alarm On Social Security teamster.org ...The median retirement savings of U.S. workers near retirement age is only $12,000....
Walmart Workers Strike At Seven Stores In Dallas ThinkProgress ...Walmart workers called out or walked off the job at seven stores in Dallas, according to OUR Walmart activists, the group that has been organizing strikes and protests against the company...
Wal-Mart labor group promises 1,500 Black Friday protests next week Salon ...Amid scrutiny of Wal-Mart taking up employee-to-employee charity, strike wave continues against retail giant...
The Middle Class Is Disappearing Despite The Economic Recovery ThinkProgress ...There were nearly 700,000 fewer middle-income households since the began than during the economic crisis, according to new Census Bureau data...
The U.S. ranks 26th for life expectancy, right behind Slovenia Washington Post ...Back in the 1970s, Americans typically lived longer than residents of other countries. Not anymore, according to a new report...
‘I Watched My Patients Die of Treatable Diseases Because They Were Poor’ AlterNet ...A Galveston medical student describes life and death in the non-existent Texas safety net...
Tea party groups can't shield donors, FEC rules Politico ...The panel voted 3-2 against a proposal that would have allowed the Tea Party Leadership Fund to shield the names and information of their donors from public scrutiny...
What will happen to truck drivers when self-driving vehicles take over? Washington Post ...Google's test vehicles for its self-driving technology are a Lexus and a Prius. That suggests that Google sees self-driving as a technology for passenger cars. But self-driving technology will almost certainly affect industry and commerce first...
5 Signs the Rich Have Way Too Much Money AlterNet ...You can get a $5,000 hamburger for lunch. The Fleur de Lys restaurant in Las Vegas at Mandalay Bay offers the "Fleurburger 5000" for $5,000...
Cash America fined over claims of robo-signing, gouging military families Washington Post ...The $19 million settlement is the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s first with a payday lender...
UPS increasing rates by 4.9% in 2014 Associated Press ...The shipping company said that the number is an average of its UPS Ground, Air and International, and Air Freight rate increases for the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico...
Spanish court sentences 'Robin Hood' mayor Associated Press ...A Spanish court has sentenced a town mayor and four others to seven months in prison for occupying unused military land they wanted to be loaned to farmers hard hit by the economic crisis...
NY Signs DOL Deal to Tackle Misclassification; Payroll Fraud Protection Act of 2013 Introduced The We Party ...The state of New York has signed into an agreement with the U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division in an attempt to stop the misclassification of employees as independent contractors. New York is the 15th state to sign such an agreement...
Targets seek stay of investigation into Scott Walker's recall campaign and other groups Wisconsin State Journal ...Three unnamed petitioners are asking that a judge be ordered to temporarily halt a secret investigation into campaign activity by Gov. Scott Walker’s recall campaign and more than two dozen conservative political groups...
Wisconsin Employment: October 2013 Econbrowser ...Two numbers to remember: 84 thousand and 107 thousand. The first number is the amount by which actual October employment lags Governor Walker's promised path; the second is the amount by which the Administration's own forecast for January 2015 lags Walker's promised 250,000 net new jobs figure...
Saturday, September 7, 2013
Today's Teamster News 09.07.13
Hoffa Signs Agreement With Brazil Union Leader teamster.org ...Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa and a top Brazilian labor leader inked an agreement today in Washington that will allow unions in the U.S. and Brazil to better work together and advocate for one another...
Teamsters Hold “Just Practicing” Picket at Darigold Teamsters Local 117 ...Teamster production workers and lab technicians who work at Darigold participated in “just practicing” picketing actions on Thursday at the company’s facilities in Issaquah and Seattle in protest to the company’s refusal to bargain in good faith...
Teamsters settle on contract with Lake Transit operator Lake County News ...On Thursday, the nonprofit that operates Lake Transit Authority reached an agreement for a new three-year contract with union-represented workers who had gone out on two separate strikes this summer...
Teamster Locals Support Aggressive Measures to Protect Contract teamster.org ...Yesterday, Teamster Local Unions that represent more than 1,000 Allied Systems Holding workers unanimously supported informing its members on the need to take aggressive action – up to and including a lawful strike – if the current Black Diamond/Spectrum bid to buy Allied proceeds and is approved by the bankruptcy court on Tuesday, Sept. 10...
Teamsters Hold “Just Practicing” Picket at Darigold Teamsters Local 117 ...Teamster production workers and lab technicians who work at Darigold participated in “just practicing” picketing actions on Thursday at the company’s facilities in Issaquah and Seattle in protest to the company’s refusal to bargain in good faith...
Teamsters settle on contract with Lake Transit operator Lake County News ...On Thursday, the nonprofit that operates Lake Transit Authority reached an agreement for a new three-year contract with union-represented workers who had gone out on two separate strikes this summer...
Teamster Locals Support Aggressive Measures to Protect Contract teamster.org ...Yesterday, Teamster Local Unions that represent more than 1,000 Allied Systems Holding workers unanimously supported informing its members on the need to take aggressive action – up to and including a lawful strike – if the current Black Diamond/Spectrum bid to buy Allied proceeds and is approved by the bankruptcy court on Tuesday, Sept. 10...
Wal-Mart and Washington D.C. in minimum wage showdown Reuters ...District of Columbia Mayor Vincent Gray could decide soon whether to sign a minimum wage bill that could discourage Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's biggest retailer, from opening stores in the U.S. capital...
Walmart workers tell us why they're protesting KIRO Radio ...Walmart workers were protesting in the Puget Sound region and around the country Thursday, prompting KIRO Radio's Dori Monson to invite a few on the show to find out why...
Exports Fall Short under Korea FTA for 16 out of 16 months Public Citizen ...government trade data released this week douses Obama's export promise with another bucket of cold reality. Under the Korea "free trade" agreement (FTA), a model for the TPP, U.S. exports have been steadily falling, imports have been rising, and job-displacing trade deficits have surged...
Enormous, Humongous Trade Deficit Grows Trade Reform ...So our vast, humongous, enormous, out-of-control trade deficit continues its upward trajectory, sucking more jobs and money from our economy. Our deficit with China, of course, is the biggest factor...
Monsanto and Walmart Influence Secret TPP Negotiations New American ...The 12 countries involved in the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade group reportedly plan to hammer out an agreement on tariffs during meetings late September. Although the American people (and the people of all nations involved in the pact) are prevented from participating or even watching the various rounds of meetings, global multi-nationals Monsanto and Walmart will help draft the agreement...
US employers add 169K jobs, rate falls to 7.3 pct Associated Press ...U.S. employers added 169,000 jobs in August and much fewer in July than previously thought. Hiring has slowed from the start of the year and could complicate the Federal Reserve's decision later this month on whether to reduce its bond purchases...
Ignore the headlines. This was a very bad jobs report. Washington Post ...in almost all the particulars, you can find signs that this job market is weaker than it appeared just a few months ago, and maybe getting worse...
The STEM Crisis Is a Myth IEEE Spectrum ...wages for U.S. workers in computer and math fields have largely stagnated since 2000. Even as the Great Recession slowly recedes, STEM workers at every stage of the career pipeline, from freshly minted grads to mid- and late-career Ph.D.s, still struggle to find employment as many companies, including Boeing, IBM, and Symantec, continue to lay off thousands of STEM workers...
Both parties wary of Obama's proposal to cut Social Security Reuters ...Republicans, Democrats and even the White House distanced themselves Thursday from President Barack Obama's proposal to trim Social Security and other safety-net benefits, illustrating yet again the difficulty of reaching a bargain to reduce spending and tame the deficit...
New OSHA Form Will Fan The Flames In Whistle-Blower Filings Forbes ...OSHA’s newly approved procedure for whistle-blower retaliation complaints—which allows individuals to file a claim just by completing a simple online form, available 24 hours a day—is sure to spike the already mushrooming claim rate...
FTC asks court to shut down phony payday loan broker Seattle Post-Intelligencer ...At the request of the Federal Trade Commission, a U.S. district court has halted a Tampa, Fla.-based operation that promised to help consumers get payday loans. Instead of loans, the defendants used consumers’ personal financial information to debit their bank accounts in increments of $30 without their authorization, the FTC alleges...
Chicago mayor may still seek airport deal after talks called off Reuters ...Emanuel late Thursday halted the city's efforts to privatize operations of Chicago's second-largest airport after one bidding consortium pulled out, leaving the city with only one prospective bidder...
Walmart workers tell us why they're protesting KIRO Radio ...Walmart workers were protesting in the Puget Sound region and around the country Thursday, prompting KIRO Radio's Dori Monson to invite a few on the show to find out why...
Exports Fall Short under Korea FTA for 16 out of 16 months Public Citizen ...government trade data released this week douses Obama's export promise with another bucket of cold reality. Under the Korea "free trade" agreement (FTA), a model for the TPP, U.S. exports have been steadily falling, imports have been rising, and job-displacing trade deficits have surged...
Enormous, Humongous Trade Deficit Grows Trade Reform ...So our vast, humongous, enormous, out-of-control trade deficit continues its upward trajectory, sucking more jobs and money from our economy. Our deficit with China, of course, is the biggest factor...
Monsanto and Walmart Influence Secret TPP Negotiations New American ...The 12 countries involved in the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade group reportedly plan to hammer out an agreement on tariffs during meetings late September. Although the American people (and the people of all nations involved in the pact) are prevented from participating or even watching the various rounds of meetings, global multi-nationals Monsanto and Walmart will help draft the agreement...
US employers add 169K jobs, rate falls to 7.3 pct Associated Press ...U.S. employers added 169,000 jobs in August and much fewer in July than previously thought. Hiring has slowed from the start of the year and could complicate the Federal Reserve's decision later this month on whether to reduce its bond purchases...
Ignore the headlines. This was a very bad jobs report. Washington Post ...in almost all the particulars, you can find signs that this job market is weaker than it appeared just a few months ago, and maybe getting worse...
The STEM Crisis Is a Myth IEEE Spectrum ...wages for U.S. workers in computer and math fields have largely stagnated since 2000. Even as the Great Recession slowly recedes, STEM workers at every stage of the career pipeline, from freshly minted grads to mid- and late-career Ph.D.s, still struggle to find employment as many companies, including Boeing, IBM, and Symantec, continue to lay off thousands of STEM workers...
Both parties wary of Obama's proposal to cut Social Security Reuters ...Republicans, Democrats and even the White House distanced themselves Thursday from President Barack Obama's proposal to trim Social Security and other safety-net benefits, illustrating yet again the difficulty of reaching a bargain to reduce spending and tame the deficit...
New OSHA Form Will Fan The Flames In Whistle-Blower Filings Forbes ...OSHA’s newly approved procedure for whistle-blower retaliation complaints—which allows individuals to file a claim just by completing a simple online form, available 24 hours a day—is sure to spike the already mushrooming claim rate...
FTC asks court to shut down phony payday loan broker Seattle Post-Intelligencer ...At the request of the Federal Trade Commission, a U.S. district court has halted a Tampa, Fla.-based operation that promised to help consumers get payday loans. Instead of loans, the defendants used consumers’ personal financial information to debit their bank accounts in increments of $30 without their authorization, the FTC alleges...
Chicago mayor may still seek airport deal after talks called off Reuters ...Emanuel late Thursday halted the city's efforts to privatize operations of Chicago's second-largest airport after one bidding consortium pulled out, leaving the city with only one prospective bidder...
Friday, August 9, 2013
Today's Teamster News 08.09.13
Oxford deputies to vote on joining the Teamsters Union Oxford Hills Sun Journal ...Oxford County Sheriff's deputies in Maine are set to begin voting on whether to drop their current bargaining agent and become members of Teamsters Local 340...
Talks break down between Ikea and striking Teamster workers Vancouver Sun ...The union representing Ikea workers in Richmond, British Columbia has rejected the company’s latest offer, including an automatic wage increase, as talks ground to a halt in the four-month labor dispute...
Little Campbell train trestle talks on track Peace Arch News ...Meetings between BNSF and Semiahmoo First Nation are planned later this month to discuss replacing the Little Campbell River railway bridge that union leaders, including Bill Brehl, President of Teamsters Canada Rail Conference Maintenance of Way Employees Division, have voiced concerns about safety...
ALEC at 40: Turning Back the Clock on Prosperity and Progress PRWatch ...The Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) released a new report: "ALEC at 40: Turning Back the Clock on Prosperity and Progress." The new report identifies and analyzes 466 American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) bills introduced in 2013 that reflect corporate agenda...
ALEC Meeting In Chicago Draws Conservative Lawmakers, Protesters Associated Press ...As meeting participants handed out awards and dined at a meal sponsored by the Texas Oil and Gas Association, picketers denouncing "corporate greed" paced the sidewalks and clogged the street in front of the Chicago hotel hosting the conference...
Wisconsin Capitol Protesters Defiant Despite Growing Crackdown The Real News ... In the past two weeks alone, more than 100 demonstrators have been arrested during the weekly held Solidarity Sing-Along protests, with this most recent wave of arrests taking place on Tuesday, August 6...
JPMorgan Under Criminal and Civil Investigation Over Mortgages firedoglake ...JPMorgan Chase & Co. disclosed in a SEC filing that it was under criminal investigation and had already been notified by the Department of Justice’s civil division that it had violated federal securities laws in offerings of subprime and Alt-A residential mortgage securities during 2005 to 2007...
Bank of England governor calls for change in banks' culture The Telegraph ...There must be a change of culture in “socially useless” banks that disconnect themselves from the real economy, the Bank of England governor Mark Carney has suggested...
Walmart pays $190,000 fine and agrees to improve safety at 2,800 stores The Guardian ...Walmart has agreed to improve safety conditions at more than 2,800 stores in 28 US states after inspectors discovered "repeat and serious" health and safety violations at a store in Rochester, New York...
Fast-Food Fight (opinion) New York Times ...As measured by the federal minimum wage, currently $7.25 an hour, low-paid work in America is lower paid today than at any time in modern memory...
Enormous, Humongous Trade Deficit Shrank In June TradeReform ...The enormous, humongous, vast, staggering, unbelievable, job-sucking, economy-sucking US trade deficit shrank to “only” $34.2 billion from a revised $44.1 billion in May. Exports of US goods and petroleum were up, imports of petroleum and consumer goods were down....
Chasing costs, a ‘sweatshop locator’ New York Times ...Disasters at garment factory buildings in Bangladesh, such as the collapse of this building earlier this year, have the clothing industry looking for new locations to place factories. To find such places, it turns to Li & Fung, a company most American shoppers have never heard of...
BART, unions resume talks as senators add pressure Associated Press ...Bay Area Rapid Transit's management and employee unions resumed contract negotiations Thursday as California's two senators urged the parties resolve the labor dispute and head off a crippling transit strike...
Hearing reveals huge gap between BART management, unions KTVU News ...A fact-finding panel appointed by Gov. Jerry Brown heard firsthand Wednesday how far apart BART and its labor unions remain even though they've been bargaining since April 1...
Tennessee Takes a Bite out of Worker Misclassification Construction Citizen ...A new law in Tennessee gives the state’s Department of Labor (DOL) sharper teeth with which to take a bigger bite out of workers’ compensation fraud in the construction industry...
Ohio payday lenders keep loaning under other laws 5 years after effort to limit such business Associated Press ...Payday lenders targeted by Ohio legislation that banned short-term, high-cost loans five years ago are skirting that crackdown by offering high-interest loans under other laws...
In a state with high voter turnout, a GOP bill targets elderly, early voting MSNBC ...While voting rights advocates have zeroed in on North Carolina where the governor is getting ready to sign a controversial voting law, Republicans in Wisconsin are readying their own voting overhaul...
Talks break down between Ikea and striking Teamster workers Vancouver Sun ...The union representing Ikea workers in Richmond, British Columbia has rejected the company’s latest offer, including an automatic wage increase, as talks ground to a halt in the four-month labor dispute...
Little Campbell train trestle talks on track Peace Arch News ...Meetings between BNSF and Semiahmoo First Nation are planned later this month to discuss replacing the Little Campbell River railway bridge that union leaders, including Bill Brehl, President of Teamsters Canada Rail Conference Maintenance of Way Employees Division, have voiced concerns about safety...
ALEC at 40: Turning Back the Clock on Prosperity and Progress PRWatch ...The Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) released a new report: "ALEC at 40: Turning Back the Clock on Prosperity and Progress." The new report identifies and analyzes 466 American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) bills introduced in 2013 that reflect corporate agenda...
ALEC Meeting In Chicago Draws Conservative Lawmakers, Protesters Associated Press ...As meeting participants handed out awards and dined at a meal sponsored by the Texas Oil and Gas Association, picketers denouncing "corporate greed" paced the sidewalks and clogged the street in front of the Chicago hotel hosting the conference...
Wisconsin Capitol Protesters Defiant Despite Growing Crackdown The Real News ... In the past two weeks alone, more than 100 demonstrators have been arrested during the weekly held Solidarity Sing-Along protests, with this most recent wave of arrests taking place on Tuesday, August 6...
JPMorgan Under Criminal and Civil Investigation Over Mortgages firedoglake ...JPMorgan Chase & Co. disclosed in a SEC filing that it was under criminal investigation and had already been notified by the Department of Justice’s civil division that it had violated federal securities laws in offerings of subprime and Alt-A residential mortgage securities during 2005 to 2007...
Bank of England governor calls for change in banks' culture The Telegraph ...There must be a change of culture in “socially useless” banks that disconnect themselves from the real economy, the Bank of England governor Mark Carney has suggested...
Walmart pays $190,000 fine and agrees to improve safety at 2,800 stores The Guardian ...Walmart has agreed to improve safety conditions at more than 2,800 stores in 28 US states after inspectors discovered "repeat and serious" health and safety violations at a store in Rochester, New York...
Fast-Food Fight (opinion) New York Times ...As measured by the federal minimum wage, currently $7.25 an hour, low-paid work in America is lower paid today than at any time in modern memory...
Enormous, Humongous Trade Deficit Shrank In June TradeReform ...The enormous, humongous, vast, staggering, unbelievable, job-sucking, economy-sucking US trade deficit shrank to “only” $34.2 billion from a revised $44.1 billion in May. Exports of US goods and petroleum were up, imports of petroleum and consumer goods were down....
Chasing costs, a ‘sweatshop locator’ New York Times ...Disasters at garment factory buildings in Bangladesh, such as the collapse of this building earlier this year, have the clothing industry looking for new locations to place factories. To find such places, it turns to Li & Fung, a company most American shoppers have never heard of...
BART, unions resume talks as senators add pressure Associated Press ...Bay Area Rapid Transit's management and employee unions resumed contract negotiations Thursday as California's two senators urged the parties resolve the labor dispute and head off a crippling transit strike...
Hearing reveals huge gap between BART management, unions KTVU News ...A fact-finding panel appointed by Gov. Jerry Brown heard firsthand Wednesday how far apart BART and its labor unions remain even though they've been bargaining since April 1...
Tennessee Takes a Bite out of Worker Misclassification Construction Citizen ...A new law in Tennessee gives the state’s Department of Labor (DOL) sharper teeth with which to take a bigger bite out of workers’ compensation fraud in the construction industry...
Ohio payday lenders keep loaning under other laws 5 years after effort to limit such business Associated Press ...Payday lenders targeted by Ohio legislation that banned short-term, high-cost loans five years ago are skirting that crackdown by offering high-interest loans under other laws...
In a state with high voter turnout, a GOP bill targets elderly, early voting MSNBC ...While voting rights advocates have zeroed in on North Carolina where the governor is getting ready to sign a controversial voting law, Republicans in Wisconsin are readying their own voting overhaul...
Thursday, August 8, 2013
Today's Teamster News 08.08.13
Federal Mediator Arrive To Teamsters Strike Against Gold Cross Ambulance Imperial Valley Press ...Federal mediators arrived Tuesday to assist with negotiations between Gold Cross Ambulance employees on strike and the company...
Teamsters Local 2010 Signs Up 333 New Members Teamsters Local 2010 ...Employees at the University of California’s state-wide campuses stepped up and joined Local 2010 as a result of a union-building blitz recently...
MM&A files for creditor protection after Lac-Mégantic rail disaster Globe and Mail ...The U.S.-based railway whose train crashed in Lac-Mégantic, Que., last month has filed for creditor protection in Canada and the United States, saying it is unable to deal with mounting bills arising from the disaster...
What's on ALEC's Agenda for its 40th Anniversary Meeting in Chicago? Center for Media and Democracy ...The "Employee Secret Ballot Protection Act" will be amended "to call for [union certification by] a majority of members in the bargaining unit, rather than a majority of those voting." This was the same certification policy pushed by Scott Walker in Wisconsin, and creates an almost insurmountable burden...
Worker wages: Wendy's vs. Wal-Mart vs. Costco CNNMoney ...Hundreds of dissatisfied workers at major companies like Wal-Mart, McDonald's and Wendy's have joined protests nationwide, demanding higher wages and better benefits. One company hasn't had to deal with such strikes. Costco pays its hourly workers an average of just over $20 an hour, compared to just under $13 at competitor Wal-Mart. Even President Obama praised Costco in a recent speech about helping the middle class...
Wage Gap Between CEOs, Workers Shows Costly Disregard (opinion) The Reporter …U.S. workers are tired of being the last ones considered when wealth is being made in America. While the average CEO pay has climbed to over 300 times the average worker’s, those making the legal minimum of $7.25—only $15,000 a year—have gone without a legally required raise for four years...
Fast food worker: 'We go hungry' MSNBC ...In a major speech on the economy Wednesday, President Obama declared that it is “time for the minimum wage to go up.” While more people are employed as the country continues to climb out of a deep recession, many full-time workers making the minimum wage are still living in poverty…
A hard landing for the middle class (opinion) Washington Post ...It’s August, and Americans by the millions are cramming themselves into coach-class seats as they embark on their summer vacations. Airline seating may be the best concrete expression of what’s happened to the economy. The joys of air travel have been redistributed upward and are now reserved for the well-heeled few...
Michigan's auto companies, workers pay price when economic rivals rig the market Michigan Live ...U.S. automakers, only a few years out of their deathbeds, are back in the black, despite their prewritten obituaries in 2009. But despite their turnaround, the Big Three still face significant hurdles in getting their goods into Japan, and face import competition subsidized by currency manipulation...
Free-trade deal with Korea is costing American jobs, report says Denver Post ...Although the Korea-US FTA has been in effect for little more than a year, it is already drawing vehement condemnation. It wasn't supposed to be this way. The International Trade Commission estimated the pact would kick-start some $10 billion in US exports to Korea. But it's not clear that the agreement is living up to its promise...
The Three Biggest Lies About Why Corporate Taxes Should Be Lowered (opinion) Huffington Post ...Instead of spending August on the beach, corporate lobbyists are readying arguments for when Congress returns in September about why corporate taxes should be lowered. But they're lies. You need to know why so you can spread the truth...
Cameron the worst PM for living standards in history Liberal Conspiracy ...An analysis of figures from the Office for National Statistics out today show that David Cameron has been in Downing Street for 36 months of falling real wages – more than any Prime Minister on record...
JPMorgan Sued With Goldman in Aluminum Antitrust Case Bloomberg ...JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), the biggest U.S. bank, was sued with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) and Glencore Xstrata Plc (GLEN) over claims they restrained aluminum supplies and drove up prices...
Perry Vetoed Texas Equal Pay Bill Under Pressure From Macy's, Kroger Huffington Post ...Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) vetoed a bill to help prevent wage discrimination after receiving letters against the measure from retailers like Macy's and Kroger Food Stores, according to newly obtained documents. The bill would have brought Texas state law in line with the federal Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which makes it easier for women to sue employers over wage discrimination...
Eminent domain proposal for mortgages gains traction in California Los Angeles Times ...Cities in the Golden State are once again testing a controversial mortgage relief plan that could use local eminent domain powers to help residents stung by the last housing crisis...
Cuomo administration cracks down on illegal payday lenders Legislative Gazette ...Gov. Andrew Cuomo has announced his administration is actively issuing cease and desist orders to online loan companies providing illegal payday loans to New York residents following an investigation that revealed that some lenders were offering online loans with interest rates as high as 1,095 percent...
Veto Decision Looms for DC Retail Living Wage Bill The Nation ...Four weeks after the Washington, D.C. City Council passed a bill to hike some retail workers’ wages, D.C. Mayor Vince Gray has not yet indicated whether he will let it become law...
Teamsters Local 2010 Signs Up 333 New Members Teamsters Local 2010 ...Employees at the University of California’s state-wide campuses stepped up and joined Local 2010 as a result of a union-building blitz recently...
MM&A files for creditor protection after Lac-Mégantic rail disaster Globe and Mail ...The U.S.-based railway whose train crashed in Lac-Mégantic, Que., last month has filed for creditor protection in Canada and the United States, saying it is unable to deal with mounting bills arising from the disaster...
What's on ALEC's Agenda for its 40th Anniversary Meeting in Chicago? Center for Media and Democracy ...The "Employee Secret Ballot Protection Act" will be amended "to call for [union certification by] a majority of members in the bargaining unit, rather than a majority of those voting." This was the same certification policy pushed by Scott Walker in Wisconsin, and creates an almost insurmountable burden...
Worker wages: Wendy's vs. Wal-Mart vs. Costco CNNMoney ...Hundreds of dissatisfied workers at major companies like Wal-Mart, McDonald's and Wendy's have joined protests nationwide, demanding higher wages and better benefits. One company hasn't had to deal with such strikes. Costco pays its hourly workers an average of just over $20 an hour, compared to just under $13 at competitor Wal-Mart. Even President Obama praised Costco in a recent speech about helping the middle class...
Wage Gap Between CEOs, Workers Shows Costly Disregard (opinion) The Reporter …U.S. workers are tired of being the last ones considered when wealth is being made in America. While the average CEO pay has climbed to over 300 times the average worker’s, those making the legal minimum of $7.25—only $15,000 a year—have gone without a legally required raise for four years...
Fast food worker: 'We go hungry' MSNBC ...In a major speech on the economy Wednesday, President Obama declared that it is “time for the minimum wage to go up.” While more people are employed as the country continues to climb out of a deep recession, many full-time workers making the minimum wage are still living in poverty…
A hard landing for the middle class (opinion) Washington Post ...It’s August, and Americans by the millions are cramming themselves into coach-class seats as they embark on their summer vacations. Airline seating may be the best concrete expression of what’s happened to the economy. The joys of air travel have been redistributed upward and are now reserved for the well-heeled few...
Michigan's auto companies, workers pay price when economic rivals rig the market Michigan Live ...U.S. automakers, only a few years out of their deathbeds, are back in the black, despite their prewritten obituaries in 2009. But despite their turnaround, the Big Three still face significant hurdles in getting their goods into Japan, and face import competition subsidized by currency manipulation...
Free-trade deal with Korea is costing American jobs, report says Denver Post ...Although the Korea-US FTA has been in effect for little more than a year, it is already drawing vehement condemnation. It wasn't supposed to be this way. The International Trade Commission estimated the pact would kick-start some $10 billion in US exports to Korea. But it's not clear that the agreement is living up to its promise...
The Three Biggest Lies About Why Corporate Taxes Should Be Lowered (opinion) Huffington Post ...Instead of spending August on the beach, corporate lobbyists are readying arguments for when Congress returns in September about why corporate taxes should be lowered. But they're lies. You need to know why so you can spread the truth...
Cameron the worst PM for living standards in history Liberal Conspiracy ...An analysis of figures from the Office for National Statistics out today show that David Cameron has been in Downing Street for 36 months of falling real wages – more than any Prime Minister on record...
JPMorgan Sued With Goldman in Aluminum Antitrust Case Bloomberg ...JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), the biggest U.S. bank, was sued with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) and Glencore Xstrata Plc (GLEN) over claims they restrained aluminum supplies and drove up prices...
Perry Vetoed Texas Equal Pay Bill Under Pressure From Macy's, Kroger Huffington Post ...Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) vetoed a bill to help prevent wage discrimination after receiving letters against the measure from retailers like Macy's and Kroger Food Stores, according to newly obtained documents. The bill would have brought Texas state law in line with the federal Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which makes it easier for women to sue employers over wage discrimination...
Eminent domain proposal for mortgages gains traction in California Los Angeles Times ...Cities in the Golden State are once again testing a controversial mortgage relief plan that could use local eminent domain powers to help residents stung by the last housing crisis...
Cuomo administration cracks down on illegal payday lenders Legislative Gazette ...Gov. Andrew Cuomo has announced his administration is actively issuing cease and desist orders to online loan companies providing illegal payday loans to New York residents following an investigation that revealed that some lenders were offering online loans with interest rates as high as 1,095 percent...
Veto Decision Looms for DC Retail Living Wage Bill The Nation ...Four weeks after the Washington, D.C. City Council passed a bill to hike some retail workers’ wages, D.C. Mayor Vince Gray has not yet indicated whether he will let it become law...
Monday, August 5, 2013
Today's Teamster News 08.05.14
The Payday Playbook: How High Cost Lenders Fight to Stay Legal ProPublica ...Outrage over payday loans, which trap millions of Americans in debt and are the best-known type of high-cost loans, has led to dozens of state laws aimed at stamping out abuses. But the industry has proved extremely resilient. In at least 39 states, lenders offering payday or other loans still charge annual rates of 100 percent or more. Sometimes, rates exceed 1,000 percent...
Members of Congress denied access to basic information about NSA The Guardian ...Members of Congress have been repeatedly thwarted when attempting to learn basic information about the National Security Agency (NSA) and the secret FISA court which authorizes its activities, documents provided by two House members demonstrate...
Why Do the People Raising Our Children Earn Poverty Wages? The Nation ...Childcare workers perform that most vital labor, rearing our young. But across the country, they are invisible and poorly paid, without healthcare, unemployment insurance, workers’ compensation or other benefits...
Higher Wages Don't Destroy Fast Food Next New Deal ...high wages can lead to more prosperous companies, and those companies aren't getting the bad press about wage-related strikes...
Has the Rise of Online Shopping Made Traffic Worse? The Atlantic ...all those Amazon deliveries could just as easily be increasing congestion by putting more UPS trucks on the road, while at the same time freeing you up to travel for other reasons...
Top Fed economist slams 'incoherent' ECB The Telegraph ...The US Federal Reserve has launched a blistering attack on the European Central Bank, calling for quantitative easing across the board to lift the eurozone fully out of its slump...
Will Medical Trade Be Included in the EU Trade Deal and the TPP? If Not, Why Not? CEPR ... our hospitals, doctors, and medical equipment makers benefit from tariffs on the order of 500 percent or more. If the Obama administration really is interesting in promoting growth through trade it would be difficult to imagine a sector with larger potential gains than trade in medical care...
Detroit workers fear city’s bankruptcy could wipe out their pensions Agence France-Press ...their city-run plan is the only thing keeping them out of food banks or even homeless shelters...
After Detroit bankruptcy, Brits and bankers target Chicago Examiner ...Wall Street bankers are maneuvering to loot municipal pension funds across the country...
Boston Globe newspaper sells for fraction of buying price BBC News ...The New York Times company bought it for $1.1bn (£700m) in 1993 but has now agreed to sell it for $70m...
'Moral Monday' protests heading to Asheville WRAL ...With the North Carolina General Assembly finished for the year, protesters are bringing their Moral Monday demonstrations on the road...
Break given to Christel House could have spared two IPS schools from state takeover Indianapolis Star ...Two Indianapolis Public Schools might never have been taken over by the state if then-Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett had offered the district the same flexibility he granted a year later to the Christel House Academy charter school...
Members of Congress denied access to basic information about NSA The Guardian ...Members of Congress have been repeatedly thwarted when attempting to learn basic information about the National Security Agency (NSA) and the secret FISA court which authorizes its activities, documents provided by two House members demonstrate...
Why Do the People Raising Our Children Earn Poverty Wages? The Nation ...Childcare workers perform that most vital labor, rearing our young. But across the country, they are invisible and poorly paid, without healthcare, unemployment insurance, workers’ compensation or other benefits...
Higher Wages Don't Destroy Fast Food Next New Deal ...high wages can lead to more prosperous companies, and those companies aren't getting the bad press about wage-related strikes...
Has the Rise of Online Shopping Made Traffic Worse? The Atlantic ...all those Amazon deliveries could just as easily be increasing congestion by putting more UPS trucks on the road, while at the same time freeing you up to travel for other reasons...
Top Fed economist slams 'incoherent' ECB The Telegraph ...The US Federal Reserve has launched a blistering attack on the European Central Bank, calling for quantitative easing across the board to lift the eurozone fully out of its slump...
Will Medical Trade Be Included in the EU Trade Deal and the TPP? If Not, Why Not? CEPR ... our hospitals, doctors, and medical equipment makers benefit from tariffs on the order of 500 percent or more. If the Obama administration really is interesting in promoting growth through trade it would be difficult to imagine a sector with larger potential gains than trade in medical care...
Detroit workers fear city’s bankruptcy could wipe out their pensions Agence France-Press ...their city-run plan is the only thing keeping them out of food banks or even homeless shelters...
After Detroit bankruptcy, Brits and bankers target Chicago Examiner ...Wall Street bankers are maneuvering to loot municipal pension funds across the country...
Boston Globe newspaper sells for fraction of buying price BBC News ...The New York Times company bought it for $1.1bn (£700m) in 1993 but has now agreed to sell it for $70m...
'Moral Monday' protests heading to Asheville WRAL ...With the North Carolina General Assembly finished for the year, protesters are bringing their Moral Monday demonstrations on the road...
Break given to Christel House could have spared two IPS schools from state takeover Indianapolis Star ...Two Indianapolis Public Schools might never have been taken over by the state if then-Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett had offered the district the same flexibility he granted a year later to the Christel House Academy charter school...
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
Today's Teamster News 07.31.13
Teamsters, Paratransit employees strike Lake County Record-Bee ...The Teamsters and 35 employees of Lake County transit went on strike Monday after negotiations with Paratransit management failed to end in an agreement for a new contract...
UNITE HERE/Teamsters: Gate Gourmet faces labor trouble in North America Enquirer Herald ...Facing crucial votes by workers in the US and Canada, Gate Gourmet, the world's largest independent airline caterer, finds itself headed toward two separate labor disputes that could impact the majority of its unionized North American workforce...
Teamsters, Long Beach Area Trucking Companies in Labor Struggle Long Beach Business Journal ...Having secured its first contract for truck drivers working at the Port of Los Angeles, local Teamster organizers are stepping up their efforts to secure contracts for drivers who work for or with other short-haul drayage companies at the twin ports...
Sign Up While There’s Still Time for the Teamster Women's Conference IBT ...Don’t forget to register for the Teamster Women’s Conference that will be held September 19-21, 2013 in The Big Easy. Join your Teamster Sisters and Brothers for this dynamic gathering of great speakers, educational workshops and networking. The hotel registration deadline is August 20...
Senate Confirms NLRB Nominees; Board at Full Strength AFL-CIO Now ...The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is now fully staffed and able to continue to function to protect workers’ rights after the U.S. Senate today confirmed five members...
More than 200 fast-food workers strike in St Louis, Kansas City Associated Press ...at least 150 workers walked off the job Tuesday at about 60 restaurants in the St. Louis area, including some in Illinois. She says at least 70 workers in the Kansas City area walked picket lines outside of dozens of restaurants...
Fourth round of arrests made at Wisconsin Capitol Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ...Police made a new round of arrests Tuesday at the state Capitol, as opponents of Gov. Scott Walker resumed their singalong protest in the rotunda...
Bloomberg's ban on big sodas is unconstitutional: appeals court Reuters ...New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's controversial plan to keep large sugary drinks out of restaurants and other eateries was rejected by a state appeals court on Tuesday, which said he had overstepped his authority in trying to impose the ban...
Food Stamp Cuts Set To Kick In, Congress Not Paying Attention Huffington Post ... Regardless of whether Republicans succeed in cutting food stamps this year, the 22 million American households relying on the program will see their benefits drop in November...
Where Did The Good Jobs Go? Globalization, Free Trade And The Demise Of America’s Middle Class MintPress News ...U.S.-based multinational corporations decreased their number of U.S. workers by 3.3 million from 1989-2011. Helping to accelerate this shift has been the proliferation of trade pacts like NAFTA, which eliminated nearly 700,000 U.S. jobs since it was first enacted in 1994...
Massive damage but no deaths in blast at central Florida propane plant CNN ...Equipment failure and human error likely caused the propane tank cylinders to explode at a central Florida refilling plant late Monday. The blasts at the Blue Rhino plant in Tavares injured eight plant workers...
The Force Behind Bills To Lower Wages and Suppress Workers’ Rights? In These Times ...You Guessed It: ALEC. The right-wing American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has modeled legislation to strip workers of their rights nationwide...
Georgia AG sues over online payday loans from SD The Daily Republic ...State Attorney General Sam Olens has filed a lawsuit against two companies saying they’ve been using the Internet to provide illegal payday loans to Georgia consumers...
Minnesota's child-care union fight is heating up StarTribune ...Judge ruled lawsuits to halt unionization effort were premature. Now opposing camps will try to get their messages out to about 12,700 family child-care providers...
Apple Supplier Accused Of Labor Abuses By China Watchdog (VIDEO) Associated Press ...A labor rights group Monday accused a Chinese company that makes iPhones for Apple Inc. of abuses including withholding employees' pay and excessive working hours...
FedEx Reaches $21.5 Million Settlement in Overcharging Suit Bloomberg News ...FedEx Corp. will pay $21.5 million to settle a lawsuit over claims that it overcharged customers by billing for deliveries to businesses and governments at higher residential rates...
Gov. Scott Walker wants to now limit bargaining powers for police and fire unions Fox6 News ...The Act 10 law currently limits most collective bargaining powers for most public employees, except for police and fire unions. Now, Gov. Scott Walker has suggested expanding Act 10 to include those unions...
The Outrageous Truth About A $12 Minimum Wage And Your Grocery Bill NH Labor News ...Opponents imagine that inflation will skyrocket; some have even claimed that ‘milk will be $10.00 a gallon’ if we raise the minimum wage. Oh, the hysteria. Milk is currently around $3.50 a gallon and that is up 25% from just ten years ago. Is that 25% due to rising wages? Sadly, no – wages in America have declined during that time. Let’s look at a few facts about minimum wage...
UNITE HERE/Teamsters: Gate Gourmet faces labor trouble in North America Enquirer Herald ...Facing crucial votes by workers in the US and Canada, Gate Gourmet, the world's largest independent airline caterer, finds itself headed toward two separate labor disputes that could impact the majority of its unionized North American workforce...
Teamsters, Long Beach Area Trucking Companies in Labor Struggle Long Beach Business Journal ...Having secured its first contract for truck drivers working at the Port of Los Angeles, local Teamster organizers are stepping up their efforts to secure contracts for drivers who work for or with other short-haul drayage companies at the twin ports...
Sign Up While There’s Still Time for the Teamster Women's Conference IBT ...Don’t forget to register for the Teamster Women’s Conference that will be held September 19-21, 2013 in The Big Easy. Join your Teamster Sisters and Brothers for this dynamic gathering of great speakers, educational workshops and networking. The hotel registration deadline is August 20...
Senate Confirms NLRB Nominees; Board at Full Strength AFL-CIO Now ...The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is now fully staffed and able to continue to function to protect workers’ rights after the U.S. Senate today confirmed five members...
More than 200 fast-food workers strike in St Louis, Kansas City Associated Press ...at least 150 workers walked off the job Tuesday at about 60 restaurants in the St. Louis area, including some in Illinois. She says at least 70 workers in the Kansas City area walked picket lines outside of dozens of restaurants...
Fourth round of arrests made at Wisconsin Capitol Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ...Police made a new round of arrests Tuesday at the state Capitol, as opponents of Gov. Scott Walker resumed their singalong protest in the rotunda...
Bloomberg's ban on big sodas is unconstitutional: appeals court Reuters ...New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's controversial plan to keep large sugary drinks out of restaurants and other eateries was rejected by a state appeals court on Tuesday, which said he had overstepped his authority in trying to impose the ban...
Food Stamp Cuts Set To Kick In, Congress Not Paying Attention Huffington Post ... Regardless of whether Republicans succeed in cutting food stamps this year, the 22 million American households relying on the program will see their benefits drop in November...
Where Did The Good Jobs Go? Globalization, Free Trade And The Demise Of America’s Middle Class MintPress News ...U.S.-based multinational corporations decreased their number of U.S. workers by 3.3 million from 1989-2011. Helping to accelerate this shift has been the proliferation of trade pacts like NAFTA, which eliminated nearly 700,000 U.S. jobs since it was first enacted in 1994...
Massive damage but no deaths in blast at central Florida propane plant CNN ...Equipment failure and human error likely caused the propane tank cylinders to explode at a central Florida refilling plant late Monday. The blasts at the Blue Rhino plant in Tavares injured eight plant workers...
The Force Behind Bills To Lower Wages and Suppress Workers’ Rights? In These Times ...You Guessed It: ALEC. The right-wing American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has modeled legislation to strip workers of their rights nationwide...
Georgia AG sues over online payday loans from SD The Daily Republic ...State Attorney General Sam Olens has filed a lawsuit against two companies saying they’ve been using the Internet to provide illegal payday loans to Georgia consumers...
Minnesota's child-care union fight is heating up StarTribune ...Judge ruled lawsuits to halt unionization effort were premature. Now opposing camps will try to get their messages out to about 12,700 family child-care providers...
Apple Supplier Accused Of Labor Abuses By China Watchdog (VIDEO) Associated Press ...A labor rights group Monday accused a Chinese company that makes iPhones for Apple Inc. of abuses including withholding employees' pay and excessive working hours...
FedEx Reaches $21.5 Million Settlement in Overcharging Suit Bloomberg News ...FedEx Corp. will pay $21.5 million to settle a lawsuit over claims that it overcharged customers by billing for deliveries to businesses and governments at higher residential rates...
Gov. Scott Walker wants to now limit bargaining powers for police and fire unions Fox6 News ...The Act 10 law currently limits most collective bargaining powers for most public employees, except for police and fire unions. Now, Gov. Scott Walker has suggested expanding Act 10 to include those unions...
The Outrageous Truth About A $12 Minimum Wage And Your Grocery Bill NH Labor News ...Opponents imagine that inflation will skyrocket; some have even claimed that ‘milk will be $10.00 a gallon’ if we raise the minimum wage. Oh, the hysteria. Milk is currently around $3.50 a gallon and that is up 25% from just ten years ago. Is that 25% due to rising wages? Sadly, no – wages in America have declined during that time. Let’s look at a few facts about minimum wage...
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
Today's Teamster News 06.18.13
7-Eleven Stores Operated 'Modern Day Plantation System,' Feds Claim ABC News ...The owners of 7-Eleven franchises in New York and Virginia created a "modern day plantation system" in which undocumented workers were furnished with stolen identities and forced to work 100 hours a week for a fraction of their wages, according to a federal authorities...
McD's worker sues: Don't pay by debit card The Times Leader ...When she received her first paycheck, enclosed was a Chase Bank debit card with instructions on how to use it and the fees attached...
U.S. chief records officer details federal e-mail record-keeping programs Washington Post ...Cabinet officials have used (secret) alternative e-mail accounts in addition to government addresses to conduct federal business...
Apple releases information on data requests from NSA, other agencies Los Angeles Times ...Apple Inc., said it received 4,000 to 5,000 requests for customer data from U.S. officials during the six months ending in May, as it became the latest high-tech company to provide some details on its involvement in the National Security Agency's Internet surveillance program...
Trade Agreements, Privacy, and the Cloud MacLean’s ...What does privacy have to do with trade agreements? As Canada, the U.S., and nine other countries negotiate a multilateral trade agreement called the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the TPP, U.S. negotiators are pushing to include a provision that would commit members to allowing free-flow of data over their borders...
More Bangladesh Factories Dangerous Associated Press ...A separate inspection, by the garment industry, of 200 risky factories found that 10 percent of them were so dangerous that they were ordered to shut. The textiles minister said a third inspection, conducted by the government, could show that as many as 300 factories were unsafe...
Turkey unrest: Unions call strike over crackdown BBC News ...Turkish unions have called a strike to protest against the police crackdown on demonstrators...
Biggest protests in 20 years sweep Brazil Reuters ...As many as 200,000 demonstrators marched through the streets of Brazil's biggest cities on Monday in a swelling wave of protest tapping into widespread anger at poor public services, police violence and government corruption...
Bank Of America Paid Foreclosure Bonuses While Lying To Homeowners Think Progress ...One of the nation’s largest mortgage servicers intentionally, knowingly, and routinely falsifies paperwork and lies to homeowners in order to boot them from their homes, according to bank insiders...
Why Let a Bank Write U.S. Financial Reform Legislation? (opinion) Huffington Post ...Reasonable people would agree that a bank having a history of involvement with fraud and mismanagement (and a recipient of one of the largest bank bailouts) shouldn't be writing bank legislation. Unless, of course, you are the U.S. Congress doing business as usual...
Justices: Arizona voter registration rules go too far USA Today ...The Supreme Court ruled handily Monday that Arizona cannot add to federal voter registration requirements by demanding proof of citizenship...
California Gov. Brown targets enterprise zone tax credits Appeal Democrat ...A battle is raging over a California program that grants businesses tax breaks for creating jobs but prevents the public from knowing who got them and why…
Michigan foreclosure bills would give banks the upper hand (opinion) Detroit Free Press ...On Wednesday, the House Financial Services Committee passed a package of foreclosure bills that will set Michigan back decades in its efforts to prevent foreclosures and the damage they cause to families, neighborhoods, communities and our still fragile economy...
RI could be 3rd US state to OK paid leave for workers caring for children, spouses or parents Associated Press ...People ... who care for a new child or sick loved one could continue receiving pay for up to eight weeks under a proposal pending in Rhode Island's General Assembly...
Scott blocks paid sick-time vote in Orange, statewide Sun Sentinel ...Florida Gov. Rick Scott signed a bill Friday that would block local governments from enacting mandatory paid-sick-time measures. Scott sided with Walt Disney World, Darden Restaurants, the Florida Chamber of Commerce and a broad array of powerful business interests that argued the ban was needed to avoid a patchwork of local employment rules for companies...
Iowa cities bypass state to halt payday lenders Associated Press ...Efforts to limit payday lenders in Iowa have repeatedly failed in the Legislature, but more cities are approving zoning changes that make it harder to open the businesses...
Christine Quinn Snags Teamsters Unions’ Endorsement Politicker ...City Council Speaker Christine Quinn has snagged the endorsement of the 120,000-member strong Teamsters Joint Council 16 in New York for mayor...
Seattle Teamsters Support Even Playing Field for Taxis Teamsters Local 117 ...Ride sharing and other flat rate taxis in Seattle are undercutting unionized taxi drivers...
McD's worker sues: Don't pay by debit card The Times Leader ...When she received her first paycheck, enclosed was a Chase Bank debit card with instructions on how to use it and the fees attached...
U.S. chief records officer details federal e-mail record-keeping programs Washington Post ...Cabinet officials have used (secret) alternative e-mail accounts in addition to government addresses to conduct federal business...
Apple releases information on data requests from NSA, other agencies Los Angeles Times ...Apple Inc., said it received 4,000 to 5,000 requests for customer data from U.S. officials during the six months ending in May, as it became the latest high-tech company to provide some details on its involvement in the National Security Agency's Internet surveillance program...
Trade Agreements, Privacy, and the Cloud MacLean’s ...What does privacy have to do with trade agreements? As Canada, the U.S., and nine other countries negotiate a multilateral trade agreement called the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the TPP, U.S. negotiators are pushing to include a provision that would commit members to allowing free-flow of data over their borders...
More Bangladesh Factories Dangerous Associated Press ...A separate inspection, by the garment industry, of 200 risky factories found that 10 percent of them were so dangerous that they were ordered to shut. The textiles minister said a third inspection, conducted by the government, could show that as many as 300 factories were unsafe...
Turkey unrest: Unions call strike over crackdown BBC News ...Turkish unions have called a strike to protest against the police crackdown on demonstrators...
Biggest protests in 20 years sweep Brazil Reuters ...As many as 200,000 demonstrators marched through the streets of Brazil's biggest cities on Monday in a swelling wave of protest tapping into widespread anger at poor public services, police violence and government corruption...
Bank Of America Paid Foreclosure Bonuses While Lying To Homeowners Think Progress ...One of the nation’s largest mortgage servicers intentionally, knowingly, and routinely falsifies paperwork and lies to homeowners in order to boot them from their homes, according to bank insiders...
Why Let a Bank Write U.S. Financial Reform Legislation? (opinion) Huffington Post ...Reasonable people would agree that a bank having a history of involvement with fraud and mismanagement (and a recipient of one of the largest bank bailouts) shouldn't be writing bank legislation. Unless, of course, you are the U.S. Congress doing business as usual...
Justices: Arizona voter registration rules go too far USA Today ...The Supreme Court ruled handily Monday that Arizona cannot add to federal voter registration requirements by demanding proof of citizenship...
California Gov. Brown targets enterprise zone tax credits Appeal Democrat ...A battle is raging over a California program that grants businesses tax breaks for creating jobs but prevents the public from knowing who got them and why…
Michigan foreclosure bills would give banks the upper hand (opinion) Detroit Free Press ...On Wednesday, the House Financial Services Committee passed a package of foreclosure bills that will set Michigan back decades in its efforts to prevent foreclosures and the damage they cause to families, neighborhoods, communities and our still fragile economy...
RI could be 3rd US state to OK paid leave for workers caring for children, spouses or parents Associated Press ...People ... who care for a new child or sick loved one could continue receiving pay for up to eight weeks under a proposal pending in Rhode Island's General Assembly...
Scott blocks paid sick-time vote in Orange, statewide Sun Sentinel ...Florida Gov. Rick Scott signed a bill Friday that would block local governments from enacting mandatory paid-sick-time measures. Scott sided with Walt Disney World, Darden Restaurants, the Florida Chamber of Commerce and a broad array of powerful business interests that argued the ban was needed to avoid a patchwork of local employment rules for companies...
Iowa cities bypass state to halt payday lenders Associated Press ...Efforts to limit payday lenders in Iowa have repeatedly failed in the Legislature, but more cities are approving zoning changes that make it harder to open the businesses...
Christine Quinn Snags Teamsters Unions’ Endorsement Politicker ...City Council Speaker Christine Quinn has snagged the endorsement of the 120,000-member strong Teamsters Joint Council 16 in New York for mayor...
Seattle Teamsters Support Even Playing Field for Taxis Teamsters Local 117 ...Ride sharing and other flat rate taxis in Seattle are undercutting unionized taxi drivers...
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