Teamster News
What the Hell Went on Between Boston’s Teamsters and the ‘Top Chef’ Crew? Boston Globe ...Teamsters Local 25 have released a statement about the Deadline Hollywood story and vehemently disagree with the details offered by the unnamed “Top Chef” crew members...
Teamsters Ratify Contracts At Stroehmann, Grocery Haulers Inc. teamster.org ...Teamsters Local 264 members at Stroehmann Bakeries and Grocery Haulers Inc. (GHI) in Olean, N.Y., have voted overwhelmingly to ratify contracts providing for significant workplace improvements...
Local 135 Strikes Against Trucking Company Kokomo Tribune ...Members of Teamsters Local Union 135 went on strike Wednesday morning against Diamond Trucking Inc. after new contract negotiations broke down Tuesday night...
Carpenters Locked Out Of Pa. Convention Center Since May Seek End To Dispute CBS News ...Carpenters who claim they’ve been locked out of the Pennsylvania Convention Center were back out on the street on Wednesday protesting management’s refusal to put them back to work...
Protest-Stalled Ship At Port Of Oakland Finally Unloaded, Sails Away Contra Costa Times ...During the protest, the Teamsters had issued a statement calling on longshore workers to "immediately unload the ship" and said their issue was not the Gaza conflict, but the impact the protests have on local jobs...
Sodexo Workers Overwhelmingly Ratify First Teamster Contract With Local 633 IBT ...Seventy (70) Teamster members employed by Sodexo, Inc., who provide cafeteria services, have overwhelmingly ratified
their first ever Teamster contract...
Trade
TPP: The “Trade” Deal that Could Inflate Your Healthcare Bill Public Citizen ...Leaked draft TPP texts… contain expansive rules that would constrain the ability of the U.S. government to reduce medicine prices...
Trade Data Pours Cold Water on "Rising Star" Outlook for American Manufacturing manufacture this ...The U.S. trade deficit in manufactures surged by $21.6 billion, or 19%, in the second quarter, compared with 2013, following an 8% increase in the first quarter. In the opposite direction, the Chinese surplus increased in the second quarter by $20.0 billion, or 9%...
State Battles
Scott Walker’s Offshoring Flip-Flop In These Times ...Mr. Right-to-Work is trying to divert attention from his administration’s abysmal record on jobs and labor in a state still mired in the effects of the Great Recession...
War On Workers
Prayers For Atlantic City As Closings, Layoffs Loom Philadelphia Inquirer ...Gaming analysts and industry experts have said Atlantic City has too many casinos and not enough gambling demand to sustain them all. After the three casinos fold, the resort will be left with eight...
Microsoft Leaves ALEC: Horsetrading & The Price to Pay firedoglake ...President Obama may soon decide on executive action regarding “a rule allowing spouses of H-1B visa holders, now barred from working in the U.S., to get jobs.” The H-1B high skill guestworker visa allows employers to hire non-citizens for skilled work often in fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics...
One Paragraph Cuts Through The Hype Of Robots Taking Your Job Business Insider ...people have tended to overestimate, historically, the effect of technology on labor. And while robots are good at performing some repetitive tasks, jobs that require judgment are not so easily replaced by robots (these include jobs at the low and high end)...
How the Largest Worker Owned Co-op in the US Lifts People Out of Poverty YES! Magazine ...New York City is going—in a big way—for worker-owned cooperatives. Inspired by the model of CHCA and prodded by a new network of co-op members and enthusiasts, Mayor Bill de Blasio and the New York City Council allocated $1.2 million to support worker cooperatives in 2015’s budget...
There Are Zero States Where The Percentage Of People Employed Has Gone Up Since The Recession Washington Post ...From 2007 to 2014, the employment rate among 25- to 54-year-olds has declined in the United States by 3.5 percent, and no state reported employment gains during that time, according to data released by the Pew Charitable Trust on Tuesday...
Miscellaneous
Health Care Data Breaches Have Hit 30M Patients And Counting Washington Post ...the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' database of major breach reports (those affecting 500 people or more) has tracked 944 incidents affecting personal information from about 30.1 million people...
Home and Jobs Data Suggests Momentum Reuters ...Sales of existing homes in the United States rose in July to a 10-month high, and the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell last week, signaling strength in the economy early in the third quarter...
Showing posts with label recession. Show all posts
Showing posts with label recession. Show all posts
Friday, August 22, 2014
Sunday, June 15, 2014
Today's Teamster News June 15, 2014
Teamsters
Obama signs order; SEPTA Regional Rails to roll Sunday Philly.com ...President Obama signed an executive order Saturday evening, appointing an emergency board to mediate the SEPTA labor dispute, thus averting a lengthy strike. All 13 SEPTA Regional Rail lines should be back to normal operating schedules Sunday morning...
Trade
Obama’s Free Trade Strategy Falters in Asia Inter Press Service ...Obama’s latest trip to Asia, however, underlined the inability of Washington to balance its economic and geopolitical initiatives in the region. While Obama managed to strike new strategic agreements with leading Southeast Asian countries, namely Malaysia and the Philippines, and strengthen bilateral military alliances with Japan and South Korea, there was, in turn, no concrete development vis-à-vis the ongoing TPP negotiations...
State Battles
Mayor vetoes collective bargaining ordinance WANE ...(Fort Wayne) Mayor Tom Henry has vetoed the ordinance passed by the City Council that would have ended collective bargaining for non-public safety union employees...
International Human Rights Violations in Detroit On the Commons ...The water department has decreed that it will turn the water off to all 150,000 residences that are behind on their bills by the end of the summer although it has made no such threat to the many corporations and other institutions that are in arrears on their bills as well...
War on Workers
Recession linked to more than 10,000 suicides CBS News ...New research suggests that the economic downturn could be linked with more than 10,000 suicides across North America and Europe. The study found that between 2008 and 2010, rates of suicide surged in the European Union, Canada and the United States…
A Three-Pronged Attack on Organized Labor Huffington Post ...The claim that companies leave the U.S. to avoid paying union wages is false. It's an outright lie disseminated by free market fundamentalists, and anyone who believes it is a dupe. The reason companies leave is to avoid paying an American wage...
Who actually earns the minimum wage? CBS News ...While more than a quarter of all low-wage workers were teenagers back in 1979, today only about one in 10 are teens ... almost 37 percent of these employees on low wages, defined as less than $10.10 per hour, are between 35 to 64 years old...
Senior NSA Executive: NSA Started Spying On Journalists in 2002 … In Order to Make Sure They Didn’t Report On Mass Surveillance Washington's Blog ...Senior NSA executive Thomas Drake tells Washington’s Blog that the spying on reporters started12 years ago – in 2002 – and has been fairly systematic...
Miscellaneous
As Iraq fighting rages, gas prices climb CBS Money Watch ...A rising tide of violence in Iraq is driving up prices at the pump...
Wait Times at the VA Angry Bear ...the VA is well beyond the typical private healthcare system in providing “evidence-based protocols of care — not inadvertently ordering up dangerous combinations of drugs, or performing unnecessary surgeries and tests just to make a buck and treating the whole patient and not just one part at a time...”
Obama signs order; SEPTA Regional Rails to roll Sunday Philly.com ...President Obama signed an executive order Saturday evening, appointing an emergency board to mediate the SEPTA labor dispute, thus averting a lengthy strike. All 13 SEPTA Regional Rail lines should be back to normal operating schedules Sunday morning...
Trade
Obama’s Free Trade Strategy Falters in Asia Inter Press Service ...Obama’s latest trip to Asia, however, underlined the inability of Washington to balance its economic and geopolitical initiatives in the region. While Obama managed to strike new strategic agreements with leading Southeast Asian countries, namely Malaysia and the Philippines, and strengthen bilateral military alliances with Japan and South Korea, there was, in turn, no concrete development vis-à-vis the ongoing TPP negotiations...
State Battles
Mayor vetoes collective bargaining ordinance WANE ...(Fort Wayne) Mayor Tom Henry has vetoed the ordinance passed by the City Council that would have ended collective bargaining for non-public safety union employees...
International Human Rights Violations in Detroit On the Commons ...The water department has decreed that it will turn the water off to all 150,000 residences that are behind on their bills by the end of the summer although it has made no such threat to the many corporations and other institutions that are in arrears on their bills as well...
War on Workers
Recession linked to more than 10,000 suicides CBS News ...New research suggests that the economic downturn could be linked with more than 10,000 suicides across North America and Europe. The study found that between 2008 and 2010, rates of suicide surged in the European Union, Canada and the United States…
A Three-Pronged Attack on Organized Labor Huffington Post ...The claim that companies leave the U.S. to avoid paying union wages is false. It's an outright lie disseminated by free market fundamentalists, and anyone who believes it is a dupe. The reason companies leave is to avoid paying an American wage...
Who actually earns the minimum wage? CBS News ...While more than a quarter of all low-wage workers were teenagers back in 1979, today only about one in 10 are teens ... almost 37 percent of these employees on low wages, defined as less than $10.10 per hour, are between 35 to 64 years old...
Senior NSA Executive: NSA Started Spying On Journalists in 2002 … In Order to Make Sure They Didn’t Report On Mass Surveillance Washington's Blog ...Senior NSA executive Thomas Drake tells Washington’s Blog that the spying on reporters started12 years ago – in 2002 – and has been fairly systematic...
Miscellaneous
As Iraq fighting rages, gas prices climb CBS Money Watch ...A rising tide of violence in Iraq is driving up prices at the pump...
Wait Times at the VA Angry Bear ...the VA is well beyond the typical private healthcare system in providing “evidence-based protocols of care — not inadvertently ordering up dangerous combinations of drugs, or performing unnecessary surgeries and tests just to make a buck and treating the whole patient and not just one part at a time...”
Monday, June 9, 2014
Today's Teamster News 06.09.14
Teamsters
Teamsters Fear ABF Freight's Plans to Move Arkansas Business ...ArcBest Corp. of Fort Smith is leaning toward moving ABF Freight, its largest subsidiary, to Memphis, which would result in a major reduction of its operations in North Little Rock....
Trade
TPP would hurt farmers, America (opinion) Springfield News-Leader ...these trade deals take power away from local and state elected representatives and make us subject to a virtual undemocratic corporate, global constitution that could undermine the U.S. Constitution, state constitutions, federal and state laws and local control laws. Laws such as Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) would be in jeopardy — COOL is supported by the majority of farmers and consumers, but opposed by corporate agribusiness...
TTIP: EU Commissioner Defends Controversial Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership International Business Times ...Politicians have also been labelled "undemocratic" for the perceived secrecy of negotiations. In May, a group of 120 European NGOs attacked TTIP's "lack of transparency and democratic procedures"...
War on Workers
Starting Out Behind New York Times ...The result has been an economy where young people starting out are at risk of prolonged underachievement...
Trafficked Teachers: Neoliberalism’s Latest Labor Source In These Times ...Between 2007 and 2009, 350 Filipino teachers arrived in Louisiana, excited for the opportunity to teach math and science in public schools throughout the state. They’d been recruited through a company called Universal Placement International Inc., which professes on its website to “successfully place teachers in different schools thru out [sic] the United States.” As a lawsuit later revealed, however, their journey through the American public school system was fraught with abuse...
The Great Deleveraging: Six and a Half Lost Years New Yorker ...The bad news is that for the American economy, whose leitmotif is expansion, to go for six and a half years without any net job growth is something we haven’t seen in eighty years. The only comparable period on record is the Great Depression...
Dark Money, Dirty War: The Corporate Crusade Against Low-Wage Workers Portside ...The U.S. Chamber is using its reports–plus attack ads, articles from right-wing think tanks such as the Manhattan Institute, and op-eds in major newspapers echoing similar refrains—to persuade the public and the government that all low-wage and immigrant worker organizing groups should be subjected to the same financial reporting and internal structuring requirements that unions face...
Teamsters Fear ABF Freight's Plans to Move Arkansas Business ...ArcBest Corp. of Fort Smith is leaning toward moving ABF Freight, its largest subsidiary, to Memphis, which would result in a major reduction of its operations in North Little Rock....
Trade
TPP would hurt farmers, America (opinion) Springfield News-Leader ...these trade deals take power away from local and state elected representatives and make us subject to a virtual undemocratic corporate, global constitution that could undermine the U.S. Constitution, state constitutions, federal and state laws and local control laws. Laws such as Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) would be in jeopardy — COOL is supported by the majority of farmers and consumers, but opposed by corporate agribusiness...
TTIP: EU Commissioner Defends Controversial Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership International Business Times ...Politicians have also been labelled "undemocratic" for the perceived secrecy of negotiations. In May, a group of 120 European NGOs attacked TTIP's "lack of transparency and democratic procedures"...
War on Workers
Starting Out Behind New York Times ...The result has been an economy where young people starting out are at risk of prolonged underachievement...
Trafficked Teachers: Neoliberalism’s Latest Labor Source In These Times ...Between 2007 and 2009, 350 Filipino teachers arrived in Louisiana, excited for the opportunity to teach math and science in public schools throughout the state. They’d been recruited through a company called Universal Placement International Inc., which professes on its website to “successfully place teachers in different schools thru out [sic] the United States.” As a lawsuit later revealed, however, their journey through the American public school system was fraught with abuse...
The Great Deleveraging: Six and a Half Lost Years New Yorker ...The bad news is that for the American economy, whose leitmotif is expansion, to go for six and a half years without any net job growth is something we haven’t seen in eighty years. The only comparable period on record is the Great Depression...
Dark Money, Dirty War: The Corporate Crusade Against Low-Wage Workers Portside ...The U.S. Chamber is using its reports–plus attack ads, articles from right-wing think tanks such as the Manhattan Institute, and op-eds in major newspapers echoing similar refrains—to persuade the public and the government that all low-wage and immigrant worker organizing groups should be subjected to the same financial reporting and internal structuring requirements that unions face...
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
Today's Teamster News 09.24.13
Warehouse Workers in Georgia Join Teamsters Local 528 teamster.org ...On September 11, warehouse workers at Americold in McDonough, Georgia voted to become Teamsters...
Teamsters at Darigold Leaflet Walmart & Sam's Club Shoppers at 10 Locations Teamsters Local 117 ...Teamster production workers and lab technicians, employed by Darigold, distributed leaflets at ten Walmart and Sam’s Club locations throughout the day to inform consumers about the company’s multiple violations of federal labor law and the growing threat of a potential lockout or strike...
Wegmans Employees Disgruntled Over Retirement Payments Rochester Homepage ...Dozens of people were outside Wegmans' company officers Friday practicing picketing over disagreements with Wegmans on retirement payments and wages. Current warehouse and driver employees are represented through the Teamsters Union...
The Average American Family Pays $6,000 a Year in Subsidies to Big Business AlterNet ...That's more than an insult—it's an attack...
White House rebuffed union pleas to ditch Walmart Salon ...Labor leader says allies in the Administration tried to persuade First Lady to dump retail giant -- but were denied...
Bank of America goes to trial over U.S. mortgage fraud charges Reuters ...Bank of America Corp heads to trial this week over allegations its Countrywide unit approved deficient home loans in a process called "Hustle," defrauding Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the U.S. government enterprises that underwrite mortgages...
One Big Trader Lost Millions Betting on Romney, Study Finds Washington Wire ...A new academic paper digging into presidential betting in the final weeks of the 2012 election finds that a single trader lost between $4 million and $7 million placing a flurry of Intrade bets on Mitt Romney—perhaps to make the Republican nominee’s chance of victory appear brighter...
Child Labor Dropped By One-Third Over The Past Decade, But UN Officials Urge Faster Progress Associated Press ...The number of children doing hazardous work dropped by half to 85 million from 2000 to 2012, but the rate of progress isn't fast enough to meet the goal of having no child laborers by 2016...
Suicides Spiked One Year After Great Recession: Study Huffington Post ...The Great Recession resulted in 5,000 additional suicides worldwide in 2009, according to a recent study -- the first to look at suicide trends globally in the wake of the crisis...
At 77, He Prepares Burgers Earning in Week His Former Hourly Wage Bloomberg News ...At the height of his corporate career, Tom Palome was pulling in a salary in the low six-figures and flying first class on business trips to Europe. Today, he juggles two part-time jobs: one as a $10-an-hour food demonstrator, the other flipping burgers…
Why are 47 million Americans on food stamps? Washington Post ...There's a fairly basic question underlying the current food-stamp debate in Congress. Why has the program grown so rapidly over the past few years — to the point where 47 million people, one-sixth of the country, now receive food stamps?...
Buy a House, Make Your Payments, Then Discover You've Been Foreclosed On Without Your Knowledge AlterNet ...This should never happen, but it did, thanks to the sordid mortgage servicing industry...
Chiquita Asks Court To Block Suits Blaming Banana Giant For Violent Deaths Associated Press ...Faced with potentially billions of dollars in legal liability, Chiquita Brands is asking a federal appeals court to block lawsuits filed against it in the U.S. by thousands of Colombians whose relatives were killed in that country's bloody, decades-long civil war...
Ag-gag resurfaces, threatens whistleblowers Fort Wayne Journal Gazette ...Opponents of ag-gag legislation reasonably fear that it obstructs First Amendment rights. Such legislation also protects illegal and unethical practices while punishing whistleblowers...
Major police union will sit out race for New Jersey governor Star-Ledger ...In a blow to Democratic gubernatorial candidate Barbara Buono, one of New Jersey’s two largest police unions has decided to sit out the election for governor...
Florida offers to cut loan balances for 'underwater' homeowners Orlando Sentinel ...Florida homeowners with "underwater" mortgages may now qualify to have as much as $50,000 chopped from their loan balance under a new program announced Friday by the state...
Amazon to collect 6 pct sales tax in WV Associated Press ...Amazon will start collecting a 6 percent sales tax on purchases shipped to West Virginia starting Oct. 1...
BART prepares for another possible worker strike Associated Press ...As another potential strike looms, Bay Area Rapid Transit officials are preparing other ways to get commuters to work, including possibly allowing managers to drive a limited number of trains...
Teamsters at Darigold Leaflet Walmart & Sam's Club Shoppers at 10 Locations Teamsters Local 117 ...Teamster production workers and lab technicians, employed by Darigold, distributed leaflets at ten Walmart and Sam’s Club locations throughout the day to inform consumers about the company’s multiple violations of federal labor law and the growing threat of a potential lockout or strike...
Wegmans Employees Disgruntled Over Retirement Payments Rochester Homepage ...Dozens of people were outside Wegmans' company officers Friday practicing picketing over disagreements with Wegmans on retirement payments and wages. Current warehouse and driver employees are represented through the Teamsters Union...
The Average American Family Pays $6,000 a Year in Subsidies to Big Business AlterNet ...That's more than an insult—it's an attack...
White House rebuffed union pleas to ditch Walmart Salon ...Labor leader says allies in the Administration tried to persuade First Lady to dump retail giant -- but were denied...
Bank of America goes to trial over U.S. mortgage fraud charges Reuters ...Bank of America Corp heads to trial this week over allegations its Countrywide unit approved deficient home loans in a process called "Hustle," defrauding Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the U.S. government enterprises that underwrite mortgages...
One Big Trader Lost Millions Betting on Romney, Study Finds Washington Wire ...A new academic paper digging into presidential betting in the final weeks of the 2012 election finds that a single trader lost between $4 million and $7 million placing a flurry of Intrade bets on Mitt Romney—perhaps to make the Republican nominee’s chance of victory appear brighter...
Child Labor Dropped By One-Third Over The Past Decade, But UN Officials Urge Faster Progress Associated Press ...The number of children doing hazardous work dropped by half to 85 million from 2000 to 2012, but the rate of progress isn't fast enough to meet the goal of having no child laborers by 2016...
Suicides Spiked One Year After Great Recession: Study Huffington Post ...The Great Recession resulted in 5,000 additional suicides worldwide in 2009, according to a recent study -- the first to look at suicide trends globally in the wake of the crisis...
At 77, He Prepares Burgers Earning in Week His Former Hourly Wage Bloomberg News ...At the height of his corporate career, Tom Palome was pulling in a salary in the low six-figures and flying first class on business trips to Europe. Today, he juggles two part-time jobs: one as a $10-an-hour food demonstrator, the other flipping burgers…
Why are 47 million Americans on food stamps? Washington Post ...There's a fairly basic question underlying the current food-stamp debate in Congress. Why has the program grown so rapidly over the past few years — to the point where 47 million people, one-sixth of the country, now receive food stamps?...
Buy a House, Make Your Payments, Then Discover You've Been Foreclosed On Without Your Knowledge AlterNet ...This should never happen, but it did, thanks to the sordid mortgage servicing industry...
Chiquita Asks Court To Block Suits Blaming Banana Giant For Violent Deaths Associated Press ...Faced with potentially billions of dollars in legal liability, Chiquita Brands is asking a federal appeals court to block lawsuits filed against it in the U.S. by thousands of Colombians whose relatives were killed in that country's bloody, decades-long civil war...
Ag-gag resurfaces, threatens whistleblowers Fort Wayne Journal Gazette ...Opponents of ag-gag legislation reasonably fear that it obstructs First Amendment rights. Such legislation also protects illegal and unethical practices while punishing whistleblowers...
Major police union will sit out race for New Jersey governor Star-Ledger ...In a blow to Democratic gubernatorial candidate Barbara Buono, one of New Jersey’s two largest police unions has decided to sit out the election for governor...
Florida offers to cut loan balances for 'underwater' homeowners Orlando Sentinel ...Florida homeowners with "underwater" mortgages may now qualify to have as much as $50,000 chopped from their loan balance under a new program announced Friday by the state...
Amazon to collect 6 pct sales tax in WV Associated Press ...Amazon will start collecting a 6 percent sales tax on purchases shipped to West Virginia starting Oct. 1...
BART prepares for another possible worker strike Associated Press ...As another potential strike looms, Bay Area Rapid Transit officials are preparing other ways to get commuters to work, including possibly allowing managers to drive a limited number of trains...
Friday, August 16, 2013
Today's Teamster News 08.16.13
Teamsters National Black Caucus Celebrates Its Fifth Annual Women’s Day IBT ...At the beginning of the TNBC’s fifth annual Women’s Day, a special tribute to the late Coretta Scott King, a Freedom Fighter and wife of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., was the highlight of the morning. In Atlanta, Georgia, home of the Civil Rights movement, a sea of red shirts filled the hotel ballroom as TNBC delegates observed Women’s Day with inspiring speeches, recognitions and a special luncheon...
Teamsters Mourn the Deaths of UPS Flight Crew in Recent Crash IBT ...The Teamsters Union extends its deepest sympathies and condolences to the families of the pilots lost in the crash of UPS Flight 1354 on Aug. 14...
The Union Edge Reports on Teamsters Paratransit Organizing Union Edge ...Teamsters are driving up standards in the school bus and transit industry, with a notable win for workers at Keolis, a global transit company. The Union Edge radio program interviews Patrick Kelly, Secretary-Treasurer of Local 952 in Orange, Calif., and Kizza Doby, a paratransit driver with Keolis. Doby and his Keolis coworkers recently came together to join Local 952. Listen here...
Transit restoration plan presented, citizens vocal about impact of Teamsters strike Lake County Record-Bee ...Dana Spahn sat in her wheelchair across from the Lake Transit Board of Directors with the adjustable microphone as low as it went and talked about the difficulties of getting around the county without a bus running near her Lakeport home. Spahn, like many people, have been impacted by the labor dispute between Paratransit Services and Teamsters Local 665...
Whitaker expands police force while Teamster negotiations continue Pittsburgh Tribune-Review ...The Whitaker council in Pennsylvania hired three new part-time police officers on Wednesday, but some residents remain skeptical that the move will make a difference in combatting crime. Meanwhile, the borough's police contract negotiations with Teamsters Local 205 are still underway…
No E-ZPass? You could pay more under new plan Telegram & Gazette ...A proposed $100 million electronic tolling system would charge a higher rate for drivers who don't use a transponder when traveling on the Massachusetts Turnpike. Teamsters Local 127 represents the turnpike's toll collectors...
The Free-Trade Job-Loss Express Is Coming Straight At Us TradeReform ...The giant multinationals are pushing a trade deal that will literally let them bypass our laws. ..
MBAs Without Borders In These Times ...Critics of the TPP, which is shaping up to be the most business-friendly trade agreement in American history, have taken to calling it “NAFTA on steroids...
NSA broke privacy rules thousands of times per year, audit finds Washington Post ...The National Security Agency has broken privacy rules or overstepped its legal authority thousands of times each year since Congress granted the agency broad new powers in 2008, according to an internal audit and other top-secret documents...
Congressman Doesn’t Believe White Collar Crime On Wall Street Exists ThinkProgress ...There’s no such thing as financial crime, according to Rep. Tom McClintock (R-CA)...
Food Stamps Avoided By Millions Of Eligible Americans Huffington Post ...Republicans say too many Americans that receive food stamps fraudulently could just get jobs instead. But roughly a quarter of Americans eligible for federal nutrition assistance don't sign up for it. The Department of Agriculture says that in 2010, nearly 51 million Americans were poor enough to qualify but only 38 million received benefits. So why don't the rest enroll?...
To Preserve Social Security, Protect Voting Rights (opinion) Huffington Post ...It's no coincidence that the same folks out to restrict voting rights are busy trying to privatize Social Security. The Koch and corporate funded American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has been promoting politicians who practice voter suppression and Safety Net shredding for years now...
Study finds that student loan debt reduces lifetime wealth Bay State Banner ...A new research report on America’s still-growing student loan debt found that its financial effects can last a lifetime. According to the report, 39 million Americans have used student loans to fund college education. An education debt of $53,000 will lead to a $208,000 lifetime loss of wealth...
Corporate welfare, alive and well Los Angeles Times ...Big, wealthy mall developer Westfield Group is typical of businesses that get tax breaks by the boatload from L.A. County. That means millions in foregone revenue that could pay for schools and parks...
Wal-Mart Air Fleet Gets Taxpayer Support for Controllers Bloomberg News ...U.S. taxpayers are increasingly picking up the tab for the control tower at an airport that’s home to Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT)’s corporate fleet, at a time lawmakers say they want to ban perks for hometown interests...
Court strikes down required Michigan worker pay contribution to pensions Detroit News ... The Michigan Court of Appeals has ruled the Legislature’s attempt to require 17,800 state employees to contribute 4 percent of their earnings to the state’s pension plan is unconstitutional…
China cheats, Indiana loses (opinion) NWI Times ...We’re five years past the onset of the Great Recession. Right now, the stock market is booming, and unemployment has inched down to its lowest level since the crisis began. So why, despite gaudy Dow Jones data and assurances that an 8.4 percent jobless rate in Indiana isn’t a real concern, does this economic recovery feel like such a drag?...
Scott Walker Has 3 Grannies and a 14 Year Old Girl Arrested for Singing In Wisconsin Politicususa ...Gov. Scott Walker is now arresting the elderly and children for singing protest songs about him in Wisconsin...
North Carolina Hates the Legislature It's Stuck With Atlantic Wire ...When Republicans assumed control of the North Carolina legislature in 2010 and the governorship last year, few predicted the result: a sharply conservative turn on key policies and an attempt to entrench the party's advantage. A story in The New York Times and a recent poll show that voters are largely unhappy with the moves...
Two banks' payday-advance lending draws scrutiny Sun Sentinel ...A move by two of Florida's largest banks into the payday-advance-loan business is drawing fire from consumer groups worried about "predatory" lending by offering customers the kinds of short-term, high-cost loans historically associated with storefront payday-lending businesses...
Connecticut city council passes resolution opposing Koch buy of newspaper Wichita Business Journal ...The city council in Hartford, Conn., passed a resolution this week opposing the idea of a Koch brothers' takeover of their local newspaper, the Hartford Courant...
Teamsters Mourn the Deaths of UPS Flight Crew in Recent Crash IBT ...The Teamsters Union extends its deepest sympathies and condolences to the families of the pilots lost in the crash of UPS Flight 1354 on Aug. 14...
The Union Edge Reports on Teamsters Paratransit Organizing Union Edge ...Teamsters are driving up standards in the school bus and transit industry, with a notable win for workers at Keolis, a global transit company. The Union Edge radio program interviews Patrick Kelly, Secretary-Treasurer of Local 952 in Orange, Calif., and Kizza Doby, a paratransit driver with Keolis. Doby and his Keolis coworkers recently came together to join Local 952. Listen here...
Transit restoration plan presented, citizens vocal about impact of Teamsters strike Lake County Record-Bee ...Dana Spahn sat in her wheelchair across from the Lake Transit Board of Directors with the adjustable microphone as low as it went and talked about the difficulties of getting around the county without a bus running near her Lakeport home. Spahn, like many people, have been impacted by the labor dispute between Paratransit Services and Teamsters Local 665...
Whitaker expands police force while Teamster negotiations continue Pittsburgh Tribune-Review ...The Whitaker council in Pennsylvania hired three new part-time police officers on Wednesday, but some residents remain skeptical that the move will make a difference in combatting crime. Meanwhile, the borough's police contract negotiations with Teamsters Local 205 are still underway…
No E-ZPass? You could pay more under new plan Telegram & Gazette ...A proposed $100 million electronic tolling system would charge a higher rate for drivers who don't use a transponder when traveling on the Massachusetts Turnpike. Teamsters Local 127 represents the turnpike's toll collectors...
The Free-Trade Job-Loss Express Is Coming Straight At Us TradeReform ...The giant multinationals are pushing a trade deal that will literally let them bypass our laws. ..
MBAs Without Borders In These Times ...Critics of the TPP, which is shaping up to be the most business-friendly trade agreement in American history, have taken to calling it “NAFTA on steroids...
NSA broke privacy rules thousands of times per year, audit finds Washington Post ...The National Security Agency has broken privacy rules or overstepped its legal authority thousands of times each year since Congress granted the agency broad new powers in 2008, according to an internal audit and other top-secret documents...
Congressman Doesn’t Believe White Collar Crime On Wall Street Exists ThinkProgress ...There’s no such thing as financial crime, according to Rep. Tom McClintock (R-CA)...
Food Stamps Avoided By Millions Of Eligible Americans Huffington Post ...Republicans say too many Americans that receive food stamps fraudulently could just get jobs instead. But roughly a quarter of Americans eligible for federal nutrition assistance don't sign up for it. The Department of Agriculture says that in 2010, nearly 51 million Americans were poor enough to qualify but only 38 million received benefits. So why don't the rest enroll?...
To Preserve Social Security, Protect Voting Rights (opinion) Huffington Post ...It's no coincidence that the same folks out to restrict voting rights are busy trying to privatize Social Security. The Koch and corporate funded American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has been promoting politicians who practice voter suppression and Safety Net shredding for years now...
Study finds that student loan debt reduces lifetime wealth Bay State Banner ...A new research report on America’s still-growing student loan debt found that its financial effects can last a lifetime. According to the report, 39 million Americans have used student loans to fund college education. An education debt of $53,000 will lead to a $208,000 lifetime loss of wealth...
Corporate welfare, alive and well Los Angeles Times ...Big, wealthy mall developer Westfield Group is typical of businesses that get tax breaks by the boatload from L.A. County. That means millions in foregone revenue that could pay for schools and parks...
Wal-Mart Air Fleet Gets Taxpayer Support for Controllers Bloomberg News ...U.S. taxpayers are increasingly picking up the tab for the control tower at an airport that’s home to Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT)’s corporate fleet, at a time lawmakers say they want to ban perks for hometown interests...
Court strikes down required Michigan worker pay contribution to pensions Detroit News ... The Michigan Court of Appeals has ruled the Legislature’s attempt to require 17,800 state employees to contribute 4 percent of their earnings to the state’s pension plan is unconstitutional…
China cheats, Indiana loses (opinion) NWI Times ...We’re five years past the onset of the Great Recession. Right now, the stock market is booming, and unemployment has inched down to its lowest level since the crisis began. So why, despite gaudy Dow Jones data and assurances that an 8.4 percent jobless rate in Indiana isn’t a real concern, does this economic recovery feel like such a drag?...
Scott Walker Has 3 Grannies and a 14 Year Old Girl Arrested for Singing In Wisconsin Politicususa ...Gov. Scott Walker is now arresting the elderly and children for singing protest songs about him in Wisconsin...
North Carolina Hates the Legislature It's Stuck With Atlantic Wire ...When Republicans assumed control of the North Carolina legislature in 2010 and the governorship last year, few predicted the result: a sharply conservative turn on key policies and an attempt to entrench the party's advantage. A story in The New York Times and a recent poll show that voters are largely unhappy with the moves...
Two banks' payday-advance lending draws scrutiny Sun Sentinel ...A move by two of Florida's largest banks into the payday-advance-loan business is drawing fire from consumer groups worried about "predatory" lending by offering customers the kinds of short-term, high-cost loans historically associated with storefront payday-lending businesses...
Connecticut city council passes resolution opposing Koch buy of newspaper Wichita Business Journal ...The city council in Hartford, Conn., passed a resolution this week opposing the idea of a Koch brothers' takeover of their local newspaper, the Hartford Courant...
Friday, March 8, 2013
Today's Teamster News 03.08.13
Senators blast financial regulators over 'prosecution-free zone for large banks' The Hill ..."If you're caught with an ounce of cocaine, the chances are good you're going to jail," said Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) at the Banking Committee hearing. "Evidently, if you launder nearly $1 billion for drug cartels and violate our international sanctions, your company pays a fine and you go home and sleep in your own bed at night."...
Study Demolishes the Myth That U.S. Workers Lack Skills In These Times ... “The problem isn’t a malfunctioning ‘talent pipeline.' The problem is a sputtering job-creation machine, in both the quantity and quality of jobs created.”...
The children going hungry in America BBC ...Child poverty in the US has reached record levels, with almost 17 million children now affected. A growing number are also going hungry on a daily basis...
Yes, America’s trade deficit with China just rose AGAIN. manufacture this ...the U.S. trade deficit with China jumped 14% from the previous month: ...While not a record, it is 6% larger than last year's historically high average...
Costco CEO: Raise The Minimum Wage To More Than $10 Per Hour Huffington Post ...paying employees good wages makes good sense for business," Jelinek said in a statement. "We pay a starting hourly wage of $11.50 in all states where we do business, and we are still able to keep our overhead costs low."...
Europe's recession deepens - ECB CNN Money ...The European Central Bank downgraded its forecast for the eurozone economy Thursday but decided against cutting interest rates to a new record low despite tame inflation, record unemployment and political instability in Italy...
Koch Brothers Organize to Stop Medicaid Expansion in Arizona, Nationwide Blog for Arizona ...Americans for Prosperity-- the Koch Brothers' astroturf group-- is organizing the citizenry to fight against their own self interests to defeat Medicaid expansion...
No matter how you spin job numbers, Wisconsin near bottom compared to other states The Cap Times ...going back two years, Wisconsin is No. 50 in percentage change, with an actual decline of 15,900 jobs since January 2011...
Kasich, Yost in showdown over JobsOhio Columbus Dispatch ...State Auditor Dave Yost issued a subpoena for the financial records of JobsOhio yesterday after Gov. John Kasich’s privatized economic-development agency failed to turn them over...
Snyder's numbers still down in the dumps Public Policy Polling ...Rick Snyder's numbers are not recovering yet following the plunge they took in December after he signed the right to work law. Only 37% of voters in the state approve of the job he's doing to 54% who disapprove...
Council votes to appeal Snyder's plan for emergency manager Detroit Free Press ...The resolution passed by council this afternoon says the city does indeed have a plan to fix the financial problems that have plagued the city for years...
Mark Dayton envisions minimum wage between $9 and $9.50 Associated Press ...As Minnesota legislators debate raising the state's minimum wage, Gov. Mark Dayton says he'd be comfortable with hiking the rate to $9 or $9.50 per hour...
Plan for LCB privatization is formally introduced Philly.com ...The plan faces a tough fight in the legislature, which for years has been loath to make even minor changes to the state-run liquor model that has been in place since Prohibition ended...
Teachers’ unions fighting restrictions on contract talks in Kansas Kansas City Star ...“We are seeing a lot of things that appear to be a direct attack on teachers...”
Flight Attendants Union Coalition Launches Nationwide Opposition to Knives in Cabin AFA ...The Flight Attendants Union Coalition, representing nearly 90,000 Flight Attendants at carriers across the county, is coordinating a nationwide legislative and public campaign to reverse yesterday's announcement from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) that effective April 25, knives would be allowed in the aircraft cabin for the first time since 9/11...
Study Demolishes the Myth That U.S. Workers Lack Skills In These Times ... “The problem isn’t a malfunctioning ‘talent pipeline.' The problem is a sputtering job-creation machine, in both the quantity and quality of jobs created.”...
The children going hungry in America BBC ...Child poverty in the US has reached record levels, with almost 17 million children now affected. A growing number are also going hungry on a daily basis...
Yes, America’s trade deficit with China just rose AGAIN. manufacture this ...the U.S. trade deficit with China jumped 14% from the previous month: ...While not a record, it is 6% larger than last year's historically high average...
Costco CEO: Raise The Minimum Wage To More Than $10 Per Hour Huffington Post ...paying employees good wages makes good sense for business," Jelinek said in a statement. "We pay a starting hourly wage of $11.50 in all states where we do business, and we are still able to keep our overhead costs low."...
Europe's recession deepens - ECB CNN Money ...The European Central Bank downgraded its forecast for the eurozone economy Thursday but decided against cutting interest rates to a new record low despite tame inflation, record unemployment and political instability in Italy...
Koch Brothers Organize to Stop Medicaid Expansion in Arizona, Nationwide Blog for Arizona ...Americans for Prosperity-- the Koch Brothers' astroturf group-- is organizing the citizenry to fight against their own self interests to defeat Medicaid expansion...
No matter how you spin job numbers, Wisconsin near bottom compared to other states The Cap Times ...going back two years, Wisconsin is No. 50 in percentage change, with an actual decline of 15,900 jobs since January 2011...
Kasich, Yost in showdown over JobsOhio Columbus Dispatch ...State Auditor Dave Yost issued a subpoena for the financial records of JobsOhio yesterday after Gov. John Kasich’s privatized economic-development agency failed to turn them over...
Snyder's numbers still down in the dumps Public Policy Polling ...Rick Snyder's numbers are not recovering yet following the plunge they took in December after he signed the right to work law. Only 37% of voters in the state approve of the job he's doing to 54% who disapprove...
Council votes to appeal Snyder's plan for emergency manager Detroit Free Press ...The resolution passed by council this afternoon says the city does indeed have a plan to fix the financial problems that have plagued the city for years...
Mark Dayton envisions minimum wage between $9 and $9.50 Associated Press ...As Minnesota legislators debate raising the state's minimum wage, Gov. Mark Dayton says he'd be comfortable with hiking the rate to $9 or $9.50 per hour...
Plan for LCB privatization is formally introduced Philly.com ...The plan faces a tough fight in the legislature, which for years has been loath to make even minor changes to the state-run liquor model that has been in place since Prohibition ended...
Teachers’ unions fighting restrictions on contract talks in Kansas Kansas City Star ...“We are seeing a lot of things that appear to be a direct attack on teachers...”
Flight Attendants Union Coalition Launches Nationwide Opposition to Knives in Cabin AFA ...The Flight Attendants Union Coalition, representing nearly 90,000 Flight Attendants at carriers across the county, is coordinating a nationwide legislative and public campaign to reverse yesterday's announcement from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) that effective April 25, knives would be allowed in the aircraft cabin for the first time since 9/11...
Sunday, February 10, 2013
If you didn't get a raise between 1995 and 2000...
 |
| Source: Economic Policy Institute. |
Our friends at the Economic Policy Institute analyzed wage increases between 1979 and 2007. They found that pay hikes were heavily concentrated in the years 1995-2000. Explains the study's author, Lawrence Mishel:
...productivity accelerated, unemployment dropped and stayed persistently low, and the minimum wage was boosted.Otherwise, most people increased their income over the past 30 years by working more hours. Mishel writes,
On average, real annual wages—which are determined by hourly wages and hours worked per year—grew 26.9 percent from 1979 to 2007. However, this increase was heavily assisted by the growth of work hours, since real hourly wages grew 17.5 percent ... Indeed, for the bottom 60 percent of wage earners, the rise in annual wages stemmed roughly as much from increased work hours as increased real hourly wages. The 32.7 percent growth of real annual wages for the lowest-wage workers (those in the bottom fifth) was especially driven by work hours, as real hourly wages only grew 7.7 percent. This was particularly true among low-wage women (a group that encompasses 24 percent of all women wage earners). Their real annual wages grew 35.3 percent, while their real hourly wages grew just 6.5 percent.Things haven't gotten better since 2007. The blogger Testosterone Pit wrote on Thursday,
...the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that wages adjusted for inflation had continued their morose decline: in 2012, by 0.4% after having already declined 0.5% in 2011. It doesn’t seem much. With nominal wages rising, workers might temporarily be fooled into thinking that they’re moving ahead. But enough of those declines, and pretty soon you’re talking about some real money.TP is pretty angry about the American workers' dire situation. Read his whole screed here.
Friday, November 30, 2012
Today's Teamster News 11.30.12
Poll: Americans Overwhelmingly Oppose Raising the Medicare Retirement Age firedoglake ...Raising the Medicare retirement age is not only a deeply unpopular way to reduce the deficit, it is also terrible and ineffective policy...
70% of jobs "created" don't require a college education naked capitalism ...the US is the only advanced economy to show falling educational attainment levels, which results in its falling in world rankings. In 2007, the US was 12 of 24 OECD nations tallied; it had fallen from number 10 in a mere two years...
Harkin Unveils Comprehensive Report on For-Profit College Industry U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin ...Close to one in four students who attends a for-profit school defaults on his or her federal student loans within 3 years of leaving school ... combined with the fact that nearly all students at for-profit schools must borrow money to pay the cost of tuition, has resulted in a sector that enrolls approximately 10 percent of American higher education students but accounts for nearly 50 percent of all student loan defaults...
U.S. Birth Rate Falls to a Record Low; Decline Is Greatest Among Immigrants Pew Research Center ...The birth rate for U.S.-born women decreased 6% during these years, but the birth rate for foreign-born women plunged 14%—more than it had declined over the entire 1990-2007 period.1 The birth rate for Mexican immigrant women fell even more, by 23%...
Citigroup sentences to Europe to faster economic death The Telegraph ...Citigroup's end of year forecast – Prospects for Economies and Financial Markets in 2013 and Beyond – is in essence a celebration of American revival and ascendancy. It sentences Europe to slow economic death...
Hostess management milked the company (opinion) St. Louis Post-Dispatch ...Twice, the new Hostess management used bankruptcy to pay themselves more fees, avoid payments to vendors and demand concessions from the work force. They were clearly milking the company by reducing their labor costs and coasting...
Ex-Walker aide Russell pleads guilty to stealing from veterans' fund Wisconsin State Journal ...A former Walker campaign worker and former deputy chief of staff for Walker in Milwaukee County, Russell had been scheduled to go on trial Monday. He is one of four former aides and associates of the governor who have been convicted of crimes while working for Walker in Milwaukee County or on his 2010 campaign for governor...
Puerto Rico Teamster Retirees to Release Report on the Importance of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid The Paramus Post ... These reports highlight the fact that behind every number is a real person with a real story who utilizes these modest benefits...
Teamsters confront Bill Gates over sanitation firm’s actions People's World ...Declaring Bill Gates should be responsible for the anti-worker conduct of Republic Services, a sanitation firm he owns one-quarter of, a group of Teamsters in Atlanta confronted the Microsoft mogul at Gates' speech there...
70% of jobs "created" don't require a college education naked capitalism ...the US is the only advanced economy to show falling educational attainment levels, which results in its falling in world rankings. In 2007, the US was 12 of 24 OECD nations tallied; it had fallen from number 10 in a mere two years...
Harkin Unveils Comprehensive Report on For-Profit College Industry U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin ...Close to one in four students who attends a for-profit school defaults on his or her federal student loans within 3 years of leaving school ... combined with the fact that nearly all students at for-profit schools must borrow money to pay the cost of tuition, has resulted in a sector that enrolls approximately 10 percent of American higher education students but accounts for nearly 50 percent of all student loan defaults...
U.S. Birth Rate Falls to a Record Low; Decline Is Greatest Among Immigrants Pew Research Center ...The birth rate for U.S.-born women decreased 6% during these years, but the birth rate for foreign-born women plunged 14%—more than it had declined over the entire 1990-2007 period.1 The birth rate for Mexican immigrant women fell even more, by 23%...
Citigroup sentences to Europe to faster economic death The Telegraph ...Citigroup's end of year forecast – Prospects for Economies and Financial Markets in 2013 and Beyond – is in essence a celebration of American revival and ascendancy. It sentences Europe to slow economic death...
Hostess management milked the company (opinion) St. Louis Post-Dispatch ...Twice, the new Hostess management used bankruptcy to pay themselves more fees, avoid payments to vendors and demand concessions from the work force. They were clearly milking the company by reducing their labor costs and coasting...
Ex-Walker aide Russell pleads guilty to stealing from veterans' fund Wisconsin State Journal ...A former Walker campaign worker and former deputy chief of staff for Walker in Milwaukee County, Russell had been scheduled to go on trial Monday. He is one of four former aides and associates of the governor who have been convicted of crimes while working for Walker in Milwaukee County or on his 2010 campaign for governor...
Puerto Rico Teamster Retirees to Release Report on the Importance of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid The Paramus Post ... These reports highlight the fact that behind every number is a real person with a real story who utilizes these modest benefits...
Teamsters confront Bill Gates over sanitation firm’s actions People's World ...Declaring Bill Gates should be responsible for the anti-worker conduct of Republic Services, a sanitation firm he owns one-quarter of, a group of Teamsters in Atlanta confronted the Microsoft mogul at Gates' speech there...
Friday, March 2, 2012
Today's Teamster News 03.02.12
Group submits petition to repeal Michigan's emergency manager law Detroit Free Press ...If a state elections panel verifies that 161,305 of the signatures are those of registered voters, the controversial statute enacted last year would be suspended until the vote...
GOP weighs cost of union battle Minneapolis Star Tribune ...Passage by voters would make Minnesota the 24th state in the nation to allow employees who opt out of unions to avoid paying dues or fees. But a full debate could lead to the kinds of protests and energized union voters that have made Wisconsin ground zero for labor activism...
Georgia bill to limit picketing sparks protest Atlanta Journal Constitution ...Senate Bill 469 would fine individuals $1,000 a day -- and organizations as much as $10,000 as day -- if they ignore court orders to stop their protests...
Making the United States More Like Greece The Baseline Scenario ... One of the big problems in Greece over the past decade or so is that the people running the country decided to conceal the true nature of their budget and their debt. This deception ended up costing the country dearly – completely undermining its credibility under pressure and making it much harder to turn the fiscal and economic situation around. House Republicans are now proposing something similar for the United States...
Silicon Valley Homeless Feel The Grip Of Recession's Long Reach Huffington Post ...The first time Michele arrived at the Maple Street homeless shelter three years ago, she was still driving her BMW 325xi, the final remnant of her Silicon Valley affluence...
Probation officers alarmed by policy reversal on oversight of offenders Miami Herald ...Christina Bullins, a Teamsters Union member who is also a probation supervisor in Miami, said fewer field visits make it less likely that an officer will discover a technical violation of probation that could prevent more serious crimes later...
GOP weighs cost of union battle Minneapolis Star Tribune ...Passage by voters would make Minnesota the 24th state in the nation to allow employees who opt out of unions to avoid paying dues or fees. But a full debate could lead to the kinds of protests and energized union voters that have made Wisconsin ground zero for labor activism...
Georgia bill to limit picketing sparks protest Atlanta Journal Constitution ...Senate Bill 469 would fine individuals $1,000 a day -- and organizations as much as $10,000 as day -- if they ignore court orders to stop their protests...
Making the United States More Like Greece The Baseline Scenario ... One of the big problems in Greece over the past decade or so is that the people running the country decided to conceal the true nature of their budget and their debt. This deception ended up costing the country dearly – completely undermining its credibility under pressure and making it much harder to turn the fiscal and economic situation around. House Republicans are now proposing something similar for the United States...
Silicon Valley Homeless Feel The Grip Of Recession's Long Reach Huffington Post ...The first time Michele arrived at the Maple Street homeless shelter three years ago, she was still driving her BMW 325xi, the final remnant of her Silicon Valley affluence...
Probation officers alarmed by policy reversal on oversight of offenders Miami Herald ...Christina Bullins, a Teamsters Union member who is also a probation supervisor in Miami, said fewer field visits make it less likely that an officer will discover a technical violation of probation that could prevent more serious crimes later...
Monday, February 6, 2012
Today's Teamster News 02.06.12
Small Super Bowl protest for anti-union law Reuters ...A small group of about 50 activists marched to Lucas Oil Stadium where the Super Bowl will be played later on Sunday to peacefully protest Indiana's new anti-union "right-to-work" law...
Adbusters Calls for 50,000 Protesters to Meet at Chicago’s G8/NATO Summit In These Times ...Adbusters, the group credited with inspiring the Occupy Wall Street movement, has once again put out a call for tens of thousands of protesters to flock to Chicago in early May and "set up tents, kitchens, peaceful barricades and #OCCUPYCHICAGO for a month," according to the official statement...
Florida prison privatization push stalls despite big spending Palm Beach Post ...Millions of dollars in campaign contributions from for-profit prison companies may not be enough this year to push through a prison privatization plan that is a priority of Gov. Rick Scott and Republican legislative leaders...
Strike Looms As Greek Party Leaders Push For Deal on Reforms Wall Street Journal ...Signs of popular protest loomed over Greece's political leaders as they raced to agree on painful reforms, including private-sector pay cuts, needed to win a new bailout agreement to keep the country from defaulting on its debts next month...
The Nine American Cities Nearly Destroyed by the Recession 24/7 Wall St. ...Norwich-New London, Ct.; Brunswick, Ga.; Abilene, Texas; Wichita Falls, Texas; Flint, Mich.; Champaign-Urbana, Ill.; Santa Barbara-Santa Maria-Goleta, Calif.; Reno-Sparks, Nev.; Carson City, Nev....
Rep. Mike Michaud (D-ME) urges trade enforcement against China Manufacture This ...Three new reports issued by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) and the Law Offices of Stewart and Stewart have found that more 400,000 jobs in the U.S. auto supply chain have been lost since 2000...
Adbusters Calls for 50,000 Protesters to Meet at Chicago’s G8/NATO Summit In These Times ...Adbusters, the group credited with inspiring the Occupy Wall Street movement, has once again put out a call for tens of thousands of protesters to flock to Chicago in early May and "set up tents, kitchens, peaceful barricades and #OCCUPYCHICAGO for a month," according to the official statement...
Florida prison privatization push stalls despite big spending Palm Beach Post ...Millions of dollars in campaign contributions from for-profit prison companies may not be enough this year to push through a prison privatization plan that is a priority of Gov. Rick Scott and Republican legislative leaders...
Strike Looms As Greek Party Leaders Push For Deal on Reforms Wall Street Journal ...Signs of popular protest loomed over Greece's political leaders as they raced to agree on painful reforms, including private-sector pay cuts, needed to win a new bailout agreement to keep the country from defaulting on its debts next month...
The Nine American Cities Nearly Destroyed by the Recession 24/7 Wall St. ...Norwich-New London, Ct.; Brunswick, Ga.; Abilene, Texas; Wichita Falls, Texas; Flint, Mich.; Champaign-Urbana, Ill.; Santa Barbara-Santa Maria-Goleta, Calif.; Reno-Sparks, Nev.; Carson City, Nev....
Rep. Mike Michaud (D-ME) urges trade enforcement against China Manufacture This ...Three new reports issued by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) and the Law Offices of Stewart and Stewart have found that more 400,000 jobs in the U.S. auto supply chain have been lost since 2000...
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Ruh-roh: Economy sliding into recession?
That's what Tyler Durden at Zero Hedge is saying.
On Friday, the government revised its Gross Domestic Product figures downward from 1.3 percent to 1 percent for the second quarter. Further, GDP has dropped 1.5 percent year-over-year, which for the past 63 years has indicated a recession is coming. Here's Durden's argument in GeekSpeak:
On Friday, the government revised its Gross Domestic Product figures downward from 1.3 percent to 1 percent for the second quarter. Further, GDP has dropped 1.5 percent year-over-year, which for the past 63 years has indicated a recession is coming. Here's Durden's argument in GeekSpeak:
...the most important event (Friday) from an economic standpoint was the first GDP revision Q2, which dropped from preliminary 1.3% to a sub stall speed, in real terms, 1.0%. What is just as important is that as the following chart from Bloomberg demonstrates, the YoY change in real GDP, which is now at 1.5%, is a slam dunk indicator of recession: "Since 1948, every time the four-quarter change has fallen below 2 percent, the economy has entered a recession. It’s hard to argue against an indicator with such a long history of accuracy."Durden further argues that the unemployment rate will rise. Other economists -- Martin Wolf and Nourel Roubini to name a few -- are equally gloomy. Here's Roubini on what we should do:
We certainly need another fiscal stimulus. Much stronger than the one we had before. The one we had before was not enough. Congress is controlled by the Republicans and they’re going to vote against Obama in the realm of fiscal austerity. If things get worse, it’s only to their political benefit.
[The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009] was effective in the sense that the recession could have turned into a Great Depression. Things would have been much worse without it, so it was very effective in the sense of preventing a Great Depression, but it was not significant enough. With millions of unemployed construction workers, we need a trillion dollar, five-year program just for infrastructure, but it’s not politically feasible and that’s why there will be a fiscal drag and we will have a recession.
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Today's Teamster News 08.27.11
Teamsters Joins AFL-CIO to Blast Obama as Timid US News & World Report ...The Teamsters today joined the AFL-CIO in demanding that President Obama stop caving in to the GOP and offer a new jobs program that he will fight for...
Rep. Duffy not allowed in Labor Day parade in Wausau WAOW.com ...The parade is sponsored by the Marathon County Labor Council...
Protesters return to the Capitol Superior Telegram ...Wisconsin's capitol city is home this week to a national Democracy Convention...
SB5 supporters should pay attention to history (opinion) Newark Advocate ...Supporters of Senate Bill 5, which would gut public employee collective bargaining, might have taken heed of the experience of those who supported a "right to work" amendment to the Ohio Constitution that was placed on the ballot in 1958...
Scott prepares, serves meals at Orlando elementary Orlando Sentinel ...In his first visit to a traditional public school since taking office in January, Gov. Rick Scott this morning donned an apron and gloves to prepare and serve meals to students at Audubon Park Elementary School in Orlando...
Prison privatization to proceed despite resignation of Ed Buss Orlando Sentinel ...several obstacles still stand in the way of the plan mandated by the Legislature earlier this year ... Scott has even expressed concern that it might not save money, meaning the project would be axed...
State in recession, report says; experts differ The Journal Gazette ...Indiana is one of 12 states in "recessionary territory," according to a controversial Wells Fargo report...
U.S. investigating work conditions for foreign students at Hershey warehouse Philly.com ...At the same time, the organizations responsible for employing the students were seeking to resolve a standoff with them by offering a week's paid vacation and cultural-enhancing day trips to Philadelphia, Amish country, and Gettysburg...
Rep. Duffy not allowed in Labor Day parade in Wausau WAOW.com ...The parade is sponsored by the Marathon County Labor Council...
Protesters return to the Capitol Superior Telegram ...Wisconsin's capitol city is home this week to a national Democracy Convention...
SB5 supporters should pay attention to history (opinion) Newark Advocate ...Supporters of Senate Bill 5, which would gut public employee collective bargaining, might have taken heed of the experience of those who supported a "right to work" amendment to the Ohio Constitution that was placed on the ballot in 1958...
Scott prepares, serves meals at Orlando elementary Orlando Sentinel ...In his first visit to a traditional public school since taking office in January, Gov. Rick Scott this morning donned an apron and gloves to prepare and serve meals to students at Audubon Park Elementary School in Orlando...
Prison privatization to proceed despite resignation of Ed Buss Orlando Sentinel ...several obstacles still stand in the way of the plan mandated by the Legislature earlier this year ... Scott has even expressed concern that it might not save money, meaning the project would be axed...
State in recession, report says; experts differ The Journal Gazette ...Indiana is one of 12 states in "recessionary territory," according to a controversial Wells Fargo report...
U.S. investigating work conditions for foreign students at Hershey warehouse Philly.com ...At the same time, the organizations responsible for employing the students were seeking to resolve a standoff with them by offering a week's paid vacation and cultural-enhancing day trips to Philadelphia, Amish country, and Gettysburg...
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Today's Teamster News 04.23.11
YRC reports progress in financial restructuring negotiations Kansas City Star ...John Lamar, YRC's chief restructuring officer, said in a brief statement the company has been working closely with JP Morgan...the steering committee, the company’s pension funds and the Teamsters National Freight Industry Negotiating Committee...
Marathon County Supreme Court race recount is set for Wednesday Wausau Daily Herald ...The campaigns agreed in court to a hand recount in precincts across 31 counties where electronic machines' memory cartridges are full...
Voters to get opportunity to sign repeal petitions Toledo Blade ...opponents of a new law weakening the collective bargaining rights of public employees will ask voters to begin exercising direct democracy Saturday by signing repeal petitions...
Builders of New Homes Seeing No Sign of Recovery New York Times ...
The recession hurt a lot of industries, but it knocked the residential construction market to the mat and has kept it there...
Young workers face a dire labor market without a safety net EPI ...The unemployment rate for high school graduates under age 25 who were not enrolled in school was 22.5%, compared with 9.3% for college graduates of the same age...
9/11 First Responders To Be Run Through FBI Terrorism Watch List Before Getting Health Care Benefits TalkingPointsMemo ...a provision in the James Zadroga 9/11 Health And Compensation law...requires them to be run through the FBI's terrorism watch list...
Minn. GOP House Speaker Backs Off Calling Voting A 'Privilege,' Not A Right TalkingPointsMemo ...Kurt Zellers (R), who is strongly pushing for passage of a voter ID law, has now backed away from comments he made in a radio appearance on Wednesday...
Marathon County Supreme Court race recount is set for Wednesday Wausau Daily Herald ...The campaigns agreed in court to a hand recount in precincts across 31 counties where electronic machines' memory cartridges are full...
Voters to get opportunity to sign repeal petitions Toledo Blade ...opponents of a new law weakening the collective bargaining rights of public employees will ask voters to begin exercising direct democracy Saturday by signing repeal petitions...
Builders of New Homes Seeing No Sign of Recovery New York Times ...
The recession hurt a lot of industries, but it knocked the residential construction market to the mat and has kept it there...
Young workers face a dire labor market without a safety net EPI ...The unemployment rate for high school graduates under age 25 who were not enrolled in school was 22.5%, compared with 9.3% for college graduates of the same age...
9/11 First Responders To Be Run Through FBI Terrorism Watch List Before Getting Health Care Benefits TalkingPointsMemo ...a provision in the James Zadroga 9/11 Health And Compensation law...requires them to be run through the FBI's terrorism watch list...
Minn. GOP House Speaker Backs Off Calling Voting A 'Privilege,' Not A Right TalkingPointsMemo ...Kurt Zellers (R), who is strongly pushing for passage of a voter ID law, has now backed away from comments he made in a radio appearance on Wednesday...
Monday, December 6, 2010
Credit problems for 22% of people with bank account in past 2 years
This is what we mean when we say the middle class is being destroyed. One out of five Americans with a bank account had credit problems in 2007-09. You can guess the reasons -- unemployment or shrunken income.
Below are the kinds of problems they're dealing with, according to a consumer lending survey by the Deloitte accounting firm:
These are scary, scary numbers. They suggest that millions of working families are struggling to survive on wages that are at or near poverty level.
For these families -- and for many of us -- the recession is far from over. Friday's frightening unemployment numbers made that clear. Here's a chart from the New York Times that shows the abysmal rate of job creation during this "recovery," compared to the others in the past 30 years.
Monday, November 22, 2010
Video: 43 Million Americans on Food Stamps
Here's a time-lapse video that shows how food stamp usage increased across the U.S.
Time to reach for the Boone's Farm, folks.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Links 09/01/10
A deserted feeling in working-class America Washington Post ...the Great Recession has made labor's task decidedly more difficult this year.
Nafta, Mexican trucks, retaliatory tariffs and safety (Letter to the editor) Wall Street Journal ...the reason U.S. firms are being hit with raised tariffs is the fault of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), not the Teamsters union or Congress.
New job means lower wages for many New York Times ...comparatively little attention has been paid to the quality of the jobs being created.
Coca-Cola workers end strike in Bellevue, Western Washington Bellevue Reporter ...Coca-Cola employees in Bellevue and Western Washington returned to work Tuesday.
CEOs lay off thousands, rake in millions msnbc.com ...chief executives of the 50 firms that have laid off the most workers since the onset of the economic crisis in 2008 took home 42 percent more pay in 2009 than their peers at other large U.S. companies.
Workers Rebuilding New Orleans Face Rampant Wage Theft The Washington Independent ...The Congress of Day Laborers last year found that 80 percent of the workers it represents had been victims of wage theft in the past year.
Business groups plan Labor Day blitz against Senate Dems, candidates The Hill ...Business groups plan to go on offense against vulnerable Senate Democrats in their backyards to mark Monday's Labor Day holiday.
Nafta, Mexican trucks, retaliatory tariffs and safety (Letter to the editor) Wall Street Journal ...the reason U.S. firms are being hit with raised tariffs is the fault of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), not the Teamsters union or Congress.
New job means lower wages for many New York Times ...comparatively little attention has been paid to the quality of the jobs being created.
Coca-Cola workers end strike in Bellevue, Western Washington Bellevue Reporter ...Coca-Cola employees in Bellevue and Western Washington returned to work Tuesday.
CEOs lay off thousands, rake in millions msnbc.com ...chief executives of the 50 firms that have laid off the most workers since the onset of the economic crisis in 2008 took home 42 percent more pay in 2009 than their peers at other large U.S. companies.
Workers Rebuilding New Orleans Face Rampant Wage Theft The Washington Independent ...The Congress of Day Laborers last year found that 80 percent of the workers it represents had been victims of wage theft in the past year.
Business groups plan Labor Day blitz against Senate Dems, candidates The Hill ...Business groups plan to go on offense against vulnerable Senate Democrats in their backyards to mark Monday's Labor Day holiday.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Links 08/25/10
Big Unions to Pool Money for Fall Elections Wall Street Journal ...The AFL-CIO and SEIU plan to target elections in 26 states, all but five of which they consider battleground territory, including California, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Ohio.
Our Blue-Collar Great Depression Wall Street Journal ...the current Great Recession for younger blue-collar workers feels more like a depression—with no end in sight.
Let Congress Fix the Multi-Employer Pensions It Broke Wall Street Journal ... Your article attributes widespread underfunding to mismanagement and failure to negotiate adequate contributions; our research proved unequivocally that the market crash was to blame.
As midterms loom, Democrats work to shore up faltering recovery Washington Post ...the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office affirmed that view of the stimulus package, estimating that it added as many as 3.3 million jobs to the economy during the second quarter of this year and may have prevented the nation from lapsing into recession.
Biden slams GOP's economic plan Politico "...For eight years before we arrived, Mr. Boehner and his party ran this economy and the middle class into the ground,” Biden said. “They took the $237 billion surplus they inherited from the Clinton Administration and left us with a $1.3 trillion deficit, and, in the process, quadrupled the national debt – all before we had turned on the lights in the West Wing.”
Our Blue-Collar Great Depression Wall Street Journal ...the current Great Recession for younger blue-collar workers feels more like a depression—with no end in sight.
Let Congress Fix the Multi-Employer Pensions It Broke Wall Street Journal ... Your article attributes widespread underfunding to mismanagement and failure to negotiate adequate contributions; our research proved unequivocally that the market crash was to blame.
As midterms loom, Democrats work to shore up faltering recovery Washington Post ...the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office affirmed that view of the stimulus package, estimating that it added as many as 3.3 million jobs to the economy during the second quarter of this year and may have prevented the nation from lapsing into recession.
Biden slams GOP's economic plan Politico "...For eight years before we arrived, Mr. Boehner and his party ran this economy and the middle class into the ground,” Biden said. “They took the $237 billion surplus they inherited from the Clinton Administration and left us with a $1.3 trillion deficit, and, in the process, quadrupled the national debt – all before we had turned on the lights in the West Wing.”
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Links 07/07/10
Slowing Service Growth Adds to Recovery Doubts Wall Street Journal
China Says U.S. Went Too Far in Sanctions Wall Street Journal
Little Train That Could Is Still Chugging Wall Street Journal
American Dream Is Elusive for New Generation New York Times
Q&A With Veteran Union Organizer Stewart J. Acuff The Hill
Farm workers: Take our jobs, please! CNNMoney.com
Talks continue in clerical workers strike at ports Daily Breeze
China Says U.S. Went Too Far in Sanctions Wall Street Journal
Little Train That Could Is Still Chugging Wall Street Journal
American Dream Is Elusive for New Generation New York Times
Q&A With Veteran Union Organizer Stewart J. Acuff The Hill
Farm workers: Take our jobs, please! CNNMoney.com
Talks continue in clerical workers strike at ports Daily Breeze
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Links 6/30/10
Recession Strikes Deep Into Workforce Wall Street Journal
Financial-Rules Redo Passes Major Hurdle Wall Street Journal
Administration Cannot Drop Bid for Nuclear Waste Dump in Nevada, Panel Finds New York Times
Wal-Mart Names New Head of US Operations New York Times
In U.S. Bailout of AIG, Forgiveness for Big Banks New York Times
Democrats seek to extend emergency jobless benefits Washington Post
FedEx Wins Dismissal of Some Claims in Worker Suit Bloomberg BusinessWeek
Financial-Rules Redo Passes Major Hurdle Wall Street Journal
Administration Cannot Drop Bid for Nuclear Waste Dump in Nevada, Panel Finds New York Times
Wal-Mart Names New Head of US Operations New York Times
In U.S. Bailout of AIG, Forgiveness for Big Banks New York Times
Democrats seek to extend emergency jobless benefits Washington Post
FedEx Wins Dismissal of Some Claims in Worker Suit Bloomberg BusinessWeek
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