Fast track's finale could be upon us; make your voice heard!

Confused about where things stand with fast track? You're not alone.

Legislation that began in the Senate and failed its first procedural hurdle made it out of the chamber last month. However, once in the House, fast track failed on its first vote. That is, until its corporate crony supporters rejiggered the rules so they could bring back a different version of fast track that passed the House last week.

So now, the Senate needs to vote on fast track again because the House-approved bill is different from the one the Senate initially passed. The first, and likely most important, vote will probably happen tomorrow.

Fast track foes spoke out against the bill earlier this month.

This legislation's path is convoluted, and that's what its supporters want. But the primary message is not. Fast track will result in thousands of U.S. jobs being shipped overseas, and will lead to a reduction in pay for many of the American jobs that remain in this country. It will allow unsafe food and products to flow freely onto this nation's shores. It won't do anything to stop other countries from manipulating their currency to make their products cheap in the U.S. and ours more expensive overseas. And it will allow foreign corporations to sue America to overturn our democratic laws.

Frankly, it's hard to imagine how the process has gotten to this point. Fast track will allow trade deals like the Trans-Pacific Partnership to be rushed through Congress with little debate and no chance to be amended. That takes the power away from lawmakers. They are left to only rubber stamp trade pacts.

Senators who support fair trade and workers really only have one choice at this point -- vote NO on fast track. But they need to hear from their constituents.

The fight for hardworking Americans could end tomorrow if lawmakers decide to turn away from the people and endorse the views of the powerful. Don't let that happen.

Making college affordable is key to America's future

The cost of higher education is out of control, and has been for many years. As tuition soared sky-high, more and more U.S. young adults went deep into debt trying to finance their future. And today, many are being crushed by the weight of their borrowing.

College costs are hitting students hard.

Until recently, there didn't seem to be enough lawmakers demanding change when it came to the high cost of college. Sure, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) would decry student loan interest rates, but too many elected officials were silent on the bigger question of reducing the price tag for post-secondary education.

Now, however, there seems to be momentum for a broader solution, one that could even play a role in the 2016 elections. Some 20 Democratic senators support a measure that would spur government to tap down on the spiraling costs of higher ed.

As outlined in The Hill newspaper:

The resolution deals in broad strokes rather than granular details. It calls upon the federal government to provide more support to states, which can then “make increased investments in higher education that will result in lower tuition and costs for students.” It also backs increased financial aid for students — in contrast to the House GOP’s recent budget plan that would freeze Pell grants at their current level — as well as efforts to bend the cost curve of college education downward.

The need for such legislation cannot be overstated. While rising tuition has hampered many students, it has hit those that hail from low-income families the most. Even the brightest of those coming from economically challenged families often can't finish college. Meanwhile, their less intelligent but better-off classmates muddle through.

As detailed in Slate:

What happens to these bright, low-income students? It's not so much that they don't attend college—only 12.4 percent skip higher ed entirely. The problem is that most don't finish, or settle for less than a bachelor's degree, which of course limits their earning power later in life. Sometimes they try to save money on tuition by attending community college, even though most two-year schools have a spotty track record when it comes to helping students graduate. Sometimes they get lost or overwhelmed in a college's bureaucracy, because they don't have educated parents who can help guide them along. Sometimes they try to work through school and simply can't balance the demands of a job with their academics. For one reason or another, they don't make it as far as their talent suggests they should.

America simply cannot allow this continue to happen. It tramples on this nation's history as "The Land of Opportunity" and raises questions about whether working hard is the classroom ultimately does pay off for all students. And it tamps down on innovation and U.S. economic gains.

Education is at the core of what makes this country great. If lawmakers wants to get more people working in good middle-class jobs, they need to prioritize it.

Senate success against fast track push!

Workers have earned an important victory on fast track!

Senate Democrats took a stand today against efforts to ram fast track trade authority through the chamber, denying an effort to move forward with consideration of the legislation. The vote further delays big business' desire to pass fast track and raises serious doubts about the future of the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

The defeat came after a key block of lawmakers who otherwise support fast track said they would not allow the vote to proceed. From Politico:

A critical vote on President Barack Obama’s trade agenda is headed for failure on Tuesday afternoon as a group of pro-trade Senate Democrats announced they will vote against even opening debate on the bill. 

In exchange for voting to approve fast-track trade powers for the president, Democrats have demanded that the Senate also pass additional worker protections. So far, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has stopped short of promising that those provisions will become law. 

Democrats that are supportive of Obama’s trade efforts huddled on Tuesday afternoon to mull over their strategy. After nearly an hour, led by Senate Finance Committee ranking member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), the bloc of about 10 Democrats said McConnell has not offered them sufficient guarantees.

The vote does not spell total success on the issue. But it shows that more and more lawmakers realize there are serious problems with fast track and that it should not be jammed down the throats of workers. And efforts to pass fast track so Congress can get TPP approved will only get more difficult as additional lawmakers realize what a lousy deal it is for America!

Fast track flunkies go all out to try to force vote in Senate

Earlier this week, the Senate's top Democrat Harry Reid put his foot down on the fast track trade bill, saying he would not allow supporters to quickly jam the measure through the chamber. Well, not surprisingly, corporations and their lawmaker cronies didn't like that. So they are pushing back hard.

Protesters took a stand against fast track on Capitol Hill in April.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is forcing the issue by calling for a procedural vote known as cloture as soon as next week. If he can get 60 votes, the Senate can end debate on the matter and take a final vote on fast track. But whether he can get those 60 votes is the big question.

It could take a bipartisan effort to stop cloture. A handful of Democrats have decided to side with big business already on fast track, which means any vote will be very close. For U.S. workers and those who support fair trade, there is no margin for error.

Just in case anyone needed a reminder on why stopping fast track is essential, he is a primer: it would allow quick votes to be taken on bad trade deals like the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), with no chance to amend the deals. That is particularly insidious when details of trade agreements are shielded from public view.

Yet supporters are doing everything they can to push for fast track and the TPP. Today, President Obama is in Oregon to visit Nike Headquarters, and the company is doing all it can to shill for the trade deals. The company says it could create 10,000 new U.S.-based jobs at Nike if the Pacific Rim trade pact is approved. This is the shoe manufacturer, mind you, that is the poster boy for sweatshops worldwide.

Well the Teamsters aren't buy it, and the American public shouldn't either. As Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa said today:

The promise of job creation as a result of these unbalanced trade agreements is a just a broken record replaying the same corporate lies. We’ve heard it all before – and the middle class is tired of bearing the brunt of these unfair trade agreements.

Before NAFTA was passed, General Electric promised more than 10,000 new jobs would be created. Instead, GE eliminated 11,675 jobs directly due to increased competition from imports and offshoring under NAFTA. Chrysler promised 4,000 new jobs and it eliminated nearly 18,000 jobs. And just last month, Caterpillar announced it will move two production lines from Joliet, Illinois to Mexico, costing the community 230 jobs.

With a track record like this, you can understand why working men and women are skeptical of trade agreements. Global corporations like Nike take advantage of the rules outlined in trade deals like NAFTA and TPP. The system is rigged to benefit companies that move operations to countries where they can take advantage of low wages and weak labor protections. Nike alone employs 990,000 workers in low-wage countries.

We must not repeat the mistakes of the past by passing TPP and watching more manufacturing jobs leave our country while the middle class suffers.

It's time to take a stand against these big business bullies. If workers want to protect American jobs and their wages there is only one answer -- say no to fast track. Make sure to let the Senate know they should be doing the same.

Reid is slowing down fast track in Senate

Local 657 members in San Antonio voiced their opposition to fast track last week.

Corporate elites everywhere received some bad news last night when Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) announced he would not allow the chamber to move forward with consideration of fast track trade legislation until other more time-sensitive measures are dealt with by lawmakers.

Reid, a strong opponent of fast track, said he would not concede to the whims of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who wants to speed fast track trade authority through the Senate before dealing with transportation and foreign intelligence measures that are brushing up against deadlines. He told the Huffington Post:

McConnell said he wanted to move to trade in the next two or three weeks, and I'm going to -- maybe he can, but I don't think he's going to have an easy time doing it, because I will not let him do that. We're not going to lay over, as I said, until we have some way to move forward on FISA and the surface transportation bill. He has some decisions to make and he's going to have to work around me and the caucus.

It's the latest bad news for big business, which has led the push for fast track because it knows its the only way it can get secret trade deals like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) approved. Late last week, House leaders conceded they didn't have the votes to get fast track passed. Add it together, and its almost enough to make a billionaire go bonkers.

More and more lawmakers are starting to see the glaring problems the Teamsters and other fair trade advocates have had with fast track. Lost jobs, lower wages and unsafe food and products are just a few of them.

But increasingly there are signs that U.S. trade is not living up to the promises of its proponents.
In fact, just this morning the Commerce Department released March trade figures showing the trade deficit soared by 43 percent over the previous month, reaching $51.4 billion. That's no way to create new American jobs.

Fast track is the wrong track for America!

Rich, entitled jerks really ARE rich, entitled jerks

The ultra-wealthy really are self-centered entitled jerks and the U.S. Senate only pays attention to them, not the rest of us.

You probably suspected that already, but new studies prove it.

Also, BMW drivers are the worst.

The Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin reports five new studies show higher social class is associated with increased entitlement and narcissism.

Paul Piff of the University of California at Berkeley conducted five experiments that demonstrate the entitlement mentality of people who are wealthier, better educated and have high-status occupations.

Joshua Holland at Bill Moyers & Company described our favorite study:

In one telling experiment, the researchers observed a busy intersection, and found that drivers of luxury cars were more likely to cut off other drivers and less likely to stop for pedestrians crossing the street than those behind the wheels of more modest vehicles. “In our crosswalk study, none of the cars in the beater-car category drove through the crosswalk,” Piff told The New York Times. “But you see this huge boost in a driver’s likelihood to commit infractions in more expensive cars.” He added: “BMW drivers are the worst.”

Other studies showed the ultra-wealthy are more likely to look at themselves in the mirror and to say “I honestly feel I’m just more deserving than others."

Another series of experiments showed upper-class individuals are more unethical than lower-class individuals:

This included being more likely to “display unethical decision-making,” steal, lie during a negotiation and cheat in order to win a contest.

These are the people U.S. senators pay closest attention to. According to a study to be published in the Political Research Quarterly, they respond almost exclusively to their wealthiest constituents.

It's starting to look a lot like oligarchy.

Workers demand Senate vote on NLRB nominees!

Obstructionist senators have held up the nominations of three members to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) for months. Now Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is about to push forward with votes that would ensure working Americans continue to have a federal agency that protects their right to collectively bargain.

Working families deserve to a have a voice in government that protects their rights in the workplace. But unless the Senate acts by the end of next month, they won't have one. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other corporate apologists are doing all they can to prevent a vote. This isn't about companies being inconvenienced, however -- it's about enforcing a 65-year-old law that ensures fair wages for workers and puts food on the table for millions.

Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa highlighted the qualifications of the three nominees when President Obama first appointed them late last year:

Richard Griffin, as general counsel for the International Union of Operating Engineers, is a strong choice for the NLRB. Sharon Block, currently deputy assistant secretary for congressional affairs at the Labor Department, has worked for the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, a great protector of workers’ rights. 

And the appointment of Terrence Flynn, the Republican nominee to the NLRB, shows the president’s determination to rise above petty partisan politics.

Many members of Congress have also called on the Senate to approve the three. Reps. Linda Sanchez and Joe Courtney unveiled a letter signed by 201 House Democrats last week that demanded Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell allow a vote on the NLRB nominees to move forward:

The NLRB provides critical protections to American workers and gives businesses much needed labor certainty.  Each day that the Board sits idle is one in which workers’ lawful rights are put at risk. This continued ideological obstructionism is denying hardworking Americans the crucial worker protections that the NLRB provides. We urge you to withdraw this partisan demand and allow the Senate to fulfill its constitutional responsibility to consider presidential appointments, and to do so without continued delay. 

It is time to act now!

10 reasons the Senate should confirm Richard Cordray and let the CFPB protect consumers from predatory banks

Teamsters strongly support the nomination of Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. On Cordray's watch, the CFPB has already recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for consumers cheated by credit card companies, cracked down on illegal foreclosures of military families and investigated predatory lending by for-profit colleges.

If the Senate doesn't approve Cordray's nomination, you'll know why: too many senators are beholden to banks that want a free hand to exploit their customers.

Americans for Financial Reform provides a list of 10 reasons the Senate should approve Cordray's nomination and let the CFPB do its job.

Since the CFPB was created in July 2011, it has:

1. Returned $457 million to nearly 6 million credit card holders cheated by Capital One, Discover and American Express. 
2. Wrote new regulations that prohibit banks and mortgage companies from disguising costs and making loans that borrowers can't afford.
3. Recovered money for people who've been ripped off on their student loans. 
4. Cracked down on illegal foreclosures of military families. 
5. Force disclosure of the fees for sending money overseas.
6. Shut down fraudulent companies that collect up-front fees for help they don’t deliver to desperate borrowers.
7. Investigated banks for conning customers to opt into expensive overdraft protection programs, including JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, PNC, Bank of America, and five other banks.(Still ongoing.)
8. Investigated allegations of harassment and deception by the 175 largest debt-collection firms. (Still ongoing.)
9. Set up a complaint system in which more than half of people complaining about credit card companies got a financial settlement. 
10. Established a database where consumers can find out what credit card companies people are complaining about.

Convinced? Then sign a petition to your senators and urge them to support the nomination of Richard Cordray. Just follow the link here.

Today's Teamster News 09/29/10

YRC CEO To Retire Upon Completion Of Recovery Plan Wall Street Journal ...Chief Executive Bill Zollars has plans to retire...

Senate Outsourcing Bill Stalls Wall Street Journal ...A new ... poll released Tuesday found outsourcing was the top factor cited by Americans as the cause of the country's continuing economic distress...

Investor Says He Will Vote Against Hertz Wall Street Journal ...Mr. Reeder's views could be part of a serious challenge to Hertz, whose deal goes for a vote before Dollar Thrifty shareholders on Sept. 30...

Recommendations to FAA Often Languish Washington Post ...many believe that the biggest cause of delay lies with the FAA itself...

Work stoppage hits ports The Philadelphia Inquirer ...Longshoremen shut down the Port of New York and New Jersey and Packer Avenue Marine Terminal in South Philadelphia Tuesday to protest Del Monte Fresh Produce Co.'s move from Camden to a cheaper-labor terminal in Gloucester City...

As 44 million Americans live in poverty, a crisis grows (opinion) Washington Post ...the number of people living at less than two times the poverty line ($44,000 for a family of four) is ... the line between whether or not you can pay your bills ... That has reached 100,411,000 people. That's 33 percent of the country."

Links 07/08/10

On Pentagon Wish List: Russian Copters Wall Street Journal
US Workers' Salaries Lost Ground In Past Decade Wall Street Journal (subscription only)
Wal-Mart Fighting $7,000 Fine in Trampling Case New York Times
Greece Approves Pension Overhaul Despite Protests New York Times
Conway wins endorsement of teachers in Senate race Associated Press
Woman denied health insurance over one-cent shortfall Raw Story

It's the jobs, stupid

Two moderate Republican senators from Maine, Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, are standing in the way of a jobs bill that would extend unemployment insurance, raise taxes on investment managers and aid the states (thus preserving jobs).

AFSCME and Americans United for Change targeted the two senators in this ad, which will run in Maine.