Teamster News
L.A.-Area Port Truckers Expand Strike To Three New Companies Los Angeles Times ...Drivers from QTS Inc., LACA Express and WinWin Logistics Inc. joined an ongoing strike Monday morning, said Barb Maynard, a spokeswoman for the Teamsters Union, which is backing the drivers...
Port Truckers Drive Home Difference Between Contractors And Employees Los Angeles Times ...Decades ago, such drivers were full-time employees, but many companies began treating them as independent contractors to bump profits and cut labor costs. And when environmental safeguards made expensive clean-energy trucks mandatory, drivers essentially became indentured servants, with truck leasing costs, insurance and other expenses deducted from their paychecks, often knocking them below minimum wage but still requiring them to pay for gas and repairs....
Fired Disney performers seeking jobs, back pay Bay News 9 ...The Teamsters Union representing the three men has already been through the grievance process and will now go forward to present their case to a federal arbitrator, unless Disney meets their demands...
Trade
French Government Will Not Sign TTIP Agreement In 2015 EurActiv ...Matthias Fekl, France's Secretary of State for Foreign Trade, has made it clear that France will not support the inclusion of the Investor State Dispute Settlement mechanism (ISDS) in a potential TTIP agreement...
State Battles
Government employees produce nothing, says ignorant Kansas House Speaker Ray Merrick of Johnson County (opinion) Kansas City Star ...News flash for Ray Merrick: Those employees doing “nothing” are the schoolteachers, firefighters and police officers employed by governments across the state. These are the hardworking employees who make it possible to educate Kansas children and protect Kansas families...
An Embattled ALEC, Buoyed by Election Results, Lays Blueprint for 2015 Center for Media and Democracy ...ALEC has been bleeding corporate members, but with Republicans now in control of 68 out of 98 state legislative bodies, there are fewer impediments to the enactment of the corporate-friendly legislation that ALEC peddles -- and in early December, ALEC and the corporations that still fund it will likely lay out the legislative blueprint for 2015 at the ALEC States & Nation Policy Summit in Washington, DC...
California Tells Court It Can’t Release Inmates Early Because It Would Lose Cheap Prison Labor ThinkProgress ...Out of California’s years-long litigation over reducing the population of prisons deemed unconstitutionally overcrowded by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2010, another obstacle to addressing the U.S. epidemic of mass incarceration has emerged: The utility of cheap prison labor...
War on Workers
Number Of Homeless Children In America Surges To All-Time High: Report Huffington Post ...The number of homeless children in the U.S. has surged in recent years to an all-time high, amounting to one child in every 30, according to a comprehensive state-by-state report that blames the nation's high poverty rate, the lack of affordable housing and the impacts of pervasive domestic violence...
We Are the Most Unequal Society in the Developed World...And We Don't Know It (opinion) Huffington Post ...Americans grossly underestimated this gap. Instead of 354 to 1, the Americans in representative survey think it is only 30 to 1. When asked what the ideal pay gap should be, Americans say that a fair gap would be about 7 to 1...
Agencies Look For Cause Of Fatal Gas Leak In Texas New York Times ...Randall Clements, the plant manager, said DuPont was working with the authorities and conducting its own “top-to-bottom review” of the accident. Asked how the leak had begun and whether the problem had been a result of equipment failure or human error, a company spokesman, Gregg M. Schmidt, said answering those questions was part of the investigation...
Worker dies in fall at Mosinee paper mill Associated Press ...A 55-year-old worker was killed when he fell from a hydraulic bucket while installing insulation at a Mosinee paper mill...
Trump Taj Mahal Casino In Atlantic City Will Shutter New York Daily News ...The owner of the struggling Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort filed court papers on Friday saying it will close next month, making it the fifth of the city’s 12 casinos to shut down this year...
Miscellaneous
Keystone at Senate tipping point The Hill ...Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) and other supporters of the Keystone XL oil pipeline are stuck at 59 votes — one vote shy of the supermajority they need to move their bill forward on Tuesday...
Showing posts with label privacy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label privacy. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
Wednesday, September 3, 2014
Today's Teamster News 09.03.14
Teamster News
Republic Services Struggles To Gain Trust As It Deals With Landfill Headache St. Louis Post Dispatch ...the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which represents about 9,000 of Republic’s workers and has had a contentious relationship with the company over the years, joined the chorus calling for buyouts and removal of the waste...
Printing And Production Workers At Seattle Times Join Teamsters teamster.org ...Printing and production workers at the Seattle Times newspaper as well as some specialty printers in the Seattle area have voted to merge with Teamsters Local 117...
UAW President Dennis Williams, U.S. VP Joe Biden And Teamsters President James Hoffa Kick Off Labor Day Parade In Detroit UAW ...Thousands of union members and supporters gathered in Detroit for the historic Labor Day Parade down Michigan Avenue today, pledging to activate voters with the November election approaching with the theme "Together We WILL WIN!"...
Hawaii Teamsters union endorses Hannemann for governor khon2 ...Hawaii Independent Party gubernatorial candidate Mufi Hannemann received a big boost Tuesday when he was endorsed by the Hawaii Teamsters and Allied Workers Union, Local 996...
Trade
Time To Get Children Out Of Factories And Into Schools (opinion) CNN ...In a small village in central Afghanistan, 13-year-old Basma is about to start her first day of school –- ever.... Only weeks before, Basma was found working on a carpet loom. Her weaving fingers already showed signs of arthritis from holding tools since the age of nine, tying knots for 14 hours a day...
"Fast Track" Foes Sound Off in Oregon Politico ...Foes of the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement will visit the Oregon offices of Sen. Ron Wyden (D) today to deliver petitions signed by nearly 5,000 people, urging him to ensure his new “smart track” version of trade promotion authority is “not outdated ‘fast track’ legislation in disguise...
Free trade promises, but it’s failed to deliver (opinion) The Bellingham Herald ... We’ve heard these promises before: Trade agreements will level the playing field, create jobs and even promote world peace. So far, their track record has been the opposite...
State Battles
Federal Court Upholds Right to Work, Local Labor Leaders Focused on State Cases tristatehomepage.com ...In a split decision, a federal appeals court has ruled Indiana's Right to Work law does not violate federal labor laws or the United States Constitution. The appellate court's ruling comes as the Indiana Supreme Court prepares to hear arguments on the same topic later this week. While the federal decision didn't come as a surprise, the focus now shifts to the state Supreme Court's decision, said Chuck Whobrey, the president of Teamsters Local 215...
Local Teamsters president speaks out on right-to-work ruling WFIE ...A federal appeals court has upheld Indiana's right-to-work law banning mandatory union fees in a split decision. The local Teamsters represent thousands of union workers. President Chuck Whobrey says this ruling will certainly effect the way the union operates...
GOP Tries Yet Again to Disenfranchise Ohio Voters with Photo ID Bill Moving Ohio Forward ...Today, a group of Republican legislators again pushed for passage of legislation requiring photo IDs to be shown at polling places in order to vote, despite evidence that demonstrates over 1.2 million Ohio voters would be directly disenfranchised from exercising their voting rights...
Texas Voter ID Law Heads To Trial In U.S. Court Huffington Post ...A U.S. court in Texas will hear arguments on Tuesday in a case over a law requiring voters to present photo identification, a move the state's Republican leaders say will prevent fraud while plaintiffs call it a veiled attempt at suppressing minority turnout...
Garcetti Calls For $13.25 Minimum Wage By 2017 Los Angeles Times ...Mayor Eric Garcetti on Monday launched an ambitious campaign to impose a $13.25-an-hour minimum wage requirement for all workers in Los Angeles by 2017, calling it the "largest anti-poverty program in the city's history."...
North Carolina Union Files SEC Pay-to-Play Complaint Against Erskine Bowles International Business Times ...A union representing 55,000 North Carolina current and retired state workers Tuesday filed a complaint with the Securities and Exchange Commission alleging that former White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles and his wife, a JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) director, may have violated federal pay-to-play rules in a major North Carolina pension contract...
War On Workers
The "40-Hour" Workweek Is Actually Longer -- by Seven Hours Gallup ...half of all full-time workers indicate they typically work more than 40 hours, and nearly four in 10 say they work at least 50 hours...
Fast food workers plan nationwide strike on Thursday MSNBC ...Thousands of fast food workers across the United States will once again go on strike this Thursday, representatives of the Fight for 15 movement announced Monday night...
America’s Exploding Oil Train Problem Moyers and Company ...If you reside in the US, there’s around an eight percent chance that you live in an oil train’s blast zone. And there’s a fight going on at the state and federal levels, between monied interests and regulatory agencies, over efforts to ensure that these trains — which have shown a tendency to burst into flames — will be relatively safe...
Police: Arrest made in case of Popeye's worker killed in Anne Arundel Baltimore Sun ...Anne Arundel police said they have made an arrest in the case of a Popeye's employee who was found dead at the restaurant early Sunday morning...
CPUC Fines PG&E $1.4 Billion in Connection with San Bruno Pipeline Explosion Associated Press ...California regulatory judges have issued a $1.4 billion penalty against the state's largest utility for a 2010 gas pipeline explosion that engulfed a suburban San Francisco neighborhood in fire, killing eight people and prompting national alerts about aging pipelines...
Russian bank hires two former U.S. senators The Center for Public Integrity ...Gazprombank GPB (OJSC), a Russian bank targeted with sanctions by President Obama over the Ukraine crisis, has hired two former U.S. senators to lobby against those sanctions, according to a new disclosure filed with the Senate…. former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., and former Senator John Breaux, D-La., are listed as the main lobbyists...
Car sharing service Uber banned in Germany Guardian ... The online car-sharing service Uber has vowed to continue operating across Germany after its mobile app was banned by a Frankfurt regional court...
Miscellaneous
We Need A Serious, Federal Digital Privacy Law (opinion) Huffington Post ...If anything good is to come from this weekend's celebrity phone hack, let's hope it's federal action that finally takes seriously the problem of non-consensual online sexual exploitation -- along with all other forms of digital privacy invasion...
Ruling On Keystone XL Pipeline Could Come Down To Two Key Points Omaha World-Herald ...The Nebraska Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Friday morning on a constitutional challenge involving one of the most bitterly fought environmental battles in a generation. President Barack Obama is awaiting a ruling from Nebraska before moving closer to deciding the fate of the massive oil pipeline...
Home Depot Investigating Possible Payment Card Data Breach Wall Street Journal ...Home Depot Inc. is working with banks and law enforcement agencies to investigate a potential breach of customer credit- or debit-card data.The home-improvement retailer said on Tuesday it is looking into what it called unusual activity and said that if it confirms a breach occurred, it will immediately notify customers...
Republic Services Struggles To Gain Trust As It Deals With Landfill Headache St. Louis Post Dispatch ...the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which represents about 9,000 of Republic’s workers and has had a contentious relationship with the company over the years, joined the chorus calling for buyouts and removal of the waste...
Printing And Production Workers At Seattle Times Join Teamsters teamster.org ...Printing and production workers at the Seattle Times newspaper as well as some specialty printers in the Seattle area have voted to merge with Teamsters Local 117...
UAW President Dennis Williams, U.S. VP Joe Biden And Teamsters President James Hoffa Kick Off Labor Day Parade In Detroit UAW ...Thousands of union members and supporters gathered in Detroit for the historic Labor Day Parade down Michigan Avenue today, pledging to activate voters with the November election approaching with the theme "Together We WILL WIN!"...
Hawaii Teamsters union endorses Hannemann for governor khon2 ...Hawaii Independent Party gubernatorial candidate Mufi Hannemann received a big boost Tuesday when he was endorsed by the Hawaii Teamsters and Allied Workers Union, Local 996...
Trade
Time To Get Children Out Of Factories And Into Schools (opinion) CNN ...In a small village in central Afghanistan, 13-year-old Basma is about to start her first day of school –- ever.... Only weeks before, Basma was found working on a carpet loom. Her weaving fingers already showed signs of arthritis from holding tools since the age of nine, tying knots for 14 hours a day...
"Fast Track" Foes Sound Off in Oregon Politico ...Foes of the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement will visit the Oregon offices of Sen. Ron Wyden (D) today to deliver petitions signed by nearly 5,000 people, urging him to ensure his new “smart track” version of trade promotion authority is “not outdated ‘fast track’ legislation in disguise...
Free trade promises, but it’s failed to deliver (opinion) The Bellingham Herald ... We’ve heard these promises before: Trade agreements will level the playing field, create jobs and even promote world peace. So far, their track record has been the opposite...
State Battles
Federal Court Upholds Right to Work, Local Labor Leaders Focused on State Cases tristatehomepage.com ...In a split decision, a federal appeals court has ruled Indiana's Right to Work law does not violate federal labor laws or the United States Constitution. The appellate court's ruling comes as the Indiana Supreme Court prepares to hear arguments on the same topic later this week. While the federal decision didn't come as a surprise, the focus now shifts to the state Supreme Court's decision, said Chuck Whobrey, the president of Teamsters Local 215...
Local Teamsters president speaks out on right-to-work ruling WFIE ...A federal appeals court has upheld Indiana's right-to-work law banning mandatory union fees in a split decision. The local Teamsters represent thousands of union workers. President Chuck Whobrey says this ruling will certainly effect the way the union operates...
GOP Tries Yet Again to Disenfranchise Ohio Voters with Photo ID Bill Moving Ohio Forward ...Today, a group of Republican legislators again pushed for passage of legislation requiring photo IDs to be shown at polling places in order to vote, despite evidence that demonstrates over 1.2 million Ohio voters would be directly disenfranchised from exercising their voting rights...
Texas Voter ID Law Heads To Trial In U.S. Court Huffington Post ...A U.S. court in Texas will hear arguments on Tuesday in a case over a law requiring voters to present photo identification, a move the state's Republican leaders say will prevent fraud while plaintiffs call it a veiled attempt at suppressing minority turnout...
Garcetti Calls For $13.25 Minimum Wage By 2017 Los Angeles Times ...Mayor Eric Garcetti on Monday launched an ambitious campaign to impose a $13.25-an-hour minimum wage requirement for all workers in Los Angeles by 2017, calling it the "largest anti-poverty program in the city's history."...
North Carolina Union Files SEC Pay-to-Play Complaint Against Erskine Bowles International Business Times ...A union representing 55,000 North Carolina current and retired state workers Tuesday filed a complaint with the Securities and Exchange Commission alleging that former White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles and his wife, a JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) director, may have violated federal pay-to-play rules in a major North Carolina pension contract...
War On Workers
The "40-Hour" Workweek Is Actually Longer -- by Seven Hours Gallup ...half of all full-time workers indicate they typically work more than 40 hours, and nearly four in 10 say they work at least 50 hours...
Fast food workers plan nationwide strike on Thursday MSNBC ...Thousands of fast food workers across the United States will once again go on strike this Thursday, representatives of the Fight for 15 movement announced Monday night...
America’s Exploding Oil Train Problem Moyers and Company ...If you reside in the US, there’s around an eight percent chance that you live in an oil train’s blast zone. And there’s a fight going on at the state and federal levels, between monied interests and regulatory agencies, over efforts to ensure that these trains — which have shown a tendency to burst into flames — will be relatively safe...
Police: Arrest made in case of Popeye's worker killed in Anne Arundel Baltimore Sun ...Anne Arundel police said they have made an arrest in the case of a Popeye's employee who was found dead at the restaurant early Sunday morning...
CPUC Fines PG&E $1.4 Billion in Connection with San Bruno Pipeline Explosion Associated Press ...California regulatory judges have issued a $1.4 billion penalty against the state's largest utility for a 2010 gas pipeline explosion that engulfed a suburban San Francisco neighborhood in fire, killing eight people and prompting national alerts about aging pipelines...
Russian bank hires two former U.S. senators The Center for Public Integrity ...Gazprombank GPB (OJSC), a Russian bank targeted with sanctions by President Obama over the Ukraine crisis, has hired two former U.S. senators to lobby against those sanctions, according to a new disclosure filed with the Senate…. former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., and former Senator John Breaux, D-La., are listed as the main lobbyists...
Car sharing service Uber banned in Germany Guardian ... The online car-sharing service Uber has vowed to continue operating across Germany after its mobile app was banned by a Frankfurt regional court...
Miscellaneous
We Need A Serious, Federal Digital Privacy Law (opinion) Huffington Post ...If anything good is to come from this weekend's celebrity phone hack, let's hope it's federal action that finally takes seriously the problem of non-consensual online sexual exploitation -- along with all other forms of digital privacy invasion...
Ruling On Keystone XL Pipeline Could Come Down To Two Key Points Omaha World-Herald ...The Nebraska Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Friday morning on a constitutional challenge involving one of the most bitterly fought environmental battles in a generation. President Barack Obama is awaiting a ruling from Nebraska before moving closer to deciding the fate of the massive oil pipeline...
Home Depot Investigating Possible Payment Card Data Breach Wall Street Journal ...Home Depot Inc. is working with banks and law enforcement agencies to investigate a potential breach of customer credit- or debit-card data.The home-improvement retailer said on Tuesday it is looking into what it called unusual activity and said that if it confirms a breach occurred, it will immediately notify customers...
Sunday, July 6, 2014
Today's Teamster News 07.06.14
Teamsters
Southern California port truck drivers loading up on wage-theft cases Los Angeles Times ...the state Department of Industrial Relations has ruled in recent months that nearly 40 drivers were improperly designated as contractors, which denied them significant workplace protections. So far, $4.3 million in back pay and penalties has been awarded to drivers...
Trade
Trans-Pacific Partnership talks going on in Ottawa CBC News ...Trade officials from Canada and other Asia-Pacific nations are meeting behind closed doors in Ottawa to discuss the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a massive free-trade proposal that could create one of the world's largest trading blocks...
War on Workers
Rupture-Prone Oil Trains Keep Rolling After Quebec Crash Bloomberg ...two-thirds of the tank cars in use today are still older models that safety experts say are vulnerable to puncture. The July 6 derailment last year in Quebec and seven other major ones in the U.S. and Canada since then have spilled more than 3 million gallons of oil, with some cars catching fire or exploding...
The Missing Part of the Unemployment Story Economic Policy Institute ...Unemployment rate if missing workers were looking for work: 9.6%...
Trends in Part-Time Employment Center for Economic and Policy Research ...The number of people working part-time involuntarily is down by 640,000 from its year ago level and by more than 1.6 million from its peak in 2010...
Wal-Mart’s big July 4 lie: This is how it really treats veterans Salon ...on my way to work, I tried to save the lives of several people from a gunman who was behaving erratically and waving a gun at a busy intersection. I still went to work my shift at Wal-Mart. The very next day, I was abruptly fired for making an 18 cent mistake on a workers’ discount card. My manager knew what happened the day before, but it didn’t matter...
On This Fourth of July, Meet Your Unpatriotic Corporations The Nation ...Walgreens, The New York Times reported, is looking to relocate from Illinois to Switzerland, in the process merging with a Swiss corporation and reincorporating itself as a foreign entity. It is, bluntly, an old-fashioned tax dodge, aimed at trimming eleven percentage points off the company’s corporate tax rate. Americans for Tax Fairness estimates that the move will cost US taxpayers more than $4 billion over the next five years...
On the Characteristics of Those Covered under Some Government Programs Econbrowser ...more than half of SNAP recipients are children or the elderly. For the remaining working-age individuals, many of them are currently employed. At least forty percent of all SNAP beneficiaries live in a household with earnings...
Hospitals Are Mining Patients' Credit Card Data to Predict Who Will Get Sick Bloomberg ...Imagine getting a call from your doctor if you let your gym membership lapse, make a habit of buying candy bars at the checkout counter, or begin shopping at plus-size clothing stores. For patients of Carolinas HealthCare System, which operates the largest group of medical centers in North and South Carolina, such a day could be sooner than they think...
Going Without Water in Detroit New York Times ...The average monthly water bill in Detroit is $75 for a family of four — nearly twice the United States average — and the department is increasing rates this month by 8.7 percent...
In NSA-intercepted data, those not targeted far outnumber the foreigners who are Washington Post ...Ordinary Internet users, American and non-American alike, far outnumber legally targeted foreigners in the communications intercepted by the National Security Agency from U.S. digital networks, according to a four-month investigation by The Washington Post...
Southern California port truck drivers loading up on wage-theft cases Los Angeles Times ...the state Department of Industrial Relations has ruled in recent months that nearly 40 drivers were improperly designated as contractors, which denied them significant workplace protections. So far, $4.3 million in back pay and penalties has been awarded to drivers...
Trade
Trans-Pacific Partnership talks going on in Ottawa CBC News ...Trade officials from Canada and other Asia-Pacific nations are meeting behind closed doors in Ottawa to discuss the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a massive free-trade proposal that could create one of the world's largest trading blocks...
War on Workers
Rupture-Prone Oil Trains Keep Rolling After Quebec Crash Bloomberg ...two-thirds of the tank cars in use today are still older models that safety experts say are vulnerable to puncture. The July 6 derailment last year in Quebec and seven other major ones in the U.S. and Canada since then have spilled more than 3 million gallons of oil, with some cars catching fire or exploding...
The Missing Part of the Unemployment Story Economic Policy Institute ...Unemployment rate if missing workers were looking for work: 9.6%...
Trends in Part-Time Employment Center for Economic and Policy Research ...The number of people working part-time involuntarily is down by 640,000 from its year ago level and by more than 1.6 million from its peak in 2010...
Wal-Mart’s big July 4 lie: This is how it really treats veterans Salon ...on my way to work, I tried to save the lives of several people from a gunman who was behaving erratically and waving a gun at a busy intersection. I still went to work my shift at Wal-Mart. The very next day, I was abruptly fired for making an 18 cent mistake on a workers’ discount card. My manager knew what happened the day before, but it didn’t matter...
On This Fourth of July, Meet Your Unpatriotic Corporations The Nation ...Walgreens, The New York Times reported, is looking to relocate from Illinois to Switzerland, in the process merging with a Swiss corporation and reincorporating itself as a foreign entity. It is, bluntly, an old-fashioned tax dodge, aimed at trimming eleven percentage points off the company’s corporate tax rate. Americans for Tax Fairness estimates that the move will cost US taxpayers more than $4 billion over the next five years...
On the Characteristics of Those Covered under Some Government Programs Econbrowser ...more than half of SNAP recipients are children or the elderly. For the remaining working-age individuals, many of them are currently employed. At least forty percent of all SNAP beneficiaries live in a household with earnings...
Hospitals Are Mining Patients' Credit Card Data to Predict Who Will Get Sick Bloomberg ...Imagine getting a call from your doctor if you let your gym membership lapse, make a habit of buying candy bars at the checkout counter, or begin shopping at plus-size clothing stores. For patients of Carolinas HealthCare System, which operates the largest group of medical centers in North and South Carolina, such a day could be sooner than they think...
Going Without Water in Detroit New York Times ...The average monthly water bill in Detroit is $75 for a family of four — nearly twice the United States average — and the department is increasing rates this month by 8.7 percent...
In NSA-intercepted data, those not targeted far outnumber the foreigners who are Washington Post ...Ordinary Internet users, American and non-American alike, far outnumber legally targeted foreigners in the communications intercepted by the National Security Agency from U.S. digital networks, according to a four-month investigation by The Washington Post...
Saturday, March 22, 2014
Today's Teamster News 03.22.14
Teamster News
Truckers for Costco and Forever 21 land victory that may allow joining the Teamsters Salon ...The Port of Los Angeles workers who alleged stolen wages and false "independent contractor" scam now one step closer to organizing with the Teamsters Union...
Truck Drivers Handed Labor Victory That Could Reshape The Industry ThinkProgress ...Truck drivers at a Los Angeles-area freight hauling company cannot be treated as “independent contractors” or harassed for discussing the possibility of unionizing, according to a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruling issued Thursday...
Port truck drivers vying to join union get state, federal boost Los Angeles Times ...A string of actions by state officials and the National Labor Relations Board has strengthened the hand of truck drivers who say they need union representation to improve pay and working conditions for the thousands who transport cargo out of the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach...
Port Truck Drivers Labeled 'Independent Contractors' Told They Have Right To Unionize Huffington Post ...As part of a settlement with the Teamsters that was finalized on Thursday, Pacific 9 Transportation in Carson, Calif., has agreed to hang a posting in the workplace saying workers have the right to form a labor union...
Teamsters Local 722 Highway Maintainers Ratify New Contract Joint Council 25 ...Carroll County, Illinois, public employees represented by Teamsters Local 722 unanimously approved a new three-year contract with the county’s highway department...
APAC/Old Castle Inc. Drivers Choose Teamsters Teamsters Local 523 ...Drivers at APAC/Old Castle Inc. in Vinita, Okla. voted to join Teamsters Local 523 in Tulsa, securing a strong voice on the job, despite the company's blatant union-busting tactics...
Teamsters at CCTA find support from fellow workers Burlington Free Press ...Drivers with Chittenden County Transportation Authority (CCTA), who are represented by Teamsters Local 597, were joined by numbers of organizations at a rally in support of their strike against the company since Monday....
Teamsters, Pasco reach tentative contract deal Tampa Bay Times ...Teamsters Local 79, which represents more than half of Pasco County, Florida's workers, says it has reached a tentative contract deal after a final round of talks...
Georgia Senate votes to bar some workers from unemployment benefits Atlanta Journal-Constitution ...The Georgia Senate approved a measure Thursday that would ban bus drivers, cafeteria workers and other people who work for private firms in public schools from claiming unemployment benefits when school is out...
Teamsters reject CN deal, company proposes binding arbitration The Northern View ...The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference has rejected a second proposed settlement with CN with a vote of 891 against and 852 voting in favor of the agreement...
Teamsters Step Up Fight for D.C. Taxi Drivers teamster.org ...The Teamsters Local 922-affiliated Washington, D.C. Taxi Operators Association filed a petition on Wednesday demanding that ride-sharing companies adhere to similar regulations that the taxi drivers follow...
Trade
Roberto Azevedo urges U.S. to push for Doha finish Politico ...World Trade Organization Director-General Roberto Azevedo urged the United States on Monday to reprise its traditional leadership role in the multilateral trading system by pushing to bring the 13-year-old Doha Round of world trade talks to a swift conclusion...
State Battles
W.Va. governor signs budget that taps reserves Associated Press ...West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin signed a budget into law Wednesday that dips into millions of dollars in state reserves but gives public employees raises...
Louisiana committee OK's bill to bar teachers unions from public pension system Times-Picayune ...The House Retirement Committee on Thursday approved a bill that would bar any future employees of four organizations, two of them teachers unions, from also being members in the state public pension system for teachers...
War on Workers
Real wage stagnation, year 41 Angry Bear ...The good news is that… real wages advanced somewhat in 2013, from $294.31 per week (in 1982-84 dollars) to $295.51, an increase of 0.4%. Woo hoo! The bad news, of course, is that this is still 13.5% off the peak real weekly wage of $341.73, achieved in 1972...
Social Security already hit by the austerity squeeze DailyKos ... that annual statement you used to get that provided your earnings to date and estimated your monthly benefits is gone now. It was an important educational tool for Social Security, and a reminder that you are paying into a secure retirement fund. The statements are still available, but you have to be able to go online or visit an SSA office...
Microsoft Software Leak Inquiry Raises Privacy Issues New York Times ...The company conducted an inquiry by reading through email and instant messages, which may violate its promise of privacy, highlighting the power technology companies have to snoop on their customers...
Fox Has Consistently Minimized Koch Campaign Funding, But The Truth Is Out Media Matters ...As the group emerges as a dominant force in the 2014 midterm elections, spending up to 10 times as much as any major outside Democratic group so far, officials of the organization say their effort is not confined to hammering away at President Obama's Affordable Care Act...
Miscellaneous
Discovery of body clock reset mechanism could help shift workers and jetsetters gizmag ..."As this work progresses in clinical terms, we may be able to enhance the clock's ability to deal with shift work, and importantly understand how maladaptation of the clock contributes to diseases such as diabetes and chronic inflammation"...
Bernie Madoff: 'JPMorgan knew' PoliticoPro ...JPMorgan Chase served as Madoff’s bank for more than two decades and its role in his infamous Ponzi scheme has been the subject of intense interest to both federal authorities and investors who were victims of his fraud...
Hog Wild: Factory Farms are Poisoning Iowa's Drinking Water Mother Jones ...Millions of pigs are crammed into overcrowded barns all across the state, being fattened for slaughter while breeding superbugs—all to feed China's growing appetite for Spam...
Revelations of NSA Spying Cost U.S. Tech Companies New York Times ...Tech companies in the United States have lost customers and billions of dollars while companies overseas are gaining customers because of the revelations made by Edward J. Snowden,tied these providers to the National Security Agency’s vast surveillance program.
Truckers for Costco and Forever 21 land victory that may allow joining the Teamsters Salon ...The Port of Los Angeles workers who alleged stolen wages and false "independent contractor" scam now one step closer to organizing with the Teamsters Union...
Truck Drivers Handed Labor Victory That Could Reshape The Industry ThinkProgress ...Truck drivers at a Los Angeles-area freight hauling company cannot be treated as “independent contractors” or harassed for discussing the possibility of unionizing, according to a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruling issued Thursday...
Port truck drivers vying to join union get state, federal boost Los Angeles Times ...A string of actions by state officials and the National Labor Relations Board has strengthened the hand of truck drivers who say they need union representation to improve pay and working conditions for the thousands who transport cargo out of the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach...
Port Truck Drivers Labeled 'Independent Contractors' Told They Have Right To Unionize Huffington Post ...As part of a settlement with the Teamsters that was finalized on Thursday, Pacific 9 Transportation in Carson, Calif., has agreed to hang a posting in the workplace saying workers have the right to form a labor union...
Teamsters Local 722 Highway Maintainers Ratify New Contract Joint Council 25 ...Carroll County, Illinois, public employees represented by Teamsters Local 722 unanimously approved a new three-year contract with the county’s highway department...
APAC/Old Castle Inc. Drivers Choose Teamsters Teamsters Local 523 ...Drivers at APAC/Old Castle Inc. in Vinita, Okla. voted to join Teamsters Local 523 in Tulsa, securing a strong voice on the job, despite the company's blatant union-busting tactics...
Teamsters at CCTA find support from fellow workers Burlington Free Press ...Drivers with Chittenden County Transportation Authority (CCTA), who are represented by Teamsters Local 597, were joined by numbers of organizations at a rally in support of their strike against the company since Monday....
Teamsters, Pasco reach tentative contract deal Tampa Bay Times ...Teamsters Local 79, which represents more than half of Pasco County, Florida's workers, says it has reached a tentative contract deal after a final round of talks...
Georgia Senate votes to bar some workers from unemployment benefits Atlanta Journal-Constitution ...The Georgia Senate approved a measure Thursday that would ban bus drivers, cafeteria workers and other people who work for private firms in public schools from claiming unemployment benefits when school is out...
Teamsters reject CN deal, company proposes binding arbitration The Northern View ...The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference has rejected a second proposed settlement with CN with a vote of 891 against and 852 voting in favor of the agreement...
Teamsters Step Up Fight for D.C. Taxi Drivers teamster.org ...The Teamsters Local 922-affiliated Washington, D.C. Taxi Operators Association filed a petition on Wednesday demanding that ride-sharing companies adhere to similar regulations that the taxi drivers follow...
Trade
Roberto Azevedo urges U.S. to push for Doha finish Politico ...World Trade Organization Director-General Roberto Azevedo urged the United States on Monday to reprise its traditional leadership role in the multilateral trading system by pushing to bring the 13-year-old Doha Round of world trade talks to a swift conclusion...
State Battles
W.Va. governor signs budget that taps reserves Associated Press ...West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin signed a budget into law Wednesday that dips into millions of dollars in state reserves but gives public employees raises...
Louisiana committee OK's bill to bar teachers unions from public pension system Times-Picayune ...The House Retirement Committee on Thursday approved a bill that would bar any future employees of four organizations, two of them teachers unions, from also being members in the state public pension system for teachers...
War on Workers
Real wage stagnation, year 41 Angry Bear ...The good news is that… real wages advanced somewhat in 2013, from $294.31 per week (in 1982-84 dollars) to $295.51, an increase of 0.4%. Woo hoo! The bad news, of course, is that this is still 13.5% off the peak real weekly wage of $341.73, achieved in 1972...
Social Security already hit by the austerity squeeze DailyKos ... that annual statement you used to get that provided your earnings to date and estimated your monthly benefits is gone now. It was an important educational tool for Social Security, and a reminder that you are paying into a secure retirement fund. The statements are still available, but you have to be able to go online or visit an SSA office...
Microsoft Software Leak Inquiry Raises Privacy Issues New York Times ...The company conducted an inquiry by reading through email and instant messages, which may violate its promise of privacy, highlighting the power technology companies have to snoop on their customers...
Fox Has Consistently Minimized Koch Campaign Funding, But The Truth Is Out Media Matters ...As the group emerges as a dominant force in the 2014 midterm elections, spending up to 10 times as much as any major outside Democratic group so far, officials of the organization say their effort is not confined to hammering away at President Obama's Affordable Care Act...
Miscellaneous
Discovery of body clock reset mechanism could help shift workers and jetsetters gizmag ..."As this work progresses in clinical terms, we may be able to enhance the clock's ability to deal with shift work, and importantly understand how maladaptation of the clock contributes to diseases such as diabetes and chronic inflammation"...
Bernie Madoff: 'JPMorgan knew' PoliticoPro ...JPMorgan Chase served as Madoff’s bank for more than two decades and its role in his infamous Ponzi scheme has been the subject of intense interest to both federal authorities and investors who were victims of his fraud...
Hog Wild: Factory Farms are Poisoning Iowa's Drinking Water Mother Jones ...Millions of pigs are crammed into overcrowded barns all across the state, being fattened for slaughter while breeding superbugs—all to feed China's growing appetite for Spam...
Revelations of NSA Spying Cost U.S. Tech Companies New York Times ...Tech companies in the United States have lost customers and billions of dollars while companies overseas are gaining customers because of the revelations made by Edward J. Snowden,tied these providers to the National Security Agency’s vast surveillance program.
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
Today's Teamster News 03.20.14
Teamster News
CCTA Strike Continues, Management Awaits Offer Vermont Public Radio ...Two days into their strike, Chittenden County Transportation Authority bus drivers represented by Teamsters Local 597 said Tuesday they have prepared a counter-offer for management...
Amboy School District Workers Ratify Teamster Contract Teamsters Joint Council 25 ...Secretaries, aides, cooks and custodians with Amboy Community School District 272 in central Illinois, who are members of Teamsters Local 722, recently ratified a new three-year agreement that includes better wages, paid holidays and stronger contract language...
Teamsters Union: Hernando violated hiring process for fire chief Hernando Today ...Dan Oliver, a steward for Teamsters Local 79, said Hernando County violated its own hiring policy by not posting a job opening for public safety director in-house before seeking outside candidates...
Teamsters Union: More rail workers needed to solve grain transportation backlog The Canadian Press ...A cold winter and a record crop have been blamed for a grain transportation backlog, but a Teamsters spokesman says that’s not the whole story...
Trade
Obama's Trans-Pacific Partnership Deal Would Deepen Income Divide Truthout ...“Those at the top have never done better,” President Obama ruefully acknowledged in his January 28 State of the Union speech. “But average wages have barely budged. Inequality has deepened.”...
China Keeps Moving Forward While America Falls Behind – and We Are Doing Nothing About It! Trade Reform ...Our political leaders often deemphasize the downturn in American manufacturing by touting a focus on areas such as new, high tech manufacturing and alternative energy, but it appears China has the same goals and is taking targeted steps to meet them...
Korea Trade Agreement – Exports Actually Decrease Trade Reform ...Michael Froman, the U.S. Trade Representative, never talks about balance of trade. But the USTR is embarrassed that our exports to Korea actually decreased since the Korea trade and global government agreement was passed. Yes. Exports (not net exports) decreased...
State News
“Right to Work” bill trying to gain steam in Missouri KBIA "...I’ve seen folks go down to parts of Mississippi and were working for $12 an hour, union jobs, while up in Missouri they’re making $28 an hour at the time..."
Right-to-work is dangerous fraud (Opinion) St. Louis Post-Dispatch ..The right-to-work proposal being considered in the Missouri Legislature is a dangerous fraud.As American citizens, we already have the right to seek employment and to work. But under a right-to-work law, we would continue to work — for less money and fewer benefits than we already have...
Gov. Cuomo Signs Bill Extending Effective Date of New Independent Contractor Law in New York Independent Contractor Compliance ...After months of uncertainty, the law of independent contractor misclassification in New York State will change on April 10, 2014. The new law affects transportation and delivery companies in New York that classify certain drivers that deliver commercial goods in the state as independent contractors...
Thirty-nine Moral Monday Georgia activists arrested in daylong Medicaid expansion protests at the Gold Dome Creative Loafing ...Nearly 40 Moral Monday Georgia activists today were arrested for interrupting proceedings throughout the Georgia Capitol in an effort to urge Gov. Nathan Deal to expand Medicaid - and block legislation that would strip him of the authority to do so...
Wisconsin Republican Legislator Tears Into His Own Party For Voter Suppression ThinkProgress ...it ought to be abundantly clear to everybody in this state that there is no massive voter fraud. The only thing that we do have in this state is we have long lines of people who want to vote. And it seems to me that we should be doing everything we can to make it easier, to help these people get their votes counted...
Costly Loans Are Drawing Attention From States New York Times ...States are increasing efforts to shield vulnerable Americans from short-term loans with interest rates that can exceed 300 percent...
Minnesota GOP Lawmaker Says Sick Leave, Equal Pay Bills Make Women 'Look Like Whiners' Huffington Post ...A package of bills in Minnesota that would enhance women's economic security by raising the minimum wage, providing paid family and sick leave and addressing the gender pay gap makes women "look like whiners," said State Rep. Andrea Kieffer (R) last week...
War on Workers
McDonald's Reviews Wage Theft Claims As Workers In 30 Cities Protest For Overtime Pay Forbes ...Tuesday’s protest in midtown Manhattan was one of dozens planned in 30 cities across the U.S., coming as McDonald’s faces class-action lawsuits in New York, California and Michigan for what workers describe as “wage theft...”
Fast-food workers get new ally in New York City fight for fair pay The Guardian ...A hotline for fast-food workers to anonymously report allegations of illegal or unjust pay practices by their bosses would be set up in New York under plans to build on a national campaign to improve conditions for American workers...
Supremes Could Decide Sky's the Limit for Campaign Donations Public News Service ...Another major Supreme Court decision on campaign finance could come as early as next week. In McCutcheon v. Federal Elections Commission, Alabama businessman Shaun McCutcheon said his First Amendment rights are violated when he cannot give a $2,600 donation to as many parties and candidates for federal office as he pleases. Many groups working to get money out of politics hope the high court rules against McCutcheon...
Reports of the Death of a National License-Plate Tracking Database Have Been Greatly Exaggerated The Intercept ... the databases are growing at a furious pace due to rapidly improving technology and ample federal grant money for more cameras and more computers. Tens if not hundreds of millions of observations per month are streaming into bulging electronic archives, often remaining there indefinitely, for a vast array of clients in both the public and private sector...
Expand Overtime Pay? GOP Says No In These Times ...Republicans apparently don’t believe that Americans who work longer hours should get paid more...
Meet the ‘Missing Workers’ In These Times ...More than 5 million Americans have given up hope of a job. Who are they?...
7-11 Clerk Says She Was Fired For Giving Freezing Homeless Man A $1 Cup Of Coffee ThinkProgress ...The worker felt compelled to help him after her own recent brush with homelessness...
Woman Whose Boss Told Her ‘It’s Best You Go Home With Your Babies’ Won’t Get Discrimination Trial ThinkProgress ...Angela Ames was on her first morning back from maternity leave and couldn’t gain access to the lactation room when her department head told her, “I think it’s best that you go home to be with your babies,” handing her a pen and paper and dictating the contents of a resignation letter...
Hershey Investors Suing Over Child Labor Can Pursue Files Bloomberg ...Hershey Co., the largest chocolate maker in the U.S., was ordered to face a lawsuit by investors seeking to force it to turn over records about cocoa from African farms that may use illegal child labor...
The Law that Launched a Boondoggle: Gold for Executives, Contempt for Taxpayers CounterPunch ...Jamie Dimon took high heat over his 74% mega-raise, but he’s not at fault. The blame goes to a 1993 boondoggle for bigwigs—a boondoggle that’s cost taxpayers by the billions ever since. Congress should call a halt, and the country’s mood could push it to do just that...
Miscellaneous
IRS says security breach affected 20,000 employees, but no taxpayer records Reuters ...The personal data of about 20,000 U.S. Internal Revenue Service employees going back to 2007 or earlier may have been exposed on the Internet, but no general taxpayer information or records were part of the security breach, the agency said on Tuesday...
Toyota and Justice Department said to reach $1.2 billion settlement in criminal case Los Angeles Times ...Toyota Motor Co. and the Justice Department have agreed on a $1.2-billion settlement to close a criminal probe into whether the automaker handled cases of sudden acceleration...
Google Won’t Face Group E-Mail Privacy Lawsuit: Judge Bloomberg News ...Google Inc. won a major victory in its fight against claims it illegally scanned private e-mail messages to and from Gmail accounts, defeating a bid to unify lawsuits in a single group case on behalf of hundreds of millions of Internet users...
CCTA Strike Continues, Management Awaits Offer Vermont Public Radio ...Two days into their strike, Chittenden County Transportation Authority bus drivers represented by Teamsters Local 597 said Tuesday they have prepared a counter-offer for management...
Amboy School District Workers Ratify Teamster Contract Teamsters Joint Council 25 ...Secretaries, aides, cooks and custodians with Amboy Community School District 272 in central Illinois, who are members of Teamsters Local 722, recently ratified a new three-year agreement that includes better wages, paid holidays and stronger contract language...
Teamsters Union: Hernando violated hiring process for fire chief Hernando Today ...Dan Oliver, a steward for Teamsters Local 79, said Hernando County violated its own hiring policy by not posting a job opening for public safety director in-house before seeking outside candidates...
Teamsters Union: More rail workers needed to solve grain transportation backlog The Canadian Press ...A cold winter and a record crop have been blamed for a grain transportation backlog, but a Teamsters spokesman says that’s not the whole story...
Trade
Obama's Trans-Pacific Partnership Deal Would Deepen Income Divide Truthout ...“Those at the top have never done better,” President Obama ruefully acknowledged in his January 28 State of the Union speech. “But average wages have barely budged. Inequality has deepened.”...
China Keeps Moving Forward While America Falls Behind – and We Are Doing Nothing About It! Trade Reform ...Our political leaders often deemphasize the downturn in American manufacturing by touting a focus on areas such as new, high tech manufacturing and alternative energy, but it appears China has the same goals and is taking targeted steps to meet them...
Korea Trade Agreement – Exports Actually Decrease Trade Reform ...Michael Froman, the U.S. Trade Representative, never talks about balance of trade. But the USTR is embarrassed that our exports to Korea actually decreased since the Korea trade and global government agreement was passed. Yes. Exports (not net exports) decreased...
State News
“Right to Work” bill trying to gain steam in Missouri KBIA "...I’ve seen folks go down to parts of Mississippi and were working for $12 an hour, union jobs, while up in Missouri they’re making $28 an hour at the time..."
Right-to-work is dangerous fraud (Opinion) St. Louis Post-Dispatch ..The right-to-work proposal being considered in the Missouri Legislature is a dangerous fraud.As American citizens, we already have the right to seek employment and to work. But under a right-to-work law, we would continue to work — for less money and fewer benefits than we already have...
Gov. Cuomo Signs Bill Extending Effective Date of New Independent Contractor Law in New York Independent Contractor Compliance ...After months of uncertainty, the law of independent contractor misclassification in New York State will change on April 10, 2014. The new law affects transportation and delivery companies in New York that classify certain drivers that deliver commercial goods in the state as independent contractors...
Thirty-nine Moral Monday Georgia activists arrested in daylong Medicaid expansion protests at the Gold Dome Creative Loafing ...Nearly 40 Moral Monday Georgia activists today were arrested for interrupting proceedings throughout the Georgia Capitol in an effort to urge Gov. Nathan Deal to expand Medicaid - and block legislation that would strip him of the authority to do so...
Wisconsin Republican Legislator Tears Into His Own Party For Voter Suppression ThinkProgress ...it ought to be abundantly clear to everybody in this state that there is no massive voter fraud. The only thing that we do have in this state is we have long lines of people who want to vote. And it seems to me that we should be doing everything we can to make it easier, to help these people get their votes counted...
Costly Loans Are Drawing Attention From States New York Times ...States are increasing efforts to shield vulnerable Americans from short-term loans with interest rates that can exceed 300 percent...
Minnesota GOP Lawmaker Says Sick Leave, Equal Pay Bills Make Women 'Look Like Whiners' Huffington Post ...A package of bills in Minnesota that would enhance women's economic security by raising the minimum wage, providing paid family and sick leave and addressing the gender pay gap makes women "look like whiners," said State Rep. Andrea Kieffer (R) last week...
War on Workers
McDonald's Reviews Wage Theft Claims As Workers In 30 Cities Protest For Overtime Pay Forbes ...Tuesday’s protest in midtown Manhattan was one of dozens planned in 30 cities across the U.S., coming as McDonald’s faces class-action lawsuits in New York, California and Michigan for what workers describe as “wage theft...”
Fast-food workers get new ally in New York City fight for fair pay The Guardian ...A hotline for fast-food workers to anonymously report allegations of illegal or unjust pay practices by their bosses would be set up in New York under plans to build on a national campaign to improve conditions for American workers...
Supremes Could Decide Sky's the Limit for Campaign Donations Public News Service ...Another major Supreme Court decision on campaign finance could come as early as next week. In McCutcheon v. Federal Elections Commission, Alabama businessman Shaun McCutcheon said his First Amendment rights are violated when he cannot give a $2,600 donation to as many parties and candidates for federal office as he pleases. Many groups working to get money out of politics hope the high court rules against McCutcheon...
Reports of the Death of a National License-Plate Tracking Database Have Been Greatly Exaggerated The Intercept ... the databases are growing at a furious pace due to rapidly improving technology and ample federal grant money for more cameras and more computers. Tens if not hundreds of millions of observations per month are streaming into bulging electronic archives, often remaining there indefinitely, for a vast array of clients in both the public and private sector...
Expand Overtime Pay? GOP Says No In These Times ...Republicans apparently don’t believe that Americans who work longer hours should get paid more...
Meet the ‘Missing Workers’ In These Times ...More than 5 million Americans have given up hope of a job. Who are they?...
7-11 Clerk Says She Was Fired For Giving Freezing Homeless Man A $1 Cup Of Coffee ThinkProgress ...The worker felt compelled to help him after her own recent brush with homelessness...
Woman Whose Boss Told Her ‘It’s Best You Go Home With Your Babies’ Won’t Get Discrimination Trial ThinkProgress ...Angela Ames was on her first morning back from maternity leave and couldn’t gain access to the lactation room when her department head told her, “I think it’s best that you go home to be with your babies,” handing her a pen and paper and dictating the contents of a resignation letter...
Hershey Investors Suing Over Child Labor Can Pursue Files Bloomberg ...Hershey Co., the largest chocolate maker in the U.S., was ordered to face a lawsuit by investors seeking to force it to turn over records about cocoa from African farms that may use illegal child labor...
The Law that Launched a Boondoggle: Gold for Executives, Contempt for Taxpayers CounterPunch ...Jamie Dimon took high heat over his 74% mega-raise, but he’s not at fault. The blame goes to a 1993 boondoggle for bigwigs—a boondoggle that’s cost taxpayers by the billions ever since. Congress should call a halt, and the country’s mood could push it to do just that...
Miscellaneous
IRS says security breach affected 20,000 employees, but no taxpayer records Reuters ...The personal data of about 20,000 U.S. Internal Revenue Service employees going back to 2007 or earlier may have been exposed on the Internet, but no general taxpayer information or records were part of the security breach, the agency said on Tuesday...
Toyota and Justice Department said to reach $1.2 billion settlement in criminal case Los Angeles Times ...Toyota Motor Co. and the Justice Department have agreed on a $1.2-billion settlement to close a criminal probe into whether the automaker handled cases of sudden acceleration...
Google Won’t Face Group E-Mail Privacy Lawsuit: Judge Bloomberg News ...Google Inc. won a major victory in its fight against claims it illegally scanned private e-mail messages to and from Gmail accounts, defeating a bid to unify lawsuits in a single group case on behalf of hundreds of millions of Internet users...
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
Today's Teamster News 03.05.14
Teamster News
Teamsters Local 174 Members Overwhelmingly Ratify Contract at First Student teamster.org ...Teamsters Local 174 has reached an agreement with First Student covering more than 450 school bus drivers who transport K-12 students for the Seattle School District...
Spring Grove school board hears bus safety complaints York Dispatch ...A group of bus drivers, parents and residents told Pennsylvania's Spring Grove Area School District's school board their concerns about multiple safety issues with vehicles from Durham School Services. The bus drivers are represented by Teamsters Local 776...
Trade
Daschle distorts NAFTA outcomes to sell TPP (Opinion) The Hill Blog ...The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and "fast track" trade authority are generating heated debate. TPP would expand on terms first established in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and extend them to additional countries.Unfortunately, former Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) misconstrued the facts of NAFTA’s legacy in his February 20 op-ed in The Hill, “Trade Pacts Are a Tonic for the Economy.”...
Gibson joins labor, community groups to oppose TPP Mid-Hudson News ...Congressman Christopher Gibson (R, NY-19) Monday spoke out against the proposed Trans Pacific Partnership trade agreement that is being worked on by the administration in Washington behind closed doors...
The U.S. needs a stronger domestic supply chain in the event of an attack Manufacture This ...Where lies the United States' greatest vulnerability to a physical terrorist attack? Transformers.
No, not the robots in disguise: Those large gray boxes of steel that move power across the country pose a serious risk to our power grid... only a handful of companies build them in the U.S., and shipments from overseas could take months or years to arrive if one is unexpectedly damaged...
State Battles
Right-to-work among 12 Oregon ballot measures dropped Statesman Journal ...Twelve ballot initiatives have been dropped — including one that would have made Oregon’s public sector subject to “right to work” laws — as part of a deal reached by Gov. John Kitzhaber’s office...
The story behind those communist China "right to work" billboards in Kansas City The Pitch ...Terry Akins, a labor executive with International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers No. 124 in Kansas City, had this thought in mind when he brandished a map of China with an accompanying hammer and sickle upon a billboard along Interstate 70...
How large corporations avoid paying income taxes in Wisconsin Fox6Now ...“They were — in a sense — blackmailing Fond du Lac County, blackmailing the state of Wisconsin. The Mercury Marine story is really the perfect example of what’s wrong with assuming that business is always right, because here, we were begging them to take money, some of it was in low interest loans, some of it was just cash on the barrel head — and they’re not paying taxes in Wisconsin,”...
The War on Workers
McDonald’s to SEC: Strikes hurt, and we might have to hike pay Salon ...Worker strikes and social media shaming “can adversely affect us,” and “increasing public focus” on “income inequality” could spur higher wages, fast food giant McDonald’s acknowledged in an annual report filed Tuesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission...
White House Suggests Social Security Cuts Remain 'On The Table' Talking Points Memo ...Even though President Barack Obama's formal budget proposal Tuesday omitted cuts to Social Security, the White House strongly suggested that a controversial policy to cut the program "remains on the table" if Republicans are willing to compromise...
Fed Nominee Stanley Fischer Has a Citigroup Problem Wall Street on Parade ...Citigroup collapsed in 2008 and is only alive today because the U.S. government pumped in $45 billion in equity, made $300 billion in asset guarantees, and the Fed chipped in over $2 trillion in below market rate loans to the listing shipwreck...
Exclusive: Report Finds Taking A Paid Day Off When Sick Is A Privilege Of The Wealthy ThinkProgress ...In 2012, 61 percent of private sector workers older than 18 had access to paid sick days, an increase from 57 percent in 2009, according to a new report...
Supreme Court extends whistle-blower protections under anti-fraud law Los Angeles Times ...The Supreme Court on Tuesday expanded protections for whistle blowers covered by an anti-fraud law passed following the collapse of energy giant Enron, ruling outside accountants, auditors and lawyers cannot be fired or punished for exposing fraud...
Toyota Union Cites ‘Big Gap’ With Carmaker in Wage Talks Bloomberg News ...Toyota Motor Corp., the world’s largest automaker, faces a “big gap” in negotiations with its workers’ union in Japan, according to the head of the Toyota Motor Workers’ Union...
Port driver files class action complaints against two California drayage companies Land Line ... Two new class action lawsuits have been filed against two Southern California-based drayage companies by a former port driver who worked for both companies. This comes just days after a report was released by labor groups, which was critical of port companies that allegedly misclassify port drivers as independent contractors...
Pittsburgh's Largest Employer Draws Hundreds Of Protesters Over 'Poverty' Wages Huffington Post ...Hundreds of demonstrators poured into downtown Pittsburgh Monday to protest low wages at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, escalating a two-year showdown between labor groups and the area's largest employer...
Miscellaneous
Sprint Accused of Overcharging Feds Millions for Wiretapping Wired ...Sprint, of Overland Park, Kansas, inflated charges approximately 58 percent between 2007 and 2010, according to a lawsuit (.pdf) the administration brought against the carrier today...
“Retirement Security in an Aging Society,” or the Lack Thereof Baseline Scenario ...50% of households have personal retirement accounts worth $5,000 or less; 50% of households have other financial assets of $15,000 or less; and 50% of households have no defined benefit pensions...
Bill protects taxpayers from government contractors The Tennessean ...All over the country, cash-strapped state and local governments have handed over control of critical public services and assets to corporations that promise to handle them better, faster and cheaper. Unfortunately for taxpayers, these services failed to keep this promise...
RadioShack to close up to 1,100 'underperforming' stores Los Angeles Times ...Beleaguered electronics retailer RadioShack Corp. reported its fourth-quarter store sales were down 19% compared to last year and that it would close up to 1,100 underperforming...
Chevron $9.5 Billion Judgment by Ecuador Is Ruled Fraudulent by U.S. Court Bloomberg News ...Chevron Corp. won a U.S. judge’s ruling that a multibillion-dollar pollution judgment issued in Ecuador was procured by fraud, making it less likely that plaintiffs will collect the $9.5 billion award...
Teamsters Local 174 Members Overwhelmingly Ratify Contract at First Student teamster.org ...Teamsters Local 174 has reached an agreement with First Student covering more than 450 school bus drivers who transport K-12 students for the Seattle School District...
Spring Grove school board hears bus safety complaints York Dispatch ...A group of bus drivers, parents and residents told Pennsylvania's Spring Grove Area School District's school board their concerns about multiple safety issues with vehicles from Durham School Services. The bus drivers are represented by Teamsters Local 776...
Trade
Daschle distorts NAFTA outcomes to sell TPP (Opinion) The Hill Blog ...The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and "fast track" trade authority are generating heated debate. TPP would expand on terms first established in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and extend them to additional countries.Unfortunately, former Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) misconstrued the facts of NAFTA’s legacy in his February 20 op-ed in The Hill, “Trade Pacts Are a Tonic for the Economy.”...
Gibson joins labor, community groups to oppose TPP Mid-Hudson News ...Congressman Christopher Gibson (R, NY-19) Monday spoke out against the proposed Trans Pacific Partnership trade agreement that is being worked on by the administration in Washington behind closed doors...
The U.S. needs a stronger domestic supply chain in the event of an attack Manufacture This ...Where lies the United States' greatest vulnerability to a physical terrorist attack? Transformers.
No, not the robots in disguise: Those large gray boxes of steel that move power across the country pose a serious risk to our power grid... only a handful of companies build them in the U.S., and shipments from overseas could take months or years to arrive if one is unexpectedly damaged...
State Battles
Right-to-work among 12 Oregon ballot measures dropped Statesman Journal ...Twelve ballot initiatives have been dropped — including one that would have made Oregon’s public sector subject to “right to work” laws — as part of a deal reached by Gov. John Kitzhaber’s office...
The story behind those communist China "right to work" billboards in Kansas City The Pitch ...Terry Akins, a labor executive with International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers No. 124 in Kansas City, had this thought in mind when he brandished a map of China with an accompanying hammer and sickle upon a billboard along Interstate 70...
How large corporations avoid paying income taxes in Wisconsin Fox6Now ...“They were — in a sense — blackmailing Fond du Lac County, blackmailing the state of Wisconsin. The Mercury Marine story is really the perfect example of what’s wrong with assuming that business is always right, because here, we were begging them to take money, some of it was in low interest loans, some of it was just cash on the barrel head — and they’re not paying taxes in Wisconsin,”...
The War on Workers
McDonald’s to SEC: Strikes hurt, and we might have to hike pay Salon ...Worker strikes and social media shaming “can adversely affect us,” and “increasing public focus” on “income inequality” could spur higher wages, fast food giant McDonald’s acknowledged in an annual report filed Tuesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission...
White House Suggests Social Security Cuts Remain 'On The Table' Talking Points Memo ...Even though President Barack Obama's formal budget proposal Tuesday omitted cuts to Social Security, the White House strongly suggested that a controversial policy to cut the program "remains on the table" if Republicans are willing to compromise...
Fed Nominee Stanley Fischer Has a Citigroup Problem Wall Street on Parade ...Citigroup collapsed in 2008 and is only alive today because the U.S. government pumped in $45 billion in equity, made $300 billion in asset guarantees, and the Fed chipped in over $2 trillion in below market rate loans to the listing shipwreck...
Exclusive: Report Finds Taking A Paid Day Off When Sick Is A Privilege Of The Wealthy ThinkProgress ...In 2012, 61 percent of private sector workers older than 18 had access to paid sick days, an increase from 57 percent in 2009, according to a new report...
Supreme Court extends whistle-blower protections under anti-fraud law Los Angeles Times ...The Supreme Court on Tuesday expanded protections for whistle blowers covered by an anti-fraud law passed following the collapse of energy giant Enron, ruling outside accountants, auditors and lawyers cannot be fired or punished for exposing fraud...
Toyota Union Cites ‘Big Gap’ With Carmaker in Wage Talks Bloomberg News ...Toyota Motor Corp., the world’s largest automaker, faces a “big gap” in negotiations with its workers’ union in Japan, according to the head of the Toyota Motor Workers’ Union...
Port driver files class action complaints against two California drayage companies Land Line ... Two new class action lawsuits have been filed against two Southern California-based drayage companies by a former port driver who worked for both companies. This comes just days after a report was released by labor groups, which was critical of port companies that allegedly misclassify port drivers as independent contractors...
Pittsburgh's Largest Employer Draws Hundreds Of Protesters Over 'Poverty' Wages Huffington Post ...Hundreds of demonstrators poured into downtown Pittsburgh Monday to protest low wages at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, escalating a two-year showdown between labor groups and the area's largest employer...
Miscellaneous
Sprint Accused of Overcharging Feds Millions for Wiretapping Wired ...Sprint, of Overland Park, Kansas, inflated charges approximately 58 percent between 2007 and 2010, according to a lawsuit (.pdf) the administration brought against the carrier today...
“Retirement Security in an Aging Society,” or the Lack Thereof Baseline Scenario ...50% of households have personal retirement accounts worth $5,000 or less; 50% of households have other financial assets of $15,000 or less; and 50% of households have no defined benefit pensions...
Bill protects taxpayers from government contractors The Tennessean ...All over the country, cash-strapped state and local governments have handed over control of critical public services and assets to corporations that promise to handle them better, faster and cheaper. Unfortunately for taxpayers, these services failed to keep this promise...
RadioShack to close up to 1,100 'underperforming' stores Los Angeles Times ...Beleaguered electronics retailer RadioShack Corp. reported its fourth-quarter store sales were down 19% compared to last year and that it would close up to 1,100 underperforming...
Chevron $9.5 Billion Judgment by Ecuador Is Ruled Fraudulent by U.S. Court Bloomberg News ...Chevron Corp. won a U.S. judge’s ruling that a multibillion-dollar pollution judgment issued in Ecuador was procured by fraud, making it less likely that plaintiffs will collect the $9.5 billion award...
Saturday, March 1, 2014
Today's Teamster News 03.01.14
Teamster News
Listen to Teamster Nation News teamster.org ...Introducing the inaugural episode of Teamster Nation News, the Teamster's new podcast. Teamster Nation News is your weekly stop for key Teamster news for working families. Thanks for listening and be sure to subscribe...
CEO's Lavish Pay Trimmed At McKesson, A Teamster Employer TeamsterNation ...McKesson CEO John Hammergren took a 'voluntary' $45 million cut to his pension after shareholders said 'no more' to his lavish wages at the company's annual meeting in August...
Teamsters, First Student in Seattle reach agreement Seattle Times ...After a daylong negotiation, Teamsters Local 174, which represents about 450 bus drivers for Seattle Public Schools, has reached a fully recommended tentative settlement with First Student, a private contractor that provides busing for the district. The agreement means that bus service will continue uninterrupted...
Teamsters back to work Sunday: Bay Valley strike ends Sauk Valley Media ...Dan Dring, vice president of human resources and operations for the Green Bay, Wis.-based company, said the workers of Teamsters Local 722 had voted earlier in the day to approve the contract...
Teamsters Airline Division Statement on GAO 2014 Aviation Workforce Report teamster.org ...Teamsters Airline Division Director Capt. David Bourne issued an official statement on the U.S. Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) 2014 Aviation Workforce report, “Current and Future Availability of Airline Pilots”…
Teamsters Celebrate Women’s History teamster.org ...March is Women’s History Month, a time to reflect upon and celebrate the contributions American women have made to society. Teamster women have made significant contributions to the work force over the years, bravely fighting for economic and social justice...
Teamsters: Single Mothers Struggling Even More To Support Families teamster.org ...Women trying to support a family on their own are having a harder time doing so, according to a new report that details the plight of the working poor. As this nation enters Women’s History Month, single mothers are disproportionately struggling to make ends meet, and the document shows conditions are getting worse for them, not better...
Trade
U.S. staring contest with Japan stretches out Pacific trade pact Reuters ...A standoff between the United States and Japan is holding up talks on a sweeping Pacific free trade pact and a lack of authority to push an eventual deal through the U.S. Congress without amendment may be undercutting Washington's hand...
How TPP Would Harm You at the Drug Store and on the Internet Truthout ...A law affecting content on the Internet that was rejected by Congress shows up in a trade agreement designed to bypass and override Congress. Small, innovative companies that manufacture low-cost, generic drugs find their products blocked...
EU-U.S. trade talks face growing hostility, ministers warn Reuters ...Free-trade talks between the United States and the European Union are in danger of being derailed by populist groups opposing everything from globalization to multinationals, EU ministers and business leaders said on Friday...
State Battles
Fifteen States Move to Curb Reckless Outsourcing In the Public Interest ...Lawmakers in Iowa, Kansas and Oregon join movement to improve transparency and accountability, keep taxpayer in control of their services...
State will lose if RTW passes (Opinion) News-Leader ...The Missouri House may pass “Right to Work” and may override Gov. Jay Nixon’s veto, but Missouri will be the loser. An example is the new Boeing passenger aircraft plant. Billions in lucrative concessions were given, but Boeing needed the skilled union workers available. Building huge passenger aircraft is entirely too risky to hire low-wage, unskilled laborers and train them to standards...
No sign of expansion at plant where UAW dealt loss Associated Press ...Friday marks the end of the two-week period within which U.S. Sen. Bob Corker promised Volkswagen would announce another line at its factory in Tennessee if workers there rejected representation by the United Auto Workers union...
Walker Supporter Says Governor Needs To 'Tell The Truth' About Emails Wisconsin Public Radio ...Seymer calls it a serious violation of Wisconsin's open records law to have a campaign making these decisions...
War on Workers
Poultry workers, industry take fight to Capitol Hill over proposal to speed processing lines Washington Post ...Poultry workers, chicken industry lobbyists and food-safety advocates have been converging on Capitol Hill in recent weeks with dueling efforts to either boost or kill a proposal to overhaul the way the $60 billion-a-year poultry industry operates processing plants...
A Third Of America’s Most Successful Corporations Pay Less Than A 10 Percent Income Tax Rate ThinkProgress ...The average effective income tax rate for giant, profitable companies from 2008 to 2012 was just 19.4 percent...
Thousands More New York City Workers Will Now Get Paid Sick Days ThinkProgress ...The New York City Council overwhelmingly passed an expansion of paid sick days...
5 'Good' Jobs that Require Lots of Education and Training and Shockingly Pay Little More than Minimum Wage AlterNet ...You will never guess which highly skilled professions pay poverty wages...
Medical Marijuana Workers Have The Same Labor Rights As Everyone Else, Feds Say Huffington Post ...The next time a pot shop gets a visit from the feds, it won't necessarily be from drug enforcement agents looking to shut the operation down. It might just come from workplace regulators making sure that labor laws are being followed...
Miscellaneous
Bank Allegedly Neglects Foreclosed Houses In Black And Latino Neighborhoods ThinkProgress ...Housing discrimination advocates filed a complaint against a fourth major bank for failing to maintain foreclosed homes in non-white neighborhoods...
U.S. Retail Chains See First Profit Decline Since Recession Bloomberg ...The results paint a grim picture of an industry hit hard by the sluggish job recovery and slow wage growth, which have turned U.S. consumers into a nation of penny pinchers...
Gold Fix Study Shows Signs of Decade of Bank Manipulation Bloomberg ...The London gold fix, the benchmark used by miners, jewelers and central banks to value the metal, may have been manipulated for a decade by the banks setting it, researchers say...
Citigroup reports fraud in Mexico unit, lowers 2013 results Reuters ... Citigroup Inc (C.N) said on Friday that it has discovered at least $400 million in fraudulent loans in its Mexico subsidiary and said employees may have been in on the crime...
Poorly Regulated, High-Speed 'Bomb Trains' Are One Crash Away from Devastating Towns in NYC Suburbs AlterNet ...Few residents of the city's bucolic 'burbs know of the huge risks whirring by at top speeds...
NSA surveillance hurting tech firms' business USA Today ...The National Security Agency, and revelations about its extensive surveillance operations — sometimes with the cooperation of tech firms — have undermined the ability of many U.S. companies to sell products in key foreign countries, creating a fissure with the U.S. government and prompting some to scramble to create "NSA-resistant" products...
Swiss Bank That Facilitated U.S. Tax Evasion Continues To Avoid Prosecution Real News ...Although Credit Suisse helped ultra-wealthy Americans evade taxes, the bank will face no prosecution due to Swiss bank secrecy laws and a heedless U.S. Justice department...
Listen to Teamster Nation News teamster.org ...Introducing the inaugural episode of Teamster Nation News, the Teamster's new podcast. Teamster Nation News is your weekly stop for key Teamster news for working families. Thanks for listening and be sure to subscribe...
CEO's Lavish Pay Trimmed At McKesson, A Teamster Employer TeamsterNation ...McKesson CEO John Hammergren took a 'voluntary' $45 million cut to his pension after shareholders said 'no more' to his lavish wages at the company's annual meeting in August...
Teamsters, First Student in Seattle reach agreement Seattle Times ...After a daylong negotiation, Teamsters Local 174, which represents about 450 bus drivers for Seattle Public Schools, has reached a fully recommended tentative settlement with First Student, a private contractor that provides busing for the district. The agreement means that bus service will continue uninterrupted...
Teamsters back to work Sunday: Bay Valley strike ends Sauk Valley Media ...Dan Dring, vice president of human resources and operations for the Green Bay, Wis.-based company, said the workers of Teamsters Local 722 had voted earlier in the day to approve the contract...
Teamsters Airline Division Statement on GAO 2014 Aviation Workforce Report teamster.org ...Teamsters Airline Division Director Capt. David Bourne issued an official statement on the U.S. Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) 2014 Aviation Workforce report, “Current and Future Availability of Airline Pilots”…
Teamsters Celebrate Women’s History teamster.org ...March is Women’s History Month, a time to reflect upon and celebrate the contributions American women have made to society. Teamster women have made significant contributions to the work force over the years, bravely fighting for economic and social justice...
Teamsters: Single Mothers Struggling Even More To Support Families teamster.org ...Women trying to support a family on their own are having a harder time doing so, according to a new report that details the plight of the working poor. As this nation enters Women’s History Month, single mothers are disproportionately struggling to make ends meet, and the document shows conditions are getting worse for them, not better...
Trade
U.S. staring contest with Japan stretches out Pacific trade pact Reuters ...A standoff between the United States and Japan is holding up talks on a sweeping Pacific free trade pact and a lack of authority to push an eventual deal through the U.S. Congress without amendment may be undercutting Washington's hand...
How TPP Would Harm You at the Drug Store and on the Internet Truthout ...A law affecting content on the Internet that was rejected by Congress shows up in a trade agreement designed to bypass and override Congress. Small, innovative companies that manufacture low-cost, generic drugs find their products blocked...
EU-U.S. trade talks face growing hostility, ministers warn Reuters ...Free-trade talks between the United States and the European Union are in danger of being derailed by populist groups opposing everything from globalization to multinationals, EU ministers and business leaders said on Friday...
State Battles
Fifteen States Move to Curb Reckless Outsourcing In the Public Interest ...Lawmakers in Iowa, Kansas and Oregon join movement to improve transparency and accountability, keep taxpayer in control of their services...
State will lose if RTW passes (Opinion) News-Leader ...The Missouri House may pass “Right to Work” and may override Gov. Jay Nixon’s veto, but Missouri will be the loser. An example is the new Boeing passenger aircraft plant. Billions in lucrative concessions were given, but Boeing needed the skilled union workers available. Building huge passenger aircraft is entirely too risky to hire low-wage, unskilled laborers and train them to standards...
No sign of expansion at plant where UAW dealt loss Associated Press ...Friday marks the end of the two-week period within which U.S. Sen. Bob Corker promised Volkswagen would announce another line at its factory in Tennessee if workers there rejected representation by the United Auto Workers union...
Walker Supporter Says Governor Needs To 'Tell The Truth' About Emails Wisconsin Public Radio ...Seymer calls it a serious violation of Wisconsin's open records law to have a campaign making these decisions...
War on Workers
Poultry workers, industry take fight to Capitol Hill over proposal to speed processing lines Washington Post ...Poultry workers, chicken industry lobbyists and food-safety advocates have been converging on Capitol Hill in recent weeks with dueling efforts to either boost or kill a proposal to overhaul the way the $60 billion-a-year poultry industry operates processing plants...
A Third Of America’s Most Successful Corporations Pay Less Than A 10 Percent Income Tax Rate ThinkProgress ...The average effective income tax rate for giant, profitable companies from 2008 to 2012 was just 19.4 percent...
Thousands More New York City Workers Will Now Get Paid Sick Days ThinkProgress ...The New York City Council overwhelmingly passed an expansion of paid sick days...
5 'Good' Jobs that Require Lots of Education and Training and Shockingly Pay Little More than Minimum Wage AlterNet ...You will never guess which highly skilled professions pay poverty wages...
Medical Marijuana Workers Have The Same Labor Rights As Everyone Else, Feds Say Huffington Post ...The next time a pot shop gets a visit from the feds, it won't necessarily be from drug enforcement agents looking to shut the operation down. It might just come from workplace regulators making sure that labor laws are being followed...
Miscellaneous
Bank Allegedly Neglects Foreclosed Houses In Black And Latino Neighborhoods ThinkProgress ...Housing discrimination advocates filed a complaint against a fourth major bank for failing to maintain foreclosed homes in non-white neighborhoods...
U.S. Retail Chains See First Profit Decline Since Recession Bloomberg ...The results paint a grim picture of an industry hit hard by the sluggish job recovery and slow wage growth, which have turned U.S. consumers into a nation of penny pinchers...
Gold Fix Study Shows Signs of Decade of Bank Manipulation Bloomberg ...The London gold fix, the benchmark used by miners, jewelers and central banks to value the metal, may have been manipulated for a decade by the banks setting it, researchers say...
Citigroup reports fraud in Mexico unit, lowers 2013 results Reuters ... Citigroup Inc (C.N) said on Friday that it has discovered at least $400 million in fraudulent loans in its Mexico subsidiary and said employees may have been in on the crime...
Poorly Regulated, High-Speed 'Bomb Trains' Are One Crash Away from Devastating Towns in NYC Suburbs AlterNet ...Few residents of the city's bucolic 'burbs know of the huge risks whirring by at top speeds...
NSA surveillance hurting tech firms' business USA Today ...The National Security Agency, and revelations about its extensive surveillance operations — sometimes with the cooperation of tech firms — have undermined the ability of many U.S. companies to sell products in key foreign countries, creating a fissure with the U.S. government and prompting some to scramble to create "NSA-resistant" products...
Swiss Bank That Facilitated U.S. Tax Evasion Continues To Avoid Prosecution Real News ...Although Credit Suisse helped ultra-wealthy Americans evade taxes, the bank will face no prosecution due to Swiss bank secrecy laws and a heedless U.S. Justice department...
Saturday, February 8, 2014
Today's Teamster News 02.08.13
Register Now for the JRHMSF Golf and Poker Tournaments teamster.org ...Sign up for the James R. Hoffa Memorial Scholarship Fund's 12th Annual "Drive for Education" Invitational Golf Tournament and 8th Annual "All In For Education" Texas Hold 'Em Poker Tournament in early May. The proceeds benefit children and financially dependent grandchildren of Teamster members...
Private Prisons Are a Net Loser for the Public teamster.org ...Governments, pressed by the corporate class, have in recent years increasingly looked for ways to outsource duties and services that could provide them with income. The growth in private prisons, as a result, has soared...
Black History Month: T.A. Stowers and the Early Teamsters Union teamster.org ...In August 2014, it will have been 112 years since a joint convention of the Team Drivers’ International Union and the Teamsters’ National Union was held in Niagara Falls, NY. At that convention in 1903, history was made for a number of reasons...
The Heated Politics of Free Trade Bring No Smoke, Plenty of Fire National Journal ...Biden, Madigan, and Schneiderman … joined 39 other states’ attorneys general in a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman protesting emerging provisions in the Trans-Pacific trade pact that they fear would exempt U.S. tobacco companies from complying with state tobacco laws and regulations...
Local Lawmakers Weigh In on Right to Work Bills The Missourian ...A House bill seeks to have a public vote on whether Missouri should become a right to work state...
Evidence Mounting that Walker Campaign Is at Center of Criminal Probe Center for Media and Democracy ...Newly-unsealed court documents and media leaks add to a growing body of evidence that Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s campaign is at the center of a wide-ranging secret probe into campaign finance violations during the state's contentious 2011 and 2012 recall elections...
Kasich floats ‘deregulation’ for schools Columbus Dispatch ...He could seek to ease licensing requirements for teachers to make it easier for business professionals to come into classrooms and teach, or establish some sort of formal tie between the state Board of Education and the business community so that business leaders could have a more-direct influence on curriculum...
More than a dozen communities in California could run out of water in months AFP ...California’s State Water Project announced for the first time in its 54-year history that it cannot deliver anything beyond the bare minimum to maintain public health and safety...
Weak Job Growth, but Declining Unemployment Give Mixed Picture in January Center for Economic and Policy Research ...The establishment survey showed the economy created just 113,000 jobs in January. Coupled with the 75,000 increase reported for December, this is the weakest two-month stretch since December, 2010-January 2011...
Payroll Data Shows a Lag in Wages, Not Just Hiring New York Times ...Wages are stuck, and barely rose at all in 2013. They were up 1.9 percent last year, or a mere 0.4 percent after accounting for inflation. Not only was that increase even smaller than the one recorded in 2012, it was half the normal rate of wage gains in the two decades before the last recession...
Chart of the Day #2: The Madness of Austerity Mother Jones ...If public sector employment had been growing normally during this period, we'd have about a million more jobs than we do now and the unemployment rate would probably be below 6 percent...
U.S. consumer credit posts biggest jump in 10 months Reuters ...U.S. consumer credit in December grew by the most in nearly a year due to a sharp increase in credit card usage...
I'm a Member of the American 'Used-to-Haves' Huffington Post ...I used to have a house. I used to go on vacations. I used to shop at department stores, get my hair done and even enjoy pedicures. Now, I don't. I'm a member of the American "Used-to-Haves."...
Privacy Activists' Nuclear Option: Suing Oakland Over Spy Center's Nuclear Weapons Contractors truthout ...The $10.9 million surveillance center is being built in stages and funded primarily through a Department of Homeland Security grant. The center will integrate the Oakland Police Department's license-plate scanners and gunshot detectors as well as social media feeds, mapping systems, feeds from hundreds of public and private cameras all over the city and other monitoring technologies into a centralized hub...
Brave Domino's Workers Successfully Win Back Stolen Wages ThinkProgress ...NYC Domino's workers win $1.3 million in settlement over withholding pay...
Union: IBM cuts coming again to New York Burlington Free Press ...An IBM employees’ union is warning workers to expect more job cuts in Vermont and New York later this month...
Ford steps up criticism of currency manipulation Detroit News ...Ford Motor Co. stepped up its campaign to convince the Obama administration to include provisions to block currency manipulation in a proposed 12-nation free trade agreement...
Rio fare protesters seize main station and let commuters travel free The Guardian ...After street protests, station invasions and turnstile vandalism, Rio de Janeiro’s free public transport movement finally got what it wanted for a few hours on Thursday night with a takeover of the city’s main train and bus hub...
Poverty Wages Unraveling Cambodia’s Garment Industry Inter Press Service ...Cambodia’s garment industry is regularly plagued with strikes and protests. But when armed security forces opened fire on striking workers in the capital city of Phnom Penh on Jan. 3, killing five and injuring dozens, it suddenly became clear that there is no end in sight for the crisis...
Democratic groups counter Kochs’ Senate push Politico ...A collection of Democratic-aligned groups are launching a coordinated push in 2014 Senate races to counter heavy spending from the powerfully funded conservative organization Americans for Prosperity, Democratic strategists said Thursday evening...
Federal Lawsuit Filed Against FEC Seeks to Shed Light on Karl Rove's "Dark Money" Donors truthout ...The votes by the three Republican FEC Commissioners effectively quashed any further official investigation into the allegations that Rove's group violated the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (FECA) when it spent the majority of its money during the 2010 election cycle on electioneering, but failed to register as a "political committee" with the FEC, as required by law...
Private Prisons Are a Net Loser for the Public teamster.org ...Governments, pressed by the corporate class, have in recent years increasingly looked for ways to outsource duties and services that could provide them with income. The growth in private prisons, as a result, has soared...
Black History Month: T.A. Stowers and the Early Teamsters Union teamster.org ...In August 2014, it will have been 112 years since a joint convention of the Team Drivers’ International Union and the Teamsters’ National Union was held in Niagara Falls, NY. At that convention in 1903, history was made for a number of reasons...
The Heated Politics of Free Trade Bring No Smoke, Plenty of Fire National Journal ...Biden, Madigan, and Schneiderman … joined 39 other states’ attorneys general in a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman protesting emerging provisions in the Trans-Pacific trade pact that they fear would exempt U.S. tobacco companies from complying with state tobacco laws and regulations...
Local Lawmakers Weigh In on Right to Work Bills The Missourian ...A House bill seeks to have a public vote on whether Missouri should become a right to work state...
Evidence Mounting that Walker Campaign Is at Center of Criminal Probe Center for Media and Democracy ...Newly-unsealed court documents and media leaks add to a growing body of evidence that Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s campaign is at the center of a wide-ranging secret probe into campaign finance violations during the state's contentious 2011 and 2012 recall elections...
Kasich floats ‘deregulation’ for schools Columbus Dispatch ...He could seek to ease licensing requirements for teachers to make it easier for business professionals to come into classrooms and teach, or establish some sort of formal tie between the state Board of Education and the business community so that business leaders could have a more-direct influence on curriculum...
More than a dozen communities in California could run out of water in months AFP ...California’s State Water Project announced for the first time in its 54-year history that it cannot deliver anything beyond the bare minimum to maintain public health and safety...
Weak Job Growth, but Declining Unemployment Give Mixed Picture in January Center for Economic and Policy Research ...The establishment survey showed the economy created just 113,000 jobs in January. Coupled with the 75,000 increase reported for December, this is the weakest two-month stretch since December, 2010-January 2011...
Payroll Data Shows a Lag in Wages, Not Just Hiring New York Times ...Wages are stuck, and barely rose at all in 2013. They were up 1.9 percent last year, or a mere 0.4 percent after accounting for inflation. Not only was that increase even smaller than the one recorded in 2012, it was half the normal rate of wage gains in the two decades before the last recession...
Chart of the Day #2: The Madness of Austerity Mother Jones ...If public sector employment had been growing normally during this period, we'd have about a million more jobs than we do now and the unemployment rate would probably be below 6 percent...
U.S. consumer credit posts biggest jump in 10 months Reuters ...U.S. consumer credit in December grew by the most in nearly a year due to a sharp increase in credit card usage...
I'm a Member of the American 'Used-to-Haves' Huffington Post ...I used to have a house. I used to go on vacations. I used to shop at department stores, get my hair done and even enjoy pedicures. Now, I don't. I'm a member of the American "Used-to-Haves."...
Privacy Activists' Nuclear Option: Suing Oakland Over Spy Center's Nuclear Weapons Contractors truthout ...The $10.9 million surveillance center is being built in stages and funded primarily through a Department of Homeland Security grant. The center will integrate the Oakland Police Department's license-plate scanners and gunshot detectors as well as social media feeds, mapping systems, feeds from hundreds of public and private cameras all over the city and other monitoring technologies into a centralized hub...
Brave Domino's Workers Successfully Win Back Stolen Wages ThinkProgress ...NYC Domino's workers win $1.3 million in settlement over withholding pay...
Union: IBM cuts coming again to New York Burlington Free Press ...An IBM employees’ union is warning workers to expect more job cuts in Vermont and New York later this month...
Ford steps up criticism of currency manipulation Detroit News ...Ford Motor Co. stepped up its campaign to convince the Obama administration to include provisions to block currency manipulation in a proposed 12-nation free trade agreement...
Rio fare protesters seize main station and let commuters travel free The Guardian ...After street protests, station invasions and turnstile vandalism, Rio de Janeiro’s free public transport movement finally got what it wanted for a few hours on Thursday night with a takeover of the city’s main train and bus hub...
Poverty Wages Unraveling Cambodia’s Garment Industry Inter Press Service ...Cambodia’s garment industry is regularly plagued with strikes and protests. But when armed security forces opened fire on striking workers in the capital city of Phnom Penh on Jan. 3, killing five and injuring dozens, it suddenly became clear that there is no end in sight for the crisis...
Democratic groups counter Kochs’ Senate push Politico ...A collection of Democratic-aligned groups are launching a coordinated push in 2014 Senate races to counter heavy spending from the powerfully funded conservative organization Americans for Prosperity, Democratic strategists said Thursday evening...
Federal Lawsuit Filed Against FEC Seeks to Shed Light on Karl Rove's "Dark Money" Donors truthout ...The votes by the three Republican FEC Commissioners effectively quashed any further official investigation into the allegations that Rove's group violated the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (FECA) when it spent the majority of its money during the 2010 election cycle on electioneering, but failed to register as a "political committee" with the FEC, as required by law...
Friday, February 7, 2014
Today's Teamster News 02.07.14
Senate Fails to Pass Three-Month Extension of Jobless Aid New York Times ...The Senate failed to move forward on a three-month extension of assistance for the long-term unemployed on Thursday, leaving it unlikely that Congress would approve the measure soon while undercutting a key aspect of President Obama’s economic recovery plan...
Fast-Track Bill’s Path in Congress Gets Bumpier Wall Street Journal ...In 2002, 27 of 222 House Republicans voted “no” on whether to give President George W. Bush fast-track authority. This time, some 60 House Republicans might oppose the legislation, according to estimates from two people following the matter...
Annual U.S. trade deficit with China sets new record in 2013 manufacture this ...Since 2009, the trade deficit with China has risen by 40%...
Report: For-profit probation industry hurts America’s poorest Salon ...in several states, private firms with little-to-no oversight or regulation supervise draconian probation plans, which hits the poorest the hardest. Many of these probation cases relate to unpaid fees in the first, rendering the probation charges disproportionately punitive for the poorest offenders...
Why Walmart is getting too expensive for the middle class Yahoo Finance ...Walmart is struggling with weak sales and an underperforming stock price. The company recently cut its profit outlook...
The Highly Educated Working Poor, Toiling at a University Near You AlterNet ...They're strategizing, organizing and mobilizing against the immoral economics of inequality being hung around America's neck by the likes of Wal-Mart, McDonald's and colleges...
Private construction payrolls continue to show resilience Sober Look ...Over the past 5 months the proportion of jobs from construction has remained unusually stable - from 10 to 15% of total new monthly private payrolls...
Elizabeth Warren: Let's Stop Scamming Our Vets Mother Jones ...This week, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) introduced legislation along with Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) that would protect elderly veterans from financial scams and sketchy financial advisers...
The Top Priority in the Missouri State Legislature? Lowering Your Wages AFSCME ...The very first bill to receive a hearing in this year’s legislative session in Jefferson City was HB 1099, a so-called “right-to-work” measure aimed at undermining unions. It’s just one of many union-busting bills on the calendar this year...
California Drought Impact Seen Spreading From Fires to Food Cost Bloomberg ...The drought that’s gripping California may soon have the rest of the country seeking relief. The emergency, which follows the state’s driest year on record, is likely to boost the prices of everything from broccoli to cauliflower nationwide. Farmers and truckers stand to lose billions in revenue, weakening an already fragile recovery in the nation’s most-populous state...
Duke Energy plant reports coal-ash spill Charlotte Observer ...Duke Energy said Monday that 50,000 to 82,000 tons of coal ash and up to 27 million gallons of water were released from a pond at its retired power plant in Eden into the Dan River, and were still flowing...
Candidate opposes right-to-work step The Tribune-Democrat ...“I don’t really understand the logic behind it. In a democratic system, where the majority of workers vote to join a union, I’m not sure what gives a minority the right to say ‘we’ll take advantage of the benefits of the union, but we’re not going to pay for the cost.’...
Michigan governor's budget includes money for Detroit pensions Reuters ...In what would be a major step toward resolving Detroit's historic bankruptcy case, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder on Wednesday unveiled plans to use state funds to help pay for Detroit worker pensions in his proposed $52.1 billion state budget...
Vermont Students, Workers Object to Tuition Dollars Being Used to Fund Poverty Wages Truthout ...Rising tuition, faculty cuts and non-living wages for janitors and food workers in Vermont institutions of higher learning are prompting student labor organizers to ask if tuition dollars should be used to exacerbate inequality...
Fast-Track Bill’s Path in Congress Gets Bumpier Wall Street Journal ...In 2002, 27 of 222 House Republicans voted “no” on whether to give President George W. Bush fast-track authority. This time, some 60 House Republicans might oppose the legislation, according to estimates from two people following the matter...
Annual U.S. trade deficit with China sets new record in 2013 manufacture this ...Since 2009, the trade deficit with China has risen by 40%...
Report: For-profit probation industry hurts America’s poorest Salon ...in several states, private firms with little-to-no oversight or regulation supervise draconian probation plans, which hits the poorest the hardest. Many of these probation cases relate to unpaid fees in the first, rendering the probation charges disproportionately punitive for the poorest offenders...
Why Walmart is getting too expensive for the middle class Yahoo Finance ...Walmart is struggling with weak sales and an underperforming stock price. The company recently cut its profit outlook...
The Highly Educated Working Poor, Toiling at a University Near You AlterNet ...They're strategizing, organizing and mobilizing against the immoral economics of inequality being hung around America's neck by the likes of Wal-Mart, McDonald's and colleges...
Private construction payrolls continue to show resilience Sober Look ...Over the past 5 months the proportion of jobs from construction has remained unusually stable - from 10 to 15% of total new monthly private payrolls...
Elizabeth Warren: Let's Stop Scamming Our Vets Mother Jones ...This week, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) introduced legislation along with Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) that would protect elderly veterans from financial scams and sketchy financial advisers...
The Top Priority in the Missouri State Legislature? Lowering Your Wages AFSCME ...The very first bill to receive a hearing in this year’s legislative session in Jefferson City was HB 1099, a so-called “right-to-work” measure aimed at undermining unions. It’s just one of many union-busting bills on the calendar this year...
California Drought Impact Seen Spreading From Fires to Food Cost Bloomberg ...The drought that’s gripping California may soon have the rest of the country seeking relief. The emergency, which follows the state’s driest year on record, is likely to boost the prices of everything from broccoli to cauliflower nationwide. Farmers and truckers stand to lose billions in revenue, weakening an already fragile recovery in the nation’s most-populous state...
Duke Energy plant reports coal-ash spill Charlotte Observer ...Duke Energy said Monday that 50,000 to 82,000 tons of coal ash and up to 27 million gallons of water were released from a pond at its retired power plant in Eden into the Dan River, and were still flowing...
Candidate opposes right-to-work step The Tribune-Democrat ...“I don’t really understand the logic behind it. In a democratic system, where the majority of workers vote to join a union, I’m not sure what gives a minority the right to say ‘we’ll take advantage of the benefits of the union, but we’re not going to pay for the cost.’...
Michigan governor's budget includes money for Detroit pensions Reuters ...In what would be a major step toward resolving Detroit's historic bankruptcy case, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder on Wednesday unveiled plans to use state funds to help pay for Detroit worker pensions in his proposed $52.1 billion state budget...
Vermont Students, Workers Object to Tuition Dollars Being Used to Fund Poverty Wages Truthout ...Rising tuition, faculty cuts and non-living wages for janitors and food workers in Vermont institutions of higher learning are prompting student labor organizers to ask if tuition dollars should be used to exacerbate inequality...
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
Today's Teamster News 02.04.14
Teamsters join thousands in action against Fast Track TeamsterNation ...Teamsters, techies and tens of thousands of people took action Friday to oppose a Fast Track bill that would grease the Congressional skids for so-called 'trade deals' like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)...
'Strongest' union head: Put Sanitation plows on the streets, not private plowers Staten Island Advance ...(Teamsters Local 631) Union chief Harry Nespoli called the expense of hiring private contractors and paying them to be on stand-by "foolish" and "a waste taxpayer money."...
New York liquor warehousing law in the works, may cost small dealers big New York Daily News ...George Miranda, president of Teamsters Joint Council 16, said the bill could create up to 1,000 warehouse jobs in the state. “It is just the right thing to do,” Miranda said...
De Blasio’s horse-carriage ban stalls Capital New York ...as the Council holds its second meeting of the new year under the leadership of de Blasio's ally and fellow carriage opponent, Melissa Mark-Viverito, a bill to ban them has yet to appear on the Council's agenda. A spokesman for Mark-Viverito would not say when the bill will be introduced...
YRC announces $300 million debt reduction plan after Teamsters labor agreement CCJ ...YRC Worldwide (No. 3 in CCJ’s Top 250) has closed a deal to attempt to reduce its debt by $300 million, per an announcement from the company Jan. 31, in which it will issue $250 million in new stock and convert $50 million in convertible notes to common stock and use the proceeds to reduce its roughly $1 billion of debt...
CN Rail to meet with union over stalled labor deal Reuters Canada ...Union members have "a lot of mistrust" with Canada's largest railway, Teamsters Canada Rail Conference General Chairman Roland Hackl told Reuters, and will need assurances that CN will respect rest provisions for workers in the current agreement...
V & V Supremo Workers Benefit from Teamsters Local 703 Contract teamster.org ...Represented by the Teamsters since 2001, the workers at V&V Supremo continue to receive annual wage increases, fair and equitable benefits and the protection of the Teamsters’ grievance procedure due to their contract with Local 703...
Teamsters Applaud Green Light for Keystone XL Pipeline teamster.org ...Following the U.S. State Department’s analysis that the Keystone XL pipeline project provides a safe and correct process for the transport of Canadian oil to the U.S. Gulf region, the Teamsters Union is pleased that the project, which will directly create 20,000 good jobs for American workers, is one step closer to reality...
Allegheny County workers to strike Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ...Nearly 50 Allegheny County workers, mainly truck drivers in the Public Works Department, will strike after members of Teamsters Local 249 overwhelmingly voted Sunday to reject the county's proposals for a new contract, their union leader said...
States Are Feeling the Pinch from Lost Unemployment Revenues teamster.org ...Americans who want to work but can’t find a job after months of unemployment are being hit hard by the cut off of long-term unemployment benefits by Republicans in Congress. But their epic policy blunder is hurting everyone, even if they don’t realize it...
New National Poll: Voters Blame Lawmakers for Weak Job Growth Trade Reform ...By an overwhelming margin, voters say job creation should be a top priority, beating out deficit reduction by a 2-1 margin (65% vs. 31%)...
2014 stock market selloff intensifies USA Today ...The financial turbulence that began in emerging markets and engulfed Wall Street intensified Monday, leaving U.S. stock investors bracing for the possibility of the first 10% market drop since 2011...
Wall Street Journal Exposes Entirely New Private Equity Tax Scam naked capitalism ...so-called “monitoring fees” that PE firms levy on the companies they’ve bought should actually be recognized as dividends for corporate tax purposes. This is is significant because fees are a tax deductible expense to the companies while the dividends aren’t, so the effect of this ruse is to shortchange Uncle Sam, and hence ordinary taxpayers to the PE funds’ benefit...
A Rash of Deaths and a Missing Reporter – With Ties to Wall Street Investigations Wall Street On Parade ...In a span of four days last week, two current executives and one recently retired top ranking executive of major financial firms were found dead. Both media and police have been quick to label the deaths as likely suicides. Missing from the reports is the salient fact that all three of the financial firms the executives worked for are under investigation for potentially serious financial fraud...
Businesses gather more information than they need from consumers Los Angeles Times ...Strong rules for collection and use of people's personal data should be enacted...
Edward Snowden speaks: US blackout of interview Jonathan Turley ... the interview appears to have been blocked intentionally by US government authorities. In fact, the media in the US appears to have gone to ‘radio silence’ about it. … He says his “breaking point” was “seeing Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, directly lie under oath to Congress.”...
Microsoft, Facebook, Google and Yahoo release US surveillance requests The Guardian ...Tens of thousands of accounts associated with customers of Microsoft, Google, Facebook and Yahoo have their data turned over to US government authorities every six months as the result of secret court orders, the tech giants disclosed for the first time on Monday....
Newly Wary, Shoppers Trust Cash ...New York Times ...Like dieters vowing to trade cupcakes for carrots, a number of American shoppers are making a new pledge: cash only...
Factory, construction spending data hint at slowing economy Reuters ...U.S. manufacturing activity slowed sharply in January on the back of the biggest drop in new orders in 33 years while construction spending barely rose in December, pointing to some loss of steam in the economy...
Calif. Bill Targets Discrimination Against Caregivers Associated Press ...If you don't get a job because you're a woman, or you get fired because you're black, or you get transferred to the night shift because you're gay, there's a law for that. But if you're punished at work because you need time to take your child to the doctor or talk to your confused elderly mother, you might be out of luck...
Olive Garden offers free babysitting to increase sales Philadelphia Inquirer ...The "Italian dining experience" inspired restaurant chain has worked on revamping its menu, but on Friday is offering something not many other dining establishments offer: free babysitting...
VW Workers to Decide Whether to Join UAW uaw.org From Feb. 12-14, Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga, Tenn., will decide the issue of union representation by the United Auto Workers in a secret ballot election supervised by the National Labor Relations Board...
'Strongest' union head: Put Sanitation plows on the streets, not private plowers Staten Island Advance ...(Teamsters Local 631) Union chief Harry Nespoli called the expense of hiring private contractors and paying them to be on stand-by "foolish" and "a waste taxpayer money."...
New York liquor warehousing law in the works, may cost small dealers big New York Daily News ...George Miranda, president of Teamsters Joint Council 16, said the bill could create up to 1,000 warehouse jobs in the state. “It is just the right thing to do,” Miranda said...
De Blasio’s horse-carriage ban stalls Capital New York ...as the Council holds its second meeting of the new year under the leadership of de Blasio's ally and fellow carriage opponent, Melissa Mark-Viverito, a bill to ban them has yet to appear on the Council's agenda. A spokesman for Mark-Viverito would not say when the bill will be introduced...
YRC announces $300 million debt reduction plan after Teamsters labor agreement CCJ ...YRC Worldwide (No. 3 in CCJ’s Top 250) has closed a deal to attempt to reduce its debt by $300 million, per an announcement from the company Jan. 31, in which it will issue $250 million in new stock and convert $50 million in convertible notes to common stock and use the proceeds to reduce its roughly $1 billion of debt...
CN Rail to meet with union over stalled labor deal Reuters Canada ...Union members have "a lot of mistrust" with Canada's largest railway, Teamsters Canada Rail Conference General Chairman Roland Hackl told Reuters, and will need assurances that CN will respect rest provisions for workers in the current agreement...
V & V Supremo Workers Benefit from Teamsters Local 703 Contract teamster.org ...Represented by the Teamsters since 2001, the workers at V&V Supremo continue to receive annual wage increases, fair and equitable benefits and the protection of the Teamsters’ grievance procedure due to their contract with Local 703...
Teamsters Applaud Green Light for Keystone XL Pipeline teamster.org ...Following the U.S. State Department’s analysis that the Keystone XL pipeline project provides a safe and correct process for the transport of Canadian oil to the U.S. Gulf region, the Teamsters Union is pleased that the project, which will directly create 20,000 good jobs for American workers, is one step closer to reality...
Allegheny County workers to strike Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ...Nearly 50 Allegheny County workers, mainly truck drivers in the Public Works Department, will strike after members of Teamsters Local 249 overwhelmingly voted Sunday to reject the county's proposals for a new contract, their union leader said...
States Are Feeling the Pinch from Lost Unemployment Revenues teamster.org ...Americans who want to work but can’t find a job after months of unemployment are being hit hard by the cut off of long-term unemployment benefits by Republicans in Congress. But their epic policy blunder is hurting everyone, even if they don’t realize it...
New National Poll: Voters Blame Lawmakers for Weak Job Growth Trade Reform ...By an overwhelming margin, voters say job creation should be a top priority, beating out deficit reduction by a 2-1 margin (65% vs. 31%)...
2014 stock market selloff intensifies USA Today ...The financial turbulence that began in emerging markets and engulfed Wall Street intensified Monday, leaving U.S. stock investors bracing for the possibility of the first 10% market drop since 2011...
Wall Street Journal Exposes Entirely New Private Equity Tax Scam naked capitalism ...so-called “monitoring fees” that PE firms levy on the companies they’ve bought should actually be recognized as dividends for corporate tax purposes. This is is significant because fees are a tax deductible expense to the companies while the dividends aren’t, so the effect of this ruse is to shortchange Uncle Sam, and hence ordinary taxpayers to the PE funds’ benefit...
A Rash of Deaths and a Missing Reporter – With Ties to Wall Street Investigations Wall Street On Parade ...In a span of four days last week, two current executives and one recently retired top ranking executive of major financial firms were found dead. Both media and police have been quick to label the deaths as likely suicides. Missing from the reports is the salient fact that all three of the financial firms the executives worked for are under investigation for potentially serious financial fraud...
Businesses gather more information than they need from consumers Los Angeles Times ...Strong rules for collection and use of people's personal data should be enacted...
Edward Snowden speaks: US blackout of interview Jonathan Turley ... the interview appears to have been blocked intentionally by US government authorities. In fact, the media in the US appears to have gone to ‘radio silence’ about it. … He says his “breaking point” was “seeing Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, directly lie under oath to Congress.”...
Microsoft, Facebook, Google and Yahoo release US surveillance requests The Guardian ...Tens of thousands of accounts associated with customers of Microsoft, Google, Facebook and Yahoo have their data turned over to US government authorities every six months as the result of secret court orders, the tech giants disclosed for the first time on Monday....
Newly Wary, Shoppers Trust Cash ...New York Times ...Like dieters vowing to trade cupcakes for carrots, a number of American shoppers are making a new pledge: cash only...
Factory, construction spending data hint at slowing economy Reuters ...U.S. manufacturing activity slowed sharply in January on the back of the biggest drop in new orders in 33 years while construction spending barely rose in December, pointing to some loss of steam in the economy...
Calif. Bill Targets Discrimination Against Caregivers Associated Press ...If you don't get a job because you're a woman, or you get fired because you're black, or you get transferred to the night shift because you're gay, there's a law for that. But if you're punished at work because you need time to take your child to the doctor or talk to your confused elderly mother, you might be out of luck...
Olive Garden offers free babysitting to increase sales Philadelphia Inquirer ...The "Italian dining experience" inspired restaurant chain has worked on revamping its menu, but on Friday is offering something not many other dining establishments offer: free babysitting...
VW Workers to Decide Whether to Join UAW uaw.org From Feb. 12-14, Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga, Tenn., will decide the issue of union representation by the United Auto Workers in a secret ballot election supervised by the National Labor Relations Board...
Saturday, February 1, 2014
Today's Teamster News 02.01.14
Teamsters, techies, tens of thousands take action against Fast Track in intercontinental day of action TeamsterNation ...More than 50 rallies, teach-ins and news conferences are being held on the North American continent, from Edmonton, Canada, to Mexico City. By mid-afternoon, social media drove more than 12,000 phone calls and hundreds of thousands of emails to the U.S. Congress...
Anti-TPP Rally in San Francisco Pressures Pelosi to Take Bolder Stance IndyBay ...Protester numbers swelled during a march down Market Street, eventually reaching an estimated 500...One arrested as Teamsters protest Highway 101 project The Press Democrat ...The picketers were protesting the delivery of the concrete by Superior Supplies Inc., a company whose drivers they said are not in the Teamsters union. They were striking to encourage the company to allow its employees to be represented by the union, Teamsters Local 665 President Ralph Miranda said...
Black History Is Teamster History teamster.org ...The contributions of black members to the success of the Teamsters Union are numerous, varied and as old as the union itself. Black team drivers attended the first Convention in 1903 and were active in all aspects of the union from the beginning. That commitment remains strong today...
Teamsters Local 657 to Host Training for Pipeline Construction Workers teamster.org ...The Teamsters National Pipeline Training Fund in collaboration with Teamsters Local 657 will sponsor a Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) training program on Feb. 16 in Brownswood, Texas...
Report Opens Way to Approval for Oil Pipeline New York Times ...The State Department released a report on Friday concluding that the Keystone XL pipeline would not substantially worsen carbon pollution, leaving an opening for President Obama to approve the politically divisive project...
Hated on the Left, the TPP Draws Conservative Foes Trade Reform ...the American Jobs Alliance and the United States Business and Industry Council—pro-business groups wary of trade’s impact on America’s national interests—joined with Tea Party Nation and the socially conservative Eagle Forum to rail against the TPP...
Walmart warns: Food stamp cuts hurt our profits Raw Story ...Walmart Friday said bad weather and cuts in food stamp support for the poor weighed on US sales and would hit earnings for its November-January fourth quarter...
America's Shopping Malls Are Dying A Slow, Ugly Death Business Insider ...Traffic-driving anchors like Sears and JCPenney are shutting down stores, and mall owners are having a hard time finding retailers large enough to replace them...
Corporate welfare costs more than pension obligations Washington Post ...states often spend more on tax breaks and subsidies for businesses than funding their ... pension plans...
Goldman Awards Blankfein $14.7 Million in Stock Bonus New York Times ...Goldman Sachs’s board granted its chief executive, Lloyd C. Blankfein, restricted shares worth $14.7 million as part of his pay package for 2013, according to a filing made public on Thursday..,
The Greedy Leading the Greedy - Multimillionaire Former Johnson and Johnson CEO Approved Huge Compensation for JP Morgan Chase CEO After Company Paid $20 Billion in Legal Settlements Health Care Renewal ...The current compensation set by the board of directors of JP Morgan Chase for CEO Jamie Dimon, $20 million a year, has attracted some attention ... especially given the contrast between his raise and the $20 billion or so the company had to pay out last year in settlements of allegations of unethical practices...
NY Judge Approves $8.5 Billion Bank of America Mortgage Settlement Money News ...A New York judge on Friday approved most of the $8.5 billion Bank of America settlement over investor losses from mortgage-backed securities ... Critics of the settlement had argued that it represented only a fraction of the losses...
Billionaires Attempt To Convince Society That They Are The Good Guys In These Times ...America’s rich see themselves as victims of Nazi-like persecution...
Koch-Tied Groups Funded GOP Effort to Mess With Electoral College Rules Mother Jones ...Last election season, a shadowy nonprofit pumped hundreds of thousands of dollars into a campaign to change how electoral votes are counted...
Amazon wants to send stuff before you order it. Are other retailers doomed? Washington Post ...A couple weeks ago, the Wall Street Journal happened upon a 27-page patent for what Amazon.com calls "anticipatory" or "speculative" shipping, which sounds insane. Here's how it works, in a nutshell...
Reinhart and Rogoff: Great Recession may "surpass in severity" the Great Depression in many Countries Calculated Risk ...The policies of austerity in Europe have failed miserably and many countries there are experiencing a worse slump than during the Depression (austerity in the US has held back the recovery too...
Illinois company fires woman hours after learning she has cancer New York Daily News ...A Chicago-area women is filing a disability discrimination lawsuit, claiming her boss gave her the boot after realizing she’d have to take significant time off for cancer treatments...
Anti-TPP Rally in San Francisco Pressures Pelosi to Take Bolder Stance IndyBay ...Protester numbers swelled during a march down Market Street, eventually reaching an estimated 500...One arrested as Teamsters protest Highway 101 project The Press Democrat ...The picketers were protesting the delivery of the concrete by Superior Supplies Inc., a company whose drivers they said are not in the Teamsters union. They were striking to encourage the company to allow its employees to be represented by the union, Teamsters Local 665 President Ralph Miranda said...
Black History Is Teamster History teamster.org ...The contributions of black members to the success of the Teamsters Union are numerous, varied and as old as the union itself. Black team drivers attended the first Convention in 1903 and were active in all aspects of the union from the beginning. That commitment remains strong today...
Teamsters Local 657 to Host Training for Pipeline Construction Workers teamster.org ...The Teamsters National Pipeline Training Fund in collaboration with Teamsters Local 657 will sponsor a Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) training program on Feb. 16 in Brownswood, Texas...
Report Opens Way to Approval for Oil Pipeline New York Times ...The State Department released a report on Friday concluding that the Keystone XL pipeline would not substantially worsen carbon pollution, leaving an opening for President Obama to approve the politically divisive project...
Hated on the Left, the TPP Draws Conservative Foes Trade Reform ...the American Jobs Alliance and the United States Business and Industry Council—pro-business groups wary of trade’s impact on America’s national interests—joined with Tea Party Nation and the socially conservative Eagle Forum to rail against the TPP...
Walmart warns: Food stamp cuts hurt our profits Raw Story ...Walmart Friday said bad weather and cuts in food stamp support for the poor weighed on US sales and would hit earnings for its November-January fourth quarter...
America's Shopping Malls Are Dying A Slow, Ugly Death Business Insider ...Traffic-driving anchors like Sears and JCPenney are shutting down stores, and mall owners are having a hard time finding retailers large enough to replace them...
Corporate welfare costs more than pension obligations Washington Post ...states often spend more on tax breaks and subsidies for businesses than funding their ... pension plans...
Goldman Awards Blankfein $14.7 Million in Stock Bonus New York Times ...Goldman Sachs’s board granted its chief executive, Lloyd C. Blankfein, restricted shares worth $14.7 million as part of his pay package for 2013, according to a filing made public on Thursday..,
The Greedy Leading the Greedy - Multimillionaire Former Johnson and Johnson CEO Approved Huge Compensation for JP Morgan Chase CEO After Company Paid $20 Billion in Legal Settlements Health Care Renewal ...The current compensation set by the board of directors of JP Morgan Chase for CEO Jamie Dimon, $20 million a year, has attracted some attention ... especially given the contrast between his raise and the $20 billion or so the company had to pay out last year in settlements of allegations of unethical practices...
NY Judge Approves $8.5 Billion Bank of America Mortgage Settlement Money News ...A New York judge on Friday approved most of the $8.5 billion Bank of America settlement over investor losses from mortgage-backed securities ... Critics of the settlement had argued that it represented only a fraction of the losses...
Billionaires Attempt To Convince Society That They Are The Good Guys In These Times ...America’s rich see themselves as victims of Nazi-like persecution...
Koch-Tied Groups Funded GOP Effort to Mess With Electoral College Rules Mother Jones ...Last election season, a shadowy nonprofit pumped hundreds of thousands of dollars into a campaign to change how electoral votes are counted...
Amazon wants to send stuff before you order it. Are other retailers doomed? Washington Post ...A couple weeks ago, the Wall Street Journal happened upon a 27-page patent for what Amazon.com calls "anticipatory" or "speculative" shipping, which sounds insane. Here's how it works, in a nutshell...
Reinhart and Rogoff: Great Recession may "surpass in severity" the Great Depression in many Countries Calculated Risk ...The policies of austerity in Europe have failed miserably and many countries there are experiencing a worse slump than during the Depression (austerity in the US has held back the recovery too...
Illinois company fires woman hours after learning she has cancer New York Daily News ...A Chicago-area women is filing a disability discrimination lawsuit, claiming her boss gave her the boot after realizing she’d have to take significant time off for cancer treatments...
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