Today's Teamster News 04.22.15

Teamsters
Teamsters Protest Sysco At IFDA Lobbying Meeting   Market Watch   ...Teamsters protested Sysco Corporation [NYSE: SYY] outside the International Foodservice Distributors Association's (IFDA) Washington Insight Conference on Capitol Hill today. Sysco is a member of the IFDA and is the largest foodservice distributor in America. "We are here today because of Sysco's pattern of threatening workers, food producers and even its competitors," said Steve Vairma, Director of the Teamsters Warehouse Division...
Teamsters Decry Sysco’s Bullying at Rally in Washington, D.C.   Teamster.org   ...More than 70 Teamsters took part in a raucous rally Tuesday, April 21 to blast Sysco’s bullying of workers, its labor law violations and other misdeeds. The Teamsters Union is calling out Sysco as a corporate bully during this week’s International Food Distributors Association meeting. That’s where Sysco, US Foods and other Teamster broadline foodservice employers are holding their annual “Washington Insight” conference...
Court Victory Vindicates BLET Position On Two-Person Train Crews   Teamster.org   ...In a major legal victory to protect two-person train crews, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has ruled in favor of Brotherhood Locomotive Engineer and Trainmen’s (BLET) position that the Wheeling & Lake Erie’s (WLE) use of managers in place of Union conductors is a major dispute under the Railway Labor Act. The ruling, which occurred yesterday, vindicates BLET’s decision to strike over the issue more than 18 months ago...
Teamsters Applaud Report By Members Of Parliament On Conditions At National Express Group PLC  Teamster.org   ...A report released today by two Members of United Kingdom’s Parliament reveals serious labor rights violations at National Express Group PLC operations in the United States. The report’s recommendations support a Teamster-sponsored shareholder resolution that will be voted on at the company’s annual general meeting of shareholders on May 6 in London...

Global Labor & Trade
Business, Labor Back In Trenches On Trade  The Hill   ...Trumka and Donohue will meet Tuesday at the Senate Finance Committee to discuss Obama’s push for “fast-track” trade promotion authority (TPA) at a crucial moment in the all-out battle for votes on legislation now before Congress. The bill would limit Congress to an up-or-down vote on major trade deals — including the sweeping 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership — being negotiated by the Obama administration...
Some Senate Democrats Look Ready to Buck Harry Reid on Trade   National Journal  ... Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid's statement Tuesday that he is a "hell no" on legislation that would give the White House more leverage to negotiate trade deals is reflective of many Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee. But while it is likely that most of the committee's 12 Democrats will still be opposed to a new trade authority, there are signs that just enough Democrats might be open to the bill...
Low Wages, Trade Deals Luring Auto Plants and Jobs to Mexico   New York Times  ...Mexico has become the most attractive place in North America to build new automobile factories, a shift that has siphoned jobs from the U.S. and Canada, yet helped keep car and truck prices in check for consumers. Audi also sells the Q5 in the U.S., where tariffs on cars built in Mexico were dropped under the North American Free Trade Agreement...
San Francisco Opposes TPP Fast Track in New Resolution   EFF.org   ...The San Francisco Board of Supervisors has unanimously voted in favor of a resolution today urging the district's congressional representatives to oppose Fast Track legislation for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement. Supervisor John Avalos put forth the resolution, which expresses concerns about the secret trade agreement's provisions...
Why the Pittsburgh City Council may speak out against a Trans-Pacific trade deal  Pittsburgh Business Times  ...Pittsburgh elected officials are warning "fast track approval" of the Trans-Pacific Partnership may harm Pittsburgh's economy. On Tuesday, District 4 City Councilwoman NataliaRudiak introduced a Will of Council asking President Barack Obama to pursue a more fully transparent and inclusive legislative process surrounding TPP, which is being negotiated behind closed doors with the U.S. and 11 Pacific Rim nations...
Rana Plaza 2 Years Later: Garment Workers Under Seige  Solidarity Center  ...In the initial months after the Rana Plaza collapse on April 24, 2013, a preventable catastrophe that killed more than 1,130 Bangladesh garment workers and injured thousands more, global outrage spurred much-needed changes. "After the Rana Plaza and Tazreen disasters, it had become easier to form unions," says Aleya Akter, president of the Bangladesh Garment and Industrial Workers Federation (BGIWF). But since November 2014, the government is more frequently rejecting registrations...
A Look At The Fast-Track Bill Shows It's The Wrong Thing To Do (opinion)  Huffington Post   ...We don't yet know what is in the TPP, because it is still secret and will remain so until shortly before the fast-track process requires Congress to vote. The president says to trust him, telling us that it will be great and "progressive" and create lots of jobs and expand the economy. Great. But the history on our trade deals -- especially those passed using fast track -- has been very bad...
Fast Tracking Democracy to Hell: Why the Trans-Pacific Partnership Is a Rotten Deal  (opinion) Alternet   ...Concealing potentially job-killing trade schemes from the American public thwarts democracy. Rushing unpopular legislation through Congress before American citizens have an opportunity to review it and tell their elected representatives how they feel about it obstructs democracy. No trade treaty, no matter how great free traders cross-their-hearts-and-hope-to-die it will be, is worth damning Americans’ cherished democracy...
Exporting Jobs, Importing Inequality (opinion)  U.S. News & World Report   ...America’s middle class is being ripped apart by failed trade policy. Look at what was once the proud heartland of our country’s manufacturing sector, and you’ll see the aftermath of terrible trade deals: lost jobs, stagnant wages, shuttered factories and devastated communities. It’s a tragedy, and after 20 years of a broken system, it’s time we tried something new...

State & Living Wage Battles
Supreme Court Revives Challenge To North Carolina Redistricting  Wall Street Journal   ...The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday revived a challenge to North Carolina’s election map, which civil rights groups complain illegally concentrates black voters in a handful of districts...
County Board Supports Right to Work Initiative  XFM  ...The Effingham County Board Monday voted 7-2 to endorse The Turnaround Agenda promoted by Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner, including a provision to create Right to Work zones. One of the largest crowds ever seen at a County Board was on hand for the vote, made up primarily of union workers, although there was a contingent of supporters of the initiative...
Birmingham City Council endorses campaign to increase minimum wage as legislators move to restrict local authority to do so   AL.com  ...The council this afternoon unanimously passed a resolution asking the Legislature to increase the state minimum wage to $10 an hour. The nonbinding resolution comes at the same time the state House of Representatives consider a bill to restrict the ability of local governments to set their own minimum wage rules...
LePage Seeks To Quash Local Efforts To Raise Minimum Wage  Bangor Daily News   ...Gov. Paul LePage is promoting a bill to thwart municipal officials in two of Maine’s largest communities from raising the minimum wage for employers within their city limits...
Obama aide takes Philly's side in sick-leave fight  Philly.com  ...Philadelphia's law, which requires businesses with 10 or more employees to provide at least an hour of paid sick leave for every 40 hours worked, takes effect next month. Last week the Republican-dominated state Senate passed legislation that would effectively preempt local governments from having mandatory sick-leave laws...

U.S. Labor
America’s “Flexible” Economy Is Making Workers’ Lives Hell  Salon.com   ...Employers assign workers tentative shifts, and then notify them a half-hour or ten minutes before the shift is scheduled to begin whether they’re actually needed. Some even require workers to check in by phone, email, or text shortly before the shift starts. Just-in-time scheduling is another part of America’s new “flexible” economy – along with the move to independent contractors and the growing reliance on “share economy” businesses, like Uber...
Wal-Mart closures draw NLRB filing  Arkansas Online  ...A complaint by the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, acting on behalf of OUR Walmart, is seeking reinstatement of employees to their former stores or transfer to other locations without loss of pay until repairs are complete. The filing alleges the closings were a result of labor protests...
AFSCME Protests IDOC Accusations  WSIU.org  ...Governor Bruce Rauner pledged his support for the Illinois Department of Corrections when he was elected. But, members of AFSCME say they are waiting to see that support materialize. Union members held an informational picket Monday outside the Vienna Correctional Center...
Memphis reaches agreement with a portion of AFSCME, avoids impasse  Commercial Appeal   ...City of Memphis officials reached a two-year agreement on Tuesday with the main bargaining unit of AFSCME, making it the only labor group negotiating with the city that will not go into impasse. The agreement keeps in place current contract language but allows for a “wage reopening” after one year, said union president Janice Chalmers...
At Home And Abroad, The Labor Movement Comes Roaring Back (opinion)  Moyers & Company   ...At a time when multi-national corporations are 50 of the world’s largest 100 economies, this movement has had to be both intensely local and expansively global. Less than three years ago, the grassroots campaign for a living wage began in scattered Thanksgiving protests by New York City fast food workers and Los Angeles Wal-Mart associates. This year’s protests are the largest and most global labor actions ever mounted...

Miscellaneous
It's Time to Invest in the United States' Rail System   (opinion)  Truthout.org  ...It's time to make infrastructure sexy again, and we can start by fixing the United States' rail systems. Believe it or not, there was a time in the US when riding a train was luxurious. There were classy dining cars, moonlit rides across the countryside...
The richest 0.01 percent of Americans gave 42 percent of political donations in 2012  Daily Kos   ...Forget the top one percent, the top 0.01 percent of Americans gave nearly 42 percent of all political donation dollars in the 2012 election cycle. Just over 30,000 individuals contributed nearly half of all money. It should come as no surprise that policymakers look after the ultra-wealthy instead of the rest of us...
Caterpillar’s CEO Just Got A Big Raise, And It Explains What’s Wrong With American Capitalism   Think Progress   ...Heavy machinery manufacturer Caterpillar gave its CEO a 14 percent raise last year, in a $17.1 million package of cash, stock, and other compensation that is hard to justify in light of the famed brand’s actual performance. Caterpillar is hardly unique in finding creative ways to justify paying CEOs. The rules for performance pay are broken across all industries...

Today's Teamster News 03.28.15

Teamsters
Hoffa: TPP Investor Language Will Leave Taxpayers On The Hook  Huffington Post   ...Language included in the Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) chapter of the TPP would grant new rights to companies to challenge limitations and exceptions to copyrights, patents and other intellectual property. That means corporations could sue the U.S. or other countries included in the deal if they didn't like their laws. Such challenges would be handled by an unaccountable international arbitration forum. And taxpayers would end up paying the tab if the private sector wins...
Hoffa Addresses First Graduates Of Military Job Training Program  teamster.org   ...Today, Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa took part in a ceremony recognizing the first graduates of a program that helps active military personnel transition to a career in transportation. The ceremony was held at the Army’s new Industrial Training Complex (ITC) in Fort Sill, Okla. A ribbon-cutting ceremony was also held to inaugurate the ITC...
Highway Chief Denies Any Wrongdoing In Legal Action Against Town  Hudson Register Star   ...It has been alleged the Hillsdale Highway Department has not fulfilled legal obligations to their local Teamsters union, a union official wrote in a letter to the town supervisor. The town board recently mediated the dispute at their March 17 board meeting...
Union organizers question wages at McKesson warehouse  Des Moines Register   ...Two Teamsters union organizers questioned Friday whether drug distributor McKesson Corp. would pay fair wages at a new warehouse in northern Iowa. "We as a local (union) and your brothers and sisters in Minnesota are concerned about the jobs being shipped down here at a discounted rate, to be honest with you," Troy Gustafson of Teamsters Local 120 told the Iowa Economic Development Authority Board Friday...
From the ranks of Microsoft’s permatemps  Washington Post   ...In Silicon Valley, contract workers are beginning to organize. Google and Facebook shuttle bus drivers have joined the Teamsters union...
Trade
Now We Know Why Huge TPP Trade Deal Is Kept Secret From the Public  Huffington Post   ...if corporations feel they have been denied "expected" profits by a government regulation, ISDS lets them circumvent a country's courts and go to an international corporate tribunal with their grievance. But if labor organizers are murdered, workers and their families have nowhere to go...
Trade Show: Today In What The Hell Is Going On With The TPP?  Esquire   ... It seems that in their desire to bless us all with the benefits of "free" trade, the negotiators have managed to outsource not only all the manufacturing jobs that are worth a damn, but also the job of domestic environmental spoilage...
State Battles
Plain Talk: Scott Walker a textbook case of why we don't trust politicians (opinion)  The Cap Times   ...Worse, though, is that Walker not only underhandedly cloaks his amibitions, he lies about them, too...
Mandatory Sick Leave Moves Forward In Capitol  Statesman Journal   ...Nearly every Oregon employee could have at least 40 hours of paid sick leave in the near future if the Oregon Legislature succeeds in passing one of two bills currently under discussion in the Capitol...
Minimum Wage, Equal Pay Bills Fail In House Subcommittee  Memphis Business Journal   ...A group of Democratic sponsored bills, including two to raise the state’s minimum wage and another to allow female employees recourse to sue over pay discrimination, failed in a Tennessee House subcommittee Wednesday. Votes on each piece of legislation were divided on party lines...
Buffalo Lawmaker Seeking Further Minimum Wage Hike  Buffalo Business First   ...The proposal would increase the state’s minimum wage to $10.50 now with staggered incremental increases leading to $15 in 2018. After three years of increases, the state’s minimum wage is set to reach $9 on Dec. 31, 2015. The current minimum wage in New York is set at $8.75. Panepinto said that number translates to $18,000 per year...
War on Workers
Metro workers say safety culture doesn’t exist  Washington Post   ...Metro train and bus operators, mechanics and other employees have lined up to criticize the agency’s safety culture nearly three months after a deadly smoke incident left one person dead and spurred new questions about the system’s management and training...
Amazon demands employees sign 18-month non-compete agreement to get a three-month-long job  Pando   ...The agreements last for up to 18 months. Seasonal workers can be employed by Amazon for as few as three. That’s a hell of a trade-off, especially considering that the non-compete agreements prevent Amazon’s employees from working “at any company where they ‘directly or indirectly’ support any good or service that competes with those they helped support at Amazon”...
Exclusive: Upset by Warren, U.S. banks debate halting some campaign donations  Reuters   ...Big Wall Street banks are so upset with U.S. Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren's call for them to be broken up that some have discussed withholding campaign donations to Senate Democrats in symbolic protest, sources familiar with the discussions said...
Wall Street isn’t happy with us  ElizabethWarren.com   ... They want a showy way to tell Democrats across the country to be scared of speaking out, to be timid about standing up, and to stay away from fighting for what’s right. Ok, they have taken their shot, but it will not work...
Middle Class Jobs Are Still Lagging  FiveThirtyEight   ...This U-shaped recovery – faster growth at the top and bottom, slower in the middle – isn’t a new phenomenon. What’s unclear is how long it will last. Mid-tier jobs are often the last to rebound in a recovery. It’s possible that with job growth now picking up, the pattern will begin to reverse, or perhaps has even begun to do so already...
Raleigh Scaffolding Collapse Kills 3 Construction Workers  Raleigh News and Observer   ...Three construction workers were killed and another seriously injured late Monday morning when an exterior lift system tore from the side of an office building under construction in downtown Raleigh...
Oil Trains Put US On Target For More Derailments, Warn Experts  Fox News   ...Activists call them “bomb trains,” and they’re likely rolling through a town near you. The oil boom in North Dakota and Alberta, Canada, has put a record number of train cars on tracks carrying hundreds of thousands of barrels of crude oil each day all across the U.S. Several accidents have already happened, and local leaders say it is a matter of time until more occur...
Miscellaneous
NSA Doesn’t Need To Spy On Your Calls To Learn Your Secrets  Wired   ...Collecting metadata on people means putting them under surveillance...
The Shut-In Economy  Medium   ...the on-demand world isn’t about sharing at all. It’s about being served. This is an economy of shut-ins...

Today's Teamster News 08.20.13

DeKalb County Workers Nearer to Union  Atlanta Journal-Constitution   ...DeKalb County took a huge step toward having its first union representing nonpublic safety workers...
Don’t Forget to Register for the Teamster Women’s Conference  IBT   ...The Teamster Women’s Conference will be held September 19-21, 2013 in New Orleans. Sign up to join your Teamster Sisters and Brothers in this dynamic event while space is still available!...
Shaheen: High Sugar Prices Not Sweet for Jobs  Portsmouth Patch   ...Speaking to union representatives at the Teamsters Bakery and Laundry Conference in Portsmouth Monday, U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-NH, said high sugar prices are killing manufacturing jobs across the country...
Rally for fair trade Tuesday in Minneapolis  Workday Minnesota   ...Communications Workers of America President Larry Cohen will headline a rally Tuesday by union members, community groups and others to protest the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade deal...
Fast-food workers call for nationwide walkout Aug. 29  Washington Post   ...Emboldened by an outpouring of support on social media, low-wage fast-food and retail workers from eight cities that staged walkouts earlier this year are calling for a national day of strikes on Aug. 29...
Moral Monday protesters rail against 'Mecklenburg trio'  Charlotte Observer   ...One of the city’s largest protests – police estimated about 2,000 demonstrators – packed into uptown’s Marshall Park...
Despite nearly 300 arrests, Capitol protest grows  Wisconsin State Journal   ...Participation in the noontime Capitol protest against Gov. Scott Walker continued to crescendo Monday despite nearly four weeks of almost daily arrests for gathering in the rotunda without a permit...
Americans Get Fewer Paid Sick Days Than Two Decades Ago  Think Progress   ...Compared to 1993, Americans now get fewer paid sick days from their employers on average, dropping from 10 days a year to eight for a worker who has been with a company for a year. The decrease becomes bigger the longer an employee stays on...
Bangladesh’s Workers Deserve Better  New York Times   ...Four months after a building collapse killed more than 1,100 factory workers in Bangladesh, their families are still waiting for adequate — and in some cases, any — compensation. This is a shocking lapse by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her government...
Democrats push back on voting rights  Washington Post   ...After crying foul over Republican efforts to modify election laws in key states, Democrats are launching their own wide-ranging push to change the way Americans vote, kicking off the latest battles in a fight over voting rights that’s as old as the republic itself...
Congressman Brags About ‘Savings’ In Farm Bill, Ignoring Devastating Food Stamp Cuts  Think Progress   ...Rep. Jeff Denham (R-CA) flagrantly misrepresented what the House has done with the farm bill at a recent constituent breakfast in Turlock, California. Denham claimed the House farm bill cuts twice as much spending as it actually does, misled about the nature of those cuts, and ignored his party’s unprecedented decision to drop food stamps and other anti-hunger and anti-poverty spending from the bill...
The Incredible Con the Banksters Pulled on the FBI (opinion)  OpEdNews   ...criminal referrals have virtually vanished against the "accounting control frauds" that drive our recurrent, intensifying financial crises...
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Said to Avoid Billions in Write-Offs  Bloomberg News   ...Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which have reported record profits after a taxpayer bailout, are ignoring billions of dollars in potential losses on delinquent loans as they take three years to adopt a new accounting system, a government auditor said in a letter made public today...
Samsung hit with lawsuit over labor conditions  Washington Post   ...Samsung has been named in a lawsuit filed by a Brazilian labor group, which said working conditions at the technology firm’s assembly lines were in violation of Brazilian law. The group is asking for at least $108 million in damages...
Obama goes to bat for Big Tobacco in TPP  Action on Smoking and Health   ...Legal analysts for the public health community, who were briefed Friday morning in a closed session by administration officials, agreed that the new proposal will do little to protect governments’ right to regulate tobacco...
1,800 Ohio jobs lost  Dayton Daily News   ...Offshoring continues to impact Ohio with companies cutting at least 1,800 jobs in the state since January, according to petitions for federal assistance from employees, labor groups, and company officials...
Support lacking for BART strike ban  San Francisco Examiner   ...BART remains the busiest public transit system in the U.S. that does not have a worker strike ban in place, and the route to blocking that right could be a long journey...
There's A New Push To Raise Seattle Minimum Wage To $15 Per Hour  Associated Press   ...Washington already has the nation's highest state minimum wage at $9.19 an hour. Now, there's a push in Seattle, at least, to make it $15...
Indiana customers due $32M from 6 utilities  Indianapolis Business Journal   ...Indiana's largest power companies are set to reimburse their customers $32 million after falling short on spending for energy efficiency last year...
Minnesota factories' output up, employment down  Minnesota Public Radio   ...Minnesota's factories are churning out lots of products like airplane parts and medical devices these days, but they're not exactly going on hiring sprees...

Today's Teamster News 06.06.13

UCLA Anderson Forecast paints dismal picture of economic recovery  Los Angeles Times   ..."It's not a recovery. It's not even normal growth. It's bad," UCLA economist Edward Leamer says...
U.S. worker productivity increases as hourly compensation drops  Los Angeles Times   ... hourly compensation fell 3.8% in the first quarter. That decline was the largest in the series, kept since 1947...
Wal-Mart's low wages cost taxpayers  CNNMoney   ...At the end of 2012, there were 3,216 Wal-Mart employees who were enrolled in Wisconsin public health care programs, more than any other employer. Add in the dependents of Wal-Mart workers and the total jumps up to 9,207...
Always Low Wages: Meet the Billionaires Who Run Walmart  The Nation   ...This week, Walmart shareholders will gather in the retail giant’s Arkansas backyard and re-elect a board of directors charged with guiding the company over the coming years...
Your student loan isn’t really a loan  Salon   ...You can't refinance, or get rid of the debt through bankruptcy. Here's how it's even more of a sham than you know...
Yes, Europe really is in the throes of austerity  Washington Post   ...“Immediate spending cuts would, by themselves, likely slow the economy.”...
Senators Introduce Currency Manipulation Bill  U.S. Senate   ...Following new figures that show a 34 percent jump over last month’s U.S.-China trade deficit, U.S. Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Richard Burr (R-NC), Susan Collins (R-ME), and Robert Casey (D-PA), today introduced the Currency Exchange Rate Oversight Reform Act of 2013, bipartisan legislation that would reform and enhance oversight of currency exchange rates...
Mothers join effort as Florida debates rules on sick leave  Herald-Tribune   ...Myriam Rivera joined a group of Central Florida mothers who used baby strollers and a red wagon to deliver 11,000 petitions to Gov. Rick Scott on Tuesday. The message: Veto a business-backed bill that would prevent local governments from setting sick-leave standards for workers...
The billionaire force behind GOP attempts to dismantle Maine’s renewable energy standards  Bangor Daily News   ...Put into effect nearly 15 years ago with bipartisan support, Maine’s Renewable Portfolio Standard has created thousands of jobs, cut down on harmful pollution and helped to keep more of Mainers’ energy dollars in the state.  So, why are some elected officials pushing legislation that would dismantle it?...
Bail Bond Bill Will Create Debtor’s Prisons  Urban Milwaukee   ...Across America, more than half a million inmates sit in jails simply because they are poor. ... They are here because they can’t make bail — sometimes as little as $50.”...
Operation: Stop Bruce Karsh From Selling Tribune to the Koch Brothers  Daily Beast   ...The left’s biggest bogeymen could snap up the ailing Tribune Company, and with it the ‘Los Angeles Times.’ David Freedlander reports on the effort to stop the billionaires—and whether it extends to the newsroom...
Delaware bill would restrict government agency use of criminal background checks for new hires  Associated Press   ...The bill introduced last week would prohibit public employers in Delaware from considering the criminal history or credit history of an applicant before making a conditional job offer...
Kentucky tax collection measure draws lawmaker concerns  Courier-Journal   ...Lawmakers fear that a provision in Kentucky’s recent pension reforms will hamper the ability of delinquent taxpayers to pay back taxes owed to the state by revoking their driver's and other professional licenses if they fail to pay...
Labor Trouble Possibly on the Horizon at Kaleida Health   WGRZ-TV   ...Three unions (SEIU, CWA, IUOE) representing 7,000 healthcare workers at Keleida Health Hospitals in Western New York have scheduled strike votes for next week...
TSA To Keep Knives Off Passenger Planes  IBT   ...The Coalition of Flight Attendants, which the Teamsters Airline Division is part of, today celebrated the success of its campaign to keep knives off planes and commended the TSA for holding the line against weapons on flights...
Derry council approves union contract for some Public Works workers  New Hampshire Union Leader   ...The Town Council approved a new three-year contract for Teamsters Local 633, the union that represents a number of divisions of the Department of Public Works...
Middletown council approves new union contract  Middletown Press   ...The Common Council approved a contract between the city and Teamsters Local 671, concluding a year-long negotiation process...
Collective Bargaining TLA Slated for June 18-21  IBT ...The IBT Training and Development Department is conducting a Teamsters Leadership Academy on Collective Bargaining, June18-21, 2013, hosted by Joint Council 40 in Mars, Pennsylvania...
Pipeline Training Fund Offers Courses in June   IBT ...The Teamsters National Pipeline Training Fund has the following trainings scheduled in Illinois for June 2013. Every Teamster Pipeliner or prospective Teamster Pipeliner is encouraged to attend...
Advanced Business Agents’ Seminar Scheduled July 29-31  IBT ...The IBT Training and Development Department will conduct an Advanced Business Agents seminar July 29-31, 2013 at Teamsters Joint Council 25 in Chicago...

Today's Teamster News 03.20.13

Citigroup agrees $730m legal settlement with investors  BBC News   ...The suit alleged Citi misled buyers of its bonds over its exposure to subprime mortgages and other high-risk securities between 2006 and 2008...
Cyprus Stands Up and Rejects Savings Account Seizure  Economic Populist   ...The Cyprus Parliament rejected a bail out plan that would have seized almost 10% of private savings deposits and used the money to bail out Cyprus banks...
Japan wants to join TPP; North American trade activists look ahead to possible Canadian round  rabble.ca   ...Earlier this week, an estimated 4,000 Japanese farmers staged a protest against the country's entry to the TPP, calling it "a drastic agreement that will change the way the nation deals with food"...
Forty Years Behind on Sick-Leave Policy, But Catching Up  American Prospect   ...The United States stands almost alone in not guaranteeing workers paid time-off when they are sick, but momentum is building around the country to change that...
What’s Behind the Emergency Management of Detroit? Michigan Governor Imposes Corporate Rule   Global Research   ...Orr, who was involved in the Chrysler bankruptcy re-structuring in 2009, immediately warned the city unions that they would be a target of his efforts...
Ohio House panel OKs elections bill  Columbus Dispatch   ...Despite pleas to slow down and reconsider portions of a bill that would limit how long signatures can be collected for ballot initiatives, the House will vote this week on the measure that already has Senate approval...
Miami's Voter Fraud Is Only the Beginning of Election Hacking  Atlantic Wire   ...hackers attempted and almost succeeded at rigging a Miami primary vote, uncovering underlying security issues with the online voting systems of the future...