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...

Today's Teamster News 09.07.14

Teamsters
Teamster Power On Display At Women’s Conference  teamster.org   ...The Teamsters Women’s Conference continued Saturday with stories of Teamster passion, power and pride. The conference wrapped up its final day in Chicago with memorable lessons and empowerment for the more than 1,000 Teamsters in attendance...
Trade
Foreign Powers Buy Influence at Think Tanks  New York Times   ...More than a dozen prominent Washington research groups have received tens of millions of dollars from foreign governments in recent years while pushing United States government officials to adopt policies that often reflect the donors’ priorities, an investigation by The New York Times has found...
Malaysia committed to TPPA talks, Najib reaffirms  themalaysiaonline   ...“Prime Minister Abbott and I agreed that Malaysia and Australia are to continue working together to make progress in the negotiations and look forward to a substantive conclusion on the negotiations in 2015...”
State Battles
John Doe investigation of Gov. Scott Walker's campaign must continue  (opinion)  Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel   ...The governor's campaign urged deep-pocketed donors to give to the Wisconsin Club for Growth because it "can accept Corporate and Personal donations without limitations and no donors disclosure." This is the same governor, by the way, who has trumpeted transparency as the antidote to big money in politics...
War on Workers
Worker’s Death At Denver Scrap Yard An Accident  CBS Denver   ...The Denver medical examiner’s office on Saturday identified the man as 52-year-old Abel Maldonado Marmoi. The office says the Atlas Metal & Iron Corp. employee died Friday from blunt force trauma to the lower extremities, which he suffered while trying to free material from a jammed baler...
Just 13, and Working Risky 12-Hour Shifts in the Tobacco Fields  New York Times   ...For years, public health experts and federal labor officials have sought to bar teenagers under 16 from the tobacco fields, citing the grueling hours and the harmful exposure to nicotine and other chemicals, but their efforts have been blocked. Three years ago, Hilda Solis, then the labor secretary, proposed declaring work in tobacco fields and with tractors hazardous — making that type of work illegal for those under 16. Opponents of child labor note that Brazil, India and some other tobacco-producing nations already prohibit anyone under 18 from working on tobacco farms...
Financial Schemes Against the Elderly Are Increasing  New York Times   ...Financial crimes against elders are taking a toll on lives and pocketbooks. And trusted caregivers — the friends and relatives who offer support and guidance — are often the ones at fault, according to legal and financial specialists...
Miscellaneous
Why Amazon Has No Profits (And Why It Works)  Benedict Evans   ...When you buy Amazon stock (the main currency with which Amazon employees are paid, incidentally), you are buying a bet that (Jeff Bezos)  can convert a huge portion of all commerce to flow through the Amazon machine. The question to ask isn’t whether Amazon is some profitless ponzi scheme, but whether you believe Bezos can capture the future. That, and how long are you willing to wait?...

Rich donors want more Walker-style attacks

At a New York gathering of conservative wealthy donors yesterday, members of the one percent begged Scott Walker to go national with his union-busting talents.

Capital New York reports:

“I happen to think your victory, that election, is as important an election as we’ve had in this country in a long time, including the one coming up,” said Ken Langone, the founder of Home Depot and a longtime contributor to Republican causes, during a question-and-answer session after Walker’s speech to about 100 guests of the Manhattan Institute. “That said, you’ve now gone to a much higher level of standing within the nation and the party, and I guess what I’m asking you is to think about taking advantage of that platform.”

Langone said Walker had the standing to articulate the formula for electoral success across the country and hold other Republicans accountable.

Langone is right about one thing: Walker is standing on an enormous platform made by Wall Street and propped up by corporate cash. And with sponsors like Langone, why not take Walker’s anti-worker show on the road?

Apparently, Walker is already a few steps ahead of his billionaire boosters:

Walker said his post-victory goals included making the case for Wisconsin’s reforms, campaigning for like-minded candidates across the country and trying to influence policy by encouraging other leaders to take on bold reforms.

Walker also mentioned campaigning for Mitt Romney, and advising him to campaign like a reformer.

“In addition to helping in Wisconsin, I’ve told Governor Romney I’d help anywhere else, so they’re sending me a number of other places around the country that are scheduled for next,” he said.

Brace yourself, America. Walker’s death-to-the-middle-class "reform" tour could be coming to a town near you.

-- Union Thug

Today's Teamster News 12.18.11

The Great Worker Shortage Lie is Alive and Well  The Economic Populist   ...Corporations are demanding more immigration and foreign guest worker Visas to displace Americans, repress wages, technology transfer and offshore outsource further...
Veterans seek jobs  KLFY   ...One battle facing war veterans, young and old alike, after they return home is unemployment...
Plan B – How to loot nations and their banks legally  (opinion) Golem XIV   ...Does anyone think that if our governments fail to keep to their austerity targets and fail to keep bailing out the banking sector, that the banks will just shrug and say, “Well, thanks for trying” and accept their fate?...
The Anxious Generation  National Journal   ...Stressed-out Americans over 50 wonder if they’re ever going to be able to retire. They worry that the Great Recession will have a lasting impact on their security...
Indiana government can't document claimed right-to-work losses  News-Sentinel   ...The top state economic-development agency can't provide documentation or statistics to back up Gov. Mitch Daniels' assertion that a fourth to half of companies don't give Indiana a shot at new business because it lacks a right-to-work law. Instead, this figure comes from impressions conveyed by site-selection consultants...
WI man charged with multiple felonies for defacing "Recall Walker" petitions  the BRAD BLOG   ...as we'd previously covered the stated intentions of Rightwingers to sabotage the 'Recall Walker' effort in Wisconsin by shredding and burning petitions and the death threats reportedly received by supporters of the effort to remove Wisconsin's anti-union Republican governor Scott Walker, I wanted to get this on record here...

Govs Gone Wild not so good at creating jobs

All these "Where are the jobs?" protests are making us curious. How well are the Governors Gone Wild doing with their Robin Hood economic schemes? You know, the corporate tax breaks, the slashing of essential services, the job and pay cuts for government workers, the raising of taxes on the poor and middle class? All those enlightened policies were supposed to create jobs.

But....that doesn't seem to be happening.

Koch whore Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker promised to create 250,000 jobs when he ran for office. He's got a long way to go. Wisconsin lost 8,200 jobs last month.

And how about corporate stooge Ohio Gov. John Kasich? He made a big deal about passing a "Jobs Budget" and giving a "toolkit" to local governments to solve their problems.  (All the Guvs Gone Wild like to talk about "toolkits," so be sure to run when you hear the word.)

The Times Bulletin reports Buckeye State unemployment jumped to 8.8 percent from 8.6 percent in May. (Here's what's really scary: House Speaker John Boehner says, ""Washington could certainly learn a thing or two from Ohio."  Aaaargh!!)

In Michigan, Gov. Rick Snyder cut taxes for the rich and raised them for the poor. How's that working out for you, Rick? Not so good, it seems. Reports Bloomberg,

Michigan's unemployment rate hit 10.9 percent in July, up 0.4 points from June...The seasonally adjusted figures ... show that the number of jobless workers topped 500,000 for the first time since January and that the state's labor force dropped by 17,000 workers.

Gov. Pink Slip Rick Scott also passed a "Jobs Budget." There are still almost a million people unemployed in Florida, which boasted a 10.6 percent unemployment rate in June. That's higher than the national rate of 9.2 percent.

Helicopter Chris Christie had a Plan To Get New Jersey Working Again. Maybe he needs a new plan. The  the unemployment rate for New Jersey rose 0.1 percentage points in June 2011 to 9.5 percent, higher than the national rate.

Let's be honest. These guys don't care about jobs. They just want to suck up to corporate billionaires and Wall Street so they can raise more campaign cash.

But you knew that already.

Today's Teamster News 05.10.11

Teamsters Denounce Florida Legislature Plan to Privatize Prisons  IBT   ...With the passage of this bill, correctional officers at facilities in 18 counties in the state will face an uncertain future as their livelihoods and families’ future will be sold to the lowest bidder...
Employees Plead for Congress, State to Help Save Their Jobs  The Bay Citizen   ...Congresswoman Jackie Speier...told ... anxious Teamsters Monday that she would do everything in her power to keep the medical supply company VWR from leaving Brisbane and taking more than 150 jobs with it...
Feds reject Wisconsin bid to upgrade Milwaukee-Chicago rail line  The State Journal   ...the federal government on Monday announced the destinations for $2 billion in federal high-speed rail money that had been rejected by Florida...
Unions criticize Gov. Walker's labor relations pick  Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel   ...Walker has named a former partner from an aggressively pro-management law firm to run the state commission overseeing relations between public employees and their employers...
Teachers union OKs $54 assessment to aid referendum on collective-bargaining law  Columbus Dispatch   ...The Ohio Education Association will assess active members ... to generate $5 million as fuel for a referendum to repeal the state's new collective-bargaining law...
Efforts to curtail private-sector unions faltering  The Associated Press   ...Of the 14 states where "right-to-work" bills barring mandatory union fees were considered, only New Hampshire has passed the legislation, and it is uncertain whether Republican lawmakers can overcome an expected veto by the Democratic governor...
Latest developments in Gov. Rick Snyder's plans to cut back education, prisons and other budget items   mlive.com   ...Just like the vote on pensions, Snyder’s budget asks GOP lawmakers for a tough vote on a pretty big cut to their local districts...

From the "Maybe You Should Have Thought of That Before" Department

Koch whore Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker told Wisconsin Radio Network that the state's recall frenzy "makes it very hard in a Republic for things to get done.”

Americans favor unions over Govs Gone Wild

This just in: A Gallup Poll shows more Americans support labor unions than governors in states trying to strip workers of collective bargaining rights.

Almost half, 48 percent, of Americans agree with workers and their unions. Only 39 percent agree with the governors.

This is just another in a long string of polls showing the public clearly favors maintaining collective bargaining rights for workers.

As expected, the poll shows union members are overwhelmingly against efforts by the Governors Gone Wild to take away their rights. This includes police officers and firefighters. They've traditionally voted Republican, but that's about to change. Politico reports:

Already, rank-and-file police officers and firefighters who long viewed themselves as separate from the rest of the movement are carrying picket signs, signing petitions and standing side-by-side with their labor brethren.

The governors are certainly not winning any popularity contests. Here are their abysmal numbers:

In Wisconsin, 55 percent disapprove of Koch whore Gov. Scott Walker;

In Florida, 55 percent disapprove of Gov. Rick Scott;

In Michigan, 50 percent disapprove of Gov. Rick Snyder; and

In Ohio, 46 percent disapprove of corporate stooge Gov. John Kasich.

Today's Teamster News 02.13.11

'China ready to go to war to safeguard national interests'  Times of India   ...an article in a Communist party magazine has said that Beijing must send a "clear signal" to these countries that it is ready to go to war to safeguard its national interests... Factories Vanish, So Can Innovators  New York Times   ...as time passes, the people who make the iPad and the iPhone day after day — the engineers and factory workers in Asia — may produce the next innovations...
When income grows, who gains?  Economic Policy Institute   ...see how growth in average income was shared between the richest 10% and the other 90% of Americans...
When Democracy Weakens  (Opinoin) New York Times   ...the levers of real power have been all but completely commandeered by the financial and corporate elite...
From Pentagon, a Buy Rating on Contractors  New York Times   ...banking isn’t the only industry where the government has allowed a handful of companies to become too big to fail...
Rallies, Vigils Planned In Response To Gov. Walker's Proposals  Channel 3000   ...State Sen. Jon Erpenbach To Hold Listening Session Sunday...
Kasich insults craftsmen (Opinion)  Toledo Blade   ...He claimed that prevailing-wage laws double the cost of construction projects...
The Best Trucking Companies to Work For  Supply Chain Digital   ...We had to exclude UPS, USPS and FedEx because it would be too easy to put them up as one of the best trucking companies to work for... 
Union taking town to task  (Local 687) Watertown Daily Times   ... The union representative for the town Highway Department claims Supervisor Joseph D. Gray acted improperly during contract negotiations last fall...

Today's Teamster News 02.12.11

Hoffa: Middle-Class Needs Jobs, Not Economic Warfare  IBT   ...concerted and coordinated attacks on government workers will kill jobs in the states where the attacks are launched...
Walker says National Guard is prepared  Associated Press   ...the Wisconsin National Guard is prepared to respond wherever is necessary in the wake of his announcement that he wants to take away nearly all collective bargaining rights from state employees...
What Hath Florida Wrought?  Washington Monthly   ...it's hard not to wonder if Florida's new chief executive is some sort of super-villain...
United Parcel Service Stock Hits New 52-Week High (UPS)  The Street   ...The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas...
Jackknifed trucks snarls I-15 traffic  San Diego Union Tribune   ...A jackknifed FedEx semitrailer truck leaking diesel fuel created a commuting nightmare Friday...
Obama's high-speed rail faces political challenge  AFP   ...Republicans are likely to hone in on $8 billion in proposed rail funds in their effort to slash spending...
U.S. lawmakers write to Clinton for Keystone-XL approval  Calgary Herald   ...the letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is signed 30 congressional representatives from 18 states...
As U.S. Exports Soar, It’s Not All Soybeans  New York Times   ...American exports of goods rose 21 percent in 2010 to $1.28 trillion, as the world trading system shook off the effects of the financial crisis, according to figures released on Friday...
Trouble in Acapulco's Paradise  Wall Street Journal   ...Acapulco was once the playground for Hollywood's jet set. Nowadays, the resort has become a battleground for Mexican drug cartels...

"Middle class needs jobs, not economic warfare"

Memphis sanitation workers strike, 1968

There is a war on the middle class, and the middle class is losing. If you had any doubts about that yesterday, they should have been dispelled over the past 24 hours. Not only has a multinational front group been caught hiring spies to run an undercover smear campaign against unions and other working-class groups, but the governor of Wisconsin has threatened to call out the National Guard if government workers balk at his insane budget proposal.

My boss, Jim Hoffa, is asking state and local chambers of commerce to break away from the U.S. Chamber. Here's what he had to say:

It isn’t right for politicians to attack the thousands of dedicated public servants who make our government run instead of big banks and big corporations that caused our economic problems. Gov. Walker’s attack on working families in Wisconsin is part of a concerted, coordinated war on the middle class. It’s funded by billionaires like the Koch brothers and multinational corporations represented by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and it’s just wrong.

Working people are struggling, and now politicians backed by billionaires and multi-national corporations are trying to cut their wages and benefits. It’s clear that they’ll stop at nothing, including calling in the National Guard and running undercover smear campaigns against unions and other organizations that represent working families

He mentioned the recent revelations that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce paid for private security firms to spy on individuals who work for unions and bloggers who have criticized its agenda, and to spread lies and false accusations to discredit them. Hoffa also said,

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is dominated by multinational corporations that want to send more U.S. jobs overseas and destabilize working families by forcing down wages. It revealed its true anti-worker agenda when it decided to pay for spies and smear campaigns against groups willing to stand up to the big corporations.

I’m calling on state and local chambers of commerce to break from the U.S. Chamber if they haven’t already. That way they can show they’re truly committed to creating jobs and protecting middle-class families.

Call your local chamber and ask if they're part of the U.S. Chamber. You know what to say if they are.

Wisconsin cancelling union contract extensions

It's hard to see the image, but you have to see it to believe it.

It's a letter from Gregory L. Gracz, director of Wisconsin's Office of State Employee Relations, to Martin Beil, executive director of AFSCME Council 24. First some legal gobbledygook, then this:

...the State is hereby providing the Union with written notice of its intent to cancel these five contract extensions. The effective date of the cancellation of these five contract extensions will be March 13, 2011.

Please also be advised that termination of the extension of the master agreement also cancels any and all local agreements, and memoranda of understanding and negotiating notes currently in effect.

Just .... wow.

Wisconsin's union-busting gov. hearts the Chamber of Commerce

If you have any doubt where Wisconsin's Gov. Scott Walker is coming from with his massive job-killing budget proposal, consider this: He wants to eliminate the state's department of Commerce and replace it with a Chamber of Commerce. According to Statehouse News Online, Walker wants a "public private partnership" (ALWAYS beware when you hear those words) Walker wants a public-private partnership called the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation.  Reports Statehouse News,

“Think about this corporation kind of like being the local chamber of commerce,” Walker said. ”We need to have an entity that’s about promoting Wisconsin, about promoting jobs, telling the world and everybody in the state that we’re open for business and what we can do to help make that possible.”

What the chamber of commerce really does is hire high-tech goons to run undercover operations to smear  unions. As far as job creation, well, not so much. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is basically dominated by multi-national corporations -- including non-U.S. companies -- that lobby to move more jobs overseas, destablizing working families by forcing down wages even as unemployment is close to 10 percent.

As Washington Post columnist Steven Pearlstein wrote last year,

...it is the private businesses the Chamber purports to represent that eliminated 8 million jobs in 2008 and 2009 and have managed to add a scant 600,000 since then. If Chamber President Tom Donohue wants to round up those responsible for the lack of job growth in this country, all he has to do is call a meeting of his board of directors.

And this just in from the Land of Cheddar (thanks to the Associated Press)

Gov. Scott Walker says he won't negotiate with unionized state workers because Wisconsin is broke and he has nothing to offer them.

Walker on Friday spoke about his plan calling for the removal of almost all collective bargaining rights for most state and local workers. Only wages would be left as a negotiable item, but any raises higher than the consumer price index would have to be approved by voters.

Walker says he won't negotiate new contracts with the unions because the state faces a $3.6 billion budget shortfall and has nothing to offer.

He says his plan calling for increased pension and health care contributions from state workers is a modest one that workers should support to avoid massive layoffs.

We assume Walker will agree to take a salary cut as a way to share the sacrifice.

Yowza! Wisconsin gov. tries to carpet bomb unions

Wisconsin's new governor Scot Walker proposed a budget today that will first take your breath away and then, if it passes, lower everyone's standard of living in Wisconsin.

Walker, a protege of the billionaire Tea Party founding Koch brothers, launched a blistering attack on working families today with his budget proposal. It has been correctly described as a "massive, job-killing power grab that would hurt the state's economy."

Associated Press has the story:

Public employees were reeling Friday trying to figure out what to do after Gov. Scott Walker asked the Legislature to remove nearly all collective bargaining rights for teachers, prison guards and other government workers across Wisconsin.
They don't have much time to mobilize.

Walker, a Republican who took office in January, is asking the Republican-controlled Legislature to ram the bill through next week, maybe without a public hearing. Walker's administration sent Republican and Democratic legislative leaders a letter on Friday outlining his proposal but an actual draft of the bill was not yet available.

The Teamsters are getting activated to defeat this monstrous proposal. If you live in Wisconsin, your help is desperately needed to write, call or email your elected officials. And that's for starters.

Among other heinous things, the budget would

• remove all collective bargaining rights, except for pay, for roughly 175,000 public employees
• require any requests for a salary increase higher than the consumer price index to be approved by referendum.
• limit contracts to one year, freezing wages until next contract is settled.
• allow freeloaders who don't pay dues to be covered by union contracts i.e., right to work (for LESS).

To the barricades!