Teamsters
Hoffa Statement of Support of Bipartisan Effort to Repeal Excise Tax on High-Quality Health Plans Teamster.org ...Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa in response to the announcement of the introduction of a bipartisan companion bill in the Senate to HR 2050 which would repeal an excise tax set to be charged on those enrolled in high-quality health care plans: “The Teamsters support this bipartisan effort to repeal the destructive excise tax that is set to take effect in 2018"...
No deal after latest talks between Baumann & Sons Buses, Acme Buses and Teamsters Local 1205 Newsday ...Talks continued early Friday morning between a Long Island school bus contractor and its workers to end a labor dispute and head off a strike that could leave 15,000 students scrambling for other forms of transportation. As of 2:30 a.m. Friday, negotiators for Teamsters Local 1205 and Ronkonkoma-based Baumann & Sons Buses Inc. still remained locked in discussions at the union's Farmingdale headquarters...
Teamsters Protest as Treasury Debates Allowing Pension Cuts for 1.5 Million Retirees In These Times ...About 300 angry Teamsters descended on Washington, D.C., September 10, demanding federal action to protect the pensions of union members threatened with benefit cuts. The retired Teamsters are among a group of as many as 1.5 million retirees from a long list of different labor unions nationwide that could see their pensions slashed under a new law quietly approved late last year...
Cleveland Bakers and Teamsters Pension Fund takes on Wall Street bank traders Cleveland Business ...The Cleveland Bakers and Teamsters Pension Fund is among plaintiffs in a lawsuit alleging that banks that deal in government securities rigged trading to boost their own profits. “The same analytical technique that uncovered cheating in currency markets and the Libor rates benchmark — resulting in about $20 billion of fines — suggests the dealers who control the U.S. Treasury market rigged bond auctions for years,” Bloomberg reports in describing a lawsuit...
EVSC Board and Teamsters disagree over form, will meet Friday Courier & Press ...After about a three-week hiatus, the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp. and Teamsters Local 215 negotiation teams will meet again Friday to continue working toward a collective bargaining agreement, as well as a new wage authorization form. Earlier this month, the EVSC ceased deducting union dues and representation fees for Local 215 employees...
Global Labor & Trade
Finland Anti-Austerity Strike Shuts Down Public Transport, Flights As Recession Pits Labor Unions Against Government International Business Times ...One of the biggest strikes in Finland's history closed down ports, canceled or delayed flights and disrupted other transportation Friday, amid protests against the government's latest proposed austerity measures. With the Nordic country in a recession for the past three years and on track for a fourth, the leading center-right coalition there has tried to implement cutbacks that include limiting overtime and benefits...
Canada must be part of Pacific pact, automakers might suffer: PM Reuters ...Canada must sign up to a proposed 12-nation Pacific trade pact, even though the country's auto makers might not be happy with some of the conditions, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said on Thursday. Trade ministers failed to clinch the Trans-Pacific Partnership at a meeting in late July amid disagreements over sectors such as autos and dairy...
Harper Says Trans-Pacific Trade Deal Will End ‘Successfully’ Bloomberg ...Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said he’s confident a Pacific trade deal that would stretch from Chile to Japan will be reached. Clinching a deal on the Trans-Pacific Partnership will form the “basis of the global trade network in the Asia Pacific for the generation to come,” Harper said Thursday in a leadership debate for the Oct. 19 Canadian federal election...
Japan has little room left to compromise on TPP deal: Amari Fiscal Times ...Trade ministers from the 12 nations negotiating a Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) are expected to hold another meeting soon to clinch a deal, after failing to do so in Hawaii last month. The TPP would cover 40 percent of the global economy. "This is our last chance," Amari told a regular news conference. "If we don't have an agreement, a deal may be delayed for years given various uncertainties...
Obama sure of deal as ministers plan end-Sept talks on TPP Today ...Twelve Pacific Rim countries will hold a ministerial meeting later this month in Atlanta in the United States as they look to conclude years of negotiations on creating one of the world’s biggest free trade zones, negotiation sources said yesterday. US President Barack Obama on Wednesday raised hopes that the 12 countries could conclude the sweeping free trade agreement “in the next several weeks”...
Will TTIP be an ‘economic NATO’? Politico ...Back in 2012, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hailed a proposed transatlantic free trade pact as a job-creating, growth-boosting “economic NATO” that would forge new ties between old allies. Three years later, hopeful presidential candidate Hillary Clinton appears less enthusiastic. “Can you make it go away?” was the only-half-joking response of her campaign chairman, John Podesta, to a recent question on the trade deal now being negotiated between the United States and European Union....
Europe starts putting up walls The Economist ...Hungary declared an emergency, sealed its border with Serbia with barbed-wire fences and began arresting those trying to cross. Police fired tear gas at them; 20 officers and many refugees were hurt. Growing numbers of refugees are now trapped on the Serbian side and have started evading the barrier by marching into Romania and Croatia. Hungary responded by saying it will extend the fence to its Romanian border. The cascade of events is likely to continue...
Migrant Domestic Workers Network a First in Jordan Solidarity Center ...Domestic workers in Jordan are set to celebrate the official formation of a worker rights network that includes migrant workers from Bangladesh, Indonesia, the Philippines and Sri Lanka. The September 19 launch is a first in Jordan and a rare move in the Arab region, where more than 2.4 million migrant domestic workers often toil 12–20 hour days, six or seven days a week cleaning homes, preparing meals and caring for children and the elderly...
State & Living Wage Battles
Poll: Wide support among N.Y. voters for $15 minimum wage CBS ...A new poll finds that New York voters support raising the state's minimum wage to $15 per hour. The poll released Friday by Quinnipiac University found 62 percent of voters supporting a phased-in increase. Thirty-five percent of the respondents opposed the idea. Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo is calling on the state Legislature to approve a $15 minimum wage...
9th Circuit rejects state's appeal, says anti-union law passed in 2011 was invalid Spokesman-Review ...The 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals today upheld a federal district court ruling that an anti-union law passed by the Idaho Legislature in 2011 was invalid, as it was pre-empted by the federal National Labor Relations Act. The law, which was immediately enjoined and never took effect, banned “job targeting” or “market recovery” programs, in which unions use funds they collect from workers to subsidize bids by union contractors on jobs...
Archbishop Takes Aim At ‘Right-To-Work’ Laws CBS ...Without mentioning Gov. Bruce Rauner by name, Chicago’s Roman Catholic Archbishop is raising concerns about moves to restrict labor unions. Blase Cupich made his remarks Thursday at the plumbers union hall on the West Side, before a union-heavy audience. He declared a society with a healthy labor movement is a better place than one where powerful economic interests have their way and the voices of workers are diminished...
California Activists Call for Fracking Ban Truthout ...The California Legislature approved an amended version of Senate Bill 350, a measure that legislative leaders and Governor Jerry Brown touted as "landmark climate legislation." In response, anti-fracking activists pointed out the contradiction between Brown's strong support of extreme oil extraction methods and his constant grandstanding about "clean energy" - and called on Brown to use his executive power to ban the environmentally destructive practice of fracking in California...
OUR Walmart Relaunches Its Campaign To Beat the World Retail Giant In These Times ...After four years as a growing, thriving voice of workers at Walmart, the Organization United for Respect at Walmart (OUR Walmart) re-launched itself on Thursday. Originally a legally independent, non-union worker organization that the United Food and Commercial Workers founded and funded, OUR Walmart will now have a different, still to-be-defined tie to the UFCW...
Paid Sick Leave, More Overtime Proposed For Mpls. Workers CBS ...Workers in Minneapolis could soon have more flexible schedules and more paid leave. One of the councilmembers behind a proposed ordinance says if it goes through, big changes could start early next year. The proposal would allow workers to know their schedules ahead of time and earn overtime if they work more than eight hours a day...
U.S. Labor
UFCW sees 'difficulty' with Key Food over A&P stores Supermarket News ...New York locals of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union were scheduled to meet today with officials of Key Food Stores for “the first time in a while” to talk about the A&P units the retailer intends to buy, a union spokesman told SN. He said the union has had “a bunch of difficulty” with Key Food in the past because of the retailer’s desire to cut back the number of full-time jobs in favor of more part-timers at the 17 stores it said it intends to buy...
UAW-FCA agreement reportedly includes $5.3 billion U.S. production investment MLive ...As part of a tentative agreement with the UAW, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles is shifting some of its production from Mexico to the U.S. - and vice versa. That's according to multiple reports, such as one in the Detroit Free Press that says FCA plans to commit $5.3 billion to U.S. auto plants over the next four years. That will also reportedly help retain thousands of American jobs...
Target pharmacy workers form union, first in company's history Reuters ...A group of pharmacy workers within Target Corp's store in Brooklyn, New York, have won a vote to form a microunion, making it the first unionized store at the retailer since its inception in 1902. Earlier on Wednesday, Reuters was first to report that a group of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians won an initial ballot, 7-2, to form the union, according to a filing on the National Labor Relations Board website and union officials...
Another Shot Fired in the Great Immigration vs. Wages War Mother Jones ...Does illegal immigration suppress the wages of native-born workers? The evidence suggests that it doesn't—or not much, anyway. One of the data points supporting this is a study done by David Card of the effect of the 1980 Mariel boatlift on workers in Miami. Even though Miami experienced a huge spike in immigrants during the boatlift, Card found no significant impact on wages...
The Fed Keeps Interest Rates Near Zero The Atlantic ...The U.S. Federal Reserve has decided not to raise interest rates at its September Federal Open Market Committee meeting. The committee’s two-day meeting concluded with Fed officials voting to keep interest rates near zero. The U.S. job market has been putting in solid numbers in recent months, data that Fed watchers believed might convince the Fed to hike rates...
Social Justice & Other News
Trump: 'We're Gonna Be Looking Into' How We Can Get Rid of All the Muslims Common Dreams ...In a week that has already seen collective outrage in response to the treatment of a Muslim teenager in Texas who was handcuffed and arrested simply for bringing a homemade clock to school, the pervasiveness of Islamaphobic sentiment was on display once again overnight after Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump fielded a question in New Hampshire about what he planned to do "about getting rid of" all the nation's Muslims...
The Beginning of Trump’s End? Slate ...This debate might mark the beginning of the end for Trump, who struggled to tackle substantive questions on foreign policy, his advisers, and what he’d actually do as president of the United States. More importantly, he faced a confident Carly Fiorina, who slammed and tweaked Trump on his obvious ignorance of key issues. “I think women all over this country heard very clearly what Mr. Trump said,” Fiorina said about his remarks on her appearance...
Bernie Sanders Unveils Ambitious Plan To End Private Prisons Think Progress ...Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is officially taking on the country’s private prison industry. By introducing a bill that would ban government contracts with private prisons, the presidential contender is quickly becoming the loudest advocate for criminal justice reform among his competitors. The Justice is Not For Sale Act, co-sponsored by Reps. Raúl M. Grijalva (D-AZ), Keith Ellison (D-MN) and Bobby L. Rush (D-IL), would prohibit the federal government from entering contracts with private prison corporations within two years of the bill’s enactment...
America's Need for a Third Reconstruction The Atlantic ...Ta-Nehisi Coates mournfully excavates how the carceral state is deeply entangled in the racial DNA of the United States, and convincingly demonstrates that, for all the talk of a Kumbaya moment in penal reform between the left and the right, the carceral state remains largely intact with barely a nick. Four decades ago, the U.S. had many similar structural problems found today, but it did not have such an expansive penal system...
Climate Expert James Hansen: The Planet May Become Ungovernable Alternet ...The repercussions of climate disruption are still not being acknowledged fully, warned climatologist Dr. James Hansen. Hansen — formerly NASA’s head climate scientist, now adjunct professor at Columbia University — is probably best known for bringing definitive evidence of global warming to Congress in testimony in 1988...
The recession hasn’t changed a damn thing: Wall Street is still making off like bandits Salon.com ...Just a few years after the financial crisis, a new report tells an important story: Federal prosecution of white-collar crime has hit a 20-year low. The analysis by Syracuse University shows a more than 36 percent decline in such prosecutions since the middle of the Clinton administration, when the decline began...
Showing posts with label pension reform. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pension reform. Show all posts
Friday, September 18, 2015
Thursday, July 16, 2015
Today's Teamster News 07.16.15
Teamsters
Hoffa: Congress Must Step Up to Protect Pensions Teamster.org ..."America’s retirement system has been undermined by Wall Street’s collapse seven years ago and poor government policy decisions in recent years. Rather than come up with creative plans to save the hard earned benefits of America's retirees, Congress instead passed a law last year that allows their pension benefits to be cut by as much as 30 percent. This would be devastating for those least able to take such a hit to their living standards. But there is a solution that doesn’t require retiree benefit cuts"...
Hoffa: The Time Has Passed for Short-Term Solutions for Highway Funding Teamster.org ...Today, the House voted to extend federal highway funding for another five months as the July 31 expiration of the current funding quickly approaches. This marks the fourth time this year that the House has voted to extend highway funding for the short-term rather than buckling down and finding a long-term solution. “The longer our representatives on Capitol Hill are unable to agree on long-term highway funding, the further and further our infrastructure falls into disrepair,” said Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa...
Teamsters Applaud Department of Labor Interpretation on Misclassified Workers Teamster.org ...The Teamsters Union applauds the findings in the U.S. Department of Labor Administrator’s Interpretation 2015-1, which recognizes the need to eliminate employee misclassification, citing the practice’s serious threat to workers’ rights. The Teamsters Union has been leading the fight against misclassification on both the state and federal levels for more than a decade,” said Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa...
Obama appoints emergency board in NJ Transit labor dispute NJ.com ...President Obama on Wednesday named an emergency board to try to resolve the labor dispute between NJ Transit and its engineers. The action came after the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen unanimously voted July 8 to go out on strike unless the president formed the board, which has 30 days to recommend ways to resolve the impasse...
Global Labor & Trade
Greece approves contentious austerity measures, smoothing way for bailout Washington Post ...Hours after police and demonstrators clashed in central Athens, Greek lawmakers on Thursday approved austerity measures that were overwhelmingly rejected by their citizens just days ago. The vote represented a stark turnabout for the government, and it was the price Greece’s lenders demanded for saving the country from a whirlwind of economic turmoil. It was a stunning defeat for populist forces that have pushed for a break from years of grinding cuts...
Yeutter sees 'slim' prospects for TPP agreement at Hawaii session AgriPulse ...Former U.S. Trade Representative Clayton Yeutter said he thinks chances are “slim” that the U.S. and 11other nations trying to forge the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) will reach agreement during the upcoming negotiations in Hawaii in late July. Earlier this month, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman said negotiators had made “considerable progress” in closing gaps on remaining issues...
U.S. senators concerned over Malaysia human-trafficking rating Reuters ...Nineteen U.S. senators, including Democrats and Republicans, sent a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday expressing "grave concern" that Malaysia may be upgraded in this year's U.S. list of human trafficking offenders. Reuters reported last week that the U.S. State Department plans to reverse last year’s downgrade of Malaysia in its annual TIP report, which could smooth the way for a major U.S.-led free-trade deal with the Southeast Asian nation and 11 other countries...
Report Exposes 'Revolving Door' Within Corporate-Dominated TTIP Talks Common Dreams ...As European delegates met with stakeholders in Brussels Wednesday to discuss the details of a massive, pending trade deal between the U.S. and Europe, a new report highlights the revolving door that exists between negotiators of the deal and the industries expected to profit from it. Watchdog groups have long warned that the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) will benefit multinational corporations at the expensive of public and environmental health, labor rights, and state sovereignty...
Senators Press Kerry On Slavery About-Face Huffington Post ...A group of 19 senators led by Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) sent a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday, urging him not to remove Malaysia from the U.S. government's formal list of the world's worst human trafficking offenders. Doing so would allow the Obama administration to evade trade restrictions with Malaysia, after Congress passed legislation blocking trade perks for Tier 3 nations. Malaysia is a key nation involved in the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations...
Greek MPs pass austerity bill as Athens police clash with protesters The Guardian ...Five years into the worst crisis to hit their country in decades, Greek MPs voted by a large majority in the early hours of Thursday morning to accept draconian austerity as the price of further bailout funds but at great personal cost to prime minister Alexis Tsipras. In a vote that saw tensions soar in and outside parliament, the embattled leader’s radical leftist Syriza party suffered huge losses as 40 MPs revolted against the measures...
A Nation Torn: Greece Grapples With 'Humiliating' Austerity Deal Common Dreams ..."The scene in Athens is explosive," King's College London professor and Syriza central committee member Stathis Kouvelakis wrote for Jacobin Wednesday afternoon. Both in and outside of Greek Parliament, tensions are running high. A largely peaceful anti-austerity rally was disrupted at one point by an hour-long clash between anti-austerity protesters and police, leading to about 50 arrests...
UK unemployment rises for first time in two years BBC ...The UK unemployment total has risen for the first time in two years, according to the Office for National Statistics. The ONS said 1.85 million people were unemployed in the March-to-May period, an increase of 15,000 from the previous quarter, with the jobless rate at 5.6%. The ONS also showed that the pace of pay rises continued to pick up...
Swazi Human Rights Leaders Released from Prison Solidarity Center ...Imprisoned Swazi human rights leader Mario Masuku and student activist Maxwell Dlamini were granted bail today by the Supreme Court of Swaziland, according to the Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA). The two were charged with terrorism and jailed in May 2014 for slogans they allegedly shouted at a May Day rally. In May, an international delegation of union leaders traveled to Swaziland, calling on the government to guarantee the rights of workers to freely form unions and exercise freedom of speech and assembly...
State & Living Wage Battles
Scott Walker Tries To Change Welfare Rules So He Can Drug Test People Who Need Food Stamps Think Progress ...Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) sued the federal government Tuesday in an effort to protect a new program to drug test food stamp recipients. Walker signed his state’s budget into law Sunday, which included a provision to start drug testing people who apply for food stamps. But given that states have little leeway in making changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, better known as food stamps), Federal officials were expected to block the program...
GOP Is Standing Firm On Wages The Intelligencer ...West Virginia Senate President Bill Cole said GOP leaders likely will introduce a repeal of the state's prevailing wage on the first day of the 2016 legislative session if they remain unsatisfied with a state agency's efforts to recalculate the wage. There's been a battle brewing since June between Republican lawmakers and WorkForce West Virginia...
Kansas’s Teacher Exodus The Atlantic ...Frustrated and stymied by massive budget cuts that have trimmed salaries and classroom funding, Kansas teachers are “fleeing across the border” to neighboring states that offer better benefits and a friendlier climate for public education, NPR’s Sam Zeff reported. To be sure, this is a tough time for the Sunflower State, where funding shortfalls forced a half-dozen districts to shorten their academic calendars, and teacher jobs are being advertised on billboards...
After a May uptick, Michigan unemployment holds steady in June MLive ...The state's unemployment rate held at a steady 5.5 percent throughout May and June, according to numbers from the Michigan Department of Technology Management and Budget. That's slightly higher than the national average of 5.3 percent...
Uber Fined, Faces Possible Suspension in California for Not Reporting Accessibility Data Slate ...Uber’s dust up with regulators continued on Wednesday when the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) hit the ride-hailing company with a $7.3 million fine for skirting state laws designed to ensure passengers are treated fairly. A CPUC judge said Uber had not provided sufficient data to determine if the company was meeting these requirements, a violation of the 2013 law that allowed Uber to operate in the state...
“We Need to Stop Being Nice”: IL Labor, Community Activists Push Progressive Budget Crisis Solutions In These Times ...In the shadow of a potential state government shutdown, 125 leaders and policy wonks from 63 non-profit, community organizing and labor organizations came together on June 29 to deliberate over a series of proposals for revenue solutions to Illinois’s budget shortfall. Their goal: to push past the austerity narrative that has long constricted progressive policymaking at all levels of government in the state...
LA’s Garcetti says $15 minimum wage will lift 600,000 out of poverty Market Watch ...Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said Wednesday that his city’s recent decision to increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour over the next five years will lift 600,000 L.A.-area wage earners out of poverty. “In my city, where one out of four people live in poverty, we have a shot at putting that money back on Main Street,” Garcetti said at a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C...
U.S. Labor
NLRB Judge: Boeing Wrong For Withholding Job Relocation Information KPLU ...Boeing violated labor law by not giving information to its engineers’ union regarding plans for moving jobs out of the Puget Sound region, a National Labor Relations Board administrative law judge has ruled. Since 2013, the aerospace company has been moving work out of the region that had previously been done by members of the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA)...
Jeb Bush Wants More Americans To Work Long Hours But Doesn’t Want To Pay Them Overtime Think Progress ...Speaking at an event in Iowa on Tuesday, Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush voiced his opposition to the Obama administration’s proposal to expand overtime protection to an extra five million workers. Calling it “the wrong approach,” he argued that the plan will result in lower wages, less overtime available, fewer people working, and will also ban business owners from giving managers bonuses...
Jeep Wrangler decision could come down to UAW talks Detroit News ...Jeep Wrangler production is anticipated to be a part of the 2015 contract negotiations between Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV and the United Auto Workers. After nine months of speculation about when a decision could come and Toledo officials orchestrating an aggressive land and incentive package to keep production in that city, the decision could arise as part of the collective bargaining agreements between the automaker and union...
USW focuses on Goodyear's plans for investment in U.S. plants Rubber & Plastics News ...While Goodyear's decision to locate a $550 million tire plant in Mexico might be considered a blow to the United Steelworkers, the labor union that represents about 9,000 Goodyear workers in the U.S. is claiming a partial victory. The USW said it negotiated a commitment from Goodyear to invest a like amount in its unionized U.S. plants for “high-value-added” tire production above and beyond the $700 million the tire maker already had budgeted for 2015...
Three-year IBEW contract up for Council approval KRBD ...Ratification of a new three-year contract with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers is in front of the Ketchikan City Council Thursday night. The current contract expired on Dec. 31. If approved, the new contract will be retroactive to the start of this calendar year...
CCAC Adjunct Faculty Joins American Federation Of Teachers WESA ...Adjunct faculty at the Community College of Allegheny County voted to join their full-time colleagues as members of the American Federation of Teachers on Tuesday. “Being able to negotiate a living wage for ourselves was obviously the number one issue,” said adjunct art professor Gene Marsh, “and some other issues relating to benefits or access to full-time positions as they open up”...
Americans are taking less vacation time than ever — and it's hurting their relationships Today ...A survey of 1,200 adults by the U.S. Travel Association found that Americans are taking fewer vacation days than they did 15 years ago (16 days per year) with many people not taking all the vacation days they earn. And eschewing vacation time for more work can be damaging for relationships. "A lot more Americans now are working harder than ever," Dr. Sue Varma, a clinical assistant professor of psychiatry at the NYU Langone Medical Center, told Today...
Calm Down: SCOTUS’s ‘Friedrichs’ Case Won’t Mean the End of the American Labor Movement In These Times ...here are good reasons to be concerned. A ruling in favor of Friedrichs would legally and morally permit some workers to be “free riders”—individuals who take advantage of what the union by law must provide them without paying for it. Perhaps more important, it would disregard the fundamental reasoning behind the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA)-protected “union security clauses.” But there are many other reasons to think that, win or lose on this case, the labor movement may not be as seriously damaged as many now fear...
Miscellaneous
Why Are the Koch Brothers and Van Jones Teaming Up to End Mass Incarceration? Democracy Now ...This week President Obama has launched a major push to reform the country's criminal justice system. On Monday, he granted clemency to 46 men and women facing extreme sentences - in some cases life in prison - for nonviolent drug offenses. Tomorrow he is set to become the first sitting president to visit a federal prison. Obama praised the "unlikely bedfellows" campaigning together for criminal justice reform from the left and right, including the Koch Brothers and Van Jones...
Detroit Is Ground Zero in the New Fight for Water Rights The Nation ...The rise of Detroit’s water movement comes none too soon. One year after the wave of disconnections began, the threat of mass shutoffs has spread to Baltimore, while the climate-related drought in California has forced the government to institute water-use restrictions. From coast to coast, the United States is careening into an age of widespread water instability. And once again, as so many times before, the Motor City is on the front lines of the resistance...
Hoffa: Congress Must Step Up to Protect Pensions Teamster.org ..."America’s retirement system has been undermined by Wall Street’s collapse seven years ago and poor government policy decisions in recent years. Rather than come up with creative plans to save the hard earned benefits of America's retirees, Congress instead passed a law last year that allows their pension benefits to be cut by as much as 30 percent. This would be devastating for those least able to take such a hit to their living standards. But there is a solution that doesn’t require retiree benefit cuts"...
Hoffa: The Time Has Passed for Short-Term Solutions for Highway Funding Teamster.org ...Today, the House voted to extend federal highway funding for another five months as the July 31 expiration of the current funding quickly approaches. This marks the fourth time this year that the House has voted to extend highway funding for the short-term rather than buckling down and finding a long-term solution. “The longer our representatives on Capitol Hill are unable to agree on long-term highway funding, the further and further our infrastructure falls into disrepair,” said Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa...
Teamsters Applaud Department of Labor Interpretation on Misclassified Workers Teamster.org ...The Teamsters Union applauds the findings in the U.S. Department of Labor Administrator’s Interpretation 2015-1, which recognizes the need to eliminate employee misclassification, citing the practice’s serious threat to workers’ rights. The Teamsters Union has been leading the fight against misclassification on both the state and federal levels for more than a decade,” said Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa...
Obama appoints emergency board in NJ Transit labor dispute NJ.com ...President Obama on Wednesday named an emergency board to try to resolve the labor dispute between NJ Transit and its engineers. The action came after the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen unanimously voted July 8 to go out on strike unless the president formed the board, which has 30 days to recommend ways to resolve the impasse...
Global Labor & Trade
Greece approves contentious austerity measures, smoothing way for bailout Washington Post ...Hours after police and demonstrators clashed in central Athens, Greek lawmakers on Thursday approved austerity measures that were overwhelmingly rejected by their citizens just days ago. The vote represented a stark turnabout for the government, and it was the price Greece’s lenders demanded for saving the country from a whirlwind of economic turmoil. It was a stunning defeat for populist forces that have pushed for a break from years of grinding cuts...
Yeutter sees 'slim' prospects for TPP agreement at Hawaii session AgriPulse ...Former U.S. Trade Representative Clayton Yeutter said he thinks chances are “slim” that the U.S. and 11other nations trying to forge the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) will reach agreement during the upcoming negotiations in Hawaii in late July. Earlier this month, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman said negotiators had made “considerable progress” in closing gaps on remaining issues...
U.S. senators concerned over Malaysia human-trafficking rating Reuters ...Nineteen U.S. senators, including Democrats and Republicans, sent a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday expressing "grave concern" that Malaysia may be upgraded in this year's U.S. list of human trafficking offenders. Reuters reported last week that the U.S. State Department plans to reverse last year’s downgrade of Malaysia in its annual TIP report, which could smooth the way for a major U.S.-led free-trade deal with the Southeast Asian nation and 11 other countries...
Report Exposes 'Revolving Door' Within Corporate-Dominated TTIP Talks Common Dreams ...As European delegates met with stakeholders in Brussels Wednesday to discuss the details of a massive, pending trade deal between the U.S. and Europe, a new report highlights the revolving door that exists between negotiators of the deal and the industries expected to profit from it. Watchdog groups have long warned that the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) will benefit multinational corporations at the expensive of public and environmental health, labor rights, and state sovereignty...
Senators Press Kerry On Slavery About-Face Huffington Post ...A group of 19 senators led by Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) sent a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday, urging him not to remove Malaysia from the U.S. government's formal list of the world's worst human trafficking offenders. Doing so would allow the Obama administration to evade trade restrictions with Malaysia, after Congress passed legislation blocking trade perks for Tier 3 nations. Malaysia is a key nation involved in the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations...
Greek MPs pass austerity bill as Athens police clash with protesters The Guardian ...Five years into the worst crisis to hit their country in decades, Greek MPs voted by a large majority in the early hours of Thursday morning to accept draconian austerity as the price of further bailout funds but at great personal cost to prime minister Alexis Tsipras. In a vote that saw tensions soar in and outside parliament, the embattled leader’s radical leftist Syriza party suffered huge losses as 40 MPs revolted against the measures...
A Nation Torn: Greece Grapples With 'Humiliating' Austerity Deal Common Dreams ..."The scene in Athens is explosive," King's College London professor and Syriza central committee member Stathis Kouvelakis wrote for Jacobin Wednesday afternoon. Both in and outside of Greek Parliament, tensions are running high. A largely peaceful anti-austerity rally was disrupted at one point by an hour-long clash between anti-austerity protesters and police, leading to about 50 arrests...
UK unemployment rises for first time in two years BBC ...The UK unemployment total has risen for the first time in two years, according to the Office for National Statistics. The ONS said 1.85 million people were unemployed in the March-to-May period, an increase of 15,000 from the previous quarter, with the jobless rate at 5.6%. The ONS also showed that the pace of pay rises continued to pick up...
Swazi Human Rights Leaders Released from Prison Solidarity Center ...Imprisoned Swazi human rights leader Mario Masuku and student activist Maxwell Dlamini were granted bail today by the Supreme Court of Swaziland, according to the Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA). The two were charged with terrorism and jailed in May 2014 for slogans they allegedly shouted at a May Day rally. In May, an international delegation of union leaders traveled to Swaziland, calling on the government to guarantee the rights of workers to freely form unions and exercise freedom of speech and assembly...
State & Living Wage Battles
Scott Walker Tries To Change Welfare Rules So He Can Drug Test People Who Need Food Stamps Think Progress ...Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) sued the federal government Tuesday in an effort to protect a new program to drug test food stamp recipients. Walker signed his state’s budget into law Sunday, which included a provision to start drug testing people who apply for food stamps. But given that states have little leeway in making changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, better known as food stamps), Federal officials were expected to block the program...
GOP Is Standing Firm On Wages The Intelligencer ...West Virginia Senate President Bill Cole said GOP leaders likely will introduce a repeal of the state's prevailing wage on the first day of the 2016 legislative session if they remain unsatisfied with a state agency's efforts to recalculate the wage. There's been a battle brewing since June between Republican lawmakers and WorkForce West Virginia...
Kansas’s Teacher Exodus The Atlantic ...Frustrated and stymied by massive budget cuts that have trimmed salaries and classroom funding, Kansas teachers are “fleeing across the border” to neighboring states that offer better benefits and a friendlier climate for public education, NPR’s Sam Zeff reported. To be sure, this is a tough time for the Sunflower State, where funding shortfalls forced a half-dozen districts to shorten their academic calendars, and teacher jobs are being advertised on billboards...
After a May uptick, Michigan unemployment holds steady in June MLive ...The state's unemployment rate held at a steady 5.5 percent throughout May and June, according to numbers from the Michigan Department of Technology Management and Budget. That's slightly higher than the national average of 5.3 percent...
Uber Fined, Faces Possible Suspension in California for Not Reporting Accessibility Data Slate ...Uber’s dust up with regulators continued on Wednesday when the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) hit the ride-hailing company with a $7.3 million fine for skirting state laws designed to ensure passengers are treated fairly. A CPUC judge said Uber had not provided sufficient data to determine if the company was meeting these requirements, a violation of the 2013 law that allowed Uber to operate in the state...
“We Need to Stop Being Nice”: IL Labor, Community Activists Push Progressive Budget Crisis Solutions In These Times ...In the shadow of a potential state government shutdown, 125 leaders and policy wonks from 63 non-profit, community organizing and labor organizations came together on June 29 to deliberate over a series of proposals for revenue solutions to Illinois’s budget shortfall. Their goal: to push past the austerity narrative that has long constricted progressive policymaking at all levels of government in the state...
LA’s Garcetti says $15 minimum wage will lift 600,000 out of poverty Market Watch ...Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said Wednesday that his city’s recent decision to increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour over the next five years will lift 600,000 L.A.-area wage earners out of poverty. “In my city, where one out of four people live in poverty, we have a shot at putting that money back on Main Street,” Garcetti said at a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C...
U.S. Labor
NLRB Judge: Boeing Wrong For Withholding Job Relocation Information KPLU ...Boeing violated labor law by not giving information to its engineers’ union regarding plans for moving jobs out of the Puget Sound region, a National Labor Relations Board administrative law judge has ruled. Since 2013, the aerospace company has been moving work out of the region that had previously been done by members of the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA)...
Jeb Bush Wants More Americans To Work Long Hours But Doesn’t Want To Pay Them Overtime Think Progress ...Speaking at an event in Iowa on Tuesday, Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush voiced his opposition to the Obama administration’s proposal to expand overtime protection to an extra five million workers. Calling it “the wrong approach,” he argued that the plan will result in lower wages, less overtime available, fewer people working, and will also ban business owners from giving managers bonuses...
Jeep Wrangler decision could come down to UAW talks Detroit News ...Jeep Wrangler production is anticipated to be a part of the 2015 contract negotiations between Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV and the United Auto Workers. After nine months of speculation about when a decision could come and Toledo officials orchestrating an aggressive land and incentive package to keep production in that city, the decision could arise as part of the collective bargaining agreements between the automaker and union...
USW focuses on Goodyear's plans for investment in U.S. plants Rubber & Plastics News ...While Goodyear's decision to locate a $550 million tire plant in Mexico might be considered a blow to the United Steelworkers, the labor union that represents about 9,000 Goodyear workers in the U.S. is claiming a partial victory. The USW said it negotiated a commitment from Goodyear to invest a like amount in its unionized U.S. plants for “high-value-added” tire production above and beyond the $700 million the tire maker already had budgeted for 2015...
Three-year IBEW contract up for Council approval KRBD ...Ratification of a new three-year contract with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers is in front of the Ketchikan City Council Thursday night. The current contract expired on Dec. 31. If approved, the new contract will be retroactive to the start of this calendar year...
CCAC Adjunct Faculty Joins American Federation Of Teachers WESA ...Adjunct faculty at the Community College of Allegheny County voted to join their full-time colleagues as members of the American Federation of Teachers on Tuesday. “Being able to negotiate a living wage for ourselves was obviously the number one issue,” said adjunct art professor Gene Marsh, “and some other issues relating to benefits or access to full-time positions as they open up”...
Americans are taking less vacation time than ever — and it's hurting their relationships Today ...A survey of 1,200 adults by the U.S. Travel Association found that Americans are taking fewer vacation days than they did 15 years ago (16 days per year) with many people not taking all the vacation days they earn. And eschewing vacation time for more work can be damaging for relationships. "A lot more Americans now are working harder than ever," Dr. Sue Varma, a clinical assistant professor of psychiatry at the NYU Langone Medical Center, told Today...
Calm Down: SCOTUS’s ‘Friedrichs’ Case Won’t Mean the End of the American Labor Movement In These Times ...here are good reasons to be concerned. A ruling in favor of Friedrichs would legally and morally permit some workers to be “free riders”—individuals who take advantage of what the union by law must provide them without paying for it. Perhaps more important, it would disregard the fundamental reasoning behind the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA)-protected “union security clauses.” But there are many other reasons to think that, win or lose on this case, the labor movement may not be as seriously damaged as many now fear...
Miscellaneous
Why Are the Koch Brothers and Van Jones Teaming Up to End Mass Incarceration? Democracy Now ...This week President Obama has launched a major push to reform the country's criminal justice system. On Monday, he granted clemency to 46 men and women facing extreme sentences - in some cases life in prison - for nonviolent drug offenses. Tomorrow he is set to become the first sitting president to visit a federal prison. Obama praised the "unlikely bedfellows" campaigning together for criminal justice reform from the left and right, including the Koch Brothers and Van Jones...
Detroit Is Ground Zero in the New Fight for Water Rights The Nation ...The rise of Detroit’s water movement comes none too soon. One year after the wave of disconnections began, the threat of mass shutoffs has spread to Baltimore, while the climate-related drought in California has forced the government to institute water-use restrictions. From coast to coast, the United States is careening into an age of widespread water instability. And once again, as so many times before, the Motor City is on the front lines of the resistance...
Thursday, March 6, 2014
Today's Teamster News 03.06.14
Teamster News
PA Teamsters Stand Against Paycheck Deception Bill teamster.org ...Teamster members and leaders joined with York County legislators to denounce what has been termed the ‘Paycheck Deception Bill’ (House Bill 1507) at a press conference yesterday...
Teamsters: Workers, Not the Rich, Need a Hand Up teamster.org ...The growing disparity in incomes between the “haves” and the “have nots” is a real problem for America, and one that is being felt in many corners of this country...
Deadline Rapidly Approaches for JRH Scholarship Applications teamster.org ...March 31st is the deadline to apply for the James R. Hoffa Memorial Scholarship that's been set up to benefit children or financially dependent grandchildren of Teamsters. For more details and downloadable materials, click here...
Trade
Is Japan Playing Ball with the US on the TransPacific Partnership? naked capitalism ...expect to hear the Trade Representative’s office to bray that considerable progress was made on the TPP as a result of Obama’s visit. Remember, in negotiating, the impression that progress is being made is critical. But anyone who has been following this beat and isn’t in the can for the Administration is certain to tell you otherwise...
USDA Ignores Food Safety, Hell Bent on Importing Brazilian Beef Trade Reform ...Brazil is to the U.S. beef industry what China is to the steel industry (and many other industries)… they are the goliath. They are really big. They will flood our market with potentially contaminated meat...
US: Administration outlines international trade goals just-style ....The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) has outlined the US President's international trade goals and policies for 2014 - which include completing TPP negotiations, continuing T-TIP talks and working on eliminating trade barriers...
Controversial anti-smuggling trade agreement between China and the United States renewed Art Media Agency ...A controversial anti-smuggling trade agreement established between China and the United States in 2009 has been renewed for five years...
State Battles
Highest Minimum-Wage State Washington Beats U.S. in Job Creation Bloomberg News ...When Washington residents voted in 1998 to raise the state’s minimum wage and link it to the cost of living, opponents warned the measure would be a job-killer. The prediction hasn’t been borne out. In the 15 years that followed, the state’s minimum wage climbed to the highest in the country while job growth continued above the national rate...
Indiana union petitions state Supreme Court to rule Right to Work unconstitutional Beverly Hills Courier ...As Right to Work battles continue to wage across the country, labor supporters in Indiana are looking at a decisive victory if the state Supreme Court rules in their favor...
State Supreme Court Moves to Consolidate Pension Law Challenges NBC News ...Four lawsuits from the Retired State Employee Association, the Illinois State Employee Association, the We Are One Illinois Coalition and a group of retired school teachers challenging the state's pension law reform will now be heard as one challenge, according to the ruling...|
What ALEC Has Planned For Ohio In 2014: Hurt School Districts And More Tax Cuts For The Wealthy Plunderbund ...Despite 40 years of empirical evidence showing that cutting taxes for those at the top does exactly nothing to help anybody else, and, in fact, has helped skyrocket wealth inequality to Gilded Age levels, this “tax reform” push is a top priority...
Federal investigators issue ‘scathing’ report on Indiana OSHA Indianapolis Star ...IOSHA failed to investigate an explosion at Indianapolis Power & Light in March 2013, even as the agency was negotiating a settlement with the utility company over an explosion seven months earlier that killed one worker and injured another...
War on Workers
Companies in U.S. Added Fewer Jobs Than Forecast in February Bloomberg News ...Companies added fewer workers than projected in February, a sign that U.S. employers were waiting for a pickup in demand before boosting headcount, a private report based on payrolls showed today...
A Depressingly Simple Explanation For The Weak Recovery Business Insider ...income gains have been mediocre for a broad swath of middle income households for some time, and borrowing temporarily masked the demand drag. In combination these factors have been a contributing factor to the slow recovery of U.S. consumption and economic growth...
Researchers Suggest Banks Might Be Rigging Gold Prices truthout ...the five banks that set the gold price have now been accused of price manipulation in a class-action lawsuit filed Monday in a U.S. federal court in New York...
Booming Business at Alabama Shipyard Fuels New Union Campaign In These Times ...Rapid business growth may be the key to finally unionizing shipbuilding workers in Mobile, Ala., where an Australia-based defense contractor has successfully fought union organizing for more than a decade...
More Than 2 Million Unemployed Workers Are Now Going Without Benefits ThinkProgress ...Congress is failing this 40-year nursing veteran (and 2 million others like her)...
New Democratic Strategy Goes After Koch Brothers New York Times ...On Thursday, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is starting a digital campaign that will use Internet ads and videos, as well as social media, to tie Republican Senate candidates to the policies and actions of the Koch brothers. Its slogan: “The G.O.P. is addicted to Koch” (pronounced coke)...
Imposing a Starvation Diet on Government Programs Needs to End (Opinion) Huffington Post ...As any dietician will attest, starving the body of vital nutrients in an effort to slim down is a recipe for failure. The same is true for federal government programs and services...
Miscellaneous
Americans Shut Out of Home Market Threaten Recovery: Mortgages Bloomberg ...First-time homebuyers hurt by rising prices and tougher credit standards are disappearing from the market, slowing the pace of the three-year recovery. The decline of these buyers, many of whom are young and non-white, also threatens to widen the wealth gap between owners, who benefit from appreciation, and renters, said Thomas Lawler, a former Fannie Mae economist...
Bernanke’s $250,000 fee for speech puts him near top of food chain Wall Street Journal ...Former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s reported $250,000 for a speech in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday puts him in rarefied air of public speakers, experts said. With one speech, Bernanke exceeded his $199,700 annual salary as Fed chairman in 2013...
The Inverse of Oversight: CIA Spies On Congress The Intercept ... the CIA’s inspector general has asked for a criminal investigation into CIA monitoring of computers used by Senate aides who were investigating the agency’s prominent role in the Bush-era torture of detainees...
Rolls-Royce investigated in US over bribery claims The Telegraph ...Rolls-Royce is being investigated by the US Department of Justice (DoJ), following allegations that its executives bribed officials in Indonesia, China and India in order to win lucrative contracts...
BP fails to get out of compensating oil spill victims Salon ...An appeals court shut down the company's efforts to avoid paying damages...
Frigid U.S. Weather Means Highest Power Prices Since ’08: Energy Bloomberg News ...Freezing temperatures gripping the eastern U.S. will result in the highest electricity prices in six years for consumers in Boston, Dallas and San Francisco...
Scary Emerging Scientific Consensus: There's No Such Thing as Safe Plastic Democracy Now! ...There is new research suggesting that even BPA-free plastics contain chemicals that can act like estrogen in the body and cause disease. And the plastics industry has a big propaganda denial campaign in the works....
PA Teamsters Stand Against Paycheck Deception Bill teamster.org ...Teamster members and leaders joined with York County legislators to denounce what has been termed the ‘Paycheck Deception Bill’ (House Bill 1507) at a press conference yesterday...
Teamsters: Workers, Not the Rich, Need a Hand Up teamster.org ...The growing disparity in incomes between the “haves” and the “have nots” is a real problem for America, and one that is being felt in many corners of this country...
Deadline Rapidly Approaches for JRH Scholarship Applications teamster.org ...March 31st is the deadline to apply for the James R. Hoffa Memorial Scholarship that's been set up to benefit children or financially dependent grandchildren of Teamsters. For more details and downloadable materials, click here...
Trade
Is Japan Playing Ball with the US on the TransPacific Partnership? naked capitalism ...expect to hear the Trade Representative’s office to bray that considerable progress was made on the TPP as a result of Obama’s visit. Remember, in negotiating, the impression that progress is being made is critical. But anyone who has been following this beat and isn’t in the can for the Administration is certain to tell you otherwise...
USDA Ignores Food Safety, Hell Bent on Importing Brazilian Beef Trade Reform ...Brazil is to the U.S. beef industry what China is to the steel industry (and many other industries)… they are the goliath. They are really big. They will flood our market with potentially contaminated meat...
US: Administration outlines international trade goals just-style ....The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) has outlined the US President's international trade goals and policies for 2014 - which include completing TPP negotiations, continuing T-TIP talks and working on eliminating trade barriers...
Controversial anti-smuggling trade agreement between China and the United States renewed Art Media Agency ...A controversial anti-smuggling trade agreement established between China and the United States in 2009 has been renewed for five years...
State Battles
Highest Minimum-Wage State Washington Beats U.S. in Job Creation Bloomberg News ...When Washington residents voted in 1998 to raise the state’s minimum wage and link it to the cost of living, opponents warned the measure would be a job-killer. The prediction hasn’t been borne out. In the 15 years that followed, the state’s minimum wage climbed to the highest in the country while job growth continued above the national rate...
Indiana union petitions state Supreme Court to rule Right to Work unconstitutional Beverly Hills Courier ...As Right to Work battles continue to wage across the country, labor supporters in Indiana are looking at a decisive victory if the state Supreme Court rules in their favor...
State Supreme Court Moves to Consolidate Pension Law Challenges NBC News ...Four lawsuits from the Retired State Employee Association, the Illinois State Employee Association, the We Are One Illinois Coalition and a group of retired school teachers challenging the state's pension law reform will now be heard as one challenge, according to the ruling...|
What ALEC Has Planned For Ohio In 2014: Hurt School Districts And More Tax Cuts For The Wealthy Plunderbund ...Despite 40 years of empirical evidence showing that cutting taxes for those at the top does exactly nothing to help anybody else, and, in fact, has helped skyrocket wealth inequality to Gilded Age levels, this “tax reform” push is a top priority...
Federal investigators issue ‘scathing’ report on Indiana OSHA Indianapolis Star ...IOSHA failed to investigate an explosion at Indianapolis Power & Light in March 2013, even as the agency was negotiating a settlement with the utility company over an explosion seven months earlier that killed one worker and injured another...
War on Workers
Companies in U.S. Added Fewer Jobs Than Forecast in February Bloomberg News ...Companies added fewer workers than projected in February, a sign that U.S. employers were waiting for a pickup in demand before boosting headcount, a private report based on payrolls showed today...
A Depressingly Simple Explanation For The Weak Recovery Business Insider ...income gains have been mediocre for a broad swath of middle income households for some time, and borrowing temporarily masked the demand drag. In combination these factors have been a contributing factor to the slow recovery of U.S. consumption and economic growth...
Researchers Suggest Banks Might Be Rigging Gold Prices truthout ...the five banks that set the gold price have now been accused of price manipulation in a class-action lawsuit filed Monday in a U.S. federal court in New York...
Booming Business at Alabama Shipyard Fuels New Union Campaign In These Times ...Rapid business growth may be the key to finally unionizing shipbuilding workers in Mobile, Ala., where an Australia-based defense contractor has successfully fought union organizing for more than a decade...
More Than 2 Million Unemployed Workers Are Now Going Without Benefits ThinkProgress ...Congress is failing this 40-year nursing veteran (and 2 million others like her)...
New Democratic Strategy Goes After Koch Brothers New York Times ...On Thursday, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is starting a digital campaign that will use Internet ads and videos, as well as social media, to tie Republican Senate candidates to the policies and actions of the Koch brothers. Its slogan: “The G.O.P. is addicted to Koch” (pronounced coke)...
Imposing a Starvation Diet on Government Programs Needs to End (Opinion) Huffington Post ...As any dietician will attest, starving the body of vital nutrients in an effort to slim down is a recipe for failure. The same is true for federal government programs and services...
Miscellaneous
Americans Shut Out of Home Market Threaten Recovery: Mortgages Bloomberg ...First-time homebuyers hurt by rising prices and tougher credit standards are disappearing from the market, slowing the pace of the three-year recovery. The decline of these buyers, many of whom are young and non-white, also threatens to widen the wealth gap between owners, who benefit from appreciation, and renters, said Thomas Lawler, a former Fannie Mae economist...
Bernanke’s $250,000 fee for speech puts him near top of food chain Wall Street Journal ...Former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s reported $250,000 for a speech in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday puts him in rarefied air of public speakers, experts said. With one speech, Bernanke exceeded his $199,700 annual salary as Fed chairman in 2013...
The Inverse of Oversight: CIA Spies On Congress The Intercept ... the CIA’s inspector general has asked for a criminal investigation into CIA monitoring of computers used by Senate aides who were investigating the agency’s prominent role in the Bush-era torture of detainees...
Rolls-Royce investigated in US over bribery claims The Telegraph ...Rolls-Royce is being investigated by the US Department of Justice (DoJ), following allegations that its executives bribed officials in Indonesia, China and India in order to win lucrative contracts...
BP fails to get out of compensating oil spill victims Salon ...An appeals court shut down the company's efforts to avoid paying damages...
Frigid U.S. Weather Means Highest Power Prices Since ’08: Energy Bloomberg News ...Freezing temperatures gripping the eastern U.S. will result in the highest electricity prices in six years for consumers in Boston, Dallas and San Francisco...
Scary Emerging Scientific Consensus: There's No Such Thing as Safe Plastic Democracy Now! ...There is new research suggesting that even BPA-free plastics contain chemicals that can act like estrogen in the body and cause disease. And the plastics industry has a big propaganda denial campaign in the works....
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
Today's Teamster News 05.08.13
Ex-South Carolina governor Sanford beats Colbert Busch in special House election Washington Post ...The conservative electorate of South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District voted Tuesday to resurrect the political career of disgraced former governor Mark Sanford (R) by returning him to his former House seat...
Texas tragedy may cost fertilizer plant only $1 million RT Network ...Fifteen people died and more than 200 others were injured following an explosion at a West, Texas fertilizer plant last month, and lawyers for the facility now admit that the plant’s owners aren’t prepared to pay for the damages totaling more than $100 million in destruction. But the attorneys say the factory had only $1 million in liability coverage...
Death toll of Bangladesh building collapse tops 700 Associated Press ...Hundreds of survivors of last month’s collapse of a building housing garment factories in Bangladesh protested for compensation Tuesday, as the death toll from the country’s worst-ever industrial disaster passed 700...
Churn, baby, churn: The labor market won’t be healthy until people feel like they can quit their jobs Washington Post ...America needs more quitters. Or the job market does, anyway. That’s the lesson to draw from the latest Labor Department report, which shows the soft underbelly of the U.S. jobs picture. The unemployment rate may be falling and the number of jobs rising. But there isn’t enough “churn” going on, a hallmark of a healthy job market, in which people freely move between positions...
Overtime pay vs. time off: GOP wants a choice, but Democrats say plan would hurt workers Associated Press ...It seems like a simple proposition: give employees who work more than 40 hours a week the option of taking paid time off instead of overtime pay...
Online Sales Tax Bill Passes Senate Huffington Post ...The Senate sided with traditional retailers and financially strapped state and local governments Monday by passing a bill that would widely subject online shopping – for many a largely tax-free frontier – to state sales taxes...
FAA reviewing lost pay for furloughed employees The Washington Post ...The Federal Aviation Administration says it is reviewing how and whether to make whole thousands of employees who were forced to take unpaid days off in April before Congress intervened, suspending the furloughs...
Exposing ALEC's Agenda to Defund and Dismantle Public Education (opinion) Huffington Post ...Iron Man 3 just opened this past weekend, followed soon by more would-be blockbusters. I'm sure a lot of these movies will be entertaining, but none will be more important or relevant than a half-hour documentary I recently watched: The United States of ALEC...
Hertz relocating corporate headquarters to Florida following Dollar Thrifty acquisition Associated Press ...Hertz will move its headquarters from New Jersey to Florida, putting the company in the heart of a key travel market and trimming corporate expenses after its $2.3 billion buyout of one-time rival, Dollar Thrifty...
South Jersey firms facing OSHA fines from Sandy repair jobs Press of Atlantic City ...Federal inspectors have assessed at least 26 companies with a total of $110,000 in fines for unsafe workplaces in New Jersey shore towns while cleaning up and repairing damage from Hurricane Sandy, an analysis of U.S. Department of Labor records shows...
Missouri lawmakers must finalize budget this week News-Press ...Missouri lawmakers have until Friday to finalize the state's roughly $25 billion operating budget...
Illinois Senate to vote on union-endorsed pension reform bill Reuters ...A union-backed plan to reform the worst-funded state pension system in the United States will be introduced in the Illinois Senate this week, competing with a plan passed by the House last week...
More arrested as NC legislature protests continue Associated Press ...More than two dozen members of the NAACP and other activists were arrested Monday as part of continuing protests of Republican policies in the state capital, bringing to nearly 50 the number of nonviolent demonstrators facing charges...
Michigan launches $5 million veterans' homeowners assistance program Michigan Live ...Michigan veterans who have lost their homes or are struggling to keep them could benefit from a new $5 million housing assistance program...
Teamsters Urge Congress To Stop Dangerous Increases In Truck Weight And Size IBT ...Yesterday, the Teamsters, the Truck Safety Coalition, U.S. Rep. James McGovern (D-MA) and representatives of several families who have suffered death and injury as a result of truck crashes, held a news conference marking the re-introduction of legislation that would prevent an increase in size and weight allowances for trucks...
UPS Local Leaders Unanimously Endorse UPS Tentative Agreement IBT ...Leaders of Teamster Local Unions that represent UPS workers across the United States voted unanimously today to endorse the tentative UPS national agreement, paving the way for ballots to be prepared and sent to members...
UPS Freight Local Union Leaders Unanimously Recommend Tentative Agreement For Ratification IBT ...Teamster Local Union leaders representing UPS Freight workers across the country unanimously endorsed the tentative national agreement today, clearing the way for ballots to be prepared and sent to members...
US Air Mechanics File for Election to Become Teamsters IBT ...US Airways mechanics and related workers filed for an election today with the National Mediation Board (NMB) as part of their campaign to become Teamsters...
Osco Pharmacists Negotiations Enter Federal Mediation IBT ...After seven bargaining sessions over several weeks, contract negotiations for 500 Osco pharmacists have entered federal mediation...
Buy Union, Buy American: Support Teamsters Week Labor 411 ...Consumer awareness and education are key to the success of the labor movement. We have no doubt that most Americans would choose union-made, American-made goods if only they knew which they were – and if they realized that buying those goods helps to support good middle class American jobs...
Bay City mid-management contract approval rescheduled to later this month Michigan Live ...The Bay City Commission has rescheduled the review of new deal with Teamsters Local 214, which represents mid-management positions including the chief accountant, information systems administrator and planning manager...
Death toll of Bangladesh building collapse tops 700 Associated Press ...Hundreds of survivors of last month’s collapse of a building housing garment factories in Bangladesh protested for compensation Tuesday, as the death toll from the country’s worst-ever industrial disaster passed 700...
Churn, baby, churn: The labor market won’t be healthy until people feel like they can quit their jobs Washington Post ...America needs more quitters. Or the job market does, anyway. That’s the lesson to draw from the latest Labor Department report, which shows the soft underbelly of the U.S. jobs picture. The unemployment rate may be falling and the number of jobs rising. But there isn’t enough “churn” going on, a hallmark of a healthy job market, in which people freely move between positions...
Overtime pay vs. time off: GOP wants a choice, but Democrats say plan would hurt workers Associated Press ...It seems like a simple proposition: give employees who work more than 40 hours a week the option of taking paid time off instead of overtime pay...
Online Sales Tax Bill Passes Senate Huffington Post ...The Senate sided with traditional retailers and financially strapped state and local governments Monday by passing a bill that would widely subject online shopping – for many a largely tax-free frontier – to state sales taxes...
FAA reviewing lost pay for furloughed employees The Washington Post ...The Federal Aviation Administration says it is reviewing how and whether to make whole thousands of employees who were forced to take unpaid days off in April before Congress intervened, suspending the furloughs...
Exposing ALEC's Agenda to Defund and Dismantle Public Education (opinion) Huffington Post ...Iron Man 3 just opened this past weekend, followed soon by more would-be blockbusters. I'm sure a lot of these movies will be entertaining, but none will be more important or relevant than a half-hour documentary I recently watched: The United States of ALEC...
Hertz relocating corporate headquarters to Florida following Dollar Thrifty acquisition Associated Press ...Hertz will move its headquarters from New Jersey to Florida, putting the company in the heart of a key travel market and trimming corporate expenses after its $2.3 billion buyout of one-time rival, Dollar Thrifty...
South Jersey firms facing OSHA fines from Sandy repair jobs Press of Atlantic City ...Federal inspectors have assessed at least 26 companies with a total of $110,000 in fines for unsafe workplaces in New Jersey shore towns while cleaning up and repairing damage from Hurricane Sandy, an analysis of U.S. Department of Labor records shows...
Missouri lawmakers must finalize budget this week News-Press ...Missouri lawmakers have until Friday to finalize the state's roughly $25 billion operating budget...
Illinois Senate to vote on union-endorsed pension reform bill Reuters ...A union-backed plan to reform the worst-funded state pension system in the United States will be introduced in the Illinois Senate this week, competing with a plan passed by the House last week...
More arrested as NC legislature protests continue Associated Press ...More than two dozen members of the NAACP and other activists were arrested Monday as part of continuing protests of Republican policies in the state capital, bringing to nearly 50 the number of nonviolent demonstrators facing charges...
Michigan launches $5 million veterans' homeowners assistance program Michigan Live ...Michigan veterans who have lost their homes or are struggling to keep them could benefit from a new $5 million housing assistance program...
Teamsters Urge Congress To Stop Dangerous Increases In Truck Weight And Size IBT ...Yesterday, the Teamsters, the Truck Safety Coalition, U.S. Rep. James McGovern (D-MA) and representatives of several families who have suffered death and injury as a result of truck crashes, held a news conference marking the re-introduction of legislation that would prevent an increase in size and weight allowances for trucks...
UPS Local Leaders Unanimously Endorse UPS Tentative Agreement IBT ...Leaders of Teamster Local Unions that represent UPS workers across the United States voted unanimously today to endorse the tentative UPS national agreement, paving the way for ballots to be prepared and sent to members...
UPS Freight Local Union Leaders Unanimously Recommend Tentative Agreement For Ratification IBT ...Teamster Local Union leaders representing UPS Freight workers across the country unanimously endorsed the tentative national agreement today, clearing the way for ballots to be prepared and sent to members...
US Air Mechanics File for Election to Become Teamsters IBT ...US Airways mechanics and related workers filed for an election today with the National Mediation Board (NMB) as part of their campaign to become Teamsters...
Osco Pharmacists Negotiations Enter Federal Mediation IBT ...After seven bargaining sessions over several weeks, contract negotiations for 500 Osco pharmacists have entered federal mediation...
Buy Union, Buy American: Support Teamsters Week Labor 411 ...Consumer awareness and education are key to the success of the labor movement. We have no doubt that most Americans would choose union-made, American-made goods if only they knew which they were – and if they realized that buying those goods helps to support good middle class American jobs...
Bay City mid-management contract approval rescheduled to later this month Michigan Live ...The Bay City Commission has rescheduled the review of new deal with Teamsters Local 214, which represents mid-management positions including the chief accountant, information systems administrator and planning manager...
Thursday, May 2, 2013
Today's Teamster News 05.02.13
Tom Morello Offers Free 'Union Town' Tracks for May Day Rolling Stone ...Tom Morello has partnered with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters to give away tracks from Union Town, the 2011 album from the guitarist's Nightwatchman project. Fans can simply head to the Teamsters website and submit their email addresses for the tracks...
Bangladesh building collapse: Death toll passes 400 BBC News ...The number of people killed in the collapse of a building in Bangladesh which housed garment factories last week has passed 400, officials say...
Tell Walmart and Other Retailers: Ensure basic safety and human rights for workers in Bangladesh CREDO Action Alert ...Urge these companies to take immediate steps to deploy safety improvements in their supplier factories and pay the compensation owed to injured workers and the families of workers killed while sewing their clothing in Bangladesh…
CEO-To-Worker Pay Ratio Ballooned 1,000 Percent Since 1950: Report Huffington Post ...We’ve made progress on a lot of things since the 1950s and so have CEOs -- in their quest for more money that is. The ratio of CEO-to-worker pay has increased 1,000 percent since 1950, according to data from Bloomberg...
Bill Moyers documentary examines 'United States of ALEC' Sacramento Bee ...Ever wonder how it is that the same bill pops up simultaneously in statehouses across the country? One way is through the work of the American Legislative Exchange Council, a group that promotes business-friendly model legislation for state lawmakers to introduce in their respective Capitols.
Michigan bill would make stores online charge 6% sales tax Detroit Free Press ...Dan Marshall knows he can comfortably compete with the Internet on the prices of instruments he sells at seven Marshall Music stores across the state. But where the president of the Lansing-based, family-owned business can’t compete is the 6% sales tax he has to charge customers who make purchases in his store.
Poll: Plurality Wants One Party To Control White House, Congress Talking Points Memo ...A national poll from Quinnipiac University released Wednesday suggested that Americans have had their fill of divided government...
GOP puts 'right-to-work' on agenda Cincinnati.com ...Republicans waded back into choppy political waters Tuesday when two lawmakers – including one from Lebanon – vowed to make Ohio a “right-to-work” state...
Secret “Free Trade” Negotiations Will Gut Regulations, Further Enrich Multinationals and Big Financial Firms Naked Capitalism ...It’s a sign of the times that a reputable economist, Dean Baker, can use the word “corruption” in the headline of an article describing two major trade deals under negotiation and no one bats an eye...
American job prospects make for dim May Day celebration MSNBC ...For working America, the trend over the last few decades has been toward lower wages, fewer workplace rights, and diminished voice in the public sphere...
How to ease economic anxiety (opinion) Washington Post ...The American public knows it’s downwardly mobile. What it doesn’t know is what it can do to arrest, much less reverse, that trend...
Koch Brothers Plan More Political Involvement for Their Conservative Network New York Times ...As the country’s leading conservative donors finished off plates of roast lamb and spaetzle in a Palm Springs, Calif., hotel ballroom on Monday, Charles G. Koch delivered a pep talk...
Corbett's liquor privatization plan on life support The Morning Call ...First came the cops. Then came the drug-and-alcohol counselors. Next up was the moms. And finally, the kids. All of them told a state Senate committee they oppose a plan to privatize wine and spirits sales and make beer more readily available under a House-approved bill supported by Gov. Tom Corbett...
Florida State pension reform issue dies in the Senate The Miami Herald ...After months of calling pension reform a top priority in his inaugural year as Florida House speaker, Will Weatherford could do nothing Tuesday as his plan went down to defeat in the Senate...
Blistering audit faults Wis. job creation agency The Republic ...A blistering audit released Wednesday said Republican Gov. Scott Walker's premier job creation agency repeatedly broke state law in its first year of operation, failed to adequately track money it awarded for economic development projects and sometimes gave money to ineligible recipients...
Bangladesh building collapse: Death toll passes 400 BBC News ...The number of people killed in the collapse of a building in Bangladesh which housed garment factories last week has passed 400, officials say...
Tell Walmart and Other Retailers: Ensure basic safety and human rights for workers in Bangladesh CREDO Action Alert ...Urge these companies to take immediate steps to deploy safety improvements in their supplier factories and pay the compensation owed to injured workers and the families of workers killed while sewing their clothing in Bangladesh…
CEO-To-Worker Pay Ratio Ballooned 1,000 Percent Since 1950: Report Huffington Post ...We’ve made progress on a lot of things since the 1950s and so have CEOs -- in their quest for more money that is. The ratio of CEO-to-worker pay has increased 1,000 percent since 1950, according to data from Bloomberg...
Bill Moyers documentary examines 'United States of ALEC' Sacramento Bee ...Ever wonder how it is that the same bill pops up simultaneously in statehouses across the country? One way is through the work of the American Legislative Exchange Council, a group that promotes business-friendly model legislation for state lawmakers to introduce in their respective Capitols.
Michigan bill would make stores online charge 6% sales tax Detroit Free Press ...Dan Marshall knows he can comfortably compete with the Internet on the prices of instruments he sells at seven Marshall Music stores across the state. But where the president of the Lansing-based, family-owned business can’t compete is the 6% sales tax he has to charge customers who make purchases in his store.
Poll: Plurality Wants One Party To Control White House, Congress Talking Points Memo ...A national poll from Quinnipiac University released Wednesday suggested that Americans have had their fill of divided government...
GOP puts 'right-to-work' on agenda Cincinnati.com ...Republicans waded back into choppy political waters Tuesday when two lawmakers – including one from Lebanon – vowed to make Ohio a “right-to-work” state...
Secret “Free Trade” Negotiations Will Gut Regulations, Further Enrich Multinationals and Big Financial Firms Naked Capitalism ...It’s a sign of the times that a reputable economist, Dean Baker, can use the word “corruption” in the headline of an article describing two major trade deals under negotiation and no one bats an eye...
American job prospects make for dim May Day celebration MSNBC ...For working America, the trend over the last few decades has been toward lower wages, fewer workplace rights, and diminished voice in the public sphere...
How to ease economic anxiety (opinion) Washington Post ...The American public knows it’s downwardly mobile. What it doesn’t know is what it can do to arrest, much less reverse, that trend...
Koch Brothers Plan More Political Involvement for Their Conservative Network New York Times ...As the country’s leading conservative donors finished off plates of roast lamb and spaetzle in a Palm Springs, Calif., hotel ballroom on Monday, Charles G. Koch delivered a pep talk...
Corbett's liquor privatization plan on life support The Morning Call ...First came the cops. Then came the drug-and-alcohol counselors. Next up was the moms. And finally, the kids. All of them told a state Senate committee they oppose a plan to privatize wine and spirits sales and make beer more readily available under a House-approved bill supported by Gov. Tom Corbett...
Florida State pension reform issue dies in the Senate The Miami Herald ...After months of calling pension reform a top priority in his inaugural year as Florida House speaker, Will Weatherford could do nothing Tuesday as his plan went down to defeat in the Senate...
Blistering audit faults Wis. job creation agency The Republic ...A blistering audit released Wednesday said Republican Gov. Scott Walker's premier job creation agency repeatedly broke state law in its first year of operation, failed to adequately track money it awarded for economic development projects and sometimes gave money to ineligible recipients...
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Today's Teamster News 05.11.11
Teamsters Local 320 Opens “Stop the Slash” Phase II With Twin Cities Billboard, Bus Shelter and Print Campaign Local 320 ...Teamsters Local 320 – representing some 11,500 public employees throughout Minnesota’s 87 counties – has begun an advertising campaign asking lawmakers to halt plans to balance the budget by firing public employees, neglecting street maintenance and cutting education, rather than require the richest Minnesotans to pay their fair share of taxes...
Challengers to Green Bay-area senators announce bid in recall race Green Bay Press-Gazette ... Rep. John Nygren, R-Marinette, said he intends to run in the 30th Senate District race ... against Sen. Dave Hansen, D-Green Bay...
Police Memorial Week Begins with SB5 Protest WLWT.com ...A week to memorialize officers lost in the line of duty began with a protest of a new law that some police say dishonors their fallen comrades...
Some small businesses pushing to repeal SB5 Lancaster Eagle Gazette ..."This establishment proudly accepts business from hard working public & private employees."...
New reports reveal billionaire Koch brothers have a hand in hiring FSU professors Florida Independent ...A foundation funded by Charles Koch, CEO of the regulation-fighting Koch Industries, is responsible for filling staff positions at Florida State University, which many say is an affront to academic freedom...
Emergency Manager law repeal campaign begins statewide The Michigan Messenger ...The Detroit-based non-profit Michigan Forward...has filed petition language with the State Board of Canvassers for a referendum on the Emergency Manager law that allows the governor appoint people to rule local governments...
Wary of reform, hundreds to retire Associated Press ...House and Senate negotiators hope to resolve their differences on competing plans to reform New Hampshire's public pension system by the end of the month...
Challengers to Green Bay-area senators announce bid in recall race Green Bay Press-Gazette ... Rep. John Nygren, R-Marinette, said he intends to run in the 30th Senate District race ... against Sen. Dave Hansen, D-Green Bay...
Police Memorial Week Begins with SB5 Protest WLWT.com ...A week to memorialize officers lost in the line of duty began with a protest of a new law that some police say dishonors their fallen comrades...
Some small businesses pushing to repeal SB5 Lancaster Eagle Gazette ..."This establishment proudly accepts business from hard working public & private employees."...
New reports reveal billionaire Koch brothers have a hand in hiring FSU professors Florida Independent ...A foundation funded by Charles Koch, CEO of the regulation-fighting Koch Industries, is responsible for filling staff positions at Florida State University, which many say is an affront to academic freedom...
Emergency Manager law repeal campaign begins statewide The Michigan Messenger ...The Detroit-based non-profit Michigan Forward...has filed petition language with the State Board of Canvassers for a referendum on the Emergency Manager law that allows the governor appoint people to rule local governments...
Wary of reform, hundreds to retire Associated Press ...House and Senate negotiators hope to resolve their differences on competing plans to reform New Hampshire's public pension system by the end of the month...
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Today's Teamster News 10/13/10
Banks hired hair stylists, teens to process foreclosure documents Associated Press ...(on) Tuesday, many of those workers testified that they barely knew what a mortgage was...
Over 1.5 million hit the streets in France Americablog ...French unions have staged their biggest strikes and demonstrations so far in opposition to the government's pension reform plans...
Vice President Biden Keeps Hammering Away at Chamber of Commerce ABC News ..."Why can't the Chamber say, 'These are where the contributions are coming from?'...
Across the U.S., Long Recovery Looks Like Recession New York Times ...Less than a month before November elections, the United States is mired in a grim New Normal that could last for years...
Atlantic Southeast Airlines Mechanics and Related Workers Join Teamsters IBT ....Nearly 600 mechanics and related workers at Atlantic Southeast Airlines voted to join the Teamsters by a 2-to-1 margin...
Illinois School Bus Workers Choose Teamsters Union IBT ... First Student school bus drivers, aides and crossing guards in Belvidere, Illinois, have voted to join Teamsters Local 777 in Brookfield...
Over 1.5 million hit the streets in France Americablog ...French unions have staged their biggest strikes and demonstrations so far in opposition to the government's pension reform plans...
Vice President Biden Keeps Hammering Away at Chamber of Commerce ABC News ..."Why can't the Chamber say, 'These are where the contributions are coming from?'...
Across the U.S., Long Recovery Looks Like Recession New York Times ...Less than a month before November elections, the United States is mired in a grim New Normal that could last for years...
Atlantic Southeast Airlines Mechanics and Related Workers Join Teamsters IBT ....Nearly 600 mechanics and related workers at Atlantic Southeast Airlines voted to join the Teamsters by a 2-to-1 margin...
Illinois School Bus Workers Choose Teamsters Union IBT ... First Student school bus drivers, aides and crossing guards in Belvidere, Illinois, have voted to join Teamsters Local 777 in Brookfield...
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