Teamsters
Los Angeles, Long Beach port truckers at Carson firm OK first labor contract Press-Telegram …After three days of bargaining, Shippers Transport Express drivers voted Sunday on a one-year contract that increased hourly wages from $18 per hour to $21 per hour retroactive to Jan. 9 when drivers voted to unionize. The deal also offers full medical insurance with 100 percent of premiums paid by the employer. The drivers, who are represented by International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 848, will also receive paid leave, overtime after 40 hours a week, a process for filing grievances and resolving work conflict issues under their new contract, which spans from Jan. 9 to Dec. 31…
NYC Bill Banning Horse-Drawn Carriages, Film Could Have Ripple Effect In Charleston Post and Courier ...This summer, the debate over New York City’s horse-drawn carriage industry will heat up again as a proposed law, introduced by Mayor Bill De Blasio in December 2014, is brought to city council for a vote...
Trade
Tea party, Dems join forces to put Obama’s Asia trade deal in jeopardy Washington Times ...The trade agreement that is the linchpin of President Obama’s Asia policy is in jeopardy of breaking apart because of a lack of trust on Capitol Hill on both sides of the partisan aisle, with opposition mounting from tea party Republicans and rank-and-file Democrats who don’t have faith in the president’s ability to negotiate a good deal...
Central Banks Move To Drive Down Currencies, Yielding Domino Effect Wall Street Journal ...The central-bank stimulus spree of 2015 has the look of a global currency war. In quick succession, countries representing about a third of the world’s economic output—from the eurozone to China, Australia and Canada—have taken steps that have driven down the value of their currencies...
Trade Deal Health Concerns MJA InSight ...“There must be a greater degree of transparency; we can’t simply accept assurances from the government that health won’t be compromised. The specifics really matter here”, Dr Parnis told MJA InSight...
French Senate Tells TTIP Negotiators To ‘Abolish’ ISDS EurActiv ... Critics say the clause would limit government's ability to regulate in the public interest while supporters claim it is necessary for companies to obtain redress, especially in countries with weak judicial systems, where TTIP would set a precedent...
State Battles
Rauner exec order takes aim at unions Associated Press …Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner struck a first official blow on Monday against the public sector labor unions he has frequently criticized by ordering an end to a requirement that workers pay dues even if they decide not to join a union...
Don’t Say He Didn’t Warn You: Ultra-Rich Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner Spells Out Anti-Union Agenda In These Times ...Now that Rauner has taken office, he is staying consistent in his attack on public workers but including more private sector workers as his target. His first “state of the state” address, delivered yesterday to a legislature with both houses controlled by Democrats, was strongly anti-union and catered to conservative business groups...
Missouri House Ready To Take On 'Right to Work' Measure St. Louis Public Radio ...With an even larger Republican majority, the Missouri House is expected this week to take up – and possibly approve – legislation aimed at making Missouri the 25th “right-to-work” state in the country by curbing union rights...
Paycheck bills heard in House committee Missouri Times ...“Paycheck deception bills are promoted by ALEC and the Koch brothers all over the country,” [Crystal] Parks said. “Some extreme and out-of-touch Missouri politicians are working with these billionaires and their front groups against Missouri families. These laws would unfairly single out folks like nurses and teachers and other public workers. We need our leaders to focus on creating jobs, not more attacks on workers.”...
John David: ‘Right to work’ unfair to workers, lead to lower pay The Charleston Gazette ...It does not mean that every worker has the right to a job and to receive work at fair wages, reasonable hours, and under decent labor standards...
WV Republican Lawmakers Push Labor Bills Forward WOWK ...“We are going to drive down the wages for people in this state. And the state that has the lowest per capita income in the country? Their solution is to drive the wages down further,” said Senator Jeff Kessler, D- Marshall, the Senate Minority Leader...
Labor Issues Divide Legislature Herald-Dispatch ...The new Republican majority in the West Virginia Legislature has a strategy for state labor laws, and the beginning of what will likely be some of the most heated debates in the 2015 session are about to unfold, many lawmakers believe...
Kansas Gov. Brownback's Budget Hits Cherished Highway System Huffington Post ...Gov. Sam Brownback and the GOP-dominated Legislature this past week worked out plans for closing a $344 million deficit and allowing the state to pay its bills on time into the summer. The plans included cuts to predictable targets, such as education spending and public pension contributions, but also diverted money from highway projects, which are especially prized by the governor's rural supporters...
Missouri Lawmaker Proposes Banning Local Minimum Wages KSPR ...A Missouri Republican wants to ban local laws that raise the minimum wage, require employers to offer paid sick leave or other benefits or prohibit employers from asking about criminal convictions early in the job application process...
VA Lawmakers Defeat Bill To End Use Of Child Labor On Tobacco Farms WVIR ...A growing coalition is getting very vocal about the use of child workers on tobacco farms across Virginia. However, late Tuesday afternoon, a House committee defeated a bill to put limits on the practice...
War on Workers
5 Facts That Show Half of America Is Seriously Struggling Alternet ...Half of our nation, by all reasonable estimates of human need, is in poverty...
For SoCal aerospace workers, the end of an era — and a job Los Angeles Times ...If Boeing sticks to its plans, the last C-17 will be finished by late summer, and in a region that was once an aerospace giant, an era will come to an end...
City Worker Killed After Trench Collapses In Manhattan KWCH ...When emergency crews arrived, the first unit found the victim was buried up to his waist in dirt and mud. Fire crews were able to free the victim approximately 20 minutes later. He was transported to Mercy Regional where he was pronounced dead after succumbing from his injuries...
Mega-Dairies Overshadow Families (opinion) Ag Week ...Rural legislators should be focusing on legislation that helps all family farmers, not just the biggest of the big...
Miscellaneous
Showing posts with label sam brownback. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sam brownback. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
Sunday, January 25, 2015
Today's Teamster News 01.25.15
Teamsters
Teamsters approve new commercials contract Los Angeles Times …Members of Teamsters Local 399 have approved a new contract, avoiding a strike that would have shut down commercial production in Los Angeles...
Ernie Banks, the Eternally Hopeful Mr. Cub, Dies at 83 New York Times …Ernie Banks, the greatest power-hitting shortstop of the 20th century and an unconquerable optimist whose sunny disposition never dimmed in 19 seasons with the perennially stumbling Chicago Cubs, died Friday in Chicago. [He was also a Teamster.]...
Trade
The President Vs. TPP: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back daily kos …It's pretty simple: you can't advance a progressive agenda, or even one you call "liberal", that claims to want to combat inequality AND go all out to ram through the Trans Pacific Partnership using the odious "Fast track" authority. Here are the contradictions...
STOP TPP, EMERGENCY RALLY: Confront the Negotiators New York City, MONDAY!!! daily kos …On Monday, the TPP negotiators are gathering in New York City. A coalition of activists is working to pull off a huge rally, in a short amount of time. MONDAY, NOON, Sheraton Times Square at 7th Ave and 53rd St…
Opinion: TTIP: a taxpayer funded safety net for the super-rich Liberal Democrat Voice …Few things are more complicated and opaque than the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), a trade deal being hammered out between the EU and the USA...
TTIP – more “foreign” judges criticising “our” laws? UK Human Rights Blob …one part of the concern is that it will confer on investors (think multi-nationals) the right to sue governments for regulatory regimes causing loss of profits to those investors...
State Battles
Wisconsin set to finish fiscal year in $283M hole Channel 3000 …New nonpartisan projections show Wisconsin is on track to finish the current fiscal year with a larger shortfall than Gov. Scott Walker's administration anticipated...
To Make Up For His Massive Tax Cuts, Kansas Governor Proposes Cutting Schools ThinkProgress …Rather than retreat from the massive tax cuts that are crippling his state’s finances, Gov. Sam Brownback (R) wants to cut classroom funding for Kansas schools by $127 million and push pension fund payments off into the future...
War on Workers
The Manufacturing Footprint and the Importance of U.S. Manufacturing Jobs Alliance for American Manufacturing …The United States lost 5.7 manufacturing jobs between March 1998 and December 2013...
Serious Ethical Questions Arising From Journalist’s Participation In Koch Event ThinkProgress …ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Jonathan Karl will moderate a forum featuring three prominent GOP Senators on Sunday at an event hosted by a conservative political organization that has been called “the Koch Brothers’ secret bank.” While the event will be closed to media and the public — though streamed online — ThinkProgress has learned that ABC News will be paying for Karl’s travel and lodging for the Palm Springs, CA event...
Billions in Lost 401(k) Savings, Abusive Brokers Under White House Scrutiny Blomberg …One of President Barack Obama’s top economic advisers said abusive trading practices are costing workers billions of dollars in retirement savings each year and called for stricter rules on Wall Street brokers...
What You Can Learn from Oakland's Raw ALPR Data Electronic Frontier Foundation …Police cars mounted with automatic license plate readers (ALPRs) wind their way through the streets of Oakland like a “Snake” game on an old cell phone. Instead of eating up pixels of food, these cameras gobble down thousands of license plates each day. And instead of growing a longer tail, ALPRs feed into a giant database of locational data as they conduct surveillance on every driver within the city limits, and sometimes beyond...
The Davos oligarchs are right to fear the world they’ve made (opinion) …The big exception to the tide of inequality in recent years has been Latin America. Progressive governments across the region turned their back on a disastrous economic model, took back resources from corporate control and slashed inequality. The numbers living on less than $2 a day have fallen from 108 million to 53 million in little over a decade...
International Paper worker killed Press Republican …A worker at International Paper’s Ticonderoga mill who suffered severe burns Friday morning has died...
Teamsters approve new commercials contract Los Angeles Times …Members of Teamsters Local 399 have approved a new contract, avoiding a strike that would have shut down commercial production in Los Angeles...
Ernie Banks, the Eternally Hopeful Mr. Cub, Dies at 83 New York Times …Ernie Banks, the greatest power-hitting shortstop of the 20th century and an unconquerable optimist whose sunny disposition never dimmed in 19 seasons with the perennially stumbling Chicago Cubs, died Friday in Chicago. [He was also a Teamster.]...
Trade
The President Vs. TPP: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back daily kos …It's pretty simple: you can't advance a progressive agenda, or even one you call "liberal", that claims to want to combat inequality AND go all out to ram through the Trans Pacific Partnership using the odious "Fast track" authority. Here are the contradictions...
STOP TPP, EMERGENCY RALLY: Confront the Negotiators New York City, MONDAY!!! daily kos …On Monday, the TPP negotiators are gathering in New York City. A coalition of activists is working to pull off a huge rally, in a short amount of time. MONDAY, NOON, Sheraton Times Square at 7th Ave and 53rd St…
Opinion: TTIP: a taxpayer funded safety net for the super-rich Liberal Democrat Voice …Few things are more complicated and opaque than the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), a trade deal being hammered out between the EU and the USA...
TTIP – more “foreign” judges criticising “our” laws? UK Human Rights Blob …one part of the concern is that it will confer on investors (think multi-nationals) the right to sue governments for regulatory regimes causing loss of profits to those investors...
State Battles
Wisconsin set to finish fiscal year in $283M hole Channel 3000 …New nonpartisan projections show Wisconsin is on track to finish the current fiscal year with a larger shortfall than Gov. Scott Walker's administration anticipated...
To Make Up For His Massive Tax Cuts, Kansas Governor Proposes Cutting Schools ThinkProgress …Rather than retreat from the massive tax cuts that are crippling his state’s finances, Gov. Sam Brownback (R) wants to cut classroom funding for Kansas schools by $127 million and push pension fund payments off into the future...
War on Workers
The Manufacturing Footprint and the Importance of U.S. Manufacturing Jobs Alliance for American Manufacturing …The United States lost 5.7 manufacturing jobs between March 1998 and December 2013...
Serious Ethical Questions Arising From Journalist’s Participation In Koch Event ThinkProgress …ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Jonathan Karl will moderate a forum featuring three prominent GOP Senators on Sunday at an event hosted by a conservative political organization that has been called “the Koch Brothers’ secret bank.” While the event will be closed to media and the public — though streamed online — ThinkProgress has learned that ABC News will be paying for Karl’s travel and lodging for the Palm Springs, CA event...
Billions in Lost 401(k) Savings, Abusive Brokers Under White House Scrutiny Blomberg …One of President Barack Obama’s top economic advisers said abusive trading practices are costing workers billions of dollars in retirement savings each year and called for stricter rules on Wall Street brokers...
What You Can Learn from Oakland's Raw ALPR Data Electronic Frontier Foundation …Police cars mounted with automatic license plate readers (ALPRs) wind their way through the streets of Oakland like a “Snake” game on an old cell phone. Instead of eating up pixels of food, these cameras gobble down thousands of license plates each day. And instead of growing a longer tail, ALPRs feed into a giant database of locational data as they conduct surveillance on every driver within the city limits, and sometimes beyond...
The Davos oligarchs are right to fear the world they’ve made (opinion) …The big exception to the tide of inequality in recent years has been Latin America. Progressive governments across the region turned their back on a disastrous economic model, took back resources from corporate control and slashed inequality. The numbers living on less than $2 a day have fallen from 108 million to 53 million in little over a decade...
International Paper worker killed Press Republican …A worker at International Paper’s Ticonderoga mill who suffered severe burns Friday morning has died...
Tuesday, January 13, 2015
Today's Teamster News 01.13.15
Teamsters
Teamsters Call On Apple, Yahoo, Ebay, Zynga, Genetech, Amtrak To Support Compass Trans. Drivers teamster.org ...Rome Aloise, International Vice President and President of Teamsters Local 853 in San Leandro, Calif., sent letters to the CEOs of six East Bay-area companies this week, asking them to support the unionization efforts of the drivers that transport their employees. The drivers, employees of Compass Transportation, are seeking union representation and a contract...
More Silicon Valley Shuttle Drivers Look To Unionize USA Today ...The Teamsters have contacted the CEOs of six Silicon Valley-area companies — Amtrak, Apple, eBay, Genentech, Yahoo and Zynga — to tell them that its drivers want to join a union...
Teamsters vote to authorize strike over commercials contract Los Angeles Times ...A contract dispute between commercial producers and Teamsters Local 399 has escalated, raising the prospect of the first Hollywood strike by the union in nearly two decades...
State, Owner Negotiate Next Steps Involving Landfill Fire St. Louis Public Radio ...Bridgeton Landfill owner Republic Services has agreed to install two temperature monitoring probes in the landfill's north quarry, near radioactive waste at the adjacent West Lake Landfill. The agreement came after Attorney General Chris Koster took more legal action against Republic Services this week, out of concern that the underground fire in the landfill's south quarry might be spreading north, closer to the area of radioactivity...
Trade
Voters Not Congress Should Decide TPP Trade Pact (opinion) truthout ...We need to slow the TPP (Trans Pacific Pact) approval process down until after the 2016 elections. After the final full terms are made public, the voters should decide this issue using our democratic electoral processes. We need this to be a campaign issue in the Senate, House and Presidential elections. It will increase voter turnout (which is good for American democracy) and give the decision real legitimacy...
State Battles
Contractors unite to fight right-to-work Milwaukee Business Times ...More than 300 private businesses and private-sector skilled trade representatives from across Wisconsin have joined forces to support the newly formed Wisconsin Contractor Coalition and oppose so-called right-to-work legislation...
Steven Walters: Right-to-work fight would "distract" from Walker presidential bid Gazette Xtra ...Controversy over any right-to-work bill wouldn't end in Wisconsin's Capitol but could undercut his all-but-announced candidacy for president...
As White House defends unions, states go on the attack alJazeera America ...In state legislatures around the country, newly strengthened Republican majorities are expected to push right-to-work legislation and other policy initiatives feared by the labor movemen. Wisconsin, long considered a union stronghold, will also consider right-to-work legislation this year. So might New Mexico, West Virginia and Missouri, among others...
From Awful To Calamitous: Sam Brownback’s Second Term Is Off To A Terrible Start Salon.com ...the anti-tax crusader has little choice but to contemplate revenue increases — and according to the Wichita Eagle, Brownback is considering a range of options, including increased taxes on cigarettes and alcohol, ending some exemptions for sales and income taxes, increasing sales taxes, delaying further income tax cuts, and altering his tax law’s requirement that tax rates go down further if revenue increases by more than two percent...
War on Workers
House Budget Chair Signals Big Social Security Reforms A-Coming Talking Points Memo ...[U.S. Rep. Tom] Price, whose predecessor Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) never put forward major reform proposals in his otherwise ambitious budgets, offered means-testing and increasing the eligibility age as possibilities. He also hinted at privatizing Social Security...
United Studies Outsourcing Up To 2,000 Airport Jobs Wall Street Journal ...United Continental Holdings Inc. on Monday said it may outsource up to 2,000 jobs at 28 U.S. airports, including Atlanta, Miami, St. Louis and West Palm Beach, Fla., to vendors who would perform the duties at lower cost...
The US 'manufacturing renaissance' doesn't exist, says new report The Guardian ...the United States may have added only about one new manufacturing job in the last few years for every five that were lost during the financial crisis and the recession that followed...
Buffett’s BNSF Railway Considering Safer Oil Tank Cars Insurance Journal ...BNSF Railway Co., the railroad owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., is reconsidering a plan to buy 5,000 oil-tank cars built to new safety standards after some customers voiced concern about the initiative...
DuPont Workers May Have Been Exposed to Toxic Gas for Years Associated Press ...Records show that employees at a Houston-area pesticide plant where a poisonous gas killed four workers in November may have been exposed to dangerous fumes for years...
Miscellaneous
U.S. bus lines added routes in 2014, airline flights fell: study Reuters ...Stagnating middle-class incomes and the widening income gap in America have boosted business at bus companies, which cost less than flying or driving. ...[and] a significant part of the boost in bus business comes from younger Americans, who are turned off by extra security at airports and "are used to traveling on a shoestring budget."...
Barney Frank: Unions key to income equality (opinion) Portland Press Herald ...for capitalism to thrive, society must not have more economic inequality than is necessary; at some point too much inequality becomes economically damaging – and potentially destabilizing as well. America has been in that latter situation for more than a decade…
Teamsters Call On Apple, Yahoo, Ebay, Zynga, Genetech, Amtrak To Support Compass Trans. Drivers teamster.org ...Rome Aloise, International Vice President and President of Teamsters Local 853 in San Leandro, Calif., sent letters to the CEOs of six East Bay-area companies this week, asking them to support the unionization efforts of the drivers that transport their employees. The drivers, employees of Compass Transportation, are seeking union representation and a contract...
More Silicon Valley Shuttle Drivers Look To Unionize USA Today ...The Teamsters have contacted the CEOs of six Silicon Valley-area companies — Amtrak, Apple, eBay, Genentech, Yahoo and Zynga — to tell them that its drivers want to join a union...
Teamsters vote to authorize strike over commercials contract Los Angeles Times ...A contract dispute between commercial producers and Teamsters Local 399 has escalated, raising the prospect of the first Hollywood strike by the union in nearly two decades...
State, Owner Negotiate Next Steps Involving Landfill Fire St. Louis Public Radio ...Bridgeton Landfill owner Republic Services has agreed to install two temperature monitoring probes in the landfill's north quarry, near radioactive waste at the adjacent West Lake Landfill. The agreement came after Attorney General Chris Koster took more legal action against Republic Services this week, out of concern that the underground fire in the landfill's south quarry might be spreading north, closer to the area of radioactivity...
Trade
Voters Not Congress Should Decide TPP Trade Pact (opinion) truthout ...We need to slow the TPP (Trans Pacific Pact) approval process down until after the 2016 elections. After the final full terms are made public, the voters should decide this issue using our democratic electoral processes. We need this to be a campaign issue in the Senate, House and Presidential elections. It will increase voter turnout (which is good for American democracy) and give the decision real legitimacy...
State Battles
Contractors unite to fight right-to-work Milwaukee Business Times ...More than 300 private businesses and private-sector skilled trade representatives from across Wisconsin have joined forces to support the newly formed Wisconsin Contractor Coalition and oppose so-called right-to-work legislation...
Steven Walters: Right-to-work fight would "distract" from Walker presidential bid Gazette Xtra ...Controversy over any right-to-work bill wouldn't end in Wisconsin's Capitol but could undercut his all-but-announced candidacy for president...
As White House defends unions, states go on the attack alJazeera America ...In state legislatures around the country, newly strengthened Republican majorities are expected to push right-to-work legislation and other policy initiatives feared by the labor movemen. Wisconsin, long considered a union stronghold, will also consider right-to-work legislation this year. So might New Mexico, West Virginia and Missouri, among others...
From Awful To Calamitous: Sam Brownback’s Second Term Is Off To A Terrible Start Salon.com ...the anti-tax crusader has little choice but to contemplate revenue increases — and according to the Wichita Eagle, Brownback is considering a range of options, including increased taxes on cigarettes and alcohol, ending some exemptions for sales and income taxes, increasing sales taxes, delaying further income tax cuts, and altering his tax law’s requirement that tax rates go down further if revenue increases by more than two percent...
War on Workers
House Budget Chair Signals Big Social Security Reforms A-Coming Talking Points Memo ...[U.S. Rep. Tom] Price, whose predecessor Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) never put forward major reform proposals in his otherwise ambitious budgets, offered means-testing and increasing the eligibility age as possibilities. He also hinted at privatizing Social Security...
United Studies Outsourcing Up To 2,000 Airport Jobs Wall Street Journal ...United Continental Holdings Inc. on Monday said it may outsource up to 2,000 jobs at 28 U.S. airports, including Atlanta, Miami, St. Louis and West Palm Beach, Fla., to vendors who would perform the duties at lower cost...
The US 'manufacturing renaissance' doesn't exist, says new report The Guardian ...the United States may have added only about one new manufacturing job in the last few years for every five that were lost during the financial crisis and the recession that followed...
Buffett’s BNSF Railway Considering Safer Oil Tank Cars Insurance Journal ...BNSF Railway Co., the railroad owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., is reconsidering a plan to buy 5,000 oil-tank cars built to new safety standards after some customers voiced concern about the initiative...
DuPont Workers May Have Been Exposed to Toxic Gas for Years Associated Press ...Records show that employees at a Houston-area pesticide plant where a poisonous gas killed four workers in November may have been exposed to dangerous fumes for years...
Miscellaneous
U.S. bus lines added routes in 2014, airline flights fell: study Reuters ...Stagnating middle-class incomes and the widening income gap in America have boosted business at bus companies, which cost less than flying or driving. ...[and] a significant part of the boost in bus business comes from younger Americans, who are turned off by extra security at airports and "are used to traveling on a shoestring budget."...
Barney Frank: Unions key to income equality (opinion) Portland Press Herald ...for capitalism to thrive, society must not have more economic inequality than is necessary; at some point too much inequality becomes economically damaging – and potentially destabilizing as well. America has been in that latter situation for more than a decade…
Thursday, November 20, 2014
Today's Teamster News 11.20.14
Teamster News
FedEx Freight Workers In Charlotte Vote To Join Teamsters Local 71 teamster.org ... A group of 222 drivers at FedEx Freight’s Charlotte, N.C., terminal voted today to join Teamsters Local 71...
Sysco And Us Foods Teamsters Protest Sysco Shareholders Meeting teamster.org ...Teamsters employed at Sysco and US Foods protested outside Sysco’s shareholders meeting today to demand answers to tough questions from the company’s Board of Directors about its proposed purchase of US Foods and the impact on thousands of jobs...
Facebook Drivers Vote To Join Teamsters teamster.org ... Drivers who shuttle Facebook employees to and from the company headquarters in Menlo Park., Calif., have voted in favor of representation by Teamsters Local 853 in San Leandro, Calif...
Yonkers, Teamsters employees agree to new 10-year contract MidHudson News ...The City of Yonkers and Teamsters Local 456 have agreed to a new 10-year contract for city employees. The pack, supported by 80 percent of the union’s membership, is retroactive to 2009 and will expire in 2018, Mayor Michael Spano announced Wednesday...
Trade
Conservatives and Liberals Agree, TPP Hates Your Freedom (opinion) Huffington Post ...This supposed trade deal has far-reaching legal implications for our nation and beyond but it has been negotiated in secret without oversight from Congress or the American People...
Obama Is Pushing Two Giant Trade Deals — Here’s What You Need to Know Campaign for America's Future ...only eight House Democrats are on record as favoring fast-track. On the other side of the aisle, as I noted in January, the tea party wing of the Republican Party has dubbed the TPP “Obamatrade,” and is warning, in the words of one “analyst” on the Tea Party News Network, that TPP is a “weapon aimed straight at our Constitution, straight at our sovereignty and straight at Christians around the world.”...
State Battles
S.F. Supervisors Vote 10-0 To Approve "Bill Of Rights" For Formula Retail Workers San Francisco Business Journal ...San Francisco restaurant and retail workers will have more predictable schedules and more opportunities for full-time work under two ordinances passed unanimously by the Board of Supervisors Tuesday...
Voter ID Laws Scrutinized For Impact On Midterms New York Times ...In North Carolina, early voting was cut by seven days. In Kansas, 22,000 people were stopped from registering to vote because they lacked proof of citizenship. And in Texas, Democrats say the country’s toughest voter ID law contributed to a one-term congressman’s losing a tight race to his Republican rival....
Unions Aren't The Problem For Alabama Workers (opinion) Montgomery Advertiser ...union workers earn nearly $4 more per hour than non-union workers for the same work. They have significantly better benefits and retirement plans. And they receive raises and bonuses more frequently. Additionally, unions keep the gap between worker pay and CEO pay closer and they reduce the amount of tax dollars spent on employee training and re-training, because the unions usually ensure its members are properly trained...
Report That Poverty Declined Under Brownback Was Misleading WIBW ...A state agency acknowledges it sent out a news release shortly before November's election that incorrectly claimed poverty in Kansas had declined under Gov. Sam Brownback's administration...
UC tuition-hike plan advances, but debate just beginning San Jose Mercury News ...University of California regents voted Wednesday to raise tuition annually for the next five years if the state doesn't give the system more funding, making an aggressive -- if wildly unpopular -- first move in a high-stakes state-funding fight...
War on Workers
Push To Protect Immigrant Farm Workers Wall Street Journal ...Farm workers and some agriculture industry officials are making a last-minute push for President Barack Obama to include protections for undocumented agricultural workers in his new immigration policy, worried that the pending executive action may be the last opportunity to change immigration rules for a while...
Amazon Worker Forces Changes As Labor Board Settles Claim Bloomberg Businessweek ...the settlement requires the online retailer to post notices at its fulfillment centers notifying employees that they have the right to form unions and work with each other for collective benefits...
Senate Report Criticizes Goldman and JPMorgan Over Their Influence in Commodities Market New York Times ...A two-year Senate-led investigation is throwing back the curtain on the outsize and sometimes hidden sway that Wall Street banks have gained over the markets for essential commodities like oil, aluminum and coal...
Walmart Workers Rally in "Global Day of Action for Decent Work" truthout ...On November 19, Walmart workers in 10 countries are holding demonstrations to highlight the company's poor labor practices from its retail stores throughout the entire supply chain, and to call for a living wage for Walmart's global workforce and countless supply chain workers...
Tracy Morgan Fighting To Recover From ‘Severe Brain Injury,’ Lawyer Says New York Times ...A Walmart truck slammed into a limo van that was carrying Mr. Morgan and several friends on their way back from a show in Delaware. One person was killed, and three others were injured, two seriously. Mr. Morgan, 46, spent several weeks in a hospital and in rehabilitation...
Chesapeake police ID worker killed in accident Associated Press ...Chesapeake police have identified a worker who died after he was run over by truck. Officer Kelly O'Sullivan tells media outlets that 47-year-old Nouel Fallejo of Virginia Beach was working on the truck...
Lawsuit settlement in death of film worker in Ga. Associated Press ... The family of a film worker killed when she was hit along train tracks while shooting a biographical movie about singer Gregg Allman announced a settlement Wednesday with several defendants...
West Texas worker killed under semitrailer Associated Press ...Authorities in West Texas say a worker has died after being crushed under a semitrailer that he was working on...
Miscellaneous
Bill To Restrict N.S.A. Data Collection Blocked In Vote By Senate Republicans New York Times ...Tuesday’s vote only put off until next year a debate over security and personal liberties. While a Republican-controlled Senate is less likely to go along with the kinds of reforms that were in the bill, which sponsors had named the U.S.A. Freedom Act, the debate could further expose rifts between the party’s interventionist and more libertarian-leaning wings...
FedEx Freight Workers In Charlotte Vote To Join Teamsters Local 71 teamster.org ... A group of 222 drivers at FedEx Freight’s Charlotte, N.C., terminal voted today to join Teamsters Local 71...
Sysco And Us Foods Teamsters Protest Sysco Shareholders Meeting teamster.org ...Teamsters employed at Sysco and US Foods protested outside Sysco’s shareholders meeting today to demand answers to tough questions from the company’s Board of Directors about its proposed purchase of US Foods and the impact on thousands of jobs...
Facebook Drivers Vote To Join Teamsters teamster.org ... Drivers who shuttle Facebook employees to and from the company headquarters in Menlo Park., Calif., have voted in favor of representation by Teamsters Local 853 in San Leandro, Calif...
Yonkers, Teamsters employees agree to new 10-year contract MidHudson News ...The City of Yonkers and Teamsters Local 456 have agreed to a new 10-year contract for city employees. The pack, supported by 80 percent of the union’s membership, is retroactive to 2009 and will expire in 2018, Mayor Michael Spano announced Wednesday...
Trade
Conservatives and Liberals Agree, TPP Hates Your Freedom (opinion) Huffington Post ...This supposed trade deal has far-reaching legal implications for our nation and beyond but it has been negotiated in secret without oversight from Congress or the American People...
Obama Is Pushing Two Giant Trade Deals — Here’s What You Need to Know Campaign for America's Future ...only eight House Democrats are on record as favoring fast-track. On the other side of the aisle, as I noted in January, the tea party wing of the Republican Party has dubbed the TPP “Obamatrade,” and is warning, in the words of one “analyst” on the Tea Party News Network, that TPP is a “weapon aimed straight at our Constitution, straight at our sovereignty and straight at Christians around the world.”...
State Battles
S.F. Supervisors Vote 10-0 To Approve "Bill Of Rights" For Formula Retail Workers San Francisco Business Journal ...San Francisco restaurant and retail workers will have more predictable schedules and more opportunities for full-time work under two ordinances passed unanimously by the Board of Supervisors Tuesday...
Voter ID Laws Scrutinized For Impact On Midterms New York Times ...In North Carolina, early voting was cut by seven days. In Kansas, 22,000 people were stopped from registering to vote because they lacked proof of citizenship. And in Texas, Democrats say the country’s toughest voter ID law contributed to a one-term congressman’s losing a tight race to his Republican rival....
Unions Aren't The Problem For Alabama Workers (opinion) Montgomery Advertiser ...union workers earn nearly $4 more per hour than non-union workers for the same work. They have significantly better benefits and retirement plans. And they receive raises and bonuses more frequently. Additionally, unions keep the gap between worker pay and CEO pay closer and they reduce the amount of tax dollars spent on employee training and re-training, because the unions usually ensure its members are properly trained...
Report That Poverty Declined Under Brownback Was Misleading WIBW ...A state agency acknowledges it sent out a news release shortly before November's election that incorrectly claimed poverty in Kansas had declined under Gov. Sam Brownback's administration...
UC tuition-hike plan advances, but debate just beginning San Jose Mercury News ...University of California regents voted Wednesday to raise tuition annually for the next five years if the state doesn't give the system more funding, making an aggressive -- if wildly unpopular -- first move in a high-stakes state-funding fight...
War on Workers
Push To Protect Immigrant Farm Workers Wall Street Journal ...Farm workers and some agriculture industry officials are making a last-minute push for President Barack Obama to include protections for undocumented agricultural workers in his new immigration policy, worried that the pending executive action may be the last opportunity to change immigration rules for a while...
Amazon Worker Forces Changes As Labor Board Settles Claim Bloomberg Businessweek ...the settlement requires the online retailer to post notices at its fulfillment centers notifying employees that they have the right to form unions and work with each other for collective benefits...
Senate Report Criticizes Goldman and JPMorgan Over Their Influence in Commodities Market New York Times ...A two-year Senate-led investigation is throwing back the curtain on the outsize and sometimes hidden sway that Wall Street banks have gained over the markets for essential commodities like oil, aluminum and coal...
Walmart Workers Rally in "Global Day of Action for Decent Work" truthout ...On November 19, Walmart workers in 10 countries are holding demonstrations to highlight the company's poor labor practices from its retail stores throughout the entire supply chain, and to call for a living wage for Walmart's global workforce and countless supply chain workers...
Tracy Morgan Fighting To Recover From ‘Severe Brain Injury,’ Lawyer Says New York Times ...A Walmart truck slammed into a limo van that was carrying Mr. Morgan and several friends on their way back from a show in Delaware. One person was killed, and three others were injured, two seriously. Mr. Morgan, 46, spent several weeks in a hospital and in rehabilitation...
Chesapeake police ID worker killed in accident Associated Press ...Chesapeake police have identified a worker who died after he was run over by truck. Officer Kelly O'Sullivan tells media outlets that 47-year-old Nouel Fallejo of Virginia Beach was working on the truck...
Lawsuit settlement in death of film worker in Ga. Associated Press ... The family of a film worker killed when she was hit along train tracks while shooting a biographical movie about singer Gregg Allman announced a settlement Wednesday with several defendants...
West Texas worker killed under semitrailer Associated Press ...Authorities in West Texas say a worker has died after being crushed under a semitrailer that he was working on...
Miscellaneous
Bill To Restrict N.S.A. Data Collection Blocked In Vote By Senate Republicans New York Times ...Tuesday’s vote only put off until next year a debate over security and personal liberties. While a Republican-controlled Senate is less likely to go along with the kinds of reforms that were in the bill, which sponsors had named the U.S.A. Freedom Act, the debate could further expose rifts between the party’s interventionist and more libertarian-leaning wings...
Saturday, November 8, 2014
Today's Teamster News 11.08.14
Teamster News
Teamsters Applaud U.S. Appeals Court Decision Reinstating Misclassified Port Truck Drivers teamster.org ...In a landmark victory for misclassified “independent contractors” across America, two previously fired port truck drivers have returned to work today as employees of Green Fleet Systems (GFS) in Long Beach, Calif. Earlier misclassified as independent contractors by GFS...
Waste Workers In Houston Vote To Join Teamsters Local 988 teamster.org ...Workers at WCA Waste Corporation in Houston, who are seeking fair wages, job security and safer working conditions, voted today to join Teamsters Local 988. The vote was 90 to 28...
Trade
Thousands rally against trade agreement TVNZ ...There's been an outcry against secretive trade talks, with thousands joining rallies around [New Zealand]. The target of the protesters' anger in 17 towns and cities is the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement...
What the 2014 Election Results Mean for Trade Policy Public Citizen ...The GOP takeover of the U.S. Senate probably reduces the chances that President Barack Obama gets Fast Track at all before his presidency is over or that a deal is completed on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)...
State Battles
One Community Beat Big Money On Election Day. Here's How They Did It. Huffington Post ...Voters in Florida's capital city overwhelmingly approved an extraordinary ethics and campaign finance reform ballot initiative that fights money in politics corruption, reclaims local government for the people, and provides a path to victory for national reform efforts...
Kansas Governor’s Grand Tax Cut Experiment Is Gutting His State’s Services Think Progress ...Kansas brought in $23 million less in tax revenue in October than the state had predicted, continuing a pattern of serious shortfalls that began when Gov. Sam Brownback’s (R) massive tax cuts went into effect in 2012...
Wingnut Voter ID Group Fails Again: “Voter Integrity” Outfit Unable To Find Midterm Fraud Salon.com ...Despite army of monitors, Catherine Engelbrecht's discredited organization uncovers 0 polling place impersonations...
Former Mississippi Prisons Head Charged With Getting Kickbacks, Bribes On Prison Contracts Slate ...A 49-count federal indictment unsealed on Thursday charges the head of prisons in Mississippi, Christopher Epps, with orchestrating a massive corruption scheme where he pocketed hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from private prison companies in return for contracts to work in the Mississippi prison system...
War on Workers
U.S. labor market tightens, but wages still anemic Reuters ...Average hourly earnings rose only three cents last month, leaving the year-on-year increase at 2.0 percent, the level it has been around for the last few years. The muted wage growth partly reflects the types of jobs being created. In October, about a fifth of the new jobs were in the food services sector...
The hidden truth about job growth, lost amidst the statistical noise & optimists’ hopes Fabius Maximus ...The key thing to know about the latest job report is the same thing to know about all 2014’s job reports: there has been no change to the trend. No sign of the acceleration so confidently forecast by so many. This confirms the other economic indicators, amidst the slowing world economy...
Whole Foods Employees Ask For a Union Gawker ... There is now an official movement on to unionize at least one Whole Foods store on 4th street in San Francisco. A press release that went out yesterday says that 20 workers held a rally and "initiated a temporary work stoppage to deliver a petition to Whole Foods management demanding a $5 an hour wage increase for all employees and no retaliation against workers for organizing a union."...
Facebook Conducted ‘Psychological Experiment’ On Users To Manipulate US Election Turnout Addicting Info ...The company admits that it deliberately suppressed personal posts from people on your friend’s list, while promoting other posts, in an experiment designed to exploit users emotional response in relation to the 2012 election...
Lawsuit: Chicago Futures Market Creates “Guaranteed Winners and Guaranteed Losers” Wall Street on Parade ...Last week three futures traders told a Federal court in Chicago that it’s not just the high frequency trading firms that are reaping a windfall but the exchanges who are engaged in a conspiracy with them to create “guaranteed winners and guaranteed losers.”...
Citizens United Boss: Supreme Court Ruling Handed Midterm Elections To Republicans Raw Story ...“Citizens United, our Supreme Court case, leveled the playing field, and we’re very proud of the impact that had in last night’s election,” said David Bossie, chairman of the conservative advocacy organization...
Explosive Oil Transported Through Indiana Counties Without Notice WISH ...For months, trains hauling millions of gallons of highly flammable crude oil passed through at least 12 Indiana counties with no advanced warning to firefighters, hazardous materials directors or local emergency managers, an I-Team 8 investigation has found...
More Employers Are Hiring But They Aren’t Raising Pay FiveThirtyEight ...7 in 10 Americans said in exit polls that the economy is in bad shape, and only 28 percent said their financial situation had improved in the past two years. Dissatisfaction with the state of the economy was widely cited as a principal reason for Republicans’ big gains...
Maintenance Worker Dead After Being Trapped In Machine At Fairfield Bowling Alley WCPO ...A maintenance worker at a Butler County bowling alley died Thursday afternoon after getting caught in a machine he was trying to repair...
Miscellaeous
Nation's first soda tax is passed USA Today ...Berkeley, Calif., became the first U.S. city to pass a law taxing sugary drinks including sodas...
Mexico scraps high-speed rail project won by China over corruption worries McClatchy ...Perceptions that Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto rewarded friends with a share of a $4.3 billion high-speed rail contract won by a Chinese-led consortium led this week to a stunning decision by Mexico to scrap the deal and start over with new bidding...
Teamsters Applaud U.S. Appeals Court Decision Reinstating Misclassified Port Truck Drivers teamster.org ...In a landmark victory for misclassified “independent contractors” across America, two previously fired port truck drivers have returned to work today as employees of Green Fleet Systems (GFS) in Long Beach, Calif. Earlier misclassified as independent contractors by GFS...
Waste Workers In Houston Vote To Join Teamsters Local 988 teamster.org ...Workers at WCA Waste Corporation in Houston, who are seeking fair wages, job security and safer working conditions, voted today to join Teamsters Local 988. The vote was 90 to 28...
Trade
Thousands rally against trade agreement TVNZ ...There's been an outcry against secretive trade talks, with thousands joining rallies around [New Zealand]. The target of the protesters' anger in 17 towns and cities is the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement...
What the 2014 Election Results Mean for Trade Policy Public Citizen ...The GOP takeover of the U.S. Senate probably reduces the chances that President Barack Obama gets Fast Track at all before his presidency is over or that a deal is completed on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)...
State Battles
One Community Beat Big Money On Election Day. Here's How They Did It. Huffington Post ...Voters in Florida's capital city overwhelmingly approved an extraordinary ethics and campaign finance reform ballot initiative that fights money in politics corruption, reclaims local government for the people, and provides a path to victory for national reform efforts...
Kansas Governor’s Grand Tax Cut Experiment Is Gutting His State’s Services Think Progress ...Kansas brought in $23 million less in tax revenue in October than the state had predicted, continuing a pattern of serious shortfalls that began when Gov. Sam Brownback’s (R) massive tax cuts went into effect in 2012...
Wingnut Voter ID Group Fails Again: “Voter Integrity” Outfit Unable To Find Midterm Fraud Salon.com ...Despite army of monitors, Catherine Engelbrecht's discredited organization uncovers 0 polling place impersonations...
Former Mississippi Prisons Head Charged With Getting Kickbacks, Bribes On Prison Contracts Slate ...A 49-count federal indictment unsealed on Thursday charges the head of prisons in Mississippi, Christopher Epps, with orchestrating a massive corruption scheme where he pocketed hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from private prison companies in return for contracts to work in the Mississippi prison system...
War on Workers
U.S. labor market tightens, but wages still anemic Reuters ...Average hourly earnings rose only three cents last month, leaving the year-on-year increase at 2.0 percent, the level it has been around for the last few years. The muted wage growth partly reflects the types of jobs being created. In October, about a fifth of the new jobs were in the food services sector...
The hidden truth about job growth, lost amidst the statistical noise & optimists’ hopes Fabius Maximus ...The key thing to know about the latest job report is the same thing to know about all 2014’s job reports: there has been no change to the trend. No sign of the acceleration so confidently forecast by so many. This confirms the other economic indicators, amidst the slowing world economy...
Whole Foods Employees Ask For a Union Gawker ... There is now an official movement on to unionize at least one Whole Foods store on 4th street in San Francisco. A press release that went out yesterday says that 20 workers held a rally and "initiated a temporary work stoppage to deliver a petition to Whole Foods management demanding a $5 an hour wage increase for all employees and no retaliation against workers for organizing a union."...
Facebook Conducted ‘Psychological Experiment’ On Users To Manipulate US Election Turnout Addicting Info ...The company admits that it deliberately suppressed personal posts from people on your friend’s list, while promoting other posts, in an experiment designed to exploit users emotional response in relation to the 2012 election...
Lawsuit: Chicago Futures Market Creates “Guaranteed Winners and Guaranteed Losers” Wall Street on Parade ...Last week three futures traders told a Federal court in Chicago that it’s not just the high frequency trading firms that are reaping a windfall but the exchanges who are engaged in a conspiracy with them to create “guaranteed winners and guaranteed losers.”...
Citizens United Boss: Supreme Court Ruling Handed Midterm Elections To Republicans Raw Story ...“Citizens United, our Supreme Court case, leveled the playing field, and we’re very proud of the impact that had in last night’s election,” said David Bossie, chairman of the conservative advocacy organization...
Explosive Oil Transported Through Indiana Counties Without Notice WISH ...For months, trains hauling millions of gallons of highly flammable crude oil passed through at least 12 Indiana counties with no advanced warning to firefighters, hazardous materials directors or local emergency managers, an I-Team 8 investigation has found...
More Employers Are Hiring But They Aren’t Raising Pay FiveThirtyEight ...7 in 10 Americans said in exit polls that the economy is in bad shape, and only 28 percent said their financial situation had improved in the past two years. Dissatisfaction with the state of the economy was widely cited as a principal reason for Republicans’ big gains...
Maintenance Worker Dead After Being Trapped In Machine At Fairfield Bowling Alley WCPO ...A maintenance worker at a Butler County bowling alley died Thursday afternoon after getting caught in a machine he was trying to repair...
Miscellaeous
Nation's first soda tax is passed USA Today ...Berkeley, Calif., became the first U.S. city to pass a law taxing sugary drinks including sodas...
Mexico scraps high-speed rail project won by China over corruption worries McClatchy ...Perceptions that Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto rewarded friends with a share of a $4.3 billion high-speed rail contract won by a Chinese-led consortium led this week to a stunning decision by Mexico to scrap the deal and start over with new bidding...
Tuesday, November 4, 2014
Today's Teamster News 11.04.14
Teamster News
Sysco Drivers In Missouri Vote To Join Teamsters Local 41 teamster.org ...Sysco drivers voted to join Teamsters Local 41 in Kansas City, Mo. There are 43 drivers in the bargaining unit and the vote count announced today was 25-14...
Hoffa Makes Final GOTV Push At Worksites Around Detroit teamster.org ...Teamster General President Jim Hoffa pounded the pavement today across the Detroit metro area, encouraging hundreds of members to exercise their right to vote in tomorrow's election...
Deadly Driving Fleet Owner ...What's so hard about coming up with a rational set of training standards for new commercial truck drivers? Apparently the task is so difficult that the Dept. of Transportation has failed to respond to two specific demands from Congress to up the requirements for obtaining a truck driving license for more than 20 years. It has taken so long that the Teamsters and a few safety interest groups have now turned to the courts for a remedy...
Sysco Doesn't See US Foods Deal Closing This Year Market Watch ...Sysco Corp. said Monday that it doesn't expect its pending acquisition of US Foods to close before the first quarter of next year...
Trade
Corporations Aren't People And They Aren't Nation States, Either (opinion) Huffington Post ...Despite what some politicians say, corporations aren't people. But, even worse, when it comes to the world's biggest trade deals, corporations are actually treated like nation states. Thankfully, a major storm is brewing that could put a crack in this fundamental pillar of the existing free trade regime...
State Battles
SKW = Scott Walker Crooks & Liars ...prosecutors have stated that Walker is at the center of another "criminal scheme". This secondary investigation is about the illegal collaboration between Walker's campaign and dark money groups. Walker hasn't denied doing this...
David Perdue: 'Sure, We Closed Plants All The Time' Daily Kos ...Said Perdue: “Sure, we closed down plants all the time. I mean, but it was never in direct relationship to things going on offshore.”...
Even Without Voter ID Laws, Minority Voters Face More Hurdles To Casting Ballots Mother Jones ...Nationally, African Americans waited about twice as long to vote in the 2012 election as white people (23 minutes on average versus 12 minutes); Hispanics waited 19 minutes. White people who live in neighborhoods whose residents are less than 5 percent minority had the shortest of all wait times, just 7 minutes...
Kansas Tax Cuts Fail Again, As New Revenue Numbers Plague Sam Brownback But Help Paul Davis (opinion) Kansas City Star ..the Brownback tax-cut “experiment” is not working and Kansas voters need to oust him at the polls on Tuesday. The tax cuts are bleeding the state of needed funds to pay for high-quality public services to the people of Kansas. If the revenue problems continue, the next governor is going to have to cut services to the people — and certainly halt proposed bigger tax reductions in their tracks...
Holder sends poll watchers to 18 states The Hill ...The Department of Justice plans to send federal monitors to 18 states to watch for discrimination against voters. Monitors will head to Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, North Carolina, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin...
War on Workers
JP Morgan Under Criminal Investigation for Foreign Exchange Trading Abuses naked capitalism ...J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. said the Justice Department is conducting a criminal investigation of its foreign-exchange-related matters and bumped up a figure measuring the bank’s potential legal costs by $1.3 billion, according to a regulatory filing that the bank released Monday...
The New York Fed Has Contracted JPMorgan to Hold Over $1.7 Trillion of its QE Bonds Despite Two Felony Counts and Serial Charges of Crimes Wall Street on Parade ...During the period in which JPMorgan has been the trusted custodian of a major part of the assets of the U.S. central bank, it has been repeatedly charged with serial crimes...
More Protests, Concern Over Growth Of Oil Trains In Washington NBC News ...Thursday's meeting was moved to the Red Lion Hotel on Evergreen Park Drive after it became clear that there wouldn't be enough room to hold it at the Department of Ecology offices in Lacey, said Lisa Copeland, the agency's communications manager. A meeting was held in Spokane earlier this week, a city also seeing growing train traffic...
Supreme Court Rejects Challenge to Senate Filibuster Rule Wall Street Journal ...The Supreme Court on Monday declined to review whether the Senate’s filibuster rule violates the Constitution, denying without comment an appeal filed by a public interest group and four House Democrats...
Uber Charges Man $539 For 18-Mile Trip yahoo.com ...Many Halloween partiers opted to pay a driver instead of risking the cost of a DUI, but a Denver man who used Uber the popular car service paid a much, much higher price than he ever thought possible...
Worker killed in Marshall power line accident Charleston Gazette ...One worker was killed and another seriously hurt in an electric power line accident Monday afternoon in Marshall County, authorities said...
Charlotte-based worker killed by falling tape measure wsoctv.com ... A man delivering sheet rock to a construction site in New Jersey was killed Monday when a tape measure fell 50 stories and hit him on the head, authorities said...
Miscellaneous
Voting Information League of Women Voters ...Click on the link and enter your address for personalized voting information including the address of your polling place, hours you can vote and voter registration information...
Waiting For Keystone Al-Jazeera America ...Baker, a city a few miles from the North Dakota border, home to a little less than 2,000 residents, makes clear why: It’s bustling thanks to the ancillary effects of the oil industry, mainly drilling in eastern Montana and western North Dakota. Hotels are full, real estate prices are high, and the population is slowly growing...
NSA Phone Program Faces Key Court Test The Hill ...Along with other high-profile court cases challenging the constitutionality of the NSA’s spying, civil liberties advocates are sensing that the wind is at their backs, even as Congress has failed to push legislation past the finish line...
Sysco Drivers In Missouri Vote To Join Teamsters Local 41 teamster.org ...Sysco drivers voted to join Teamsters Local 41 in Kansas City, Mo. There are 43 drivers in the bargaining unit and the vote count announced today was 25-14...
Hoffa Makes Final GOTV Push At Worksites Around Detroit teamster.org ...Teamster General President Jim Hoffa pounded the pavement today across the Detroit metro area, encouraging hundreds of members to exercise their right to vote in tomorrow's election...
Deadly Driving Fleet Owner ...What's so hard about coming up with a rational set of training standards for new commercial truck drivers? Apparently the task is so difficult that the Dept. of Transportation has failed to respond to two specific demands from Congress to up the requirements for obtaining a truck driving license for more than 20 years. It has taken so long that the Teamsters and a few safety interest groups have now turned to the courts for a remedy...
Sysco Doesn't See US Foods Deal Closing This Year Market Watch ...Sysco Corp. said Monday that it doesn't expect its pending acquisition of US Foods to close before the first quarter of next year...
Trade
Corporations Aren't People And They Aren't Nation States, Either (opinion) Huffington Post ...Despite what some politicians say, corporations aren't people. But, even worse, when it comes to the world's biggest trade deals, corporations are actually treated like nation states. Thankfully, a major storm is brewing that could put a crack in this fundamental pillar of the existing free trade regime...
State Battles
SKW = Scott Walker Crooks & Liars ...prosecutors have stated that Walker is at the center of another "criminal scheme". This secondary investigation is about the illegal collaboration between Walker's campaign and dark money groups. Walker hasn't denied doing this...
David Perdue: 'Sure, We Closed Plants All The Time' Daily Kos ...Said Perdue: “Sure, we closed down plants all the time. I mean, but it was never in direct relationship to things going on offshore.”...
Even Without Voter ID Laws, Minority Voters Face More Hurdles To Casting Ballots Mother Jones ...Nationally, African Americans waited about twice as long to vote in the 2012 election as white people (23 minutes on average versus 12 minutes); Hispanics waited 19 minutes. White people who live in neighborhoods whose residents are less than 5 percent minority had the shortest of all wait times, just 7 minutes...
Kansas Tax Cuts Fail Again, As New Revenue Numbers Plague Sam Brownback But Help Paul Davis (opinion) Kansas City Star ..the Brownback tax-cut “experiment” is not working and Kansas voters need to oust him at the polls on Tuesday. The tax cuts are bleeding the state of needed funds to pay for high-quality public services to the people of Kansas. If the revenue problems continue, the next governor is going to have to cut services to the people — and certainly halt proposed bigger tax reductions in their tracks...
Holder sends poll watchers to 18 states The Hill ...The Department of Justice plans to send federal monitors to 18 states to watch for discrimination against voters. Monitors will head to Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, North Carolina, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin...
War on Workers
JP Morgan Under Criminal Investigation for Foreign Exchange Trading Abuses naked capitalism ...J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. said the Justice Department is conducting a criminal investigation of its foreign-exchange-related matters and bumped up a figure measuring the bank’s potential legal costs by $1.3 billion, according to a regulatory filing that the bank released Monday...
The New York Fed Has Contracted JPMorgan to Hold Over $1.7 Trillion of its QE Bonds Despite Two Felony Counts and Serial Charges of Crimes Wall Street on Parade ...During the period in which JPMorgan has been the trusted custodian of a major part of the assets of the U.S. central bank, it has been repeatedly charged with serial crimes...
More Protests, Concern Over Growth Of Oil Trains In Washington NBC News ...Thursday's meeting was moved to the Red Lion Hotel on Evergreen Park Drive after it became clear that there wouldn't be enough room to hold it at the Department of Ecology offices in Lacey, said Lisa Copeland, the agency's communications manager. A meeting was held in Spokane earlier this week, a city also seeing growing train traffic...
Supreme Court Rejects Challenge to Senate Filibuster Rule Wall Street Journal ...The Supreme Court on Monday declined to review whether the Senate’s filibuster rule violates the Constitution, denying without comment an appeal filed by a public interest group and four House Democrats...
Uber Charges Man $539 For 18-Mile Trip yahoo.com ...Many Halloween partiers opted to pay a driver instead of risking the cost of a DUI, but a Denver man who used Uber the popular car service paid a much, much higher price than he ever thought possible...
Worker killed in Marshall power line accident Charleston Gazette ...One worker was killed and another seriously hurt in an electric power line accident Monday afternoon in Marshall County, authorities said...
Charlotte-based worker killed by falling tape measure wsoctv.com ... A man delivering sheet rock to a construction site in New Jersey was killed Monday when a tape measure fell 50 stories and hit him on the head, authorities said...
Miscellaneous
Voting Information League of Women Voters ...Click on the link and enter your address for personalized voting information including the address of your polling place, hours you can vote and voter registration information...
Waiting For Keystone Al-Jazeera America ...Baker, a city a few miles from the North Dakota border, home to a little less than 2,000 residents, makes clear why: It’s bustling thanks to the ancillary effects of the oil industry, mainly drilling in eastern Montana and western North Dakota. Hotels are full, real estate prices are high, and the population is slowly growing...
NSA Phone Program Faces Key Court Test The Hill ...Along with other high-profile court cases challenging the constitutionality of the NSA’s spying, civil liberties advocates are sensing that the wind is at their backs, even as Congress has failed to push legislation past the finish line...
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
Today's Teamster News 10.28.14
Teamster News
Zodiac Workers Approve New Contract, End Strike KTEN ...Workers from the largest employer in Cooke County will be heading back to work Monday after about a month on the picket line. Employees at the Zodiac Seats manufacturing facility in Gainesville approved a new contract by an overwhelming margin earlier Saturday afternoon. Teamsters Local 767 representative Terry Johnson says the key issues of the contract dispute were work environment, seniority rights, and work schedules...
NetJets To The Middle Class: Subsidize The Global Super-Rich teamster.org ...Berkshire Hathaway’s (BRK/B) NetJets, Inc. is demanding compensation and benefit cuts from more than 600 employees represented by the Teamsters Union as part of a plan to lower prices for its wealthy customers. The Columbus, Ohio-based business jet operator is owned by Warren Buffet's holding company and provides business and leisure travel to the global super-rich...
Celebration Of Life: Brian Robert Davis teamster.org ...Please join us in celebrating the life and accomplishments of Joint Council No. 28 Freight Director and Local 174 Business Agent Brian Davis...
Trade
Anti-TTIP Front Condemns Government For Supporting Free Trade Proposal Malta Today ...Social Europe: Front Against TTIP (Malta) condemned the government for supporting the proposed Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, while discussions on the free trade agreement are still ongoing between the European Union and the United States...
South Korea: Bitter harvest: Exploitation and forced labour of migrant agricultural workers in South Korea Amnesty International ...The migrant workers on whom South Korean agriculture depends suffer appalling living and working conditions, and the government's Employment Permit Scheme (EPS) directly contributes to this exploitation, according to a new report (Bitter Harvest) from Amnesty International...
State Battles
Labor Group To Sue Scott Walker's Administration For Minimum Wage Study Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ...A labor group plans to sue Gov. Scott Walker's administration Monday as part of an ongoing effort to force an increase in Wisconsin's minimum wage...
West Lake Protesters Warn Of 'Hidden Dangers' KSDK ...Protesters hit the streets of North St. Louis County again Sunday, but this time the demonstrations had to do with the World War Two-era nuclear waste buried at the West Lake Landfill in Bridgeton. The waste site sits adjacent to an underground fire at the Bridgeton Landfill...
The Great Kansas Tea Party Disaster Rolling Stone ...Brownback turned out to be even more radical when it came to economic policy. In 2012, he enacted the largest package of tax cuts in Kansas history, essentially transforming his state into a lab experiment for extreme free-market ideology. The results (disastrous) have reduced the governor to making appearances at grim strip malls like this one in a desperate attempt to salvage his re-election bid...
‘Right To Work’ Harms Working Families (opinion) Louisville Courier Journal ...Kentucky remains the only state in the South not to pass one of these laws, which shows our political independence and common sense. But Republicans in Frankfort, Sen. Mitch McConnell, and a group of out-of-state, big-moneyed special interests are doing everything in their power to change that. I strongly oppose right-to-work legislation because I love Kentucky and want a bright future for our children and grandchildren. Right to work is a sham. It is, as Martin Luther King Jr. said, “a false slogan” which will “rob us of our civil rights and job rights.”...
To see how Citizens United is hurting democracy, look at local elections msnbc ... in a scandal one news report called a “nightmare scenario” of corruption, former Utah Attorney General John Swallow used “independent” groups to orchestrate advertising for his 2012 campaign from payday loan companies, which he had in exchange promised to regulate lightly, according to an investigation by Utah’s legislature. Swallow’s campaign staff had created a web of benignly named groups, like the Proper Role of Government Education Association, to conceal more than $450,000 in spending by the lenders...
War on Workers
7 things the middle class can't afford anymore USA Today ...54% of people gave up purchasing big ticket items like TVs or electronics so they can go on a vacation...
The Real Crazy Train: Moving Bakken Crude By Rail (opinion) San Francisco Chronicle ...Community concerns include environmental risks but center on public safety because Bakken oil is more volatile than most other crudes. A derailed tanker train loaded with Bakken crude exploded in July 2013, killing 47 people in Canada and alerting transportation officials and the public to the real hazards of transporting this easily ignited oil. For Benicians, potentially explosive trains are no theoretical debate as two 50-car trains would pass daily through the north end of town...
How 'flexible' schedules have become a trap for working parents Vox ... According to a recent study, many workers in similar retail jobs with "just-in-time" scheduling can be called in for a shift just two hours ahead of time, and most are not guaranteed a minimum number of hours each week. That means paychecks fluctuate as much as shifts...
New fight over Ebola quarantine looms as nurse returns to Maine FOX News ...A nurse who treated Ebola patients in West Africa before being briefly and controversially quarantined in New Jersey could be the focus of a new battle over state health policy as she returns to her home state of Maine...
CNN poll: Voters are angry CNN Politics ...Nearly 7 in 10 Americans are angry at the direction the country is headed and 53% of Americans disapprove of President Barack Obama's job performance, two troubling signs for Democrats one week before the midterm elections...
The Stealth Campaign to Buy US Courts truthout ...the RSLC has run an aggressive—and successful—strategy to turn states red and keep them that way. This year, the group expanded from legislative and gubernatorial races, putting $5 million into a “Judicial Fairness Initiative” with the aim to elect judges who are “supportive of restraining government.” So far, the RSLC has funded judicial campaigns in Missouri, Montana, Tennessee and North Carolina. The group is still monitoring races in Ohio, Texas and Michigan...
Worker dies after Veolia industrial blast in Canada AFP ...A Veolia worker who was injured during a weekend blast at an industrial plant in Canada died Monday, officials said. Four other staff also were hospitalized Saturday in the as-yet-unexplained explosion that collapsed the roof at the Veolia ES Canada Industrial facility in Sarnia, Ontario...
Worker killed in construction accident in Phoenix azfamily.com ...A construction worker is dead after he got caught and crushed in a piece of equipment Monday afternoon...
Miscellaneous
NSA Director Was Investing In Shady Foreign Markets While Spying On Shady Foreign Markets Inquisitr ...Keith Alexander, the former National Security Agency Director owned and sold shares in commodities linked to China and Russia… all while the NSA was heavily spying on China and Russia. Depending on who you ask, it’s either a question of insider trading, cashing in on incidental job knowledge, or a case of coincidence...
Zodiac Workers Approve New Contract, End Strike KTEN ...Workers from the largest employer in Cooke County will be heading back to work Monday after about a month on the picket line. Employees at the Zodiac Seats manufacturing facility in Gainesville approved a new contract by an overwhelming margin earlier Saturday afternoon. Teamsters Local 767 representative Terry Johnson says the key issues of the contract dispute were work environment, seniority rights, and work schedules...
NetJets To The Middle Class: Subsidize The Global Super-Rich teamster.org ...Berkshire Hathaway’s (BRK/B) NetJets, Inc. is demanding compensation and benefit cuts from more than 600 employees represented by the Teamsters Union as part of a plan to lower prices for its wealthy customers. The Columbus, Ohio-based business jet operator is owned by Warren Buffet's holding company and provides business and leisure travel to the global super-rich...
Celebration Of Life: Brian Robert Davis teamster.org ...Please join us in celebrating the life and accomplishments of Joint Council No. 28 Freight Director and Local 174 Business Agent Brian Davis...
Trade
Anti-TTIP Front Condemns Government For Supporting Free Trade Proposal Malta Today ...Social Europe: Front Against TTIP (Malta) condemned the government for supporting the proposed Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, while discussions on the free trade agreement are still ongoing between the European Union and the United States...
South Korea: Bitter harvest: Exploitation and forced labour of migrant agricultural workers in South Korea Amnesty International ...The migrant workers on whom South Korean agriculture depends suffer appalling living and working conditions, and the government's Employment Permit Scheme (EPS) directly contributes to this exploitation, according to a new report (Bitter Harvest) from Amnesty International...
State Battles
Labor Group To Sue Scott Walker's Administration For Minimum Wage Study Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ...A labor group plans to sue Gov. Scott Walker's administration Monday as part of an ongoing effort to force an increase in Wisconsin's minimum wage...
West Lake Protesters Warn Of 'Hidden Dangers' KSDK ...Protesters hit the streets of North St. Louis County again Sunday, but this time the demonstrations had to do with the World War Two-era nuclear waste buried at the West Lake Landfill in Bridgeton. The waste site sits adjacent to an underground fire at the Bridgeton Landfill...
The Great Kansas Tea Party Disaster Rolling Stone ...Brownback turned out to be even more radical when it came to economic policy. In 2012, he enacted the largest package of tax cuts in Kansas history, essentially transforming his state into a lab experiment for extreme free-market ideology. The results (disastrous) have reduced the governor to making appearances at grim strip malls like this one in a desperate attempt to salvage his re-election bid...
‘Right To Work’ Harms Working Families (opinion) Louisville Courier Journal ...Kentucky remains the only state in the South not to pass one of these laws, which shows our political independence and common sense. But Republicans in Frankfort, Sen. Mitch McConnell, and a group of out-of-state, big-moneyed special interests are doing everything in their power to change that. I strongly oppose right-to-work legislation because I love Kentucky and want a bright future for our children and grandchildren. Right to work is a sham. It is, as Martin Luther King Jr. said, “a false slogan” which will “rob us of our civil rights and job rights.”...
To see how Citizens United is hurting democracy, look at local elections msnbc ... in a scandal one news report called a “nightmare scenario” of corruption, former Utah Attorney General John Swallow used “independent” groups to orchestrate advertising for his 2012 campaign from payday loan companies, which he had in exchange promised to regulate lightly, according to an investigation by Utah’s legislature. Swallow’s campaign staff had created a web of benignly named groups, like the Proper Role of Government Education Association, to conceal more than $450,000 in spending by the lenders...
War on Workers
7 things the middle class can't afford anymore USA Today ...54% of people gave up purchasing big ticket items like TVs or electronics so they can go on a vacation...
The Real Crazy Train: Moving Bakken Crude By Rail (opinion) San Francisco Chronicle ...Community concerns include environmental risks but center on public safety because Bakken oil is more volatile than most other crudes. A derailed tanker train loaded with Bakken crude exploded in July 2013, killing 47 people in Canada and alerting transportation officials and the public to the real hazards of transporting this easily ignited oil. For Benicians, potentially explosive trains are no theoretical debate as two 50-car trains would pass daily through the north end of town...
How 'flexible' schedules have become a trap for working parents Vox ... According to a recent study, many workers in similar retail jobs with "just-in-time" scheduling can be called in for a shift just two hours ahead of time, and most are not guaranteed a minimum number of hours each week. That means paychecks fluctuate as much as shifts...
New fight over Ebola quarantine looms as nurse returns to Maine FOX News ...A nurse who treated Ebola patients in West Africa before being briefly and controversially quarantined in New Jersey could be the focus of a new battle over state health policy as she returns to her home state of Maine...
CNN poll: Voters are angry CNN Politics ...Nearly 7 in 10 Americans are angry at the direction the country is headed and 53% of Americans disapprove of President Barack Obama's job performance, two troubling signs for Democrats one week before the midterm elections...
The Stealth Campaign to Buy US Courts truthout ...the RSLC has run an aggressive—and successful—strategy to turn states red and keep them that way. This year, the group expanded from legislative and gubernatorial races, putting $5 million into a “Judicial Fairness Initiative” with the aim to elect judges who are “supportive of restraining government.” So far, the RSLC has funded judicial campaigns in Missouri, Montana, Tennessee and North Carolina. The group is still monitoring races in Ohio, Texas and Michigan...
Worker dies after Veolia industrial blast in Canada AFP ...A Veolia worker who was injured during a weekend blast at an industrial plant in Canada died Monday, officials said. Four other staff also were hospitalized Saturday in the as-yet-unexplained explosion that collapsed the roof at the Veolia ES Canada Industrial facility in Sarnia, Ontario...
Worker killed in construction accident in Phoenix azfamily.com ...A construction worker is dead after he got caught and crushed in a piece of equipment Monday afternoon...
Miscellaneous
NSA Director Was Investing In Shady Foreign Markets While Spying On Shady Foreign Markets Inquisitr ...Keith Alexander, the former National Security Agency Director owned and sold shares in commodities linked to China and Russia… all while the NSA was heavily spying on China and Russia. Depending on who you ask, it’s either a question of insider trading, cashing in on incidental job knowledge, or a case of coincidence...
Saturday, October 25, 2014
Today's Teamster News 10.25.14
Teamster News
Oakland School Bus Drivers Choose Teamsters Representation teamster.org ...First Student school bus drivers in Oakland, Calif., have voted by an overwhelming 15-1 margin in favor of representation by Teamsters Local 853 in San Leandro, Calif. The 150 drivers transport children in the Oakland Unified School District...
Meeting Celebrates Million Worker March Movement Workers World ...Founding members of the Million Worker March Movement held a 10th commemorative anniversary meeting Oct. 16 at Teamsters Local 808 in Long Island City, Queens, N.Y...
DiNapoli, Schneiderman hold “get out the vote’ rally in Orange County MidHudson News ...Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli brought their “get out the vote” tour to the Teamsters Local 445 hall in Rock Tavern on Friday...
Trade
Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement: Secret Deal Means Bad News For Consumers, Choice Warns News.com ...The TPP is being negotiated in secret by 12 countries, including Australia, with governments having full access to the draft agreement while the public have nothing, a WikiLeaks press release said. WikiLeaks Editor-in-Chief Julian Assange said it had a duty to reveal what is in the TPP. “The selective secrecy surrounding the TPP negotiations, which has let in a few cashed-up megacorps but excluded everyone else, reveals a fear of public scrutiny,” he said. “By publishing this text we allow the public to engage in issues that will have such a fundamental impact on their lives...
State Battles
Minimum Wage: Scott Walker Based 'Living Wage' Ruling On Restaurant Industry Study Business Insider ...Under pressure to raise the state's minimum wage, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker confidently declared that there was no need....That official government finding ... was largely based on information provided by the state's restaurant industry -- which represents major low-wage employers including fast-food companies...
Sacramento Crude Oil Transfers Halted; Air Quality Official Says Permit Was Granted In Error Sacramento Bee ...A Sacramento fuel distributor has agreed to stop unloading train shipments of crude oil at McClellan Business Park after the county’s top air quality official said his agency mistakenly skirted the state’s environmental rules by issuing a permit for the operation...
A GOP Governor Tried A Radical Tax 'Experiment' — And Now He's Hanging On For His Political Life Business Insider ...Kansas' budget, which has to be balanced each year by law, has serious revenue shortfalls. The state's credit rating has been downgraded by two major ratings agencies — Moody's and Standard and Poor's. School funding is being stretched thin, and there are whispers of concerns in rural parts of the state that some will close entirely. And now, a governor is in trouble...
War on Workers
The 1% are more likely to vote than the poor or the middle class, and it matters — a lot Vox ...After 1972, voters and non-voters differ significantly on most issues relating to the role of government in redistributive policies. In addition to these differences being evident in nearly every election since 1972, we also note that the nature of the electoral bias is clear as well: voters are substantially more conservative than non-voters on class-based issues...
Billionaire Investor Says Atlantic City's Taj 'Will Almost Certainly Close' NBC News ...Billionaire investor Carl Icahn says the struggling Trump Taj Mahal casino "will almost certainly close." The would-be purchaser of the casino told The Associated Press on Thursday night that the casino's finances are dire...
Picket Lines Due At Atlantic City's Taj Mahal Casino Friday NBC News ...Picket lines were to go up outside Atlantic City's Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort as union members planned to protest the court-ordered termination of their health insurance and pension plans. The picketing was scheduled to run from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Friday...
The Real Bailout Victims (opinion) New York Times ...It’s certainly true that the government deserves criticism for how it spent the A.I.G. bailout money: It funneled the money to the banks to make them whole on deals they had done with A.I.G., instead of requiring them to absorb some of the losses. But again, the real victim of the overly generous treatment of the banks is the American public...
Plutocrats Against Democracy (opinion) New York Times ...now you understand why there’s so much furor on the right over the alleged but actually almost nonexistent problem of voter fraud, and so much support for voter ID laws that make it hard for the poor and even the working class to cast ballots. American politicians don’t dare say outright that only the wealthy should have political rights ...a lot of what’s going on in American politics is, at root, a fight between democracy and plutocracy. And it’s by no means clear which side will win...
Construction worker dies in hit and run Associated Press ... 53-year-old Barry Asbury of Vance was struck and killed shortly after 2 a.m. Thursday on state Highway 170. Asbury was working with a paving crew on the road in Okatie when he was struck by a car...
Miscellaneous
Where Is The Investigation Into Financial Corruption At The NSA? The Atlantic ...Earlier this year, when Keith Alexander resigned as head of the National Security Agency, he began trying to cash in on expertise he'd gained while in government, pitching himself as a security consultant who could protect Wall Street banks and other large corporations from cyber-attacks by hackers or foreign governments. Early reports focused on the eye-popping price tag for his services: He reportedly asked for $1 million a month, later decreasing his rate to $600,000...
Oakland School Bus Drivers Choose Teamsters Representation teamster.org ...First Student school bus drivers in Oakland, Calif., have voted by an overwhelming 15-1 margin in favor of representation by Teamsters Local 853 in San Leandro, Calif. The 150 drivers transport children in the Oakland Unified School District...
Meeting Celebrates Million Worker March Movement Workers World ...Founding members of the Million Worker March Movement held a 10th commemorative anniversary meeting Oct. 16 at Teamsters Local 808 in Long Island City, Queens, N.Y...
DiNapoli, Schneiderman hold “get out the vote’ rally in Orange County MidHudson News ...Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli brought their “get out the vote” tour to the Teamsters Local 445 hall in Rock Tavern on Friday...
Trade
Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement: Secret Deal Means Bad News For Consumers, Choice Warns News.com ...The TPP is being negotiated in secret by 12 countries, including Australia, with governments having full access to the draft agreement while the public have nothing, a WikiLeaks press release said. WikiLeaks Editor-in-Chief Julian Assange said it had a duty to reveal what is in the TPP. “The selective secrecy surrounding the TPP negotiations, which has let in a few cashed-up megacorps but excluded everyone else, reveals a fear of public scrutiny,” he said. “By publishing this text we allow the public to engage in issues that will have such a fundamental impact on their lives...
State Battles
Minimum Wage: Scott Walker Based 'Living Wage' Ruling On Restaurant Industry Study Business Insider ...Under pressure to raise the state's minimum wage, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker confidently declared that there was no need....That official government finding ... was largely based on information provided by the state's restaurant industry -- which represents major low-wage employers including fast-food companies...
Sacramento Crude Oil Transfers Halted; Air Quality Official Says Permit Was Granted In Error Sacramento Bee ...A Sacramento fuel distributor has agreed to stop unloading train shipments of crude oil at McClellan Business Park after the county’s top air quality official said his agency mistakenly skirted the state’s environmental rules by issuing a permit for the operation...
A GOP Governor Tried A Radical Tax 'Experiment' — And Now He's Hanging On For His Political Life Business Insider ...Kansas' budget, which has to be balanced each year by law, has serious revenue shortfalls. The state's credit rating has been downgraded by two major ratings agencies — Moody's and Standard and Poor's. School funding is being stretched thin, and there are whispers of concerns in rural parts of the state that some will close entirely. And now, a governor is in trouble...
War on Workers
The 1% are more likely to vote than the poor or the middle class, and it matters — a lot Vox ...After 1972, voters and non-voters differ significantly on most issues relating to the role of government in redistributive policies. In addition to these differences being evident in nearly every election since 1972, we also note that the nature of the electoral bias is clear as well: voters are substantially more conservative than non-voters on class-based issues...
Billionaire Investor Says Atlantic City's Taj 'Will Almost Certainly Close' NBC News ...Billionaire investor Carl Icahn says the struggling Trump Taj Mahal casino "will almost certainly close." The would-be purchaser of the casino told The Associated Press on Thursday night that the casino's finances are dire...
Picket Lines Due At Atlantic City's Taj Mahal Casino Friday NBC News ...Picket lines were to go up outside Atlantic City's Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort as union members planned to protest the court-ordered termination of their health insurance and pension plans. The picketing was scheduled to run from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Friday...
The Real Bailout Victims (opinion) New York Times ...It’s certainly true that the government deserves criticism for how it spent the A.I.G. bailout money: It funneled the money to the banks to make them whole on deals they had done with A.I.G., instead of requiring them to absorb some of the losses. But again, the real victim of the overly generous treatment of the banks is the American public...
Plutocrats Against Democracy (opinion) New York Times ...now you understand why there’s so much furor on the right over the alleged but actually almost nonexistent problem of voter fraud, and so much support for voter ID laws that make it hard for the poor and even the working class to cast ballots. American politicians don’t dare say outright that only the wealthy should have political rights ...a lot of what’s going on in American politics is, at root, a fight between democracy and plutocracy. And it’s by no means clear which side will win...
Construction worker dies in hit and run Associated Press ... 53-year-old Barry Asbury of Vance was struck and killed shortly after 2 a.m. Thursday on state Highway 170. Asbury was working with a paving crew on the road in Okatie when he was struck by a car...
Miscellaneous
Where Is The Investigation Into Financial Corruption At The NSA? The Atlantic ...Earlier this year, when Keith Alexander resigned as head of the National Security Agency, he began trying to cash in on expertise he'd gained while in government, pitching himself as a security consultant who could protect Wall Street banks and other large corporations from cyber-attacks by hackers or foreign governments. Early reports focused on the eye-popping price tag for his services: He reportedly asked for $1 million a month, later decreasing his rate to $600,000...
Thursday, October 23, 2014
Today's Teamster News 10.23.14
Teamster News
The Teamsters Of The 21st Century: How Uber, Lyft, And Facebook Drivers Are Organizing Fast Company ...Teamsters are taking a bold step into the new sharing economy by organizing Uber and Lyft drivers in Los Angeles and San Diego and attempting to represent drivers for Facebook and Cisco employee shuttles...
Hoffa Tells Chicago Teamsters They Play Pivotal Role In Election teamster.org ...The Teamsters’ get-out-the-vote effort in advance of the Nov. 4 election moved onto Illinois today, with General President Jim Hoffa encouraging early voting among union members and working families at workplaces throughout the Chicagoland area...
We Stand With Italy's Workers! teamster.org ...Workers at the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Union in Washington D.C. sent a message of solidarity to their Italian brothers and sisters today as they prepare to protest labor law deregulation that will destroy workers' rights on the job...
Ikea and union strike a deal after 17-month dispute Vancouver Sun ...Ikea Canada announced Wednesday afternoon a 17-month labour dispute between the furniture giant and its Teamsters employees is over...
Grundy sergeants and dispatchers Teamsters endorse Briley Morris Daily Herald ... Teamsters Local 700, which represents the sergeants and dispatchers of Grundy County, announced Wednesday they are endorsing Ken Briley for Grundy County Sheriff...
Union chief maintains that Local 25 is a kinder, gentler Teamsters group Boston Business Journal ...He called the "Top Chef" story "fiction at best" and bristles as he discusses the negative media that resulted. Most frustrating, O'Brien said, is that the rough-and-tumble image of the Teamsters is the very thing he has been working to change as he works to increase the local's representation in new industries...
Polling place finds new home in Spring Garden Twp. York Dispatch ...The polling place that serves District 2 in the township is being moved from the Teamsters Local 430 building, 1780 Sixth Ave., to St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, 1502 Fourth Ave. The emergency move comes after mold was discovered in the Teamsters building...
Mayoral race heats up with new endorsements, donations Brown Daily Herald ...Teamsters Local 251, a union that has more than 3,000 members working in Providence, endorsed Cianci because “we thought he was the best candidate,” said Matt Taibi, the union’s principal officer...
Canfield Township, Teamsters continue negotiating for months Youngstown Vindicator ...Canfield Township officials continue to negotiate a contract with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 377 after it expired nearly a year-and-a-half ago...the township is being asked to pay between $229 and $238 per week per employee versus what they are negotiating, $220...
Phillips Pet Food workers will vote to form union Morning Call ...Some 200 warehouse workers at a Northampton County pet supply company will vote Thursday to join the Teamsters, a union and government official said today...
Trade
Profits Before Health: The Next Chapter Of The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Center For Research On Globalization ...The Transpacific-Partnership (TPP) continues its ride through the negotiating rooms in top secrecy, punctured occasionally by a WikiLeaks release and the utterings of concerned bystanders. The latest variant of the TPP’s intellectual property chapter (the “second release”) suggests a predictably corporate driven agenda on the issue of health care...
State Battles
Paul LePage's New Idea: Indentured Servants DailyKos ...Recently he has been talking about selling student loans to workers' employers in part because "I think we can make it sort of a very profitable operation."...
Why Voter ID Laws Aren’t Really About Fraud PBS ...Six of the 16 states that have passed voter ID laws since 2010 have a documented history of discriminating against minority voters. All but one of those states’ laws were put in place after the Supreme Court overturned a key provision of the Voting Rights Act that required them to seek approval from the Justice Department for any voting-law changes...
Kansans Are Moderate As Hell And They're Not Going To Take It Anymore Huffington Post ...Members of Republicans for Kansas Values, a stodgy group of lawmakers past and present, assailed the state's increasing deficits, depleted trust funds and lowered credit rating. All these grievances were laid at the doorstep of the state's Republican governor, Sam Brownback, whose re-election the group opposed. ...
Gov. Snyder’s Karma: Elections Have Consequences (opinion) Detroit News ...Four years ago, Rick Snyder was elected governor and the Republicans won complete control of the Legislature. One-party control has created clear-cut winners and losers. The winners, large corporations and CEOs, have been given huge tax cuts, while the consequences for the losers — senior citizens, middle-class families, public school students and low income workers — have been devastating...
Scott Walker Campaign Staffer OK'd Statement Denying Political Activity By County Staff Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ...When Scott Walker's county staff members needed to release a statement in 2010 saying they did not engage in campaign activity, who exactly did they ask to approve the language? Walker's top campaign aides, naturally...
City May Refuse Licenses To Companies Convicted Of Wage Theft KVIA ...The City of El Paso is preparing an ordinance meant to deter companies from stealing wages from workers...
War on Workers
How Quantitative Easing Contributed to the Nation’s Inequality Problem New York Times ...Quantitative easing adds to the problem of income inequality by making the rich richer and the poor poorer. By intentionally driving down interest rates to low levels, it allows people who can get access to cheap money on a regular basis to benefit in extraordinary ways...
New Study Confirms EPA’s Proposed Carbon Regulations To Hurt W.Va. West Virginia Record ...A new analysis by a global economic consulting firm is projecting “significant negative economic impacts” to West Virginia under a proposed plan by the federal Environmental Protection Agency to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from existing fossil-fuel power plants...
Most People Oppose Changes To Trucker Hours-Of-Service Requirements Safety and Health Magazine ...Four out of five Americans oppose legislative efforts to increase the number of hours truck drivers can be behind the wheel per week, according to the results of a poll released by Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety and the Truck Safety Coalition...
The Teamsters Of The 21st Century: How Uber, Lyft, And Facebook Drivers Are Organizing Fast Company ...Teamsters are taking a bold step into the new sharing economy by organizing Uber and Lyft drivers in Los Angeles and San Diego and attempting to represent drivers for Facebook and Cisco employee shuttles...
Hoffa Tells Chicago Teamsters They Play Pivotal Role In Election teamster.org ...The Teamsters’ get-out-the-vote effort in advance of the Nov. 4 election moved onto Illinois today, with General President Jim Hoffa encouraging early voting among union members and working families at workplaces throughout the Chicagoland area...
We Stand With Italy's Workers! teamster.org ...Workers at the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Union in Washington D.C. sent a message of solidarity to their Italian brothers and sisters today as they prepare to protest labor law deregulation that will destroy workers' rights on the job...
Ikea and union strike a deal after 17-month dispute Vancouver Sun ...Ikea Canada announced Wednesday afternoon a 17-month labour dispute between the furniture giant and its Teamsters employees is over...
Grundy sergeants and dispatchers Teamsters endorse Briley Morris Daily Herald ... Teamsters Local 700, which represents the sergeants and dispatchers of Grundy County, announced Wednesday they are endorsing Ken Briley for Grundy County Sheriff...
Union chief maintains that Local 25 is a kinder, gentler Teamsters group Boston Business Journal ...He called the "Top Chef" story "fiction at best" and bristles as he discusses the negative media that resulted. Most frustrating, O'Brien said, is that the rough-and-tumble image of the Teamsters is the very thing he has been working to change as he works to increase the local's representation in new industries...
Polling place finds new home in Spring Garden Twp. York Dispatch ...The polling place that serves District 2 in the township is being moved from the Teamsters Local 430 building, 1780 Sixth Ave., to St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, 1502 Fourth Ave. The emergency move comes after mold was discovered in the Teamsters building...
Mayoral race heats up with new endorsements, donations Brown Daily Herald ...Teamsters Local 251, a union that has more than 3,000 members working in Providence, endorsed Cianci because “we thought he was the best candidate,” said Matt Taibi, the union’s principal officer...
Canfield Township, Teamsters continue negotiating for months Youngstown Vindicator ...Canfield Township officials continue to negotiate a contract with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 377 after it expired nearly a year-and-a-half ago...the township is being asked to pay between $229 and $238 per week per employee versus what they are negotiating, $220...
Phillips Pet Food workers will vote to form union Morning Call ...Some 200 warehouse workers at a Northampton County pet supply company will vote Thursday to join the Teamsters, a union and government official said today...
Trade
Profits Before Health: The Next Chapter Of The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Center For Research On Globalization ...The Transpacific-Partnership (TPP) continues its ride through the negotiating rooms in top secrecy, punctured occasionally by a WikiLeaks release and the utterings of concerned bystanders. The latest variant of the TPP’s intellectual property chapter (the “second release”) suggests a predictably corporate driven agenda on the issue of health care...
State Battles
Paul LePage's New Idea: Indentured Servants DailyKos ...Recently he has been talking about selling student loans to workers' employers in part because "I think we can make it sort of a very profitable operation."...
Why Voter ID Laws Aren’t Really About Fraud PBS ...Six of the 16 states that have passed voter ID laws since 2010 have a documented history of discriminating against minority voters. All but one of those states’ laws were put in place after the Supreme Court overturned a key provision of the Voting Rights Act that required them to seek approval from the Justice Department for any voting-law changes...
Kansans Are Moderate As Hell And They're Not Going To Take It Anymore Huffington Post ...Members of Republicans for Kansas Values, a stodgy group of lawmakers past and present, assailed the state's increasing deficits, depleted trust funds and lowered credit rating. All these grievances were laid at the doorstep of the state's Republican governor, Sam Brownback, whose re-election the group opposed. ...
Gov. Snyder’s Karma: Elections Have Consequences (opinion) Detroit News ...Four years ago, Rick Snyder was elected governor and the Republicans won complete control of the Legislature. One-party control has created clear-cut winners and losers. The winners, large corporations and CEOs, have been given huge tax cuts, while the consequences for the losers — senior citizens, middle-class families, public school students and low income workers — have been devastating...
Scott Walker Campaign Staffer OK'd Statement Denying Political Activity By County Staff Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ...When Scott Walker's county staff members needed to release a statement in 2010 saying they did not engage in campaign activity, who exactly did they ask to approve the language? Walker's top campaign aides, naturally...
City May Refuse Licenses To Companies Convicted Of Wage Theft KVIA ...The City of El Paso is preparing an ordinance meant to deter companies from stealing wages from workers...
War on Workers
How Quantitative Easing Contributed to the Nation’s Inequality Problem New York Times ...Quantitative easing adds to the problem of income inequality by making the rich richer and the poor poorer. By intentionally driving down interest rates to low levels, it allows people who can get access to cheap money on a regular basis to benefit in extraordinary ways...
New Study Confirms EPA’s Proposed Carbon Regulations To Hurt W.Va. West Virginia Record ...A new analysis by a global economic consulting firm is projecting “significant negative economic impacts” to West Virginia under a proposed plan by the federal Environmental Protection Agency to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from existing fossil-fuel power plants...
Most People Oppose Changes To Trucker Hours-Of-Service Requirements Safety and Health Magazine ...Four out of five Americans oppose legislative efforts to increase the number of hours truck drivers can be behind the wheel per week, according to the results of a poll released by Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety and the Truck Safety Coalition...
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
Today's Teamster News 10.21.14
Teamster News
Hoffa Heads To Wisconsin To Urge Teamsters To The Polls teamster.org ...Jim Hoffa, Teamsters' General President, barnstormed the state of Wisconsin today to encourage fellow Teamsters to vote for working family candidates and those who support collective bargaining...
Teamsters Honor School Bus Worker Contributions To Safety During National School Bus Safety Week, Oct. 20-24 IBT ...The International Brotherhood of Teamsters is honoring school bus workers—including the more than 75,000 Teamster school bus workers—for their dedication to safety and service during National School Bus Safety Week, Oct. 20-24...
U.S. Senators seek antitrust scrutiny of Sysco deal to buy U.S. Foods Reuters ...The top two lawmakers on the Senate's antitrust panel have urged regulators to scrutinize food distributor Sysco Corp's planned purchase of rival U.S. Foods for $3.5 billion...
Trade
Trans-Pacific trade deal could bankrupt governments All Voices ...TPP is really about giving corporations the right to sue sovereign governments for profit...
State Battles
Scott Walker Puts Miles On State Vehicles For Job — And Campaigning Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ...Since taking office in January 2011, Walker has used a state SUV and sedan to get to political events on at least 365 days, or more than a year out of his four years leading the state, according to state records reviewed by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel...
Report Critical Of Corbett "Outsourcing" In Pennsylvania Public News Service ...Shrinking government has meant shifting responsibilities to private industry in some states, and Gov. Tom Corbett is one of seven governors taken to task in a new report that correlates these outsourcing decisions with major campaign donors and mixed results for taxpayers...
Kids As Crash Test Dummies: Brownback Outsources Child Support Services To Donor Huffington Post ...In March 2013, however, the Kansas Department of Children and Families (DCF) announced that all child support services would be outsourced, and a request for proposal was issued. Not limited to enforcement, the contracts would include services connected to court petitioning, locating parents, and establishing paternity, which had never been in private hands before...
Indiana Reinstates Time Limits For Some Food Stamp Recipients Indianapolis Star ...Advocates for the poor say it would be better for Indiana to first make sure it has sufficient programs to help the unemployed find jobs or new skills before reinstating the time limits...
Captive Customers: Outsourcing Prison Services Is Ruining Lives And Bilking Taxpayers Huffington Post ...Florida Governor Rick Scott campaigned on privatizing health care in Florida's prisons, and that is exactly what he has delivered. The Post investigation uncovered sky rocketing inmate deaths, as referrals to outside doctors have dropped by nearly 50 percent, and prescription pain management medications are replaced with over the counter drugs like Tylenol and ibuprofen. One inmate complained of lumps in her arm and was given a warm compress, Tylenol and solitary confinement. Six weeks later, she was dead of cancer that had spread throughout her body...
Supreme Court Allows Texas To Use Controversial Voter-ID Law Washington Post ...The Supreme Court’s order that Texas can proceed with its strict voter-ID law in next month’s election ended what is likely to be just the first round in a legal battle over election-law changes made by Republican-led legislatures around the country...
War on Workers
Taxi Shortage As Uber Lures Away Yellow Cabbies New York Post ...Fleet owners are blaming the Taxi and Limousine Commission for the mass migration, accusing it — or one of its employees — of supplying drivers’ contact information to Uber. “They’re leaking it,” said Tony Georgiton, of Queens Medallion, which leases its cars to some 2,000 drivers. “It has to be somebody within the agency, within the TLC.”...
Middletown Man Killed In Freak Farm Accident New Castle News Journal ...A tractor being operated by 64-year-old Robert L. Baker, of Odessa, was pulling a grain hopper, which had a tow strap attached to the back, and was attempting to pull out a tractor-trailer fully loaded with corn that was stuck in the mud, Fournier said...
Hartford jury awards $7M in DOT worker death case Associated Press ...The 41-year-old father of two from Rocky Hill was struck by a tractor trailer on the right shoulder of Route 8 northbound on March 22, 2012, after parking his DOT truck, which had its emergency lights on...
NYC Papa John's Pizza Franchisee Sued For $2 Million Reuters ...New York state's attorney general sued the owners of five Papa John's pizza restaurants in Manhattan on Thursday for about $2 million over claims that they had underpaid 400 delivery workers and shaved hours from their paychecks...
Hoffa Heads To Wisconsin To Urge Teamsters To The Polls teamster.org ...Jim Hoffa, Teamsters' General President, barnstormed the state of Wisconsin today to encourage fellow Teamsters to vote for working family candidates and those who support collective bargaining...
Teamsters Honor School Bus Worker Contributions To Safety During National School Bus Safety Week, Oct. 20-24 IBT ...The International Brotherhood of Teamsters is honoring school bus workers—including the more than 75,000 Teamster school bus workers—for their dedication to safety and service during National School Bus Safety Week, Oct. 20-24...
U.S. Senators seek antitrust scrutiny of Sysco deal to buy U.S. Foods Reuters ...The top two lawmakers on the Senate's antitrust panel have urged regulators to scrutinize food distributor Sysco Corp's planned purchase of rival U.S. Foods for $3.5 billion...
Trade
Trans-Pacific trade deal could bankrupt governments All Voices ...TPP is really about giving corporations the right to sue sovereign governments for profit...
State Battles
Scott Walker Puts Miles On State Vehicles For Job — And Campaigning Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ...Since taking office in January 2011, Walker has used a state SUV and sedan to get to political events on at least 365 days, or more than a year out of his four years leading the state, according to state records reviewed by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel...
Report Critical Of Corbett "Outsourcing" In Pennsylvania Public News Service ...Shrinking government has meant shifting responsibilities to private industry in some states, and Gov. Tom Corbett is one of seven governors taken to task in a new report that correlates these outsourcing decisions with major campaign donors and mixed results for taxpayers...
Kids As Crash Test Dummies: Brownback Outsources Child Support Services To Donor Huffington Post ...In March 2013, however, the Kansas Department of Children and Families (DCF) announced that all child support services would be outsourced, and a request for proposal was issued. Not limited to enforcement, the contracts would include services connected to court petitioning, locating parents, and establishing paternity, which had never been in private hands before...
Indiana Reinstates Time Limits For Some Food Stamp Recipients Indianapolis Star ...Advocates for the poor say it would be better for Indiana to first make sure it has sufficient programs to help the unemployed find jobs or new skills before reinstating the time limits...
Captive Customers: Outsourcing Prison Services Is Ruining Lives And Bilking Taxpayers Huffington Post ...Florida Governor Rick Scott campaigned on privatizing health care in Florida's prisons, and that is exactly what he has delivered. The Post investigation uncovered sky rocketing inmate deaths, as referrals to outside doctors have dropped by nearly 50 percent, and prescription pain management medications are replaced with over the counter drugs like Tylenol and ibuprofen. One inmate complained of lumps in her arm and was given a warm compress, Tylenol and solitary confinement. Six weeks later, she was dead of cancer that had spread throughout her body...
Supreme Court Allows Texas To Use Controversial Voter-ID Law Washington Post ...The Supreme Court’s order that Texas can proceed with its strict voter-ID law in next month’s election ended what is likely to be just the first round in a legal battle over election-law changes made by Republican-led legislatures around the country...
War on Workers
Taxi Shortage As Uber Lures Away Yellow Cabbies New York Post ...Fleet owners are blaming the Taxi and Limousine Commission for the mass migration, accusing it — or one of its employees — of supplying drivers’ contact information to Uber. “They’re leaking it,” said Tony Georgiton, of Queens Medallion, which leases its cars to some 2,000 drivers. “It has to be somebody within the agency, within the TLC.”...
Middletown Man Killed In Freak Farm Accident New Castle News Journal ...A tractor being operated by 64-year-old Robert L. Baker, of Odessa, was pulling a grain hopper, which had a tow strap attached to the back, and was attempting to pull out a tractor-trailer fully loaded with corn that was stuck in the mud, Fournier said...
Hartford jury awards $7M in DOT worker death case Associated Press ...The 41-year-old father of two from Rocky Hill was struck by a tractor trailer on the right shoulder of Route 8 northbound on March 22, 2012, after parking his DOT truck, which had its emergency lights on...
NYC Papa John's Pizza Franchisee Sued For $2 Million Reuters ...New York state's attorney general sued the owners of five Papa John's pizza restaurants in Manhattan on Thursday for about $2 million over claims that they had underpaid 400 delivery workers and shaved hours from their paychecks...
Friday, October 10, 2014
Today's Teamster News 10.10.14
Teamster News
Strike called on Golden Gate Bridge bus lines for Oct. 17 sfgate.com ...Buses operated by the Golden Gate Transportation District will not be crossing the Bay Area’s most famous bridge next Friday as workers from the Teamsters Union Local 856 and 665, which represents dispatchers, supervisors and maintenance crews, announced a one-day strike...
Local 237, Ex-Council Speaker In Push to Pass Women’s Equality Act The Chief ...Citing a recent agreement to settle a gender-pay lawsuit brought by its members against the city as an example of an incremental victory for income equality between the sexes, Teamsters Local 237 President Gregory Floyd joined former City Council Speaker Christine Quinn to gather political support for a long-stalled equal-rights bill...
Teamster Taxi Drivers Turn Out In Mass Again To Protest Unequal Treatment By D.C. City Council IBT ...Thousands of D.C. cab drivers affiliated with the Teamsters Union participated in a second “Fairness NOW!” caravan today throughout the city to demand equal regulatory treatment with private sedan services by the D.C. City Council...
County Rescinds Blood Draw Surcharge After Unions Object Billings Gazette ...A proposed surcharge on Yellowstone County employees who failed to participate in a health fair blood draw backfired this week after two unions objected. The county commissioners voted 3-0 on Tuesday to rescind the surcharge after the Teamsters and the Montana Public Employees Association both told the county the issue must be part of contract negotiations. The Teamsters Local 190 also filed a grievance...
Trade
Michael Perelman: Globalization, “Free Trade,” and Food as a Strategic Weapon naked capitalilsm ...much of the pressure to intensify globalization does not necessarily come from market successes, but often comes from disappointment in market outcomes. Dissatisfied that markets were not providing sufficient profits, powerful states adopted a strategy of pressuring their weaker counterparts to join in so called free trade deals...
TTIP's Threat To Democracy (opinion) Huffington Post ...TTIP marks the merging of the EU's common market with that of the United States, but without the social and political safeguards that at least theoretically exist in the EU. It is worth noting that little has been divulged in terms of the exact content and the extent of the risks to public services. But what we do know should be a matter of concern for everyone...
State Battles
Supreme Court blocks Wisconsin's voter ID law USA Today ...The Supreme Court on Thursday night blocked Wisconsin from implementing its new voter identification law on the eve of next month's elections. In a related action, a district court judge in Texas ruled that state's voter ID law is racially discriminatory and violates the Voting Rights Act. The state attorney general's office said it would appeal...
Parts Of North Carolina Law Limiting Vote Are Restored By Justices New York Times ...The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued a brief, unsigned order reinstating provisions of a North Carolina voting law that bar same-day registration and counting votes cast in the wrong precinct. A federal appeals court had blocked the provisions, saying they disproportionately harmed black voters...
Even After Gov. Sam Brownback’s Tax Cuts, Jobs Aren’t Fleeing Missouri To Kansas In The KC Area (opinion) ...The tax cuts have led to deeper losses in state revenue than predicted. They have not created a significant growth in jobs that could begin to replace money lost from the tax reductions. The state’s bond rating has been reduced...
War on Workers
New York Airport Workers Go On Strike Over Ebola Gawker ...LaGuardia Airport employees responsible for cleaning airplanes and bathrooms staged a walkout this week, saying they're not being adequately protected against the Ebola virus...
Slow Hiring Shows That The Job Market Isn’t Fully Healed FiveThirtyEight ...Companies are posting new jobs a lot faster than they’re filling them. Employers hired nearly 300,000 fewer workers in August than in July. This has been a persistent problem in the recovery: Job openings have more than doubled since the recession ended, but hiring is up by just 27 percent...
As Trains Move Oil Bonanza, Delays Mount For Other Goods And Passengers New York Times ...An energy boom that has created a sharp increase in rail freight traffic nationwide is causing major delays for Amtrak passenger trains and is holding up the transport of vital consumer and industrial goods, including chemicals, coal and hundreds of thousands of new American cars, rail officials and federal and state regulators say...
Worker Killed After Fall From Truck In Ogden Fox29 ...A worker has died after falling from a bucket truck in Delaware County, authorities say...
Construction worker dies near Correctionville Cherokee Chronicle Times ... Authorities say a construction worker has died after he was pinned under a piece of equipment in northwest Iowa...
Miscellaneous
Here's How Much Business S&P 500 Companies Generate Outside Of The US Business Insider ..."Foreign sales accounted for 33% of aggregate revenue for the S&P 500 in 2013," Goldman Sachs' Amanda Sneider writes...
Strike called on Golden Gate Bridge bus lines for Oct. 17 sfgate.com ...Buses operated by the Golden Gate Transportation District will not be crossing the Bay Area’s most famous bridge next Friday as workers from the Teamsters Union Local 856 and 665, which represents dispatchers, supervisors and maintenance crews, announced a one-day strike...
Local 237, Ex-Council Speaker In Push to Pass Women’s Equality Act The Chief ...Citing a recent agreement to settle a gender-pay lawsuit brought by its members against the city as an example of an incremental victory for income equality between the sexes, Teamsters Local 237 President Gregory Floyd joined former City Council Speaker Christine Quinn to gather political support for a long-stalled equal-rights bill...
Teamster Taxi Drivers Turn Out In Mass Again To Protest Unequal Treatment By D.C. City Council IBT ...Thousands of D.C. cab drivers affiliated with the Teamsters Union participated in a second “Fairness NOW!” caravan today throughout the city to demand equal regulatory treatment with private sedan services by the D.C. City Council...
County Rescinds Blood Draw Surcharge After Unions Object Billings Gazette ...A proposed surcharge on Yellowstone County employees who failed to participate in a health fair blood draw backfired this week after two unions objected. The county commissioners voted 3-0 on Tuesday to rescind the surcharge after the Teamsters and the Montana Public Employees Association both told the county the issue must be part of contract negotiations. The Teamsters Local 190 also filed a grievance...
Trade
Michael Perelman: Globalization, “Free Trade,” and Food as a Strategic Weapon naked capitalilsm ...much of the pressure to intensify globalization does not necessarily come from market successes, but often comes from disappointment in market outcomes. Dissatisfied that markets were not providing sufficient profits, powerful states adopted a strategy of pressuring their weaker counterparts to join in so called free trade deals...
TTIP's Threat To Democracy (opinion) Huffington Post ...TTIP marks the merging of the EU's common market with that of the United States, but without the social and political safeguards that at least theoretically exist in the EU. It is worth noting that little has been divulged in terms of the exact content and the extent of the risks to public services. But what we do know should be a matter of concern for everyone...
State Battles
Supreme Court blocks Wisconsin's voter ID law USA Today ...The Supreme Court on Thursday night blocked Wisconsin from implementing its new voter identification law on the eve of next month's elections. In a related action, a district court judge in Texas ruled that state's voter ID law is racially discriminatory and violates the Voting Rights Act. The state attorney general's office said it would appeal...
Parts Of North Carolina Law Limiting Vote Are Restored By Justices New York Times ...The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued a brief, unsigned order reinstating provisions of a North Carolina voting law that bar same-day registration and counting votes cast in the wrong precinct. A federal appeals court had blocked the provisions, saying they disproportionately harmed black voters...
Even After Gov. Sam Brownback’s Tax Cuts, Jobs Aren’t Fleeing Missouri To Kansas In The KC Area (opinion) ...The tax cuts have led to deeper losses in state revenue than predicted. They have not created a significant growth in jobs that could begin to replace money lost from the tax reductions. The state’s bond rating has been reduced...
War on Workers
New York Airport Workers Go On Strike Over Ebola Gawker ...LaGuardia Airport employees responsible for cleaning airplanes and bathrooms staged a walkout this week, saying they're not being adequately protected against the Ebola virus...
Slow Hiring Shows That The Job Market Isn’t Fully Healed FiveThirtyEight ...Companies are posting new jobs a lot faster than they’re filling them. Employers hired nearly 300,000 fewer workers in August than in July. This has been a persistent problem in the recovery: Job openings have more than doubled since the recession ended, but hiring is up by just 27 percent...
As Trains Move Oil Bonanza, Delays Mount For Other Goods And Passengers New York Times ...An energy boom that has created a sharp increase in rail freight traffic nationwide is causing major delays for Amtrak passenger trains and is holding up the transport of vital consumer and industrial goods, including chemicals, coal and hundreds of thousands of new American cars, rail officials and federal and state regulators say...
Worker Killed After Fall From Truck In Ogden Fox29 ...A worker has died after falling from a bucket truck in Delaware County, authorities say...
Construction worker dies near Correctionville Cherokee Chronicle Times ... Authorities say a construction worker has died after he was pinned under a piece of equipment in northwest Iowa...
Miscellaneous
Here's How Much Business S&P 500 Companies Generate Outside Of The US Business Insider ..."Foreign sales accounted for 33% of aggregate revenue for the S&P 500 in 2013," Goldman Sachs' Amanda Sneider writes...
Tuesday, October 7, 2014
Today's Teamster News 10.07.14
Teamster News
Saputo Dairy Workers Overwhelmingly Choose Teamsters teamster.org ...Workers at the Saputo Inc. (TSE: SAP) cheese production facility in Lena, Wisc., have voted overwhelmingly, 367 to 79, in favor of representation by Teamsters Local 662 in Green Bay, Wisc. There are 459 production, maintenance and warehouse workers...
Teamsters, St. Louis Community Hold Teach-In On Republic Services’ Nuclear Waste Landfill on Fire Teamsters ...On Saturday, Teamsters gathered with St. Louis-area residents, union members, elected officials, faith leaders, environmental experts and attorneys about Republic Service’s [NYSE: RSG] West Lake Landfill. West Lake is a Superfund site in Bridgeton, Mo. that contains 8,700 tons of buried uncontained radioactive nuclear wastes adjacent to an underground landfill fire...
Teamsters Local 922, D.C. Taxi Drivers to Hold A Second Caravan for Fairness teamster.org ...Taxi Companies, UberX, Lyft, and others should follow the same regulations, rather than the proposed two-tiered system that gives a competitive advantage to private vehicles for-hire and keeps the public vehicles for-hire strictly controlled...
Teamsters Urge Zuckerberg, Loop Trans. To Recognize Facebook Bus Drivers' Union teamster.org ...Rome Aloise, International Vice President and President of Teamsters Local 853 in San Leandro, Calif., wrote a letter to Facebook CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg last week on behalf of bus drivers who transport Facebook employees from San Francisco, Palo Alto and other areas to the Facebook campus. The drivers, employees of Loop Transportation, are seeking union representation and a contract...
BLET delegates back two-person train crews on final day of Third National Convention teamster.org ...“The single employee train crew issue is one of the most important questions facing rail labor, and specifically the BLET,” the resolution reads...
PCC tries to impress a formerly unhappy customer philly.com ...When her organization last came to Philadelphia, in 2009, six unions worked in the building. In May, two of the six did not sign a customer satisfaction agreement by a deadline set by management. Those two unions - the carpenters and the Teamsters - no longer work in the building, although they are contesting that move with the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board...
Trade
Food fight The Economist ...This week Koji Tsuruoka, Japan’s chief negotiator on the TPP, blasted the media in general, which, he said, pays far too much attention to American spin doctors when reporting on the trade agreement, negotiations for which are conducted in secret...
Find out what TTIP is and how it will affect you On the Wight ...Growing numbers of Islanders have become aware of the threat to public services, food safety and wages posed by an international trade treaty being cobbled together behind closed doors by EU governments – including Britain...
Make No Mistake, the TTIP is a Move in the Wrong Direction Global Economic Intersection ...This week has witnessed the seventh round of talks between EU and US negotiators seeking to hammer out a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). These have been mired in controversy over the supposed impact that the agreement will have on the ability of countries to regulate in the public interest...
State Battles
Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback’s Tax Cuts Cause Another Revenue Hit (opinion) Kansas City Star ... the lower income tax rates that took effect in January 2013 haven’t brought a dramatic surge in revenue from the bonanza of new jobs Kansas was supposed to enjoy....
Secretly kissing up to Kochs pays off for Doug Ducey Arizona Republic ...Fresh off a primary in which dark-money attacks were launched against any Republican who stood in Ducey's way, we now learn that Ducey has been cozying up to America's premier princes of dark money...
Scott Walker Could Win Thanks to Wisconsin's Voter ID Law New Republic ...It’s hard to say how many people might be disenfranchised by the law, but in such a tight election, where Republican incumbent Scott Walker is neck-and-neck with Democrat Mary Burke, it doesn’t take many votes to swing the results...
Perdue ‘proud’ of outsourcing past, blames Washington for jobs lost Atlanta Journal-Constitution ...U.S. Senate candidate David Perdue, … a former CEO for Dollar General and Republican nominee to replace retiring Sen. Saxby Chambliss, was stung by his own words last week in an article (that) ... quoted Perdue from a 2005 deposition where he said he “spent most of my career” outsourcing...
War on Workers
The Good News and Bad News About 5.9 Percent Unemployment truth-out ...there is a real danger that the political power of the financial sector will force (Federal Reserve chair Janet) Yellen to start slowing the economy and stopping job growth long before workers gain any bargaining power...
FedEx Drivers Win Kansas Top Court Ruling On Employment Bloomberg ...FedEx Corp. (FDX) drivers in Kansas, in the lead case among 21 consolidated lawsuits over unpaid expenses and overtime, won a ruling by the Kansas Supreme Court that they’re employees and not independent contractors...
Hours Of Service Rules Back As Top Concern In Annual Trucking Industry Survey The Trucker ...Operational impacts being experienced across the supply chain from the changes to the Hours-of-Service (HOS) rules that went into effect in 2013 once again propelled the HOS rules to the top of the list in ATRI’s annual survey of more than 4,000 trucking industry stakeholders...
Exclusive: Hundreds Of Devices Hidden Inside New York City Phone Booths Buzzfeed ...Beacons can push you ads — and help track your every move. Update: Hours after BuzzFeed News exposed the devices, the city ordered the removal of the devices...
Mexico federal agents disarm city's entire police force after student attacks DW ...Mexican federal agents have disarmed all police in the city of Iguala and taken over security. Local officers are alleged to have conspired with a criminal gang to kill 43 missing students, with a mass grave discovered...
Housing Rights Group Says HUD Program Helps Wall Street, Hurts Homeowners truth-out ...They contest that the program has deepened the pain of homeowners and tenants by handing their fates over to hedge funds and investment groups that often have no interest in pursuing loan modifications or other options that would allow residents to remain in their homes...
Michigan judge rules Kalamazoo county has right to take woman's house over one missed tax payment Daily Kos ... Deborah Calley maintains that she was unaware she owed any back taxes and of the ten certified letters sent by the county, only one was sent to her home, the other nine were sent to banks. She steadfastly maintains she never received a single notice. She's also been willing from the get-go to pay the $2,000 debt, but the county has rejected her offers, preferring to sell her mortgage-free home...
Miscellaneous
Keystone Pipeline Opponents Causing Environmental Disaster (opinion) New York Post ...Despite dangers and lawsuits, governments continue to drag their feet on building pipelines or on cracking down on rail practices. By so doing, they merely increase the likelihood of another tragedy. Every day thousands of old tanker cars carry oil along America’s 140,000 miles of track, and another disaster looms...
More Oil Trains Heading To N.J. NorthJersey ... The new rail facility at Bayway is cementing New Jersey’s reputation as a major transportation corridor for crude oil even as the burgeoning “crude by rail” industry faces increasing concerns about safety following a series of explosive derailments in the past year...
Saputo Dairy Workers Overwhelmingly Choose Teamsters teamster.org ...Workers at the Saputo Inc. (TSE: SAP) cheese production facility in Lena, Wisc., have voted overwhelmingly, 367 to 79, in favor of representation by Teamsters Local 662 in Green Bay, Wisc. There are 459 production, maintenance and warehouse workers...
Teamsters, St. Louis Community Hold Teach-In On Republic Services’ Nuclear Waste Landfill on Fire Teamsters ...On Saturday, Teamsters gathered with St. Louis-area residents, union members, elected officials, faith leaders, environmental experts and attorneys about Republic Service’s [NYSE: RSG] West Lake Landfill. West Lake is a Superfund site in Bridgeton, Mo. that contains 8,700 tons of buried uncontained radioactive nuclear wastes adjacent to an underground landfill fire...
Teamsters Local 922, D.C. Taxi Drivers to Hold A Second Caravan for Fairness teamster.org ...Taxi Companies, UberX, Lyft, and others should follow the same regulations, rather than the proposed two-tiered system that gives a competitive advantage to private vehicles for-hire and keeps the public vehicles for-hire strictly controlled...
Teamsters Urge Zuckerberg, Loop Trans. To Recognize Facebook Bus Drivers' Union teamster.org ...Rome Aloise, International Vice President and President of Teamsters Local 853 in San Leandro, Calif., wrote a letter to Facebook CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg last week on behalf of bus drivers who transport Facebook employees from San Francisco, Palo Alto and other areas to the Facebook campus. The drivers, employees of Loop Transportation, are seeking union representation and a contract...
BLET delegates back two-person train crews on final day of Third National Convention teamster.org ...“The single employee train crew issue is one of the most important questions facing rail labor, and specifically the BLET,” the resolution reads...
PCC tries to impress a formerly unhappy customer philly.com ...When her organization last came to Philadelphia, in 2009, six unions worked in the building. In May, two of the six did not sign a customer satisfaction agreement by a deadline set by management. Those two unions - the carpenters and the Teamsters - no longer work in the building, although they are contesting that move with the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board...
Trade
Food fight The Economist ...This week Koji Tsuruoka, Japan’s chief negotiator on the TPP, blasted the media in general, which, he said, pays far too much attention to American spin doctors when reporting on the trade agreement, negotiations for which are conducted in secret...
Find out what TTIP is and how it will affect you On the Wight ...Growing numbers of Islanders have become aware of the threat to public services, food safety and wages posed by an international trade treaty being cobbled together behind closed doors by EU governments – including Britain...
Make No Mistake, the TTIP is a Move in the Wrong Direction Global Economic Intersection ...This week has witnessed the seventh round of talks between EU and US negotiators seeking to hammer out a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). These have been mired in controversy over the supposed impact that the agreement will have on the ability of countries to regulate in the public interest...
State Battles
Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback’s Tax Cuts Cause Another Revenue Hit (opinion) Kansas City Star ... the lower income tax rates that took effect in January 2013 haven’t brought a dramatic surge in revenue from the bonanza of new jobs Kansas was supposed to enjoy....
Secretly kissing up to Kochs pays off for Doug Ducey Arizona Republic ...Fresh off a primary in which dark-money attacks were launched against any Republican who stood in Ducey's way, we now learn that Ducey has been cozying up to America's premier princes of dark money...
Scott Walker Could Win Thanks to Wisconsin's Voter ID Law New Republic ...It’s hard to say how many people might be disenfranchised by the law, but in such a tight election, where Republican incumbent Scott Walker is neck-and-neck with Democrat Mary Burke, it doesn’t take many votes to swing the results...
Perdue ‘proud’ of outsourcing past, blames Washington for jobs lost Atlanta Journal-Constitution ...U.S. Senate candidate David Perdue, … a former CEO for Dollar General and Republican nominee to replace retiring Sen. Saxby Chambliss, was stung by his own words last week in an article (that) ... quoted Perdue from a 2005 deposition where he said he “spent most of my career” outsourcing...
War on Workers
The Good News and Bad News About 5.9 Percent Unemployment truth-out ...there is a real danger that the political power of the financial sector will force (Federal Reserve chair Janet) Yellen to start slowing the economy and stopping job growth long before workers gain any bargaining power...
FedEx Drivers Win Kansas Top Court Ruling On Employment Bloomberg ...FedEx Corp. (FDX) drivers in Kansas, in the lead case among 21 consolidated lawsuits over unpaid expenses and overtime, won a ruling by the Kansas Supreme Court that they’re employees and not independent contractors...
Hours Of Service Rules Back As Top Concern In Annual Trucking Industry Survey The Trucker ...Operational impacts being experienced across the supply chain from the changes to the Hours-of-Service (HOS) rules that went into effect in 2013 once again propelled the HOS rules to the top of the list in ATRI’s annual survey of more than 4,000 trucking industry stakeholders...
Exclusive: Hundreds Of Devices Hidden Inside New York City Phone Booths Buzzfeed ...Beacons can push you ads — and help track your every move. Update: Hours after BuzzFeed News exposed the devices, the city ordered the removal of the devices...
Mexico federal agents disarm city's entire police force after student attacks DW ...Mexican federal agents have disarmed all police in the city of Iguala and taken over security. Local officers are alleged to have conspired with a criminal gang to kill 43 missing students, with a mass grave discovered...
Housing Rights Group Says HUD Program Helps Wall Street, Hurts Homeowners truth-out ...They contest that the program has deepened the pain of homeowners and tenants by handing their fates over to hedge funds and investment groups that often have no interest in pursuing loan modifications or other options that would allow residents to remain in their homes...
Michigan judge rules Kalamazoo county has right to take woman's house over one missed tax payment Daily Kos ... Deborah Calley maintains that she was unaware she owed any back taxes and of the ten certified letters sent by the county, only one was sent to her home, the other nine were sent to banks. She steadfastly maintains she never received a single notice. She's also been willing from the get-go to pay the $2,000 debt, but the county has rejected her offers, preferring to sell her mortgage-free home...
Miscellaneous
Keystone Pipeline Opponents Causing Environmental Disaster (opinion) New York Post ...Despite dangers and lawsuits, governments continue to drag their feet on building pipelines or on cracking down on rail practices. By so doing, they merely increase the likelihood of another tragedy. Every day thousands of old tanker cars carry oil along America’s 140,000 miles of track, and another disaster looms...
More Oil Trains Heading To N.J. NorthJersey ... The new rail facility at Bayway is cementing New Jersey’s reputation as a major transportation corridor for crude oil even as the burgeoning “crude by rail” industry faces increasing concerns about safety following a series of explosive derailments in the past year...
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