Teamsters
Arbitration Looming In Oxford County Sheriff's Deputy Pay Dispute NPR ...The labor dispute between Oxford County and the Teamsters Union over deputy pay rates will likely go to interest arbitration, say union officials, after the county failed to agree to a pay increase...
FTC Gives Ground On Merger Challenges Wall Street Journal ...Amid growing pressure from congressional Republicans, the Federal Trade Commission is revising procedures for challenging mergers it believes are anticompetitive, a move that could factor into its pending case against the deal that would combine Sysco Corp. and US Foods Inc...
Trade
What Would A Worker-Friendly Trans-Pacific Partnership Look Like? (opinion) The Week ...The biggest potential problem with TPP is that past international trade deals have eroded middle-class jobs, particularly in manufacturing, while increasing incomes at the top, thus creating even more of an hourglass economy...
State Battles
Editorial: From 'right-to-work' to the 'servant economy' St. Louis Post-Dispatch ...The decline of America’s middle class in the past four decades is attributable to many factors, one of them being the decline in union membership; right-to-work depresses union membership further. It will decrease dues payments that unions tend to spend on candidates who support unions, most of whom are not Republicans...
Wisconsin 'dead last' in the Midwest in creating jobs? PolitiFact Wisconsin ...Among the 10 Midwestern states we’ve checked on previous "dead last" claims, Wisconsin is at the bottom, if not "dead last"...
A Tale Of Two States Huffington Post ...Those two governors took these two states -- Minnesota and Wisconsin -- down two very different paths. Today, Minnesota's unemployment rate is 3.6 percent -- far below the nationwide rate of 5.7 percent - while Wisconsin's job growth has been among the worst in the region and its income growth has been among the worst in the nation...
Nevada Bill Aims To Scrap Minimum Wage That Voters Passed By Ballot Initiative ThinkProgress ...In 2006, the state’s voters approved a constitutional amendment that sets a standard minimum wage, but Hardy’s resolution would repeal it and give the legislature the ability to control the wage...
Illinois Unions Ramp Up To Thwart 'Right To Work' Chicago Tribune ...Illinois is surrounded by states that have adopted right-to-work laws that allow some workers to refrain from paying union dues, including Indiana, Iowa and Michigan. And the anti-union momentum shows no signs of slowing down, though it's a bigger challenge in Illinois, which has a Democrat-controlled legislature less likely to approve such a change...
You Try Living On The Minimum Wage (opinion) New York Times ...Over half a million workers in New York State subsist on the minimum wage of $8.75 an hour. That’s about $18,000 a year for those working 40 hours a week. Anyone who thinks that is generous should try spending just $350 a week on food, housing, gas and heat...
Bills Coming Monday Would Raise Minimum Wage By City Or Statewide Vote Denver Post ...On Monday, state Rep. Dominick Moreno, D-Commerce City, will announce two new pieces of legislation that could give a pay raise to Colorado's minimum-wage earners. One bill would let voters in 2016 set the minimum wage as well as a formula to grant increases, with a goal of reaching $12.50 an hour by 2020. If that fails, another bill would let cities with a high cost of living — resort towns such as Aspen, and Telluride, and possibly Denver and Boulder — to set their own local minimum wages...
War on Workers
Worker Killed At Port Of Anchorage Alaska Public Media ...A worker was killed at the Port of Anchorage earlier today while handling military equipment. Lindsey Whitt is the head of the External Affairs for the Port, and says this morning’s incident involved cargo shipping to the 1st Stryker Brigade in Fairbanks...
McDonald’s Workers Complain Of Widespread Burns And Injuries BuzzFeed News ...Nearly 30 McDonald’s employees in stores across 19 cities have filed complaints with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration that allege the fast food giant creates a hazardous working environment that has led to widespread burns and other injuries to employees...
Faith V. Greed: The Battle Between Faith-Based Organizations And The Payday Loan Industry Consumerist ...“The Bible condemns gaining wealth through usury; and the writers of Scripture warn about gaining wealth through exploiting the poor… [but] The State of Alabama allows Payday lenders to charge an annual interest rate of 456%.” So reads a 2014 Alabama Baptist State Convention resolution condemning predatory payday loans and recommending a 36% cap on interest rates. This resolution is just one of many efforts by faith-based organizations all around the country to combat the payday loan industry and other questionable financial products they believe are hurting low-income Americans and eroding communities...
To fix inequality, Democrats are pushing unions The Washington Post ...At a time when GOP is gaining ground in very public attacks on labor, the left is coming to the defense of collective bargaining...
Miscellaneous
Oil Pipeline Boom Goes On Despite Keystone XL Setback USA Today ...While the Keystone project awaits a final decision, scenes like these are unfolding almost every week in lesser-known developments that have quietly added more than 11,600 miles of pipeline to the nation's domestic oil network. Overall, the network has increased by almost a quarter in the last decade. And the work dwarfs Keystone. About 3.3 million barrels per day of capacity have been added since 2012 alone — five times more oil than the Canada-to-Texas Keystone line could carry if it's ever built...
A Police Gadget Tracks Phones? Shhh! It’s Secret New York Times ...A powerful new surveillance tool being adopted by police departments across the country comes with an unusual requirement: To buy it, law enforcement officials must sign a nondisclosure agreement preventing them from saying almost anything about the technology...
Showing posts with label spying. Show all posts
Showing posts with label spying. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
Wednesday, March 11, 2015
Today's Teamster News 03.11.15
Teamsters
Teamsters Take Action To Protect Highway Safety, Stop Mexican Trucks MarketWatch ...Today, the Teamsters Union filed a legal challenge to the Department of Transportation's (DOT) recent decision to open the border to Mexican trucks. The union was joined by Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety and the Truck Safety Coalition...
Teamsters, Organic Consumers Protest UNFI and Whole Foods at Natural Products Expo West Financial Content ...Teamsters and organic food advocates educated attendees of the annual Natural Products Expo West conference this weekend about conference sponsor UNFI (NYSE: UNFI) and its abusive and unsustainable behavior toward its workers...
The New Silicon Valley Movement That Is Taking on the Tech Giants The Nation ... Less well known is that the drivers who shuttle tech workers to and fro are going union. Last fall, the drivers at Loop Transportation who drive for Facebook voted to join the Teamsters. Before, their wages averaged $17.93 an hour, and some paid $1200 a month for family health insurance. Under their new contract, wages increased by an average of $5.73 an hour and healthcare is entirely covered by the employer...
Thorpe reaches agreement with Teamsters union Times News ...A tentative agreement has been reached between Jim Thorpe School District and Teamsters Local 773. Members of the school board voted 7-1 in favor of accepting the tentative agreement, which covers custodial personnel and some of the district's cafeteria staff...
Trade
TPP Chief Negotiators Resume Talks In Hawaii Japan Times ...Chief negotiators from countries involved in a Pacific Rim free trade initiative resumed talks Monday in Hawaii, as the 12 negotiating members attempt to reach a deal by the end of spring...
New Zealand Targets Trade Partners, Hacks Computers in Spy Operations The Intercept ...New Zealand is conducting covert surveillance operations against some of its strongest trading partners and has obtained sophisticated malware to infect targeted computers and steal data, newly released documents reveal...
British MPs Say US-EU Free Trade Deal Must Not Leave Govts At Multinationals’ Mercy RT News ...British MPs are protesting the US-EU TTIP free trade deal that could enable multinational corporations to sue governments if newly introduced rules harm their businesses, thus weakening essential European health and food regulations...
State Battles
Missouri Senate panel considers right-to-work measure St. Louis Post-Dispatch ...Some St. Louis area business executives are breaking ranks with the state's largest business organizations and speaking out against a Missouri bill that would bar mandatory union fees...
Proposal Would Scrap Prevailing Wage Law Journal Times ...Before the city even goes out to bid on a project, the wages it must pay workers for most projects are predetermined by the state. Those wages, known as prevailing wages, are in the range of about $35 to $60 per hour for most skilled workers. Under a proposed bill co-sponsored by state Sen. Van Wanggaard, R-Racine, and Rep. Thomas Weatherston, R-Caledonia, the prevailing wage law setting those wages would be eliminated...
It's Not Just Right-To-Work: Bills Targeting Unions Multiply Raleigh News and Observer ...Republican lawmakers in statehouses nationwide are working to weaken organized labor, sometimes with efforts that directly shrink union membership. Walker's signing of right-to-work legislation in Wisconsin on Monday puts his defiance of organized labor even more at the center of his nascent presidential campaign. And the inability of unions to exact a price for the first round of legislation targeting them in 2011 is encouraging even more proposals to limit their power...
The Right-To-Work Fight You Aren't Hearing About National Journal ...there's also a high stakes showdown underway in New Mexico. Late last month, the state's House of Representatives passed a right-to-work bill, setting up a face-off with the Senate, which could raise the profile of Republican Gov. Susana Martinez, positioning her as a Walker-esque rising star for the GOP who is unafraid of challenging big labor...
War on Workers
Falling Behind On Your Student Loan Debt Will Get You Fired Main St. ...New research from Jobs With Justice has uncovered laws in at least 22 states that punish borrowers who fall too far behind by revoking their professional license; that's particularly grave given that some 30% of workers require professional licensure to do their job. It’s a novel approach to helping people get out of debt by taking away their ability to earn a living...
Recession’s Impact Lingers For Many States Wall Street Journal ...Government revenues have been slow to recover across the country as sales-tax collections fall prey to many of the same forces buffeting the broader economic expansion, from cautious consumers who have seen scant growth in wages to a downturn in home construction that has sapped sales of building materials and furnishings. At the same time, states are facing down a decades-long shift in the economy to services from goods, leaving them to collect taxes on a shrinking number of purchases...
Justices side with Labor Department in overtime pay dispute Associated Press ...The U.S. Supreme Court has sided with the Obama administration in upholding a rule making mortgage brokers eligible for overtime pay under federal labor law...
Ohio Man Killed, 2 Other Workers Hurt In W.Va. Mine Accident WTNH ...State officials are investigating a coal mine accident in Marshall County that killed one worker and injured two others. In a statement to media outlets, Murray Energy identified the miner who was killed as John M. “Mike” Garloch of Neffs, Ohio. The company says Garloch was a management employee. The injured miners haven’t been identified...
Worker Killed When Truck Rolls Down Embankment In Burbank MyNewsLA ...The driver of a rock mover truck was killed Monday when the vehicle rolled down an 80-foot embankment in Burbank’s landfill. Road Builders Inc., a private contractor, was performing roadway services about 2:45 p.m. when the accident occurred, according to Officer Cindy Guillen of the Burbank Police Department...
Miscellaneous
Don’t Kill Keystone XL. Regulate It. (opinion) New York Times ...Pipelines are the safest way to move oil. They’re an order of magnitude more reliable than trains, and trains are an order of magnitude more reliable than trucks. So the banners that say “If you build it, it will leak” should also be followed by “But if you don’t build it, you’ll have a lot more leaks.”...
Southbound I-95 Reopens Outside DC After Tanker Overturns Associated Press ...Two of Interstate 95's 4 southbound lanes just north of the Capital Beltway in Maryland have reopened after officials say a tanker truck overturned, spilling about 400 gallons of bio-diesel fuel...
Teamsters Take Action To Protect Highway Safety, Stop Mexican Trucks MarketWatch ...Today, the Teamsters Union filed a legal challenge to the Department of Transportation's (DOT) recent decision to open the border to Mexican trucks. The union was joined by Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety and the Truck Safety Coalition...
Teamsters, Organic Consumers Protest UNFI and Whole Foods at Natural Products Expo West Financial Content ...Teamsters and organic food advocates educated attendees of the annual Natural Products Expo West conference this weekend about conference sponsor UNFI (NYSE: UNFI) and its abusive and unsustainable behavior toward its workers...
The New Silicon Valley Movement That Is Taking on the Tech Giants The Nation ... Less well known is that the drivers who shuttle tech workers to and fro are going union. Last fall, the drivers at Loop Transportation who drive for Facebook voted to join the Teamsters. Before, their wages averaged $17.93 an hour, and some paid $1200 a month for family health insurance. Under their new contract, wages increased by an average of $5.73 an hour and healthcare is entirely covered by the employer...
Thorpe reaches agreement with Teamsters union Times News ...A tentative agreement has been reached between Jim Thorpe School District and Teamsters Local 773. Members of the school board voted 7-1 in favor of accepting the tentative agreement, which covers custodial personnel and some of the district's cafeteria staff...
Trade
TPP Chief Negotiators Resume Talks In Hawaii Japan Times ...Chief negotiators from countries involved in a Pacific Rim free trade initiative resumed talks Monday in Hawaii, as the 12 negotiating members attempt to reach a deal by the end of spring...
New Zealand Targets Trade Partners, Hacks Computers in Spy Operations The Intercept ...New Zealand is conducting covert surveillance operations against some of its strongest trading partners and has obtained sophisticated malware to infect targeted computers and steal data, newly released documents reveal...
British MPs Say US-EU Free Trade Deal Must Not Leave Govts At Multinationals’ Mercy RT News ...British MPs are protesting the US-EU TTIP free trade deal that could enable multinational corporations to sue governments if newly introduced rules harm their businesses, thus weakening essential European health and food regulations...
State Battles
Missouri Senate panel considers right-to-work measure St. Louis Post-Dispatch ...Some St. Louis area business executives are breaking ranks with the state's largest business organizations and speaking out against a Missouri bill that would bar mandatory union fees...
Proposal Would Scrap Prevailing Wage Law Journal Times ...Before the city even goes out to bid on a project, the wages it must pay workers for most projects are predetermined by the state. Those wages, known as prevailing wages, are in the range of about $35 to $60 per hour for most skilled workers. Under a proposed bill co-sponsored by state Sen. Van Wanggaard, R-Racine, and Rep. Thomas Weatherston, R-Caledonia, the prevailing wage law setting those wages would be eliminated...
It's Not Just Right-To-Work: Bills Targeting Unions Multiply Raleigh News and Observer ...Republican lawmakers in statehouses nationwide are working to weaken organized labor, sometimes with efforts that directly shrink union membership. Walker's signing of right-to-work legislation in Wisconsin on Monday puts his defiance of organized labor even more at the center of his nascent presidential campaign. And the inability of unions to exact a price for the first round of legislation targeting them in 2011 is encouraging even more proposals to limit their power...
The Right-To-Work Fight You Aren't Hearing About National Journal ...there's also a high stakes showdown underway in New Mexico. Late last month, the state's House of Representatives passed a right-to-work bill, setting up a face-off with the Senate, which could raise the profile of Republican Gov. Susana Martinez, positioning her as a Walker-esque rising star for the GOP who is unafraid of challenging big labor...
War on Workers
Falling Behind On Your Student Loan Debt Will Get You Fired Main St. ...New research from Jobs With Justice has uncovered laws in at least 22 states that punish borrowers who fall too far behind by revoking their professional license; that's particularly grave given that some 30% of workers require professional licensure to do their job. It’s a novel approach to helping people get out of debt by taking away their ability to earn a living...
Recession’s Impact Lingers For Many States Wall Street Journal ...Government revenues have been slow to recover across the country as sales-tax collections fall prey to many of the same forces buffeting the broader economic expansion, from cautious consumers who have seen scant growth in wages to a downturn in home construction that has sapped sales of building materials and furnishings. At the same time, states are facing down a decades-long shift in the economy to services from goods, leaving them to collect taxes on a shrinking number of purchases...
Justices side with Labor Department in overtime pay dispute Associated Press ...The U.S. Supreme Court has sided with the Obama administration in upholding a rule making mortgage brokers eligible for overtime pay under federal labor law...
Ohio Man Killed, 2 Other Workers Hurt In W.Va. Mine Accident WTNH ...State officials are investigating a coal mine accident in Marshall County that killed one worker and injured two others. In a statement to media outlets, Murray Energy identified the miner who was killed as John M. “Mike” Garloch of Neffs, Ohio. The company says Garloch was a management employee. The injured miners haven’t been identified...
Worker Killed When Truck Rolls Down Embankment In Burbank MyNewsLA ...The driver of a rock mover truck was killed Monday when the vehicle rolled down an 80-foot embankment in Burbank’s landfill. Road Builders Inc., a private contractor, was performing roadway services about 2:45 p.m. when the accident occurred, according to Officer Cindy Guillen of the Burbank Police Department...
Miscellaneous
Don’t Kill Keystone XL. Regulate It. (opinion) New York Times ...Pipelines are the safest way to move oil. They’re an order of magnitude more reliable than trains, and trains are an order of magnitude more reliable than trucks. So the banners that say “If you build it, it will leak” should also be followed by “But if you don’t build it, you’ll have a lot more leaks.”...
Southbound I-95 Reopens Outside DC After Tanker Overturns Associated Press ...Two of Interstate 95's 4 southbound lanes just north of the Capital Beltway in Maryland have reopened after officials say a tanker truck overturned, spilling about 400 gallons of bio-diesel fuel...
Wednesday, March 4, 2015
Today's Teamster News 03.04.15
Teamsters
Teamsters ratify four-year contract at AMR nwLaborPress.org …Members of Teamsters Portland Local 223 and Vancouver Local 58 ratified a new four-year collective bargaining agreement at American Medical Response (AMR). The 450-member bargaining unit provides ambulance service to Multnomah and Clackamas counties in Oregon, and Clark and Cowlitz counties in Washington...
Bus Drivers Ratify New Contract With First Student WTOC ...After several long months of negotiations, Savannah First Student employees represented by Teamsters have overwhelmingly ratified their new contract, 117 to four, according to a spokesperson from Teamsters 728...
Teamsters Want Mexican Trucking Row Revisited In TPP Law360 …The International Brotherhood of Teamsters on Monday publicly called on U.S. trade officials to use the Trans-Pacific Partnership talks to reopen deliberations on Mexico's cross-border trucking services, blasting the administration's move to open the border to Mexican truckers earlier this year...
Teamsters To Protest Republic Services Teamsters Local 728 ...On Wed., March 4 at 12 p.m., sanitation workers who work for Republic Services, Inc. [NYSE: RSG] will hold an informational picket to educate the public on the company's human rights violations. Workers at Republic allege that Republic has broken federal laws that protect workers' rights, by unilaterally changing pay and working conditions without negotiating with their union...
S.F. politician calls for labor peace at bus stops USA Today …With labor unions in negotiations with the transportation companies that ferry Silicon Valley tech workers, a San Francisco legislator is calling on the city to consider "labor harmony" when granting permits to corporate shuttles...
Coming detraction: Tax credit ax? Boston Herald …Sean O’Brien, president of Teamsters Local 25, drivers for the movie biz, [said] “Through the tax credit, we have created an industry where people can make a good living and provide for their families,” he said...
Miller, State Attorneys General Join FTC In Challenging Sysco-US Foods Merger Storm Lake Pilot Tribune ...Attorney General Tom Miller and a bipartisan group of state attorneys general today joined the Federal Trade Commission's administrative complaint challenging a proposed merger between food distribution giants Sysco and US Foods...
Canadian National Railway and the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, representing rail traffic controllers, reach a collective agreement Yahoo! News ...The collective agreement covering about 185 rail traffic controllers expired on December 31, 2014...
Trade
Japanese official: Adding currency rules would kill Pacific trade pact Reuters …Any effort to add rules against currency cheating in a 12-nation Pacific trade pact would mean the end of negotiations, a senior Japanese negotiator said on Tuesday...
TPP Free Trade Agreement Would Increase Cost of Medicine In Mexico, Peru, Chile, And Other Countries Latin Times …TPP -- the Trans-PacificPartnership -- is making waves from Peru to Australia, concerning public health officials and consumer advocates. TPP, which would expand trade in 11 Pacific Rim countries, includes draft provisions for unprecedented expansion of pharmaceutical patent protection that could drive up the cost of medicine...
Let's Debate The Trans-Pacific Partnership -- History's Largest Trade Deal -- Before OKing It (opinion) Los Angeles Times ...If you haven't heard much about the TPP, that's part of the problem. It would be the largest trade deal in history — involving countries stretching from Chile to Japan, representing 792 million people and about 40% of the world economy. Yet it's been devised in secret, with a disproportionate amount of advice coming from corporations and Wall Street. This secrecy is the norm since NAFTA...
State Battles
Gov. Rauner asks community to back right to work in 'voter empowerment agenda' address Chicago Sun Times ...Rauner, who has in recent weeks focused on an agenda to allow “right to work” zones in targeted areas of the state, spent much of his address selling that point. It had one Illinois union saying Rauner held a “political obsession with crushing the unions that advocate for the middle class.”...
What a Right-to-Work Law Could Mean For Wisconsin Unions WUWM ...nion membership would likely fall in Wisconsin, if the state enacts such a measure It’s the trend, according to Cheryl Maranto. She’s a management professor at Marquette University. Maranto says union numbers tend to drop in right-to-work states, partly because many unions think it’s futile to expand into new workplaces there...
Minnesota Jobs Committee chair working to bring businesses from Wisconsin to Minnesota State Representative Pat Garofalo ...In light of legislation passed by the Wisconsin State Senate and being debated in the Wisconsin State Assembly that would make Wisconsin a "Right To Work" state, Job Growth and Energy Affordability Committee Chairman Rep. Pat Garofalo, R-Farmington, has extended an invitation to two Wisconsin businesses offering assistance relocating their headquarters to Minnesota...
Right To Work For Less: Gov. Scott Walker Wants To Lower Worker Pay In Wisconsin (opinion) Washington Post ...Look, there are no perfect institutions in America, and unions are no exception. But they exist for a critically important reason: to balance out the inherent power of employers over workers and, thus, to enforce a more equitable distribution of the fruits of growth. In this regard, it is not a coincidence that as unions have diminished in numbers and power, the earnings of the middle class have stagnated...
Bill restricting union dues collection fails but not dead yet in Pa. Senate PennLive ...An attempt to pass a controversial amendment to a bill that would restrict union dues collection from state and school employees' paychecks narrowly failed in the state Senate on Monday. But most likely, we haven't seen the last of this amendment to this so-called paycheck protection bill...
Common Construction Repeal May Require Further Study Indiana Public Media ...The Indiana House easily approved legislation repealing the state’s common construction wage, and the bill’s support in the Senate looks strong. That means pushing the issue to summer study committee could be opponents’ best hope...
Bill Would Reestablish N.H. Minimum Wage, Raise It To $10 An Hour By 2018 NHPR ...Under the bill backed by seven Democratic state Senators, the increased minimum wage would take effect at the beginning of 2016. The bill calls for further increases to $9 an hour in 2017 and $10 an hour in 2018...
War on Workers
NLRB Election Rules Near Test in Congress; Changes Said to ‘Streamline' Board Process Bloomberg BNA ...Congress is about to take up proposals to block the National Labor Relations Board from implementing changes in its representation case rules and procedures set to take effect April 14...
Being a poor corporate citizen is hurting McDonald’s Washington Post …McDonald’s, that once-great American symbol of ingenuity and ruthless efficiency, is having some major difficulties, as its plummeting profits and recent C-suite shake up can attest…
Accident In The Zoo Interchange: 33-Year-Old Construction Worker Killed; Investigation Underway WITI ...A construction worker was killed while working on the Zoo Interchange project near 91st Street in Milwaukee on Saturday morning, February 28th...
Worker Killed At Natchitoches Parish Paper Mill KSLA ...Natchitoches Parish authorities have confirmed with KSLA News 12 that a man was killed in a paper mill accident...
Miscellaneous
Maine Bill Takes On NSA Spying With Transpartisan Support Tenth Amendment Center ...A bill filed in the Maine Senate late last week represents a transpartisan effort taking on the surveillance state. The legislation would not only support efforts to turn off NSA’s water in states where a physical NSA facility is located, but would also have immediate practical effects on how surveillance is used in some situations...
Teamsters ratify four-year contract at AMR nwLaborPress.org …Members of Teamsters Portland Local 223 and Vancouver Local 58 ratified a new four-year collective bargaining agreement at American Medical Response (AMR). The 450-member bargaining unit provides ambulance service to Multnomah and Clackamas counties in Oregon, and Clark and Cowlitz counties in Washington...
Bus Drivers Ratify New Contract With First Student WTOC ...After several long months of negotiations, Savannah First Student employees represented by Teamsters have overwhelmingly ratified their new contract, 117 to four, according to a spokesperson from Teamsters 728...
Teamsters Want Mexican Trucking Row Revisited In TPP Law360 …The International Brotherhood of Teamsters on Monday publicly called on U.S. trade officials to use the Trans-Pacific Partnership talks to reopen deliberations on Mexico's cross-border trucking services, blasting the administration's move to open the border to Mexican truckers earlier this year...
Teamsters To Protest Republic Services Teamsters Local 728 ...On Wed., March 4 at 12 p.m., sanitation workers who work for Republic Services, Inc. [NYSE: RSG] will hold an informational picket to educate the public on the company's human rights violations. Workers at Republic allege that Republic has broken federal laws that protect workers' rights, by unilaterally changing pay and working conditions without negotiating with their union...
S.F. politician calls for labor peace at bus stops USA Today …With labor unions in negotiations with the transportation companies that ferry Silicon Valley tech workers, a San Francisco legislator is calling on the city to consider "labor harmony" when granting permits to corporate shuttles...
Coming detraction: Tax credit ax? Boston Herald …Sean O’Brien, president of Teamsters Local 25, drivers for the movie biz, [said] “Through the tax credit, we have created an industry where people can make a good living and provide for their families,” he said...
Miller, State Attorneys General Join FTC In Challenging Sysco-US Foods Merger Storm Lake Pilot Tribune ...Attorney General Tom Miller and a bipartisan group of state attorneys general today joined the Federal Trade Commission's administrative complaint challenging a proposed merger between food distribution giants Sysco and US Foods...
Canadian National Railway and the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, representing rail traffic controllers, reach a collective agreement Yahoo! News ...The collective agreement covering about 185 rail traffic controllers expired on December 31, 2014...
Trade
Japanese official: Adding currency rules would kill Pacific trade pact Reuters …Any effort to add rules against currency cheating in a 12-nation Pacific trade pact would mean the end of negotiations, a senior Japanese negotiator said on Tuesday...
TPP Free Trade Agreement Would Increase Cost of Medicine In Mexico, Peru, Chile, And Other Countries Latin Times …TPP -- the Trans-PacificPartnership -- is making waves from Peru to Australia, concerning public health officials and consumer advocates. TPP, which would expand trade in 11 Pacific Rim countries, includes draft provisions for unprecedented expansion of pharmaceutical patent protection that could drive up the cost of medicine...
Let's Debate The Trans-Pacific Partnership -- History's Largest Trade Deal -- Before OKing It (opinion) Los Angeles Times ...If you haven't heard much about the TPP, that's part of the problem. It would be the largest trade deal in history — involving countries stretching from Chile to Japan, representing 792 million people and about 40% of the world economy. Yet it's been devised in secret, with a disproportionate amount of advice coming from corporations and Wall Street. This secrecy is the norm since NAFTA...
State Battles
Gov. Rauner asks community to back right to work in 'voter empowerment agenda' address Chicago Sun Times ...Rauner, who has in recent weeks focused on an agenda to allow “right to work” zones in targeted areas of the state, spent much of his address selling that point. It had one Illinois union saying Rauner held a “political obsession with crushing the unions that advocate for the middle class.”...
What a Right-to-Work Law Could Mean For Wisconsin Unions WUWM ...nion membership would likely fall in Wisconsin, if the state enacts such a measure It’s the trend, according to Cheryl Maranto. She’s a management professor at Marquette University. Maranto says union numbers tend to drop in right-to-work states, partly because many unions think it’s futile to expand into new workplaces there...
Minnesota Jobs Committee chair working to bring businesses from Wisconsin to Minnesota State Representative Pat Garofalo ...In light of legislation passed by the Wisconsin State Senate and being debated in the Wisconsin State Assembly that would make Wisconsin a "Right To Work" state, Job Growth and Energy Affordability Committee Chairman Rep. Pat Garofalo, R-Farmington, has extended an invitation to two Wisconsin businesses offering assistance relocating their headquarters to Minnesota...
Right To Work For Less: Gov. Scott Walker Wants To Lower Worker Pay In Wisconsin (opinion) Washington Post ...Look, there are no perfect institutions in America, and unions are no exception. But they exist for a critically important reason: to balance out the inherent power of employers over workers and, thus, to enforce a more equitable distribution of the fruits of growth. In this regard, it is not a coincidence that as unions have diminished in numbers and power, the earnings of the middle class have stagnated...
Bill restricting union dues collection fails but not dead yet in Pa. Senate PennLive ...An attempt to pass a controversial amendment to a bill that would restrict union dues collection from state and school employees' paychecks narrowly failed in the state Senate on Monday. But most likely, we haven't seen the last of this amendment to this so-called paycheck protection bill...
Common Construction Repeal May Require Further Study Indiana Public Media ...The Indiana House easily approved legislation repealing the state’s common construction wage, and the bill’s support in the Senate looks strong. That means pushing the issue to summer study committee could be opponents’ best hope...
Bill Would Reestablish N.H. Minimum Wage, Raise It To $10 An Hour By 2018 NHPR ...Under the bill backed by seven Democratic state Senators, the increased minimum wage would take effect at the beginning of 2016. The bill calls for further increases to $9 an hour in 2017 and $10 an hour in 2018...
War on Workers
NLRB Election Rules Near Test in Congress; Changes Said to ‘Streamline' Board Process Bloomberg BNA ...Congress is about to take up proposals to block the National Labor Relations Board from implementing changes in its representation case rules and procedures set to take effect April 14...
Being a poor corporate citizen is hurting McDonald’s Washington Post …McDonald’s, that once-great American symbol of ingenuity and ruthless efficiency, is having some major difficulties, as its plummeting profits and recent C-suite shake up can attest…
Accident In The Zoo Interchange: 33-Year-Old Construction Worker Killed; Investigation Underway WITI ...A construction worker was killed while working on the Zoo Interchange project near 91st Street in Milwaukee on Saturday morning, February 28th...
Worker Killed At Natchitoches Parish Paper Mill KSLA ...Natchitoches Parish authorities have confirmed with KSLA News 12 that a man was killed in a paper mill accident...
Miscellaneous
Maine Bill Takes On NSA Spying With Transpartisan Support Tenth Amendment Center ...A bill filed in the Maine Senate late last week represents a transpartisan effort taking on the surveillance state. The legislation would not only support efforts to turn off NSA’s water in states where a physical NSA facility is located, but would also have immediate practical effects on how surveillance is used in some situations...
Tuesday, January 27, 2015
Today's Teamster News 01.27.15
Teamsters
Hoffa: No Time To Waste In Letting Public, Lawmakers Know About Fast Track Huffington Post ...congressional leaders want to move on fast track, and soon. That means those standing up for the interests of hardworking Americans must step up their efforts. After all, not everyone is aware of the consequences that a quick up-or-down vote on the 12-nation Pacific Rim trade deal will bring. It will devastate not only wage earners, but their families as well...
Teamsters Score Second Drayage Victory Journal of Commerce ...The Teamsters are gaining more traction in their attempt to unionize Southern California drayage truckers after drivers at an SSA Marine subsidiary chose a union local as their exclusive bargaining representative...
Open For Business Journal of Commerce ...The U.S. Department of Transportation’s decision to finally open the border to Mexican trucking companies — a stipulation of the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement stymied by opponents for two decades — resolves none of the political controversy over allowing Mexican trucks on U.S. highways and still faces severe political backlash from critics, including the Teamsters union...
Trade
Protests As Trans-Pacific Partnership Talks Resume In New York Today Crooks & Liars ...Negotiators working on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) convened today in New York City. Even the location was kept secret until the last possible minute, but hundreds of trade, labor, environmental, health, communities of color, anti-GMO and food justice, anti-fracking, animal and other activists still showed up in the big blizzard to protest the secret trade agreement and "fast track" trade promotion authority (TPA)...
U.S. says final contours of Pacific trade pact coming into focus Reuters …The final form of an ambitious Pacific trade pact is coming into focus, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman said on Tuesday as he urged Congress get behind the U.S. trade agenda...
The TPP Will Sink the Middle Class Thom Hartmann …we now know that the TPP would give big pharmaceutical companies virtual monopoly patent power, let corporations sue countries in international courts over regulations that those corporations don’t like, and gut environmental and financial rules.
The One Power Democrats Don’t Want Obama To Have The Hill ...Democrats and some Republicans are adamant that trade promotion authority (TPA) would give Obama’s trade team too much control over negotiations, and are making their opposition known in a barrage of press conferences on Capitol Hill...
State Battles
Gov. Mike Pence's state-run news outlet will compete with media Indianapolis Star …Gov. Mike Pence is starting a state-run taxpayer-funded news outlet that will make pre-written news stories available to Indiana media, as well as sometimes break news about his administration, according to documents obtained by The Indianapolis Star...
Right To Work Support In Legislature Backing Down Badger Herald ...Right-to-work legislation, which looks to limit unions’ governing power, is losing pull as a priority issue in Wisconsin’s Legislature this session. Sen. Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, said in a statement this month he no longer expects right-to-work legislation to be brought up any time soon, a dramatic shift from his earlier statements that he intended to make the movement a priority this session...
Dropkick Murphys ‘literally hate' Scott Walker for using their song at Iowa convention New York Daily News ...The Dropkick Murphys have no problem dropping the hate word when it comes to politicians using their music at events especially when Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker entered the Iowa Freedom Summit to the song ‘I’m Shipping Up to Boston.’...
Kentucky: A New Frontier for Right-to-Work Laws? The National Law Review ... this appears to be the first time efforts by smaller units of “state government” (i.e., counties) have been undertaken on this front. While the NLRA allows “states” to pass and implement right-to-work laws, it is not clear if smaller units of local government can pass these laws or not...
Michigan Union Membership Dropped Significantly In 2014, First Full Year Under Right-To-Work Law MLive ...Overall, 14.5 percent of wage and salary workers in Michigan were members of a union in 2014, down from 16.3 percent in 2013, according to federal statistics released Friday...
Wage theft rampant in Colorado The Durango Herald ...From telemarketers to tortilla manufacturers, workers in myriad industries have suffered from employers failing to pay them wages they are owed, a Rocky Mountain PBS I-News investigation has found...
Oregon Strippers Prepare to Fight For Workplace Protection Laws Willamette Week ...Nude dancers who want more rights and better workplace protections are pushing forward with bills to create new rules for Oregon strip clubs. A coalition of dancers, social workers and other advocates have drafted two bills they hope will get a hearing in Salem when lawmakers reconvene in February...
Will Sandoval Use The Bill To Achieve Collective Bargaining Reform? Las Vegas Review Journal ...Assemblyman Randy Kirner, R-Reno, is requesting the most comprehensive measure ...It would clarify the rules that exclude supervisors from collective bargaining, prohibit using government funds to pay employees engaged in union activities, require employees to seek union deductions before they would be collected by a government entity and make agreements retroactive to the date of the expiration of the previous contract. It also would require a final contract offer to be made public...
Possible Ballot Measure Could Be Bargaining Chip In Minimum-Wage Debate Seattle Times ...Democrats in Olympia are making one thing clear about a new proposal to raise the minimum wage: If it doesn’t pass this year, be ready for a ballot initiative...
War on Workers
Koch Brothers’ Budget of $889 Million for 2016 Is on Par With Both Parties’ Spending New York Times …The political network overseen by the conservative billionaires Charles G. and David H. Koch plans to spend close to $900 million on the 2016 campaign, an unparalleled effort by coordinated outside groups to shape a presidential election that is already on track to be the most expensive in history...
The State Of The Unions: Membership Is Up, But Density Still Drops Washington Post ...What's interesting about this is that union membership actually went up last year, with 41,000 new union members in the private sector and 8,000 in public. But the number of people working increased much more than that. The long-term trend has been that union membership in the public sector -- meaning government employees -- has grown, while private sector membership has dropped...
As inequality soars, the nervous super rich are already planning their escapes Guardian ...“I know hedge fund managers all over the world who are buying airstrips and farms in places like New Zealand because they think they need a getaway,” he said...
Woman, age 30, killed during robbery at Sunhouse store Sunday night myhorrynews.com ...On Sunday night at around 10 p.m., a female clerk was shot and killed at the Sunhouse on Cultra Road between Highway 701 and Highway 501 in Conway, Horry County Deputy Coroner Tony Hendrick has confirmed...
State Patrol: Army veteran, ER worker killed when a driver ran a stop sign BringMeTheNews …A 47-year-old emergency room manager and Gulf War veteran was killed after police say he was broadsided by a car that ran through a stop sign...
Miscellaneous
Regulators Advance Plans For Truck Driver Training Journal of Commerce ...The amount of time future truck drivers must spend in training and how rigorous a program they must complete will be determined not by federal fiat but through negotiations. Federal regulators are proceeding with a negotiated rule-making on minimum national truck driver training standards, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said in December...
FOIA Documents Reveal Massive DEA Program to Record American’s Whereabouts With License Plate Readers ACLU …The Drug Enforcement Administration has initiated a massive national license plate reader program with major civil liberties concerns but disclosed very few details, according to new DEA documents obtained by the ACLU through the Freedom of Information Act...
Hoffa: No Time To Waste In Letting Public, Lawmakers Know About Fast Track Huffington Post ...congressional leaders want to move on fast track, and soon. That means those standing up for the interests of hardworking Americans must step up their efforts. After all, not everyone is aware of the consequences that a quick up-or-down vote on the 12-nation Pacific Rim trade deal will bring. It will devastate not only wage earners, but their families as well...
Teamsters Score Second Drayage Victory Journal of Commerce ...The Teamsters are gaining more traction in their attempt to unionize Southern California drayage truckers after drivers at an SSA Marine subsidiary chose a union local as their exclusive bargaining representative...
Open For Business Journal of Commerce ...The U.S. Department of Transportation’s decision to finally open the border to Mexican trucking companies — a stipulation of the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement stymied by opponents for two decades — resolves none of the political controversy over allowing Mexican trucks on U.S. highways and still faces severe political backlash from critics, including the Teamsters union...
Trade
Protests As Trans-Pacific Partnership Talks Resume In New York Today Crooks & Liars ...Negotiators working on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) convened today in New York City. Even the location was kept secret until the last possible minute, but hundreds of trade, labor, environmental, health, communities of color, anti-GMO and food justice, anti-fracking, animal and other activists still showed up in the big blizzard to protest the secret trade agreement and "fast track" trade promotion authority (TPA)...
U.S. says final contours of Pacific trade pact coming into focus Reuters …The final form of an ambitious Pacific trade pact is coming into focus, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman said on Tuesday as he urged Congress get behind the U.S. trade agenda...
The TPP Will Sink the Middle Class Thom Hartmann …we now know that the TPP would give big pharmaceutical companies virtual monopoly patent power, let corporations sue countries in international courts over regulations that those corporations don’t like, and gut environmental and financial rules.
The One Power Democrats Don’t Want Obama To Have The Hill ...Democrats and some Republicans are adamant that trade promotion authority (TPA) would give Obama’s trade team too much control over negotiations, and are making their opposition known in a barrage of press conferences on Capitol Hill...
State Battles
Gov. Mike Pence's state-run news outlet will compete with media Indianapolis Star …Gov. Mike Pence is starting a state-run taxpayer-funded news outlet that will make pre-written news stories available to Indiana media, as well as sometimes break news about his administration, according to documents obtained by The Indianapolis Star...
Right To Work Support In Legislature Backing Down Badger Herald ...Right-to-work legislation, which looks to limit unions’ governing power, is losing pull as a priority issue in Wisconsin’s Legislature this session. Sen. Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, said in a statement this month he no longer expects right-to-work legislation to be brought up any time soon, a dramatic shift from his earlier statements that he intended to make the movement a priority this session...
Dropkick Murphys ‘literally hate' Scott Walker for using their song at Iowa convention New York Daily News ...The Dropkick Murphys have no problem dropping the hate word when it comes to politicians using their music at events especially when Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker entered the Iowa Freedom Summit to the song ‘I’m Shipping Up to Boston.’...
Kentucky: A New Frontier for Right-to-Work Laws? The National Law Review ... this appears to be the first time efforts by smaller units of “state government” (i.e., counties) have been undertaken on this front. While the NLRA allows “states” to pass and implement right-to-work laws, it is not clear if smaller units of local government can pass these laws or not...
Michigan Union Membership Dropped Significantly In 2014, First Full Year Under Right-To-Work Law MLive ...Overall, 14.5 percent of wage and salary workers in Michigan were members of a union in 2014, down from 16.3 percent in 2013, according to federal statistics released Friday...
Wage theft rampant in Colorado The Durango Herald ...From telemarketers to tortilla manufacturers, workers in myriad industries have suffered from employers failing to pay them wages they are owed, a Rocky Mountain PBS I-News investigation has found...
Oregon Strippers Prepare to Fight For Workplace Protection Laws Willamette Week ...Nude dancers who want more rights and better workplace protections are pushing forward with bills to create new rules for Oregon strip clubs. A coalition of dancers, social workers and other advocates have drafted two bills they hope will get a hearing in Salem when lawmakers reconvene in February...
Will Sandoval Use The Bill To Achieve Collective Bargaining Reform? Las Vegas Review Journal ...Assemblyman Randy Kirner, R-Reno, is requesting the most comprehensive measure ...It would clarify the rules that exclude supervisors from collective bargaining, prohibit using government funds to pay employees engaged in union activities, require employees to seek union deductions before they would be collected by a government entity and make agreements retroactive to the date of the expiration of the previous contract. It also would require a final contract offer to be made public...
Possible Ballot Measure Could Be Bargaining Chip In Minimum-Wage Debate Seattle Times ...Democrats in Olympia are making one thing clear about a new proposal to raise the minimum wage: If it doesn’t pass this year, be ready for a ballot initiative...
War on Workers
Koch Brothers’ Budget of $889 Million for 2016 Is on Par With Both Parties’ Spending New York Times …The political network overseen by the conservative billionaires Charles G. and David H. Koch plans to spend close to $900 million on the 2016 campaign, an unparalleled effort by coordinated outside groups to shape a presidential election that is already on track to be the most expensive in history...
The State Of The Unions: Membership Is Up, But Density Still Drops Washington Post ...What's interesting about this is that union membership actually went up last year, with 41,000 new union members in the private sector and 8,000 in public. But the number of people working increased much more than that. The long-term trend has been that union membership in the public sector -- meaning government employees -- has grown, while private sector membership has dropped...
As inequality soars, the nervous super rich are already planning their escapes Guardian ...“I know hedge fund managers all over the world who are buying airstrips and farms in places like New Zealand because they think they need a getaway,” he said...
Woman, age 30, killed during robbery at Sunhouse store Sunday night myhorrynews.com ...On Sunday night at around 10 p.m., a female clerk was shot and killed at the Sunhouse on Cultra Road between Highway 701 and Highway 501 in Conway, Horry County Deputy Coroner Tony Hendrick has confirmed...
State Patrol: Army veteran, ER worker killed when a driver ran a stop sign BringMeTheNews …A 47-year-old emergency room manager and Gulf War veteran was killed after police say he was broadsided by a car that ran through a stop sign...
Miscellaneous
Regulators Advance Plans For Truck Driver Training Journal of Commerce ...The amount of time future truck drivers must spend in training and how rigorous a program they must complete will be determined not by federal fiat but through negotiations. Federal regulators are proceeding with a negotiated rule-making on minimum national truck driver training standards, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said in December...
FOIA Documents Reveal Massive DEA Program to Record American’s Whereabouts With License Plate Readers ACLU …The Drug Enforcement Administration has initiated a massive national license plate reader program with major civil liberties concerns but disclosed very few details, according to new DEA documents obtained by the ACLU through the Freedom of Information Act...
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...
Monday, January 5, 2015
Today's Teamster News 01.05.15
Teamsters
NYCLASS flyers aim to convince New Yorkers that horse-carriage ban supports Bill de Blasio’s ‘progressive agenda’ New York Daily News ...“There’s nothing progressive about taking away jobs for 300 families,” said George Miranda, the head of Teamsters Joint Council 16...
Trade
A New Threat Looms on the Horizon: TISA Economy in Crisis ...The Trade in Services Agreement (TISA) covers 50 countries and 68.2 percent of world trade in services. The U.S. and the European Union (EU) are the main proponents of the agreement. If enacted, the agreement would severely limit the ability of the U.S. to regulate the financial sector...
War on Workers
Why New Credit Cards May Fall Short on Fraud Control Wall Street Journal ...Big U.S. banks are steering clear of an advanced security measure used in credit cards around the world, opting for a system that is more convenient for shoppers but may leave them vulnerable to fraud...
Tax Inversion Remains (Huge) naked capitalism ...The recent Treasury measures raised legal obstacles, but the heart of the problem remains unaddressed...
Coca-Cola’s anti-American outsourcing scheme: How Big Soda gets the public to shoulder its costs Salon ...“Citizen Coke: The Making of Coca-Cola capitalism,” traces the history of Coke’s empire through the company’s reliance on offloading its costs and risks in precisely this way, tapping into public goods like curbside recycling and municipal water systems while eschewing ownership of the resources and infrastructure needed to produce its iconic beverage...
Anti-terror plan to spy on toddlers 'is heavy-handed’ The Telegraph ...Nursery school staff and registered childminders must report toddlers at risk of becoming terrorists, under counter-terrorism measures proposed by the [British] Government...
U.S. health worker arrives in Nebraska for Ebola evaluation Reuters ...An American health care worker possibly exposed to the Ebola virus in Sierra Leone arrived at a hospital in Omaha on Sunday for evaluation and any necessary treatment, an official said...
Miscellaneous
Jaguar Demos a Car That Keeps an Eye on Its Driver Technology Review ...An Australian company called Seeing Machines is turning sensing inward with technology that focuses on drivers themselves in hopes of reducing distracted and drowsy driving...
Auto Industry Galvanized After Record Recall Year New York Times ...More than 60 million vehicles have been recalled in the United States, double the previous annual record in 2004. In all, there have been about 700 recall announcements — an average of two a day — affecting the equivalent of one in five vehicles on the road...
The Future of Getting Arrested The Atlantic ...Several cities have recently put in place networks of microphone-based gunshot sensors, and others are likely to adopt similar systems. When a sensor picks up a suspicious noise, a computer program analyzes the sound and, if it resembles gunfire, determines its point of origin to within a few yards...
Princeton graduate, 30, 'who shot dead his $200m hedge fund founder father, 70, in NYC apartment' arrested after he 'went on the run and barricaded himself in his Manhattan home' Daily Mail ...A Princeton graduate has been arrested after he allegedly executed his multimillionaire hedge-funder father at the family's Manhattan apartment on Sunday...
NYCLASS flyers aim to convince New Yorkers that horse-carriage ban supports Bill de Blasio’s ‘progressive agenda’ New York Daily News ...“There’s nothing progressive about taking away jobs for 300 families,” said George Miranda, the head of Teamsters Joint Council 16...
Trade
A New Threat Looms on the Horizon: TISA Economy in Crisis ...The Trade in Services Agreement (TISA) covers 50 countries and 68.2 percent of world trade in services. The U.S. and the European Union (EU) are the main proponents of the agreement. If enacted, the agreement would severely limit the ability of the U.S. to regulate the financial sector...
War on Workers
Why New Credit Cards May Fall Short on Fraud Control Wall Street Journal ...Big U.S. banks are steering clear of an advanced security measure used in credit cards around the world, opting for a system that is more convenient for shoppers but may leave them vulnerable to fraud...
Tax Inversion Remains (Huge) naked capitalism ...The recent Treasury measures raised legal obstacles, but the heart of the problem remains unaddressed...
Coca-Cola’s anti-American outsourcing scheme: How Big Soda gets the public to shoulder its costs Salon ...“Citizen Coke: The Making of Coca-Cola capitalism,” traces the history of Coke’s empire through the company’s reliance on offloading its costs and risks in precisely this way, tapping into public goods like curbside recycling and municipal water systems while eschewing ownership of the resources and infrastructure needed to produce its iconic beverage...
Anti-terror plan to spy on toddlers 'is heavy-handed’ The Telegraph ...Nursery school staff and registered childminders must report toddlers at risk of becoming terrorists, under counter-terrorism measures proposed by the [British] Government...
U.S. health worker arrives in Nebraska for Ebola evaluation Reuters ...An American health care worker possibly exposed to the Ebola virus in Sierra Leone arrived at a hospital in Omaha on Sunday for evaluation and any necessary treatment, an official said...
Miscellaneous
Jaguar Demos a Car That Keeps an Eye on Its Driver Technology Review ...An Australian company called Seeing Machines is turning sensing inward with technology that focuses on drivers themselves in hopes of reducing distracted and drowsy driving...
Auto Industry Galvanized After Record Recall Year New York Times ...More than 60 million vehicles have been recalled in the United States, double the previous annual record in 2004. In all, there have been about 700 recall announcements — an average of two a day — affecting the equivalent of one in five vehicles on the road...
The Future of Getting Arrested The Atlantic ...Several cities have recently put in place networks of microphone-based gunshot sensors, and others are likely to adopt similar systems. When a sensor picks up a suspicious noise, a computer program analyzes the sound and, if it resembles gunfire, determines its point of origin to within a few yards...
Princeton graduate, 30, 'who shot dead his $200m hedge fund founder father, 70, in NYC apartment' arrested after he 'went on the run and barricaded himself in his Manhattan home' Daily Mail ...A Princeton graduate has been arrested after he allegedly executed his multimillionaire hedge-funder father at the family's Manhattan apartment on Sunday...
Monday, December 15, 2014
Today's Teamster News 12.15.14
Teamsters
Teamsters Denounce Senate Passage Of Omnibus Spending Bill teamster.org …"With the passage of the omnibus spending bill by the Senate, we have witnessed the latest attack by corporate interests on working families...
Trade
Call for release of Trans-Pacific Partnership text ComputerWorld ...Forty-eight non-government organisations have issued a call for the release of the draft text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement...
State Battles
Early federal sentencing recommendation for McDonnell: At least 10 years in prison Washington Post ...The federal agency that will play a pivotal role in guiding the sentence of former Virginia governor Robert F. McDonnell has recommended that the onetime Republican rising star spend at least 10 years and a month in prison, according to several people familiar with the matter...
War on Workers
Cromnibus Pension Provisions Gut Forty Years of Policy, Allow Existing Pensions to Be Slashed naked capitalism …[The] measure included in Congress’s mammoth spending bill permits benefit cuts for retirees in one type of pension plan, a big shift that lawmakers and others believe could set a precedent for other troubled retirement programs. Lawmakers and experts, while divided over the merits of the change, largely agreed that it could well be the first of many...
Study: For every $1 corporations spend on elections, they get $760 from government Ring of Fire …From 2007 to 2012, 200 American corporations spent about $5.8 billion on federal lobbying and campaign contributions, but that number is mere chump change when compared to what those same corporations got in return — about $4.4 trillion in federal business and support, according to a study by the Sunlight Foundation...
What's Complicated About a Government That Works to Benefit Rich People? Center for Economic Policy and Research ...we have had a government committed to redistributing income upward for the last three decades...
Congress Again Rewards Tax Dodgers with a Tax Cut Economic Policy Institute ...If a $1 budget reduction yields a $10.60 reduction in enforcement collections, then the $191 million reduction in the IRS enforcement budget could prove to be a $2 billion tax cut for tax cheats. There appears to be a disconnect between what Congress enacts and what the American public wants...
Transport strike likely to shut down much of Belgium Agence France-Press ...Belgium risks coming to a virtual standstill tomorrow as the biggest national strike for years grounds all flights, halts public transport and severs international train links in a protest over the new government's austerity policies...
Smoke killed Thanksgiving Tower workers trapped in deep tank, officials say Dallas Morning News ...Three workers killed in a Thanksgiving Tower fire died of smoke inhalation while trapped in a “dilapidated” 35-foot-deep chiller tank, authorities said Friday. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration and Dallas Fire-Rescue are investigating Thursday’s blaze. A city official said it appeared that the workers did not follow proper safety procedures, nor did they have the proper permit to do work with a torch, although officials still haven’t confirmed what started the fire...
Miscellaneous
Will cheap oil kill Keystone? Politico Pro …The same collapse in oil prices that is pumping dollars into motorists’ wallets also risks undermining the case for building the 1,179-mile pipeline in two crucial ways: It’s squeezing the western Canadian oil industry that has looked to Keystone as its most promising route to the Gulf Coast...
Dancing around data The Hill …A recent Pew study found that ninety-one percent of Americans say that they have “lost control” over how their personal information is collected or used by companies...
Teamsters Denounce Senate Passage Of Omnibus Spending Bill teamster.org …"With the passage of the omnibus spending bill by the Senate, we have witnessed the latest attack by corporate interests on working families...
Trade
Call for release of Trans-Pacific Partnership text ComputerWorld ...Forty-eight non-government organisations have issued a call for the release of the draft text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement...
State Battles
Early federal sentencing recommendation for McDonnell: At least 10 years in prison Washington Post ...The federal agency that will play a pivotal role in guiding the sentence of former Virginia governor Robert F. McDonnell has recommended that the onetime Republican rising star spend at least 10 years and a month in prison, according to several people familiar with the matter...
War on Workers
Cromnibus Pension Provisions Gut Forty Years of Policy, Allow Existing Pensions to Be Slashed naked capitalism …[The] measure included in Congress’s mammoth spending bill permits benefit cuts for retirees in one type of pension plan, a big shift that lawmakers and others believe could set a precedent for other troubled retirement programs. Lawmakers and experts, while divided over the merits of the change, largely agreed that it could well be the first of many...
Study: For every $1 corporations spend on elections, they get $760 from government Ring of Fire …From 2007 to 2012, 200 American corporations spent about $5.8 billion on federal lobbying and campaign contributions, but that number is mere chump change when compared to what those same corporations got in return — about $4.4 trillion in federal business and support, according to a study by the Sunlight Foundation...
What's Complicated About a Government That Works to Benefit Rich People? Center for Economic Policy and Research ...we have had a government committed to redistributing income upward for the last three decades...
Congress Again Rewards Tax Dodgers with a Tax Cut Economic Policy Institute ...If a $1 budget reduction yields a $10.60 reduction in enforcement collections, then the $191 million reduction in the IRS enforcement budget could prove to be a $2 billion tax cut for tax cheats. There appears to be a disconnect between what Congress enacts and what the American public wants...
Transport strike likely to shut down much of Belgium Agence France-Press ...Belgium risks coming to a virtual standstill tomorrow as the biggest national strike for years grounds all flights, halts public transport and severs international train links in a protest over the new government's austerity policies...
Smoke killed Thanksgiving Tower workers trapped in deep tank, officials say Dallas Morning News ...Three workers killed in a Thanksgiving Tower fire died of smoke inhalation while trapped in a “dilapidated” 35-foot-deep chiller tank, authorities said Friday. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration and Dallas Fire-Rescue are investigating Thursday’s blaze. A city official said it appeared that the workers did not follow proper safety procedures, nor did they have the proper permit to do work with a torch, although officials still haven’t confirmed what started the fire...
Miscellaneous
Will cheap oil kill Keystone? Politico Pro …The same collapse in oil prices that is pumping dollars into motorists’ wallets also risks undermining the case for building the 1,179-mile pipeline in two crucial ways: It’s squeezing the western Canadian oil industry that has looked to Keystone as its most promising route to the Gulf Coast...
Dancing around data The Hill …A recent Pew study found that ninety-one percent of Americans say that they have “lost control” over how their personal information is collected or used by companies...
Sunday, December 7, 2014
Today's Teamster News 12.07.14
Teamsters
Berlin Metals, Teamsters reach new contract NWI.com ...The Berlin Metals steel service center in Hammond reached a new five-year agreement with Teamsters Union Local 142, which represents its warehouse workers...
EYE ON CLALLAM: County to consider pact with Teamsters at Tuesday meeting in Port Angeles PeninsulaDailyNews.com ...Clallam County has been bargaining a new contract with the union for more than 20 months...
Trade
TPP market access gains for U.S. dairy must be a priority Ohio Country Journal ...“It is crucial for the U.S. to prioritize delivery of benefits to our dairy industry, not other TPP countries,” said Tom Suber, USDEC president...
Europeans fear American 'Frankenfood' in trade deal UPI ..."Hormone-boosted beef. Chlorine-washed chicken. Genetically altered vegetables. This is what they want for us," French organic farmer Jean Cabaret tells the Washington Post. "In France, food is about pleasure, about taste. But in the United States, they put anything in their mouths. No, this must be stopped."...
The European Citizens Initiative to stop the TTIP pressenza …“We are an alliance of nearly 300 European organisations running a self-organised European Citizens’ Initiative against TTIP and CETA. We believe that these two trade and investment agreements must be stopped because they pose a threat to democracy, the rule of law, the environment, health, public services as well as consumer and labour rights...
State Battles
Arizona county mulls not hiring smokers Associated Press ... The proposal would also impose a 30 percent health-insurance surcharge on employees who smoke or consume other tobacco products...
War on Workers
The poor used to have the most opportunity in America. Now the rich do. Washington Post ... It seems almost impossible now, but the income of the poorest households -- the bottom 10 percent of them -- grew the fastest in JFK-era America, with the top 1 percent a little bit behind...
As college costs rise, more food pantries sprout on campus Kansas City Star ...Emporia is among the latest colleges in Kansas and Missouri to start a food pantry for cash-strapped students. Washburn University in Topeka also opened a pantry last month, Pittsburg State opened one in October and the University of Missouri-Kansas City student activities office is working on opening a food pantry in March...
Why Poor People Stay Poor Slate …It’s amazing what things that are absolute crises for me are simple annoyances for people with money. Anything can make you lose your apartment, because any unexpected problem that pops up, like they do, can set off that Rube Goldberg device...
Judge: Give NSA unlimited access to digital data PC World ...The U.S. National Security Agency should have an unlimited ability to collect digital information in the name of protecting the country against terrorism and other threats, an influential federal judge said during a debate on privacy. “I think privacy is actually overvalued,” Judge Richard Posner, of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, said...
Mother-of-six dies suddenly just four weeks after giving birth: Fast food worker collapsed outside her workplace and never recovered Daily Mail ...A kind mother-of-six has died suddenly at the age of 43, just four weeks after giving birth to her sixth child...
Worker dies after being electrocuted KHOU.com …A worker died Saturday while working on trimming trees near a power line...
Berlin Metals, Teamsters reach new contract NWI.com ...The Berlin Metals steel service center in Hammond reached a new five-year agreement with Teamsters Union Local 142, which represents its warehouse workers...
EYE ON CLALLAM: County to consider pact with Teamsters at Tuesday meeting in Port Angeles PeninsulaDailyNews.com ...Clallam County has been bargaining a new contract with the union for more than 20 months...
Trade
TPP market access gains for U.S. dairy must be a priority Ohio Country Journal ...“It is crucial for the U.S. to prioritize delivery of benefits to our dairy industry, not other TPP countries,” said Tom Suber, USDEC president...
Europeans fear American 'Frankenfood' in trade deal UPI ..."Hormone-boosted beef. Chlorine-washed chicken. Genetically altered vegetables. This is what they want for us," French organic farmer Jean Cabaret tells the Washington Post. "In France, food is about pleasure, about taste. But in the United States, they put anything in their mouths. No, this must be stopped."...
The European Citizens Initiative to stop the TTIP pressenza …“We are an alliance of nearly 300 European organisations running a self-organised European Citizens’ Initiative against TTIP and CETA. We believe that these two trade and investment agreements must be stopped because they pose a threat to democracy, the rule of law, the environment, health, public services as well as consumer and labour rights...
State Battles
Arizona county mulls not hiring smokers Associated Press ... The proposal would also impose a 30 percent health-insurance surcharge on employees who smoke or consume other tobacco products...
War on Workers
The poor used to have the most opportunity in America. Now the rich do. Washington Post ... It seems almost impossible now, but the income of the poorest households -- the bottom 10 percent of them -- grew the fastest in JFK-era America, with the top 1 percent a little bit behind...
As college costs rise, more food pantries sprout on campus Kansas City Star ...Emporia is among the latest colleges in Kansas and Missouri to start a food pantry for cash-strapped students. Washburn University in Topeka also opened a pantry last month, Pittsburg State opened one in October and the University of Missouri-Kansas City student activities office is working on opening a food pantry in March...
Why Poor People Stay Poor Slate …It’s amazing what things that are absolute crises for me are simple annoyances for people with money. Anything can make you lose your apartment, because any unexpected problem that pops up, like they do, can set off that Rube Goldberg device...
Judge: Give NSA unlimited access to digital data PC World ...The U.S. National Security Agency should have an unlimited ability to collect digital information in the name of protecting the country against terrorism and other threats, an influential federal judge said during a debate on privacy. “I think privacy is actually overvalued,” Judge Richard Posner, of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, said...
Mother-of-six dies suddenly just four weeks after giving birth: Fast food worker collapsed outside her workplace and never recovered Daily Mail ...A kind mother-of-six has died suddenly at the age of 43, just four weeks after giving birth to her sixth child...
Worker dies after being electrocuted KHOU.com …A worker died Saturday while working on trimming trees near a power line...
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...
Thursday, October 30, 2014
Today's Teamster News 10.30.14
Teamster News
Teamsters: Port Trucking Industry Dealt Another Blow teamster.org ...This week, the first of the fired drivers, Yesenia Rivas, was awarded $9,000 in unemployment benefits by the California Employment Development Department (EDD) – benefits that are only available to “employees,” not “independent contractors.”...
Recycling Workers Continue Strike At Waste Management Bay Area Sites San Jose Mercury News ...Teamsters Joint Council President Rome Aloise characterized the ILWU's struggle against Waste Management as unrealistic and called the workers "pawns" of the union leadership. "The slogan and campaign that has been developed is based on a promise that cannot be met and is designed to create false hope for the workers," Aloise said...
Grimes Courts Labor Votes With Warren In Kentucky Fresno Bee ...Stephen Piercey, a 32-year-old UPS worker and a steward in the Teamsters union, said he supports Grimes because she opposes right to work legislation that would allow companies to hire nonunion workers, which he said would weaken the labor union's ability to bargain for its members...
Trade
Germany Turning Sour on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership naked capitalism ...Germans are particularly aware of the dangers of these foreign investor panels due to payments the German government has been forced to make. Vattenfal, a Swedish company, is a serial trade pact litigant against Germany. In 2011, Der Spiegel reported on how it was suing for expected €1 billion plus losses due to Germany’s program to phase out nuclear power...
Why Support The TPP When It Will Let Foreign Corporations Take Our Democracies To Court? The Guardian ...ISDS clauses enable foreign corporations to sue a host country for laws or policies, or even court decisions, they find inconvenient and objectionable. This has the effect of giving foreign investors more rights than local investors; more influence than local citizens...
Monsanto Agritech Lobbying For The TTIP: Britain Spearheads Campaign To Make European GMO Regulation Meaningless Center For Research On Globalization ...The TTIP aims to force Europe to drop its GMO regulatory standards. If this occurs, Claire Robinson argues that Europe will adopt the type of worthless product-based regulatory assessments that occurs in the US...
Report Links Brands To 'Slavery' In Indian Mills Women's Wear Daily ...A new report alleging “modern-day slavery” in five Indian textile mills prompted at least three of the Western retailers —H&M, Primark and C&A — linked to the factories on Tuesday to pledge to take either punitive or remedial action...
State Battles
Court Refuses To Intervene In Case of 40,000 Missing Voters In Georgia Think Progress ...On Tuesday, Judge Christopher Brasher of the Fulton County Superior Court denied a petition from civil rights advocates to force Georgia’s Secretary of State to process an estimated 40,000 voter registrations that have gone missing from the public database...
Scott Walker Runs Ad Supporting Equal Pay After Repealing Wisconsin's Equal Pay Law Huffington Post ...Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) released an ad on Tuesday in which his female lieutenant governor applauds his support for equal pay for women -- just two years after the governor signed a bill repealing the state's equal pay law...
War on Workers
Money Koch Bros. Stole from Tribes Could Swing Mid-Term Elections Indian Country Media Network ...The committee issued its report (Senate Report 101-216) in 1989: “Koch Oil, the largest purchaser of Indian oil in the country, was engaged in a widespread and sophisticated scheme to steal crude oil from Indians and others through fraudulent mismeasuring and misreporting.” The committee sent the report to the Justice Department and DOJ convened a grand jury to examine possible criminal charges, but no indictments had been returned before the group was disbanded in 1992...
Oil Train Protesters March On Downtown Spokane KXLY ..."Oil trains are dangerous," said King County Executive Dow Constantine, "they can leak, they can catch fire. There have been explosions that are tremendously dangerous to people and property. Second, they take up space that could be used by people here producing agricultural products, manufactured products being shipped from Montana, Idaho, Eastern Washington to the ports, and that capacity that we're losing is costing Washington State jobs."...
Nurse Kaci Hickox 'Will Go to Court' Over Maine Ebola Quarantine Rule ABC News ...Kaci Hickox, a nurse who treated Ebolapatients and threatened to sue New Jersey over being quarantined before she was discharged, today threatened to sue Maine if officials there do not lift a 21-day quarantine restriction...
Amtrak worker killed by train MidHudson News ...An Amtrak employee was struck and killed by one of the railroad’s trains while he was working on a section of the track late Wednesday morning...
Construction worker dies after he's struck by truck on Verrazano-Narrows Bridge Staten Island Advance ...Shell, who was employed by STV, a contractor working on the bridge, was working in a closed work zone in front of the Verrazano-Narrows administration building in Staten Island when he was struck by a truck delivering asphalt to the site...
Recovery efforts continue for contractor who died in trench collapse MyFOXDetroit.com ...Crews are continuing the efforts Thursday morning to recover the body of a construction worker killed in a trench collapse in Grosse Pointe Woods...
Dead babies near oil drilling sites raise questions for researchers Denver Post ...Part of the reluctance of residents around Vernal to ascribe any ill effects to energy-field pollution could be tied to the average $3,963 average monthly nonfarm wage in Uintah County — the highest in Utah...
Why Does the U.S. Senate Need a Petition Drive to Hold Hearings on the Secret Goldman Sachs’ Tapes Wall Street on Parade ...Senators Elizabeth Warren and Sherrod Brown believe they may have a battle on their hands getting their colleagues on the Senate Banking Committee to agree to hold hearings on the now notorious tape recordings secretly made by former New York Fed bank examiner, Carmen Segarra, showing a cozy relationship between the regulator and Goldman Sachs...
Miscellaneous
Police: Woman Decapitated, Son Struck By Train In Murder-Suicide In Farmingdale CBS Local ...A woman was decapitated by her son in the middle of the street, he then killed himself by stepping in front of a Long Island Rail Road train in Farmingdale, police said Wednesday...
FBI demands new powers to hack into computers and carry out surveillance Guardian ...Agency requests rule change but civil liberties groups say ‘extremely invasive’ technique amounts to unconstitutional power grab...
UK Spies Get Bulk Access To NSA Data, Court Rules Fox News ...The British government's insistence that its spies don't use the vast espionage powers of the U.S. National Security Agency to sidestep U.K. restrictions on domestic eavesdropping was called into question by a court document published Wednesday...
Teamsters: Port Trucking Industry Dealt Another Blow teamster.org ...This week, the first of the fired drivers, Yesenia Rivas, was awarded $9,000 in unemployment benefits by the California Employment Development Department (EDD) – benefits that are only available to “employees,” not “independent contractors.”...
Recycling Workers Continue Strike At Waste Management Bay Area Sites San Jose Mercury News ...Teamsters Joint Council President Rome Aloise characterized the ILWU's struggle against Waste Management as unrealistic and called the workers "pawns" of the union leadership. "The slogan and campaign that has been developed is based on a promise that cannot be met and is designed to create false hope for the workers," Aloise said...
Grimes Courts Labor Votes With Warren In Kentucky Fresno Bee ...Stephen Piercey, a 32-year-old UPS worker and a steward in the Teamsters union, said he supports Grimes because she opposes right to work legislation that would allow companies to hire nonunion workers, which he said would weaken the labor union's ability to bargain for its members...
Trade
Germany Turning Sour on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership naked capitalism ...Germans are particularly aware of the dangers of these foreign investor panels due to payments the German government has been forced to make. Vattenfal, a Swedish company, is a serial trade pact litigant against Germany. In 2011, Der Spiegel reported on how it was suing for expected €1 billion plus losses due to Germany’s program to phase out nuclear power...
Why Support The TPP When It Will Let Foreign Corporations Take Our Democracies To Court? The Guardian ...ISDS clauses enable foreign corporations to sue a host country for laws or policies, or even court decisions, they find inconvenient and objectionable. This has the effect of giving foreign investors more rights than local investors; more influence than local citizens...
Monsanto Agritech Lobbying For The TTIP: Britain Spearheads Campaign To Make European GMO Regulation Meaningless Center For Research On Globalization ...The TTIP aims to force Europe to drop its GMO regulatory standards. If this occurs, Claire Robinson argues that Europe will adopt the type of worthless product-based regulatory assessments that occurs in the US...
Report Links Brands To 'Slavery' In Indian Mills Women's Wear Daily ...A new report alleging “modern-day slavery” in five Indian textile mills prompted at least three of the Western retailers —H&M, Primark and C&A — linked to the factories on Tuesday to pledge to take either punitive or remedial action...
State Battles
Court Refuses To Intervene In Case of 40,000 Missing Voters In Georgia Think Progress ...On Tuesday, Judge Christopher Brasher of the Fulton County Superior Court denied a petition from civil rights advocates to force Georgia’s Secretary of State to process an estimated 40,000 voter registrations that have gone missing from the public database...
Scott Walker Runs Ad Supporting Equal Pay After Repealing Wisconsin's Equal Pay Law Huffington Post ...Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) released an ad on Tuesday in which his female lieutenant governor applauds his support for equal pay for women -- just two years after the governor signed a bill repealing the state's equal pay law...
War on Workers
Money Koch Bros. Stole from Tribes Could Swing Mid-Term Elections Indian Country Media Network ...The committee issued its report (Senate Report 101-216) in 1989: “Koch Oil, the largest purchaser of Indian oil in the country, was engaged in a widespread and sophisticated scheme to steal crude oil from Indians and others through fraudulent mismeasuring and misreporting.” The committee sent the report to the Justice Department and DOJ convened a grand jury to examine possible criminal charges, but no indictments had been returned before the group was disbanded in 1992...
Oil Train Protesters March On Downtown Spokane KXLY ..."Oil trains are dangerous," said King County Executive Dow Constantine, "they can leak, they can catch fire. There have been explosions that are tremendously dangerous to people and property. Second, they take up space that could be used by people here producing agricultural products, manufactured products being shipped from Montana, Idaho, Eastern Washington to the ports, and that capacity that we're losing is costing Washington State jobs."...
Nurse Kaci Hickox 'Will Go to Court' Over Maine Ebola Quarantine Rule ABC News ...Kaci Hickox, a nurse who treated Ebolapatients and threatened to sue New Jersey over being quarantined before she was discharged, today threatened to sue Maine if officials there do not lift a 21-day quarantine restriction...
Amtrak worker killed by train MidHudson News ...An Amtrak employee was struck and killed by one of the railroad’s trains while he was working on a section of the track late Wednesday morning...
Construction worker dies after he's struck by truck on Verrazano-Narrows Bridge Staten Island Advance ...Shell, who was employed by STV, a contractor working on the bridge, was working in a closed work zone in front of the Verrazano-Narrows administration building in Staten Island when he was struck by a truck delivering asphalt to the site...
Recovery efforts continue for contractor who died in trench collapse MyFOXDetroit.com ...Crews are continuing the efforts Thursday morning to recover the body of a construction worker killed in a trench collapse in Grosse Pointe Woods...
Dead babies near oil drilling sites raise questions for researchers Denver Post ...Part of the reluctance of residents around Vernal to ascribe any ill effects to energy-field pollution could be tied to the average $3,963 average monthly nonfarm wage in Uintah County — the highest in Utah...
Why Does the U.S. Senate Need a Petition Drive to Hold Hearings on the Secret Goldman Sachs’ Tapes Wall Street on Parade ...Senators Elizabeth Warren and Sherrod Brown believe they may have a battle on their hands getting their colleagues on the Senate Banking Committee to agree to hold hearings on the now notorious tape recordings secretly made by former New York Fed bank examiner, Carmen Segarra, showing a cozy relationship between the regulator and Goldman Sachs...
Miscellaneous
Police: Woman Decapitated, Son Struck By Train In Murder-Suicide In Farmingdale CBS Local ...A woman was decapitated by her son in the middle of the street, he then killed himself by stepping in front of a Long Island Rail Road train in Farmingdale, police said Wednesday...
FBI demands new powers to hack into computers and carry out surveillance Guardian ...Agency requests rule change but civil liberties groups say ‘extremely invasive’ technique amounts to unconstitutional power grab...
UK Spies Get Bulk Access To NSA Data, Court Rules Fox News ...The British government's insistence that its spies don't use the vast espionage powers of the U.S. National Security Agency to sidestep U.K. restrictions on domestic eavesdropping was called into question by a court document published Wednesday...
Wednesday, October 8, 2014
Today's Teamster News 10.08.14
Teamster News
Teamsters Warehouse Workers Face a Bankruptcy Court Designed to Protect Bosses, Not Workers In These Times ...The Keene, New Hampshire-based C&S Wholesale Grocers’s actions could prove to be an immediate threat to the livelihoods of about 1,100 Teamster members in the Mid-Atlantic region, the latest in a series of damaging anti-union maneuvers by the company. The action also highlights the growing market power of C&S, a low-profile company that has quietly grown into the nation’s largest warehousing corporation...
Investors, activists press eBay, others to break up with ALEC Reuters ...Civic groups such as Common Cause and the Environmental Defense Fund and unions including the International Brotherhood of Teamsters wrote to the e-commerce company's management asking it to reconsider involvement in ALEC because of what they called its "extreme agenda."...
Trade
TTIP Could Weaken Chemical Rules, Environmental Groups Say Wall Street Journal ...environmental groups worry the chemical industry will use these procedures to delay or block new restrictions or bans on chemicals that pose a threat to people or the environment...
TPP Talks Slated For Oct. 25 As Nations Scramble For Deal law360 ...The Australian government announced Thursday that it will host a meeting of Trans-Pacific Partnership trade ministers this month to tackle outstanding provisions on intellectual property, agricultural market access, state-owned enterprises and other areas as negotiators race to close major parts of the pact by year's end...
State Battles
Walker administration denies complaint seeking to raise minimum wage Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel ...Gov. Scott Walker's administration has denied a complaint by a labor group seeking to force an increase in Wisconsin's minimum wage...The state law requires that Wisconsin's minimum wage "shall not be less than a living wage."...
Rochester Borough Says No To Police Outsourcing Insurance News ...After comments about sacrificing safety for potential savings, officials decided Tuesday to halt a conversation with the township about contracting out police services...
City To Ponder Raise For Contractor Workers News Journal ...Wilmington City Council will take action next month on an ordinance that will require employees of city contractors to get paid at least $10.10 an hour...
War On Workers
Freight Train Drivers Report Falling Asleep On The Job CBC ...Train operators in Canada’s burgeoning freight rail industry report falling asleep at the controls and coming to work exhausted at an alarmingly high rate, according to an ongoing CBC News investigation into rail safety...
43 Missing Students, a Mass Grave and a Suspect: Mexico’s Police New York Times ...they are among 43 students reported missing after deadly clashes with the police on Sept. 26, when at least six student protesters and bystanders were killed in the restive, rural state of Guerrero, one of the poorest in the country and long afflicted by political, social and criminal upheaval...
Las Vegas Schools Groan From Growing Pains New York Times ...Schools in this suddenly robust community are so packed these days that 13 of them stay open 12 months a year. Children go to classes and eat lunch in cramped, windowless trailers, bustling with restless students. Thousands more take online classes at home, and school district administrators, desperate for space, are looking to abandoned strip malls for classrooms...
The Great Wage Slowdown Of The 21st Century New York Times ...The typical American family makes less than the typical family did 15 years ago, a statement that hadn’t previously been true since the Great Depression...
American Agriculture's Child Labor Problem KCET ...Fourteen hour days with no pay, very little food, routinely beaten and whipped by overseers before being locked away in cramped quarters every night. The fact that U.S. companies were reaping the benefits of this slave labor was outrageous. But what's more disturbing is the fact that child labor exploitation isn't only occurring outside of America. It happens here, too. And it's not entirely illegal...
Construction worker dies on the job KCCI News ...Authorities say a construction worker has died after he was pinned under a piece of equipment in northwest Iowa...
Tualatin worker dies after being struck by large metal plates, state agency says Oregon Live ...A 27-year-old man hit by large metal plates while working at a Tualatin manufacturing business Monday morning has died, according to the Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Division...
Is Your Dentist Ripping You Off? Mother Jones ...more and more young dentists are taking jobs with chains, many of which set revenue quotas for practitioners. This has created some legal backlash: In 2012, for example, 11 patients sued (PDF) a 450-office chain called Aspen Dental, claiming that its model turns dentists into salespeople...
Microsoft’s Windows 10 has permission to watch your every move Tech Worm ...“Microsoft collects information about you, your devices, applications and networks, and your use of those devices, applications and networks. Examples of data we collect include your name, email address, preferences and interests; browsing, search and file history; phone call and SMS data; device configuration and sensor data; and application usage.”...
Government Set Up A Fake Facebook Page In This Woman’s Name Buzzfeed ...A DEA agent commandeered a woman’s identity, created a phony Facebook account in her name, and posted racy photos he found on her seized cell phone. The government said he had the right to do that...
Teamsters Warehouse Workers Face a Bankruptcy Court Designed to Protect Bosses, Not Workers In These Times ...The Keene, New Hampshire-based C&S Wholesale Grocers’s actions could prove to be an immediate threat to the livelihoods of about 1,100 Teamster members in the Mid-Atlantic region, the latest in a series of damaging anti-union maneuvers by the company. The action also highlights the growing market power of C&S, a low-profile company that has quietly grown into the nation’s largest warehousing corporation...
Investors, activists press eBay, others to break up with ALEC Reuters ...Civic groups such as Common Cause and the Environmental Defense Fund and unions including the International Brotherhood of Teamsters wrote to the e-commerce company's management asking it to reconsider involvement in ALEC because of what they called its "extreme agenda."...
Trade
TTIP Could Weaken Chemical Rules, Environmental Groups Say Wall Street Journal ...environmental groups worry the chemical industry will use these procedures to delay or block new restrictions or bans on chemicals that pose a threat to people or the environment...
TPP Talks Slated For Oct. 25 As Nations Scramble For Deal law360 ...The Australian government announced Thursday that it will host a meeting of Trans-Pacific Partnership trade ministers this month to tackle outstanding provisions on intellectual property, agricultural market access, state-owned enterprises and other areas as negotiators race to close major parts of the pact by year's end...
State Battles
Walker administration denies complaint seeking to raise minimum wage Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel ...Gov. Scott Walker's administration has denied a complaint by a labor group seeking to force an increase in Wisconsin's minimum wage...The state law requires that Wisconsin's minimum wage "shall not be less than a living wage."...
Rochester Borough Says No To Police Outsourcing Insurance News ...After comments about sacrificing safety for potential savings, officials decided Tuesday to halt a conversation with the township about contracting out police services...
City To Ponder Raise For Contractor Workers News Journal ...Wilmington City Council will take action next month on an ordinance that will require employees of city contractors to get paid at least $10.10 an hour...
War On Workers
Freight Train Drivers Report Falling Asleep On The Job CBC ...Train operators in Canada’s burgeoning freight rail industry report falling asleep at the controls and coming to work exhausted at an alarmingly high rate, according to an ongoing CBC News investigation into rail safety...
43 Missing Students, a Mass Grave and a Suspect: Mexico’s Police New York Times ...they are among 43 students reported missing after deadly clashes with the police on Sept. 26, when at least six student protesters and bystanders were killed in the restive, rural state of Guerrero, one of the poorest in the country and long afflicted by political, social and criminal upheaval...
Las Vegas Schools Groan From Growing Pains New York Times ...Schools in this suddenly robust community are so packed these days that 13 of them stay open 12 months a year. Children go to classes and eat lunch in cramped, windowless trailers, bustling with restless students. Thousands more take online classes at home, and school district administrators, desperate for space, are looking to abandoned strip malls for classrooms...
The Great Wage Slowdown Of The 21st Century New York Times ...The typical American family makes less than the typical family did 15 years ago, a statement that hadn’t previously been true since the Great Depression...
American Agriculture's Child Labor Problem KCET ...Fourteen hour days with no pay, very little food, routinely beaten and whipped by overseers before being locked away in cramped quarters every night. The fact that U.S. companies were reaping the benefits of this slave labor was outrageous. But what's more disturbing is the fact that child labor exploitation isn't only occurring outside of America. It happens here, too. And it's not entirely illegal...
Construction worker dies on the job KCCI News ...Authorities say a construction worker has died after he was pinned under a piece of equipment in northwest Iowa...
Tualatin worker dies after being struck by large metal plates, state agency says Oregon Live ...A 27-year-old man hit by large metal plates while working at a Tualatin manufacturing business Monday morning has died, according to the Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Division...
Is Your Dentist Ripping You Off? Mother Jones ...more and more young dentists are taking jobs with chains, many of which set revenue quotas for practitioners. This has created some legal backlash: In 2012, for example, 11 patients sued (PDF) a 450-office chain called Aspen Dental, claiming that its model turns dentists into salespeople...
Microsoft’s Windows 10 has permission to watch your every move Tech Worm ...“Microsoft collects information about you, your devices, applications and networks, and your use of those devices, applications and networks. Examples of data we collect include your name, email address, preferences and interests; browsing, search and file history; phone call and SMS data; device configuration and sensor data; and application usage.”...
Government Set Up A Fake Facebook Page In This Woman’s Name Buzzfeed ...A DEA agent commandeered a woman’s identity, created a phony Facebook account in her name, and posted racy photos he found on her seized cell phone. The government said he had the right to do that...
Friday, October 3, 2014
Today's Teamster News 10.03.14
Teamster News
Allied Waste Workers Go Back To Work Daily Journal ...Terry Hancock, president of Teamsters Local 731, the union representing the 24 waste haulers and two mechanics that serve many communities within parts of Kankakee, Iroquois and Will counties, said a negotiating session has been set for Friday. Workers will continue to work under the four-year contract, which expired Jan. 31...
First Student School Bus Workers Choose Teamsters teamster.org ...First Student school bus drivers and monitors in Adrian, Mich., have voted to join Teamsters Local 1038 in Detroit. There are 29 drivers and monitors in the bargaining unit. “We want to be treated equally, and we would like to have some sick days. When we get sick, we don’t have any,” said Cindy Justice, an aide on a bus for children with special needs...
School safety agent struck by bosses: Teamsters New York Post ...A school safety agent was struck in the chest and her hand was crushed in a door while she was being grilled by her bosses, according to a labor grievance...
What It’s Like To Win A 19-Year Union Organizing Campaign In The South Washington Post ...A couple weeks ago, a group of 14,500 U.S. Airways and American Airlines customer service representatives, people who take reservations over the phone and work check-in counters and boarding gates voted to unionize with the Teamsters and the Communication Workers of America. The election was remarkable for a couple reasons: First, because of the margin of victory, with 86 percent voting yes on 77 percent turnout. And second, because it took place in the anti-union South, with most of the agents in Florida, Texas, North Carolina and Arizona...
Trade
Interview: TPP talks unlikely to conclude in 2014, says expert Xinhua ...The trade talks of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement are unlikely to conclude this year as the United States and Japan have differences on the market access of agricultural products, a U.S. expert said Thursday...
US NGOs Warn TTIP Could Weaken Chemical Oversight Chemical Watch ...In the US, critics of the negotiations say they are wary of how the TTIP agreement could hold back work to tighten regulation at the state level; which they say is important in the face of continuing weak federal legislation. In particular, they point to investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) measures they say would allow corporations to challenge, and potentially overturn, tighter state regulations...
State Battles
Corporate executives are purchasing our states — one governorship at a time Salon ...The Republican Governor’s Association has devised a layaway purchase plan allowing brand-name corporations to make secret donations of $100,000 or more a year to the RGA in support of the corporate-friendly agenda of various GOP governors. And a lot of execs have been buying...
Supreme Court to weigh Arizona redistricting challenge Reuters ...The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to hear a challenge by Arizona's legislature to a voter-approved plan that stripped state lawmakers of their role in drawing congressional districts in an bid to remove partisan politics from the process...
One in five Wisconsin voters don't know they'll need photo ID to vote in November The Cap Times ...With the election about a month away, roughly one-fifth of Wisconsin voters are unaware that they will be required to show a photo ID at the polls on Nov. 4...
ACLU Asks Supreme Court To Block Wisconsin Voter ID Law Los Angeles Times ...Civil rights lawyers filed an emergency appeal with the Supreme Court on Thursday seeking to block Wisconsin from enforcing a strict voter ID law they say could prevent as many as 300,000 of the state’s registered voters from casting a ballot next month...
6 Ohio lawmakers defend ALEC in letter to Google cleveland.com ...Six Ohio lawmakers signed onto a letter admonishing Google for cutting financial support of conservative policy group ALEC and for accusing the organization of denying climate change...
Businessman Nik Patel Held Rick Scott Fundraiser At Home Orlando Sentinel ...Orlando hotelier Nik Patel, who was arrested Wednesday on fraud allegations, held a fundraiser for Gov. Rick Scott at his home in Windermere in April...
War On Workers
US Issues Final Minimum Wage Rule For Contractors ABC News ...Labor Secretary Thomas Perez issued a final rule on Wednesday raising the minimum wage for employees of federal contractors to $10.10 an hour. The action puts in force a step announced by President Barack Obama in February. The Labor Department said nearly 200,000 American workers will benefit from the new minimum, which takes effect Jan 1...
US: Tobacco Group Adopts Child Labor Protections Human Rights Watch ...The Tobacco Growers Association of North Carolina, which represents more than 2,300 tobacco farmers in North Carolina and neighboring states, issued a policy on October 1, 2014 stating that it “does not condone the use of child labor.” The policy says that children under 16 should not be hired to work on tobacco farms, even with parental permission...
Job Woes Linger in 29 States as U.S. Recovers Unevenly Economy in Crisis ...Nevada, Arizona and Florida are among those furthest from their peak employment during the December 2007-June 2009 downturn. Those states, along with five others – Alabama, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey and Ohio — remain more than 50,000 positions short of that level...
Why is our Infant Mortality so Bad? Economist's View ...That difference was almost entirely due to excess inequality in the US...
Hackers’ Attack on JPMorgan Chase Affects Millions New York Times ...A cyberattack this summer on JPMorgan Chase compromised the accounts of 76 million households and seven million small businesses, a tally that dwarfs previous estimates by the bank and puts the intrusion among the largest ever...
The Middle Class Is Poorer Today Than It Was In 1989 Washington Post ...the top 1 percent grabbed 95 percent of all the gains during the recovery's first three years. And that's not even the most depressing part. Even adjusted for household size, real median incomes haven't increased at all since 1999. That's right: the middle class hasn't gotten a raise in 15 years...
Rising Tides Lift All Yachts – Why the 1% Grabs all the Gains From Growth naked capitalism ...While our economy is often referred to as “market-driven”, it is actually driven by power. P. O. W. E. R...
Pro-Union Burger King Worker Disciplined For Poor Pickle Placement Huffington Post ...EYM King, which runs 22 Burger King restaurants in and around Detroit, broke labor law by threatening a worker for discussing protests while on the job; giving a disciplinary warning to a union sympathizer; and enforcing a "no solicitation" rule on its own employees. Most absurdly, the company was found to have illegally sent a pro-union worker home one day for allegedly failing to "put pickles on her sandwiches in perfect squares as she was supposed to do"...
Federal Appeals Court Rules Evidence from Warrantless GPS Tracking Does Not Have to Be Suppressed firedoglake ...In 2010, FBI agents attached a GPS tracking device to the car of Harry Katzin in order to track his movements because they suspected he was involved in the robberies of multiple Rite-Aid pharmacies. The agents did not seek a warrant from a judge...
Worker killed in south Ga. industrial accident WRCBtv.com ...a front-end loader crushed 61-year-old Isabel Gomez while he was working on a hydraulic system at an agricultural business Thursday morning...
Charter schools, civil rights and the theft of education funds The Hill ...the lax system of federal oversight of the rapidly expanding charter industry has led to the theft of more than $100 million due to fraud, mismanagement and outright theft...
Allied Waste Workers Go Back To Work Daily Journal ...Terry Hancock, president of Teamsters Local 731, the union representing the 24 waste haulers and two mechanics that serve many communities within parts of Kankakee, Iroquois and Will counties, said a negotiating session has been set for Friday. Workers will continue to work under the four-year contract, which expired Jan. 31...
First Student School Bus Workers Choose Teamsters teamster.org ...First Student school bus drivers and monitors in Adrian, Mich., have voted to join Teamsters Local 1038 in Detroit. There are 29 drivers and monitors in the bargaining unit. “We want to be treated equally, and we would like to have some sick days. When we get sick, we don’t have any,” said Cindy Justice, an aide on a bus for children with special needs...
School safety agent struck by bosses: Teamsters New York Post ...A school safety agent was struck in the chest and her hand was crushed in a door while she was being grilled by her bosses, according to a labor grievance...
What It’s Like To Win A 19-Year Union Organizing Campaign In The South Washington Post ...A couple weeks ago, a group of 14,500 U.S. Airways and American Airlines customer service representatives, people who take reservations over the phone and work check-in counters and boarding gates voted to unionize with the Teamsters and the Communication Workers of America. The election was remarkable for a couple reasons: First, because of the margin of victory, with 86 percent voting yes on 77 percent turnout. And second, because it took place in the anti-union South, with most of the agents in Florida, Texas, North Carolina and Arizona...
Trade
Interview: TPP talks unlikely to conclude in 2014, says expert Xinhua ...The trade talks of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement are unlikely to conclude this year as the United States and Japan have differences on the market access of agricultural products, a U.S. expert said Thursday...
US NGOs Warn TTIP Could Weaken Chemical Oversight Chemical Watch ...In the US, critics of the negotiations say they are wary of how the TTIP agreement could hold back work to tighten regulation at the state level; which they say is important in the face of continuing weak federal legislation. In particular, they point to investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) measures they say would allow corporations to challenge, and potentially overturn, tighter state regulations...
State Battles
Corporate executives are purchasing our states — one governorship at a time Salon ...The Republican Governor’s Association has devised a layaway purchase plan allowing brand-name corporations to make secret donations of $100,000 or more a year to the RGA in support of the corporate-friendly agenda of various GOP governors. And a lot of execs have been buying...
Supreme Court to weigh Arizona redistricting challenge Reuters ...The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to hear a challenge by Arizona's legislature to a voter-approved plan that stripped state lawmakers of their role in drawing congressional districts in an bid to remove partisan politics from the process...
One in five Wisconsin voters don't know they'll need photo ID to vote in November The Cap Times ...With the election about a month away, roughly one-fifth of Wisconsin voters are unaware that they will be required to show a photo ID at the polls on Nov. 4...
ACLU Asks Supreme Court To Block Wisconsin Voter ID Law Los Angeles Times ...Civil rights lawyers filed an emergency appeal with the Supreme Court on Thursday seeking to block Wisconsin from enforcing a strict voter ID law they say could prevent as many as 300,000 of the state’s registered voters from casting a ballot next month...
6 Ohio lawmakers defend ALEC in letter to Google cleveland.com ...Six Ohio lawmakers signed onto a letter admonishing Google for cutting financial support of conservative policy group ALEC and for accusing the organization of denying climate change...
Businessman Nik Patel Held Rick Scott Fundraiser At Home Orlando Sentinel ...Orlando hotelier Nik Patel, who was arrested Wednesday on fraud allegations, held a fundraiser for Gov. Rick Scott at his home in Windermere in April...
War On Workers
US Issues Final Minimum Wage Rule For Contractors ABC News ...Labor Secretary Thomas Perez issued a final rule on Wednesday raising the minimum wage for employees of federal contractors to $10.10 an hour. The action puts in force a step announced by President Barack Obama in February. The Labor Department said nearly 200,000 American workers will benefit from the new minimum, which takes effect Jan 1...
US: Tobacco Group Adopts Child Labor Protections Human Rights Watch ...The Tobacco Growers Association of North Carolina, which represents more than 2,300 tobacco farmers in North Carolina and neighboring states, issued a policy on October 1, 2014 stating that it “does not condone the use of child labor.” The policy says that children under 16 should not be hired to work on tobacco farms, even with parental permission...
Job Woes Linger in 29 States as U.S. Recovers Unevenly Economy in Crisis ...Nevada, Arizona and Florida are among those furthest from their peak employment during the December 2007-June 2009 downturn. Those states, along with five others – Alabama, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey and Ohio — remain more than 50,000 positions short of that level...
Why is our Infant Mortality so Bad? Economist's View ...That difference was almost entirely due to excess inequality in the US...
Hackers’ Attack on JPMorgan Chase Affects Millions New York Times ...A cyberattack this summer on JPMorgan Chase compromised the accounts of 76 million households and seven million small businesses, a tally that dwarfs previous estimates by the bank and puts the intrusion among the largest ever...
The Middle Class Is Poorer Today Than It Was In 1989 Washington Post ...the top 1 percent grabbed 95 percent of all the gains during the recovery's first three years. And that's not even the most depressing part. Even adjusted for household size, real median incomes haven't increased at all since 1999. That's right: the middle class hasn't gotten a raise in 15 years...
Rising Tides Lift All Yachts – Why the 1% Grabs all the Gains From Growth naked capitalism ...While our economy is often referred to as “market-driven”, it is actually driven by power. P. O. W. E. R...
Pro-Union Burger King Worker Disciplined For Poor Pickle Placement Huffington Post ...EYM King, which runs 22 Burger King restaurants in and around Detroit, broke labor law by threatening a worker for discussing protests while on the job; giving a disciplinary warning to a union sympathizer; and enforcing a "no solicitation" rule on its own employees. Most absurdly, the company was found to have illegally sent a pro-union worker home one day for allegedly failing to "put pickles on her sandwiches in perfect squares as she was supposed to do"...
Federal Appeals Court Rules Evidence from Warrantless GPS Tracking Does Not Have to Be Suppressed firedoglake ...In 2010, FBI agents attached a GPS tracking device to the car of Harry Katzin in order to track his movements because they suspected he was involved in the robberies of multiple Rite-Aid pharmacies. The agents did not seek a warrant from a judge...
Worker killed in south Ga. industrial accident WRCBtv.com ...a front-end loader crushed 61-year-old Isabel Gomez while he was working on a hydraulic system at an agricultural business Thursday morning...
Charter schools, civil rights and the theft of education funds The Hill ...the lax system of federal oversight of the rapidly expanding charter industry has led to the theft of more than $100 million due to fraud, mismanagement and outright theft...
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