Today's Teamster News 10.17.13

Gov't reopens after Congress ends 16-day shutdown  Associated Press   ...The government reopened its doors Thursday after a battle-weary Congress approved a bipartisan measure to end a 16-day partial shutdown and avert the possibility of an economy-jarring default on U.S. obligations...
Government shutdown has cost US economy $1.5bn a day, S&P says  The Guardian   ...Ratings agency says impasse has shaved 0.6% off US GDP in the fourth quarter – equivalent to taking $24bn from the economy...
The Perpetual Budget Crises Have Already Cost 900,000 Jobs  ThinkProgress   ...The reliance on crisis-driven governing since the House changed hands in the 2010 elections has already cost 900,000 jobs, according to a study commissioned by the conservative Peter G. Peterson Foundation...
South Dakota's cattle cataclysm: why isn't this horror news?  The Guardian   ...Ranchers in South Dakota lost tens of thousands of cattle from a freak storm. Thanks to the shutdown, no one is paying attention...
U.S. Standard of Living Index Sinks to 10-Month Low  Gallup   ...The index is a summary of whether Americans are satisfied with their current standard of living and perceive it as getting better or worse...
Greek union calls general strike for Nov 6   Associated Press   ...Greece's largest labor union has called a new general strike for Nov. 6, warning that unemployment has reached "nightmare" levels and that working rights are continually being eroded by austerity measures...
ILA Strike Closes Baltimore Port  Journal of Commerce   ...The Port of Baltimore closed Wednesday when International Longshoremen’s Association members went on strike after voting down a proposed local contract with the Steamship Trade Association of Baltimore...
San Francisco Bay-area rail strike again averted; Morning commute to proceed as talks continue  Associated Press   ...San Francisco Bay-area commuters again waited late into the night before federal mediators announced late Tuesday that a planned rail strike would once more be delayed and contract negotiations would continue...
DHL, BP Sign Five-Year Freight Forwarding Deal  Journal of Commerce   ...DHL has signed a new, five-year agreement to provide global freight management and forwarding services for BP, the London-based oil and gas company...
‘Black Bloc’ anarchists emerging as a force amid unrest in Brazil  Raw Story   ...On Tuesday, they fought police in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo at the close of a march by striking teachers, hurling firebombs and tearing metal shutters from buildings to use as shields against police who responded with tear gas and pepper spray...
Group Says Haitian Garment Workers Are Shortchanged on Pay  New York Times   ...Garment factories in Haiti, the backbone of an effort to revive the country’s earthquake-shattered economy, have seriously shortchanged workers of their wages to keep costs of their T-shirts and other export goods low, according to a report issued by a labor rights group...
Fast-Food Giants Make Billions While Their Workers Use Billions In Welfare Benefits  AlterNet   ...Two new studies profile the worst employers in America...
UN Official Slams GOP as Shutdown Delays US Human-Rights Review  The Hill   ...A United Nations official tore into House Republicans this week after the government shutdown forced the Obama administration to postpone a long-awaited review of its compliance with its international human-rights obligations...
Outsourced Cities, Brought to You by CH2M Hill  Center for Media and Democracy ...When Wall Street collapsed the economy in 2008, one company was eager to buy public assets from cash-strapped governments. Across the country, for-profit companies are engaged in a hostile takeover of our schools, roads, prisons, drinking water, and even government itself...
JPMorgan paying $100M, admitting manipulation of prices in settlement over $6B trading loss  Associated Press   ...JPMorgan Chase has agreed to pay a $100 million penalty and admitted that it “recklessly” distorted prices during a series of London trades that ultimately cost the bank $6 billion in losses...
Employers grapple with workplace safety amid new gun laws  Kansas City Business Journal   ...Offices around the nation are struggling with laws that allow employers to ban guns in the workplace, but not in the parking lot, The Wall Street Journal reports...
Calif. Governor Signs Prevailing Wage Bill  Reuters  ...Starting Jan. 1, 2015, charter cities in California will be required to pay prevailing wages for public works construction projects or face not receiving any state funding, according to Senate Bill 7 that was signed by Gov. Jerry Brown on Sunday...
North Carolina is first state to cut welfare amid federal shutdown  Reuters   ...North Carolina has become the first state to cut off welfare benefits to poor residents in the wake of the partial federal government shutdown, ordering a halt to processing November applications until a deal is reached to end the federal standstill...
About half of Maidenform’s 1,330 employees to lose jobs in Hanesbrands deal  Winston-Salem Journal   ...Hanesbrands Inc. said it will close the New Jersey headquarters of Maidenform Brands Inc. as part of a large-scale merger of the two apparel companies, resulting in the loss of nearly half of Maidenform’s 1,330 global workforce...

Scott Walker, You're fired

Job-killer Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker spends nearly all of his time siphoning money from his rich friends, servicing the Benedict Arnold Koch brothers and tellng lies about his record.

He has a huge amount of money to spend on propaganda, though, which will make it hard to boot him out of office on June 5.

The biggest thing he has going against him is the truth. Walker so far has killed 23,900 jobs and 9,485 businesses.

As the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports,

"If you elect me as your next governor, I'll get government out of the way and lower the tax burden so Wisconsin business owners and factories can create 250,000 jobs and 10,000 businesses in our state by 2015," Walker said in a 2010 speech.
...
The score card: After one year of the Walker era, there were 9,485 fewer businesses than at the end of 2010, Gov. Jim Doyle's final year in office.

The good news: The labor uprising in Wisconsin is forcing anti-worker politicians in other states to chill out on the union attacks. Josh Eidelson writes in Salon that

...after a seemingly relentless national assault provoked dramatic pushback in Wisconsin and elsewhere, some Republicans are … relenting. 

Take Minnesota. ... In January 2011, just after they took office and just before an uprising erupted in neighboring Wisconsin, Minnesota Republicans introduced Right to Work – a bill to defund unions by banning contracts that require workers represented by them to pay for representation. ... 

But 16 months later, the Minnesota Legislature ended its session Thursday without a vote to put Right to Work to the voters. ... 

Minnesota AFL-CIO president Shar Knutson says that the year’s high-profile battles in other states had had “a large impact” in discouraging Minnesota Republicans.  “You’ve seen what’s happened in Wisconsin and Ohio,” says Knutson. “There’s a lot of money that goes in, a lot of volunteers, a lot of people out on the streets working hard. So yeah, I’d be nervous if I were them too.”

Anti-worker extremists backed off in other states, too. Writes Eidelson,

In February, the House Commerce and Energy Committee in deep-red South Dakota voted to kill a bill that would have banned collective bargaining for public workers... 

The presumptive GOP nominee for Washington state governor is also taking pains to send a “What, Me Walker?” message. Last month, in audio obtained by Politico, Attorney General Rob McKenna told a meeting of Puget Sound Carpenters ... I’m not Scott Walker....and ... 

the Michigan House’s leading right-to-work backer has held off on introducing a bill.

That doesn't mean organized labor isn't facing a crisis. Eidelson concludes:

If Walker ekes out a victory, it won’t represent a decisive mandate for legislative union-busting. But it will be enough to get some Republicans over their cold feet.

Wanna know what you can do to help defeat job-killer Scott Walker? Call your local and volunteer to help get out the vote on June 5.

Today's Teamster News 02.10.12

Haridopolos: Private prison vote is next week  Orlando Sentinel   ...Haridopolos was coy though when asked if that meant he had the votes to pass the bill. “We’ll see,” he said...
Pro-labor Republicans recruit challengers for right-to-work supporters in Indiana House  Associated Press   ...some candidates, such as high school teacher Diana Boersma, are taking on powerful House members, such as Rep. Douglas Gutwein of Francesville. Others, such as Randy Conner and Jon D. Hare, are challenging freshmen legislators elected in 2010's Republican sweep...
ALEC wrote parts of LePage education agenda  Maine's Majority   ...ALEC, a corporate-funded organization that encourages conservative lawmakers to advance big business-friendly laws on the state level, is currently under fire for its efforts to influence the legislative process in several states, including Maine...
Jobs, Economy Most Important Issues To NH Residents  WMUR   ...Coming in a distant second place is the Republican majority in the Legislature...
SD Panel Strikes Down Collective Bargaining Ban  Keloland.com   ...Lawmakers unanimously rejected a bill Wednesday that would have ended collective bargaining for public employees in South Dakota...
This is no bailout for Main Street America  The Guardian   ...While the government's help to homeowners is far from adequate or just, it represents a partial and late recognition of trickle-down economics' inadequacy as policy...
Disgruntled Greeks Start 48-Hour National Strike  New York Times   ...Greek workers walked off the job for the second time this week on Friday in a snap 48-hour general strike called to protest new austerity measures the country must take to avert a disastrous default next month...
This Teamsters Memo Shows How The Threat Of A Union Strike Could Seal Hostess' Fate  Business Insider   ...union officials are calling Hostess's demands — which include a five-year wage freeze and scrapping employer contributions to health and pension plans — unreasonable...