The crushing load of student debt

People are being buried under the processes and payment of student loans, a new report released by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFRB) finds, pushing a quarter of the nation's 41 million people with student loans toward default.

The stunning findings of the CFRB are pushing the agency towards crafting new rules for the $1.3 trillion student loan market. It notes the problems are particularly acute in the servicing of student loans, which CFRB described as being unfair in part because borrowers are often mislead and assessed with unexpected fees.

As detailed in the report, the student loan market lags far behind other areas of consumer debt when it comes to defaults. And a lack of standards is a big reason why:

Student loan servicers are a critical link between borrowers and lenders. Servicers manage borrowers’ accounts, process monthly payments, manage enrollment in alternative repayment plans, and communicate directly with borrowers, including borrowers in distress. There are no consistent, market-wide federal standards for student loan servicing and servicers generally have discretion to determine policies related to many aspects of servicing operations.

This is no way to help prepare our next generation if we want it to lead this country. As the Teamsters and others have noted, the soaring cost of higher education is a major concern. The U.S. needs to make it easier for those seeking a college education to earn one, not saddle them with a lifetime of debt.

Government needs to do more to ensure student loan rates remain low so students can better afford their post-secondary schooling. And candidates for the 2016 election need to find innovative ways to address the problem. Some already have. But the hard work then needs to be done to implement the changes.

We can't allow America's future to drown in debt.

Today's Teamster News 04.02.15

Trade
Australia should fix trade deal investor protection  Financial review   ...Two weeks ago an international arbitration panel awarded a US company compensation for the way its quarry project in Canada was "unfairly" rejected on environmental and planning grounds...  
In Press Call, Progressives Announce Anti-Fast Track Activities Nationwide  Public Citizen   ...Hundreds of progressive organizations are engaged nationwide in two action-packed weeks of rallies, press events, briefings, bird-dogging events, phone banks,canvasses and more to build opposition against Fast Tracking the Trans-Pacific Partnership...
Blame Bad Trade For Hurting America's Steel Industry  Alternet   ...Sucker punched by massive, illegally subsidized imports, American steel producers laid off thousands of workers in bedrock communities from Ohio and Illinois to Texas and Alabama. That’s in just the past three months...
ISDS A Bigger Threat Than ISIS (opinion)  Wanganui Chronicle   ...The Investor-State Dispute Settlement. ISDS is a means whereby investors (read corporations) may sue a government for lost corporate profits due to regulatory barriers of the defendant country. Regulatory barriers like environmental protections, health and safety rules, generic pharmaceuticals. ISDS is part of the invasive TPPA (TransPacific Partnership Agreement), a trade agreement written to benefit multinational corporations....
Cambodian Child Labor Laws Flouted With Fake IDs  The Guardian   ...“For many children in Cambodia, the child protection situation is dire,” says Unicef’s chief of communication...
State Battles
Seattle Minimum Wage Up To $11 For Most Wednesday  KING   ...Seattle's minimum wage is increasing to $11 for most businesses on Wednesday. It's the start of a phased increase to $15 per hour over the next several years...
City Council Pushes To Raise Minimum Wage  WDAF   ...The Kansas City council will consider an ordinance to raise minimum wage within the city to $15 an hour. Mayor Sly James talked about the ordinance during his state of the city address. The ordinance would begin raising the minimum wage within the city to $10 by September and then up to $15 by 2021...
Perez And Garcetti Take Aim At Wage Theft, Minimum Wage  Los Angeles Times   ...On Tuesday, Los Angeles County supervisors voted 5 to 0 to study the possible effects of boosting wage floors at the county level. City leaders in Los Angeles are considering an increase in the minimum wage to $13.25 or $15.25 an hour from the state minimum of $9 an hour...
Oil Trains To Pay More In State Fees  Albany Times Union   ...The state will collect millions of dollars more from companies that ship oil from the Midwest in massive trains that pass through the Capital Region and other parts of the state under language contained in the state budget hammered out by Gov. Andrew Cuomo and lawmakers...
BNSF Implements New Safety Rules For Oil Trains  Flathead Beacon   ...In an effort to safely move massive oil trains from North Dakota’s Bakken oil fields, BNSF Railway has told shippers that it is implementing its own rules to try and prevent explosive derailments and accidental spills...
War on Workers
Student Debt Strikers Grow in Number and in Power  truthout   ...Just over a month ago, Waging Nonviolence reported that 15 former students of Corinthian Colleges — the beleaguered, notorious for-profit higher education system — were going on strike; not from their jobs, or from class, but from their debt. Today, there are over 100 debt strikers...
McDonald’s to Raise Pay at Outlets It Operates  New York Times   ...McDonald's announced on Wednesday that it would raise wages and offer new benefits to 90,000 employees in he 1,500 outlets in the United States that it owns and operates, responding to competitive pressure from a tighter job market and to labor campaigns drawing public attention to its pay policies...
Republicans Take Aim At Union ‘Official Time’ For Federal Employees  Washington Post   ...House and Senate Republicans have introduced bills to bar federal employees from performing union work on the government’s dime, a practice that has been allowed since 1978 under the Civil Service Reform Act...
Worker Killed In Fall At Site  New Braunfels Herald Zeitung   ...A San Antonio construction worker died as a result of an accident he had while working Tuesday in New Braunfels, a New Braunfels Police Department spokesman said. Authorities said Victor Echartea-Medina, 41, fell from about four stories up before being rushed in an ambulance to Resolute Health Hospital in town. The man died from his injuries...
Miscellaneous
DOJ Inspector General: ATF, FBI's Drones Worthless, Expensive And Completely Mismanaged  Techdirt   ...$3 million spent on drones, with only half currently considered "operational." In eight years (2006-2014), the drones have only been deployed to assist in 13 investigations, with nine of those occurring in the last four years. This may be good news for those concerned about extensive domestic surveillance, but it's not good news for those interested in how their tax dollars are being spent...

Today's Teamster News 03.18.15

Teamsters
NEW: Teamsters Organize Workers at Daniele Foods in RI  GoLocalProv   ...The Teamsters Local 251 have announced that they have organized the shipping and receiving departments, as well as drivers, at Daniel Foods in Pascoag, RI...  
Trade
House Republican Bloc Poses a Threat to Pacific Trade Deal  Wall Street Journal   ...A diverse bloc of House Republicans is threatening to join Democrats in opposition to the White House’s trade push, imperiling an effort long seen as one of the few prospects this year for bipartisan cooperation...
Lawmakers Say TPP Meetings Classified To Keep Americans in the Dark  eNewsParkForest   ...Lawmakers in Congress who remain wary of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement are raising further objections this week to the degree of secrecy surrounding briefings on the deal, with some arguing that the main reason at least one meeting has been registered "classified" is to help keep the American public ignorant about giveaways to corporate interests and its long-term implications...
Obama trade agenda becomes problem for Hillary Clinton  The Hill   ...President Obama's pro-trade agenda is a problem for Hillary Clinton, who is under pressure from liberals to oppose her former boss’s push for fast-track authority as she prepares to run for the White House...
Rep. Tim Ryan hopes President Obama sees trade agreement consequences during Cleveland visit  Cleveland.com   ... Rep. Tim Ryan hopes President Barack Obama takes a good look around Northeast Ohio on Wednesday as visits Cleveland to deliver a speech to the City Club on middle-class economics. Ryan believes such an examination would show Obama that trade agreements harmed the region's economy...
TPP Is Only Secret From You – But Trust Us, It’s Good For You  Campaign for America's Future   ...“We have to see TPP. It may not be the final agreement, but we have to see what it is,” Pelosi told reporters after the first of several House Democratic Caucus meetings to dig into details about the proposed pact with Japan and 10 other countries in the Asia-Pacific region...
Intellectual Property Issues Hinder TPP Talks In Hawaii  Japan News   ...Chief negotiators from Japan, the United States and 10 other countries in Trans-Pacific Partnership multilateral free trade talks failed to iron out differences in their one-week meeting that ended Sunday...
State Battles
'Right to work' means right to leave Wisconsin  KY3   ...The owner of a Wisconsin construction company is taking his business to Minnesota because of the passage of ‘right-to-work’ legislation in Wisconsin. His company employs 200 union workers...
Oregon is first state to adopt automatic voter registration  Associated Press   ...Seventeen years after Oregon decided to become the first state to hold all elections with mail-in ballots, it took another pioneering step on Monday to broaden participation by automatically registering people to vote...
Tampa Bay Democrats ramping up wage-theft laws  Tampa Bay Times   ...Local Tampa Bay Democrats, supported by unions, are pushing ordinances to intervene when employees say an employer has shorted their pay. The proposals are the exact kind of local "wage theft" ordinances that Republicans and retail groups have sought unsuccessfully to outlaw in Tallahassee saying they place an unfair burden on business...
Legislation Would Require Private Student Loans Be Forgiven If Borrower Dies  Consumerist   ...New York Senator Chuck Schumer announced today that he would push for legislation – called “Andrew’s Law” – that would require private student loan companies to forgive outstanding debt if a borrower dies...
War on Workers
Obama Likely To Veto Resolution To Overturn NLRB Rule  Wall Street Journal   ...If Mr. Obama were to veto the resolution, there wouldn’t be enough votes in the Senate to override his opposition, said a Democratic aide. Senate Republicans control 54 of the chamber’s seats, short of the 67 needed to override a veto...
Fixed Fortunes: Biggest corporate political interests spend billions, get trillions  Sunlight Foundation   ...Between 2007 and 2012, 200 of America’s most politically active corporations spent a combined $5.8 billion on federal lobbying and campaign contributions. A year-long analysis by the Sunlight Foundation suggests, however, that what they gave pales compared to what those same corporations got: $4.4 trillion in federal business and support...
Middle-Class Betrayal? Why Working Hard Is No Longer Enough in America  NBC News   ...even with more education, working 18-to-34 year old adults are earning less than they did 15 years ago...
Worker Killed At Plastics Plant In Cartersville  Atlanta Journal Constitution   ...A 40-year-old man was cleaning a plastics mixing machine at Syncot Plastics on South Erwin Street around 7 a.m. when he got caught in a roller bar and was dragged through the machine, said Cartersville police spokesman Maj. Mark Camp...
Va. Mine Worker Killed By Falling Rock  Richmond Times Dispatch   ...Alpha Natural Resources Inc. says a worker at one of its affiliate mines in southwest Virginia has died after being struck by falling rock. According to the Bristol, Virginia-based company, the incident occurred Monday morning at Deep Mine 41 near McClure. The mine is run by Paramont Coal Co...
Miscellaneous
U.S. Oil Prices Fall To Six-Year Low  New York Times   ...Oil prices fell to six-year lows on Monday in the face of concerns that a glut in the United States was outpacing already-brimming storage facilities. Additionally, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries published a report suggesting that the cartel remained reluctant to intervene to prop up prices...
Drop In Manufacturing Takes Shine Off Small Gain In Industrial Production  Wall Street Journal   ...Industrial production, which measures the output of manufacturers, utilities and mines, rose a seasonally adjusted 0.1% from the prior month, the Federal Reserve said Monday. Utility output surged during unusually cold weather, but factory and mining production declined, reflecting weaker demand and cuts in the oil and gas sector...
Texas Bill Would Turn Off Power To Massive NSA Surveillance Facility  Tenth Amendment Center   ...Rep. Jonathan Stickland (R) introduced House Bill 3916 (HB3916) on March 13. The legislation would prohibit any political subdivision in Texas from providing water or electricity to any federal agency “involved in the routine surveillance or collection and storage of bulk telephone or e-mail records or related metadata concerning any citizen of the United States and that claims the legal authority to collect and store the bulk telephone or e-mail records or metadata concerning any citizen of the United States without the citizen’s consent or a search warrant that describes the person, place, or thing to be searched or seized.”...

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...

Today's Teamster News 03.03.15

Teamsters
Wisconsin Teamsters Continue the Fight Against Right to Work  TeamsterNation   ...Wisconsin's indefatigable Teamsters were out in the cold wind in the state capital on Saturday, Sunday and today to protest the probable passage of a right-to-work (RTW) bill...
Hoffa to USTR and Administration: Reopen Mexican Cross-Border Trucking Issue  teamster.org   ... In a letter to United States Trade Representative (USTR) Michael Froman Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa called on him and the administration to protect highway safety and reopen negotiations over Mexican cross-border trucking as part of the ongoing Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) talks...
New Data Add Fuel to Arguments Against the Trans-Pacific Partnership  Economic Policy Institute   …New data released this month show that the U.S. trade deficit with the countries in the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) increased to an unexpectedly large $265.1 billion in 2014, as shown in the updated graph, below. This increase is further proof that U.S. workers don’t need another job-killing trade deal, which would undoubtedly grow the trade deficit even more...
Using Hokey Numbers and Neon Lies to Sell TPP (opinion)  WHAV   …TPP is not some sort of futuristic flying machine, but yet another global trade scam coming at us like a volcanic eruption straight out of hell. This thing is a “partnership” of, by, and for global corporations—similar to NAFTA, only much, much, much bigger and far more destructive both to the middle class and to our people’s sovereignty...
We need a voice: Oppose ‘fast track’ for the TPP (opinion)  The Hill   ...There’s a reason why nearly 600 national, state and local groups - including the national NAACP – signed onto a letter opposing “fast track” last fall. The people, particularly black, white, and Latino workers in North Carolina and across the south, need a voice in policies that affect our families...
TPP: Warren Versus Zients. Warren Wins  (opinion)  Huffington Post   …Jeff Zients, Director of the National Economic Council, …is parsing words. ISDS in fact allows multinationals to sue governments when they pass legislation after the enactment of the trade agreement that harms future corporate profits. The key word is "after," and all Zients is saying is that current regulations in the US, Vietnam or the other TPP nations would not be vulnerable…
State Battles
Scott Walker to sign anti-union bill that will make inequality worse  The Hill   ...Instead of acting in the interests of ordinary Wisconsinites, Walker has swallowed hook, line and sinker the anti-union extremism of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), which is linked to the Koch brothers...
Bill Black: Scott Walker’s War on Workers and the Wall Street Journal’s Cleaned-Up Coverage (opinion)  naked capitalism   …Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has channeled his inner Mitt Romney and written off an immense swath of Americans as people he would not represent if he were elected President...
Oakland's Minimum Wage Gets Big Hike Starting Monday  ABC7 News   ... The current $9 an hour minimum wage will increase nearly 36 percent to $12.25 an hour. It will be the highest minimum wage in the Bay Area...
War on Workers
How Student Debt Stunts Financial Growth  The Atlantic   ...Analysis reveals that 34 percent of students with just $5,000 of outstanding debt—hardly “high”—default on their student loans. Student debt imperils far more than just individual borrowers’ monthly budgets. It erodes higher education’s ability to deliver on the promise that those who have similar abilities and work equally hard will achieve similar outcomes...
The Suddenly Hot Job Market for Workers Over 50  Time   ...The latest data show the unemployment rate for those over age 55 stands at just 4.1%, compared with 5.7% for the total population and a steep 18.8% for teens... 
Apple, Google workers head to court on $415 million poaching settlement  Reuters   ...Workers accusing Apple (AAPL.O), Google (GOOGL.O) and two other Silicon Valley companies of conspiring to hold down salaries will try on Monday to win approval of a $415 million settlement from a U.S. judge who rejected an earlier deal as too low...
Construction worker killed at Rochester hotel site  Associated Press   …Authorities say a construction worker died after a large metal attachment from a forklift fell on his head in Rochester...
Worker killed by falling telehandler attachment in Minnesota  Equipment World   …While working on a hotel jobsite in Minnesota, a worker was killed when an attachment from a telehandler suddenly fell on top of him...
Miscellaneous
China Monthly Box Office Tops U.S. for First Time Ever  The Hollywood Reporter   ...Chinese box-office revenue edged ahead of the United States in February for the first time ever as a record Lunar New Year bonanza brought in $650 million in the second-largest movie market, according to data from research firm Entgroup...

Today's Teamster News 03.01.15

Teamsters
Teamsters picket car hauler outside GM Lordstown plant  WFMJ   …A local union gathered in Lordstown at the General Motors plant – not to protest GM, but to picket the company that transports the finished cars…
Nashville Chapter TNBC Holds Successful Awards Banquet  teamster.org   …The Nashville Middle TN Valley Chapter of the Teamsters National Black Caucus (TNBC) held its Third Annual awards banquet titled “Education and Accountability” on February 21, 2015 in Nashville, TN. The event was successful despite the icy weather conditions that night...
Trade
Wyden should side with Merkley, working families on trade agreement (OPINION)  oregon Live   …Because of his seniority on the Senate Finance Committee, Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden has a pivotal role in determining the future of the TPP… Given what we know of the trade pact, Wyden's stated concern for the middle class should make him a skeptic, if not an adamant opponent, of the TPP...
State Battles
Thousands Protest Wisconsin's Right-To-Work Bill At The State's Capitol  Reuters   …Wisconsin unions bused in thousands of workers from around the state on Saturday to demonstrate against the impending adoption of a law that would ban private sector workers from being required to join a union or pay dues...
War on Workers
Austerity Kills: Economic Distress Seen as Culprit in Sharp Rise in Suicide Rate Among Middle Aged  naked capitalism   …Suicide rates for adults between 40 and 64 years of age in the U.S. have risen about 40% since 1999, with a sharp rise since 2007. One possible explanation could be the detrimental effects of the economic downturn of 2007-2009, leading to disproportionate effects on house values, household finances, and retirement savings for that age group...
Out of Trouble, but Criminal Records Keep Men Out of Work  New York Times   …The share of American men with criminal records — particularly black men — grew rapidly in recent decades as the government pursued aggressive law enforcement strategies, especially against drug crimes. In the aftermath of the Great Recession, those men are having particular trouble finding work. Men with criminal records account for about 34 percent of all nonworking men ages 25 to 54...
Education Department Terminates Contracts With Debt Collectors Accused Of Wrongdoing  Huffington Post   …The U.S. Department of Education, under fire for its lackluster oversight of student loan contractors, said Friday it will terminate its relationship with five debt collectors after accusing them of misleading distressed borrowers at "unacceptably high rates."...
How wages in services vs. goods-producing jobs explain relative GDP growth during Recoveries (Hint: producing goods is better)  Angry Bear   …The singular difference between losses in the Great Recession and the 3 previous ones is that, in prior recessions, service jobs were relatively untouched, while in the Great Recession, nearly as many service jobs were lost (4.5 million) as were goods-producing jobs (5.0 million)...

Today's Teamster News 02.26.15

Teamsters
Hoffa: Port Driver Efforts Show The Long, Hard Fight For Justice  Huffington Post   ...The port truck industry is highly fragmented, poorly organized and grossly inefficient. Deregulation has forced trucking companies to engage in cutthroat competition. Consequently, many are gearing up to fight the efforts of drivers and the Teamsters to organize and receive a fair wage. Luckily, more and more decision makers are beginning to side with workers...
Teamsters, Consumers And Community Protest Sprouts Farmers Market  teamster.org   ...“It’s time for UNFI to stop the bullying and stop the intimidation,” said Steve Vairma, Teamsters Warehouse Division Director. “Over the years UNFI has tried to undermine workers who have asserted their rights protected by United States law, even where the Teamsters have been certified as the workers’ union through federally supervised elections. UNFI wants to destroy its workers’ fundamental rights join together to improve their working conditions.”...
Trade
The Trans-Pacific Partnership clause everyone should oppose  Washington Post   …Agreeing to ISDS in this enormous new treaty would tilt the playing field in the United States further in favor of big multinational corporations. Worse, it would undermine U.S. sovereignty...
Obama's Trans-Pacific Partnership Promises Echo Clinton's On NAFTA  Op-Ed News   …NAFTA -- the North American Free Trade Agreement -- was sold with promises of jobs and prosperity on all sides of the border. What really happened was that an increased trade deficit sucked demand and jobs out of the U.S. economy; workers lost bargaining power, resulting in pay and benefit cuts; and income inequality rose as corporations pocketed the wage differential. Now the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is being sold with literally the same promises…
Trade Crazy: The Push For Fast-Track Trade Authority (opinion)  Huffington Post   ...There are many issues in the TPP that our trading partners don't like. They don't like rules that will force them to pay more for drugs from Pfizer and Merck, nor do they like rules that will make them pay more money to Time Warner for Hollywood movies, or to Microsoft for software...
State Battles
Wisconsin Senate approves right-to-work bill  Chicago Tribune   …The Wisconsin state Senate narrowly passed a right-to-work bill Wednesday and sent it on to the Assembly, where the Republican majority is wider...
Koch-Funded Allies Descend on Wisconsin to Push Right to Work  Center for Media and Democracy   …It's a rare citizen who would rush to testify that the higher wages, benefits, and training that unions bring are a bad idea. Fortunately, the Wisconsin GOP had the full support of the Koch-funded "think tanks" that are a critical part of the right-wing infrastructure...
Registrations at Wisconsin Senate hearing overwhelmingly against right-to-work bill  Associated Press   …Opponents to right-to-work outnumbered supporters 70-to-1 at a Wisconsin state Senate public hearing that was cut short before Republicans voted to advance the bill...
Kenton County To Adopt "Right to Work" Ordinance  River City News   ...Kenton County will pass a so-called "Right to Work" ordinance at its next meeting after hearing a first reading on Tuesday night in Covington...
Missouri house passes two voter ID measures  CedarRepublican.com   …The Missouri House passed two measures Thursday, Feb. 19, which would make Missouri the 32nd state to require a government issued ID to vote...
Iowa Senate Approves $8.75 Minimum Wage Bill  Des Moines Register   ...Senate File 269 was approved 27-22 with no debate. All 26 Democrats voted for the bill. Only one Republican, Sen. Rick Bertrand of Sioux City, voted yes. Iowa's minimum wage is currently $7.25 per hour. The bill would increase Iowa's minimum wage to $8 an hour on July 1, 2015, and to $8.75 an hour on July 1, 2016...
This Billionaire Governor Taxed The Rich And Increased The Minimum Wage -- Now, His State's Economy Is One Of The Best In The Country  Huffington Post   ...The reason Gov. Dayton was able to radically transform Minnesota's economy into one of the best in the nation is simple arithmetic. Raising taxes on those who can afford to pay more will turn a deficit into a surplus. Raising the minimum wage will increase the median income. And in a state where education is a budget priority and economic growth is one of the highest in the nation, it only makes sense that more businesses would stay. It's official -- trickle-down economics is bunk. Minnesota has proven it once and for all. If you believe otherwise, you are wrong...
War on Workers
T.J. Maxx to hike minimum wage for workers  CNN Monday  …The owner of T.J. Maxx, Marshall's and Home Goods is raising wages for its workers to at least $10 an hour by next year...
JPMorgan, Still On 2-Year Probation, Under Scrutiny in Gold Fixing Probe  Wall Street on Parade   …the U.S. Justice Department is investigating at least 10 of the biggest U.S. and foreign banks for potentially rigging the gold market and other precious metals markets. That investigation comes while ongoing investigations continue into the potential rigging by big banks of the setting of interest-rate benchmarks and foreign currency...
Student Debt Strikers Take On Corinthian College  Mathbabe   …Good for them. Corinthian College is a predatory and fraudulent company which was in the business of gaming the federal loan system while making false promises to its students. Those students are victims of fraud and should not be the ones paying back the government money for an education they never got. Instead, Corinthian should pay back the money...
Iron Worker At Barclays Center Crushed To Death By Steel Beams  New York Daily News   ...A 52-year-old iron worker constructing a green roof on the Barclays Center in Brooklyn was crushed to death by steel beams on Tuesday, police said. Hardhat Peter Zepf was helping to move the massive beams — called joists — from a truck onto a hoist when four of the parts fell on him near the Atlantic Ave. side of the arena around 1 p.m., witnesses said...
Miscellaneous
Janet Yellen Puts Fed On Path To Lift Rates  Wall Street Journal   ...If the economy continues to strengthen as the Fed anticipates and officials become more confident that low inflation will rise toward their 2% goal, she said, the central bank “will at some point begin considering an increase in the target range for the federal funds rate.”...

Today's Teamster News 11.16.14

Trade
Without Freedom There Is No Free Trade (opinion)  Huffington Post   ...In 2003, Singapore signed a trade pact with the US… the results are in:...Income inequality in Singapore is higher than that in the US. While the city-state has the highest proportion of millionaires in the world, nearly 5 percent of its workforce have an annual income of less than US$5,000...
As TPP Trade Talks Miss Third Deadline, Opponents Claim Momentum  truthout   ...though negotiators for the accord, known as the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), say the process is nearing completion, critics of the deal are expressing optimism that both public opinion and political timing are increasingly against the deal...
Report Funded by Big Business Explains to Small Businesses What's Best for Them  Public Citizen Global Trade Watch   ...small firms have endured the steepest downfall of exports to Korea under the FTA (free trade agreement). U.S. firms with fewer than 100 employees saw exports to Korea drop 12 percent while firms with more than 500 employees saw exports only decline by 1 percent.
State Battles
Wall Street Takes Over More Statehouses  truthdig   ...From Illinois to Massachusetts, voters effectively placed more than $100 billion worth of public pension investments under the control of executives-turned-politicians whose firms profit by managing state pension money...
New taxes, higher fees proposed by state transportation department  Wisconsin State Journal   ...Drivers in Wisconsin would have to pay an additional $751 million in taxes and fees over the next two years if a new transportation budget request is approved...
Report: Money woes mount for some Indiana workers  Associated Press   ...23 percent of the state’s households are just squeaking by and could slip into poverty with any crisis, including medical emergencies...
How Political Donors Are Changing Statehouse News Reporting  Governing   ...A growing share of statehouse reporting in state capitols across the country comes from conservative groups, blurring the lines between journalism and advocacy...
War on Workers
Back to 1917 – the wealth distribution in the US  billy blog   ...wealth inequality has considerably increased at the top over the last three decades. By our estimates, almost all of this increase is due to the rise of the share of wealth owned by the 0.1% richest families, from 7% in 1978 to 22% in 2012, a level comparable to that of the early twentieth century...
How A Disgraced College Chain Trapped Its Students In Poverty  BuzzFeed   ...Corinthian Colleges lured students to its high-priced courses with the promise of an escape from poverty. But mired in tens of thousands of dollars of debt they will likely never be able to repay, many now feel more stuck than ever...
Walmart workers plan Black Friday protests  CNN Money   ...A group of Walmart workers is planning to protest at stores on one of the busiest days of the holiday season asking for higher wages and fair schedules...
More and more Americans are outside the labor force entirely. Who are they?  Pew Research Center   ...The share of 16- to 24-year-olds saying they didn’t want a job rose from an average 29.5% in 2000 to an average 39.4% over the first 10 months of this year...
Brothers among 4 killed in chemical leak at Texas plant  USA Today   ...a valve failed on a container of methyl mercaptan, a chemical used to make insecticide, around 4 a.m. Saturday. Plant officials don't know why the valve failed...

Today's Teamster News 11.14.14

Teamster News
Teamsters Strike, Allege Wage Theft  Los Angeles Business Journal   ...Truck drivers who work at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach walked off the job Thursday to protest two trucking firms they accuse of wage theft, according to the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which organized the action...
L.A. truck drivers strike as tension mounts at ports  Los Angeles Times   ...Some truck drivers who work at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach walked off the job Thursday, organizers said, in a protest against two trucking firms they accuse of wage theft...
Walmart sit-down strike follows strikes today by port truck drivers and federal contract workers  TeamsterNation   ...Walmart workers in a Crenshaw, Calif., store sat down on the job today, even as striking port truck drivers picketed marine terminals and trucking yards at the Port of L.A. and hundreds of federal government contractors marched off the job and onto a Capitol Hill rally...
Teamsters Local 402 Organizes Ready-Mix Drivers  teamster.org   ...Ready-Mix drivers in Huntsville, Ala., recently voted to be represented by Teamsters Local 402.  They are fighting for improved wages and fair treatment on the job...
Teamsters Stand with Students to Stop the Tuition Hikes  Teamsters Local 2010   ...Teamsters Local 2010 therefore demands the UC Board of Regents reject the proposed tuition increases and approach both the workers and students to discuss better solutions...
Bus Driver Summer Pay Bargaining Progressing; Other Issues Remain  Savannah Morning News   ...First Student school transportation provider and Teamsters Union Local 728 are nearing an agreement about year-round pay after three days of bargaining, but continue to disagree on contract and financial issues...
Concord Settles Contract With Employee Union  Contra Costa Times   ...The city has struck a deal with its largest employee union -- thus averting a threatened strike that could have crippled daily operations. Teamsters Local 856 represents 141 employees -- including administrative clerks, police dispatchers and maintenance workers -- who have been working without a contract since the end of June, despite ongoing negotiations...
William Bounds Jr.  Champaign News-Gazette   ...Bill continued his career with the Teamsters Union Local 26 in Danville as a business agent. He later was elected president of Local 26 and held that position for 30 years. Bill was also the president of the Teamsters Joint Council 65 located in Springfield for approximately 18 years, overseeing parts of four states and 30,000 members...
Trade
Flaws in granting Mr. Obama fast-track authority (opinion)  Washington Post   ...Many Republicans, especially in the House, where the real trade action is, question the constitutionality of fast-track trade authority and the wisdom of giving the president even freer rein...
Never Mind ISIS, It’s ISDS That’s The Real Threat  The Nation   ...mining corporations have taken El Salvador to court for trying to limit their right to open-pit mine the country and pollute its rivers and El Lilly has sued Canada, complaining that its patent laws have hindered profits it could make on an ADD drug...
State Battles
Right-To-Work Legislation Likely To Be On Agenda  Albuquerque Journal   ...debate is already building over the long-stymied idea of making New Mexico a “right-to-work” state. After seizing control of the state House of Representatives for the first time in 60 years, Republican lawmakers have signaled the legislation will be on the table for the coming session...
Texas GOP’s Voter ID Ploy “Worked”: Turnout Way Down, Provisional Ballots Way Up  Salon.com   ...Despite a larger population and a contested race for an open gubernatorial seat, turnout in the state of Texas was reportedly down this year... [suggesting] the Texas GOP’s strategy of suppressing the vote this year with polling place Photo ID restrictions seems to have worked...
Emergency Manager Recommended For Atlantic City  Press Of Atlantic City   ...An emergency manager to oversee the city’s troubled finances and the creation of a new public-private development corporation are part of a package of reforms Gov. Chris Christie will consider to revitalize the struggling resort town...
War on Workers
Walmart Workers Stage First-Ever Sit-In Strike  ThinkProgress   ...Workers at a Los Angeles Walmart began the first sit-down strike in the company’s history at around 2 p.m. on Thursday. The strike is to protest their low wages and a culture of retaliation at the company...
23 Arrested During Pico Rivera Walmart Protest   Associated Press   ...Authorities say 23 men and women were arrested Thursday after they blocked traffic at a Pico Rivera intersection during a protest that began with a sit-down strike inside the local Walmart...
U.S. Capitol workers, others strike for higher pay, union  Reuters   ...Hundreds of striking federal contract workers, including for the first time some from the U.S. Capitol, rallied on Thursday to urge President Barack Obama to boost pay and spur unionization...
Longtime Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship indicted  Charleston Gazette   ...Don Blankenship, the longtime chief executive officer of Massey Energy, was indicted Thursday on charges that he orchestrated the routine violation of key federal mine safety rules at the company’s Upper Big Branch Mine prior to an April 2010 explosion that killed 29 miners...
Halliburton worker killed in Colorado fracking accident  Reuters   ...An accident at a fracking site in Colorado killed one Halliburton Co worker and seriously injured two on Thursday as they tried to thaw a high-pressure water line that had frozen in record-breaking cold conditions, the company said...
Worker killed when pedestrian bridge collapses  Associated Press   ...Officials say one worker was killed and four others were hurt when a pedestrian bridge under construction collapsed at a community college in North Carolina...
Worker dies as wall collapses at Avon Lake construction site  cleveland.com   ...A construction worker died Thursday afternoon after a wall of a house collapsed on him...
Only 1 State's College Students Graduate With Less Than $20K Of Debt, Report Finds  Huffington Post   ...For the class of 2013, seven out of 10 college students nationwide carried some form of education debt when they graduated, ... The average graduate was $28,400 in the red, the report says. In six states, students graduated with an average of more than $30,000 in education debt, and only New Mexico grads came in below the $20K mark, with an average of $18,656 in school debt...
Miscellaneous
Keystone On The Move In Congress  Politico   ...In the House, Republicans quickly announced a vote as early as Thursday on a version of Landrieu’s Keystone bill with Cassidy’s name on it. When Landrieu did not object to a Republican request that Cassidy’s House bill be the measure ultimately sent to Obama — not her own — the Senate agreed to a Tuesday vote on the $8 billion pipeline...

Today's Teamster News 10.09.14

Teamster News
The Teamsters launch a television ad campaign on rail safety  Teamsters Canada   ..."We want to send a clear message to the federal government: we need more inspectors on the track," explains Robert Bouvier, president of Teamsters Canada...
Drivers Say Two-Tier System Will Give Uber, Others Unfair Advantage  teamster.org   ...Thousands of D.C. cab drivers affiliated with the Teamsters Union participated in a second “Fairness NOW!” caravan today throughout the city to demand equal regulatory treatment with private sedan services by the D.C. City Council...
A Clear Choice In November (opinion)  Detroit News   ...When you don't fight to close loopholes that encourage companies to ship their jobs overseas, you're not doing what's best for Michigan...
The Antique Car That Might Replace Horse-Drawn Carriages In NYC  Yahoo News   ...The eCarriage is the proposed replacement for all that animal-powered transportation capacity for tourists...
Trade
A New U.S. Tobacco Proposal in TPP?  Politico   ...U.S. trade officials have denied they plan to offer a new tobacco proposal in the Trans-Pacific Partnership talks in Australia later this month. The pushback comes amid growing industry concerns that the United States is discussing the idea of prohibiting tobacco companies from bringing lawsuits against TPP governments under an investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) clause...
Union Boss Len McCluskey Slams Vince Cable Over TTIP Threat To NHS  The Independent   ...unions and a plethora of NGOs are concerned about an element in the agreement which they say could pave the way for US multinationals to sue future British governments if they try to reverse the recent privatization of large parts of the NHS...
State Battles
Fla. Gov. Scott sued over finances by AG candidate  Associated Press   ..."The people of Florida don't really care whether Gov. Scott is worth $3 million or $300 million," said Sheldon. "What they care about is being able to determine whether he has a personal financial stake in the decisions he makes as a public official..."
AFL-CIO leaders decry Johnson's opposition to minimum wage increase  Minneapolis Star Tribune   ...AFL-CIO leaders on Tuesday decried what they say is Republican gubernatorial candidate Jeff Johnson’s opposition to increasing Minnesota’s minimum wage...
Philadelphia’s school reform debacle: Despised governor crosses the line  Salon   ...Parents, teachers and students have resisted full privatization, New Orleans-style, and have found themselves punished for resistance as Gov. Tom Corbett, who controls the schools after a 2001 takeover by the state, slashes school budgets, wipes out thousands of jobs, and shutters dozens of schools. The latest move by Corbett and the Philadelphia School Reform Commission (SRC), which replaced an elected school board after the 2001 takeover, is to unilaterally cancel the city’s contract with the 15,000 members of the Philadelphia Federation of teachers...
L.A. Lawmakers Lay Out Path To $15.25 Minimum Wage By 2019  Los Angeles Times   ...Six members of the Los Angeles City Council launched an effort Tuesday to take the city's minimum wage to $15.25 by 2019, a move that would be more aggressive than the pay strategy backed by Mayor Eric Garcetti several weeks ago...
Mailers Sent By Koch Group Appear Designed To Misdirect Voters In Key U.S. Senate Race  The American Prospect   ...The North Carolina State Board of Elections announced this week that it is investigating a controversial mailer the conservative advocacy group Americans for Prosperity Foundation (AFPF) sent to thousands of state residents that contained inaccurate information about voter registration...
Court Decisions On Voting Rules Sow Confusion In State Races  New York Times   ...Just weeks before elections that will decide control of the Senate and crucial governors’ races, a cascade of court rulings about voting rules, issued by judges with an increasingly partisan edge, are sowing confusion and changing voting procedures with the potential to affect outcomes in some states...
Anti-ALEC Activists Pressure eBay to Drop Conservative Group  National Journal   ...More than 80 organizations are asking the e-commerce company to follow the lead of Google and other tech giants and divorce itself from the American Legislative Exchange Council...
Rightwing Groups Try to Stamp Out Local Union Contracts  The Progressive   ...A rightwing legal group is suing the school district, school board, and teacher’s union in Madison, Wisconsin, for honoring a labor contract negotiated before the state supreme court upheld Governor Scott Walker’s divisive Act 10 law, ending most collective bargaining rights for most public employees...
War on Workers
Union blocks traffic to protest casino givebacks  Associated Press   ...Casino workers blocked traffic on a highway Wednesday night to protest demands for contract givebacks being made to keep the Trump Taj Mahal casino open...24 protesters who sat down in the intersection and refused to move when ordered by officers were arrested and charged with obstructing a highway and failure to move...
Republicans Are Trying to Make Sure Minorities and Young People Don't Vote This November  Mother Jones   ...In 15 states, this year's midterms will mark the first federal election with a host of these new voting restrictions in action...
There Were Two Unemployed Persons Per Job Opening in August 2014  Economic Populist   ...If one takes the U-6 broader measure of unemployment that includes people who are forced into part-time work and the marginally attached, the ratio is 3.9 people needing a job to each actual job opening....
Union Miners Rally At EPA To Protest New Emissions Standards  Huffington Post   ...Organizers said about 700 people made it to Washington for the protest, and another 50 or so were on a bus that arrived late. They carried signs that read "EPA Rules Destroy Good Jobs" and "EPA Rules Put Seniors At Risk," and some wore shirts that said "Stop The War On Coal."...
Burdened With Record Amount Of Debt, Graduates Delay Marriage  NBC News   ...Student loans have hit a record high of $1.2 trillion, putting a crimp in The American Dream of owning a home and starting a family. And it’s affecting the broader economy too...
Uber Skimps On Driver Training, Then Charges Drivers $65 For Basic Driver Skills Course  Forbes   ...Uber puts some drivers out on the road with no vehicle inspections and barely any training — and Uber makes them pay out of pocket if they want basic driver training, drivers say...
Worker killed at West Point Kia plant  turnto10.com   ...The worker who died during an industrial accident at the Kia production plant in West Point has been identified as 57-year-old John Edd Dunnivant, of Lanett, the West Point Police Department has announced...
Highway worker dies in Tilden, NE accident  Associated Press   ...55-year-old man has been killed while working on a highway project in northeast Nebraska...

Today's Teamster News 09.27.14

Teamsters
Hospitality union, Teamsters, quietly negotiating contract with Harrah's after employees unionize  NOLA.com   ...A pair of labor unions have for the last six months been quietly negotiating a contract with Harrah's Hotel and Casino that, when inked, would double the size of organized labor's tiny footprint in the New Orleans tourism economy...
Local 653 Secures Two Contracts For Workers At Reinhart Food, Bridgewater Public Works  teamster.org   ...Teamsters Local 653 continued its tradition of strong representation this week, securing first contracts for members at two employers – recently organized Reinhart Food Service and East Bridgewater Department of Public Works...
Why the Garbage Man Might Dislike Your Dog  New York Times   ...“I’ve had people, while I’m picking up the bags, they walk up and let the dog pee on the bag,” a trash collector named Kevin said as he paused before a townhouse on Charles Street in the West Village...
Trade
Glum outlook for reaching TPP agreement in Nov.  The Japan News   ...The forecast looks cloudy for reaching a broad agreement in November among countries participating in the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade negotiations, as Japan and the United States remain divided over specifics on sensitive issues...
Congress' Smackdown of Fast Track: Sweet 16 Bday  Huffington Post   ...Sixteen years ago today, 171 Democrats and 71 GOP Representatives united to vote down then-President Bill Clinton's request for Fast Track authority. As President Barack Obama now seeks to revive the extreme Nixon-era trade procedure, the 1998 Fast Track smackdown is worth remembering...
State Battles
ALEC Can't Hold On To Its Tech Giants Anymore  New Republic   ...With Yahoo becoming the latest company to cut ties with the American Legislative Exchange Council in a matter of days, it's official: ALEC has lost favor with tech giants. ALEC is the right-wing organization that writes model legislation on everything from unions to regulations and tries to push it at the state level...
International Paper Leaves ALEC  Common Cause   ...Spokesperson Tom Ryan told Common Cause on Friday that “we no longer have a membership with ALEC” and confirmed the company also no longer funds ALEC...
Scott Walker’s deficit, distortions, damage to state (opinion)  The Cap Times   ...Walker, who brags about closing a large budget deficit, can no longer cover up the fact his own budget manipulations will create an enormous $1.8 billion budget deficit for whoever is governor in January...
Conservative PAC Grow Missouri Asks St. Louis Journalists To Write for its Blog  Romenesko   ...Grow Missouri is a conservative political action committee funded by billionaire Rex Sinquefield – described as “the Show Me State’s version of the Koch brothers.” Apparently not knowing the ethics rules for journalists, a rep for Grow Missouri has asked St. Louis reporters – including one who covers Grow Missouri for the Post-Dispatch – to contribute to the PAC’s blog...
Los Angeles hotel workers win $15 minimum wage after city council vote  The Guardian   ...The city council voted on Wednesday night to establish a minimum hourly wage of $15.37 for employees of hotels with more than 125 rooms, a decision expected to boost campaigns for better wages in other industries and cities...
War on Workers
Amazon's new Baltimore warehouse has outdoor cages for smokers  Baltimore Business Journal   ...Jennings described security at Amazon warehouses as more stringent than airport screenings, saying the company is highly focused on maintaining strict inventory control. But the company also wants its employees to be happy, so it includes features such as the smoking cages in warehouses...
It happens: Seniors with student debt - and smaller Social Security checks  Reuters   ...The GAO found that 706,000 of households headed by those aged 65 or older have outstanding student debts. That’s just 3 percent of all households, but the debt they hold has ballooned from $2.8 billion in 2005 to about $18.2 billion last year. Some 27 percent of those loans are in default...
1 in 4 Americans 25-54 Not Working  The Weekly Standard   ...workplace participation overall is near a four-decade low...
Hyatt to pay ousted workers $1m in boycott-ending deal  Boston Globe   ...Hyatt Hotels Corp. has agreed to pay $1 million to 98 Boston-area housekeepers who were fired five years ago and replaced by lower-paid, outsourced workers...
Warren Calls for Hearings on New York Fed Allegations  Bloomberg   ...Carmen Segarra, a former New York Fed bank examiner who was fired in 2012, ...described how she felt that her Fed colleagues were afraid of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and handled it with kid gloves...
How Eric Holder Failed the Economy (opinion)  Bloomberg   ...Of 21 separate actions against major financial companies from 2009 through May 2014, only eight were accompanied by charges against individuals, and none of them were high-level executives….more than 1,000 people were charged after the savings-and-loan bust of the 1980s, and more than 100 company officers and directors served prison terms...
Oil field worker dies in mishap  Amarillo Globe-News   ...a man’s leg got caught in a ditch-digging machine. Responders provided emergency medical services on the man, but he died at the scene as a result of the injuries...
Police: Woman beheaded at Oklahoma workplace  Associated Press   ...A man fired from an Oklahoma food processing plant beheaded a woman with a knife and was attacking another worker when he was shot and wounded by a company official, police said Friday...
Chicago-area air traffic center fire grounds 1,750 flights  Reuters   ...The fire was set by a longtime employee of Harris Corp, which provides equipment and technical support for the Federal Aviation Administration facility in Chicago and many others, U.S. government officials said...
LIBRE Initiative criticized for its ties to the Koch brothers  VOXXI   ...The LIBRE Initiative bills itself as a non-profit group that pushes a message of economic freedom and limited government among the Latino community. But lately, the group has been taking a lot of heat for collecting millions of dollars from Charles and David Koch...

Today's Teamster News 09.14.14

Trade
Vietnam Rights Still Obstacle to TPP Membership  Voice of America   ...Vietnam is still facing challenges in its bid to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), despite optimism following 10 days of multi-national trade talks in Hanoi...
Chinese firms closing gap on US tech giants like Google  South China Morning Post   ...No Chinese company has wide international brand recognition, but e-commerce giant Alibaba may change that. Its initial public offering in New York on Friday, tipped to be the largest ever in the United States, has understandably gained global attention. If, as expected, US$21 billion is raised, the previous record flotation by Facebook and Visa will have been bested and its valuation could be almost as much as Amazon's. The listing will be a watershed moment for China's technology firms...
State Battles
Who’s Wrecking Michigan’s Public Education?  Democracy Tree   ...Judging by their actions, Republican lawmakers must think that the problem is too much money spent on education, given their unrelenting efforts to divert resources away from the School Aid Fund...
Ohio Has Lost 4,648 State Union Jobs Since John Kasich Took Office  Plunderbund   ...Some of these losses came when the Kasich administration privatized Ohio’s prison food service.  Kasich pitched the idea as a way to save the state money, but the contract with Aramark to provide meals to Ohio’s inmates has ended up causing nothing but problems as the company’s low-paid, poorly-trained workers have failed to show up for work, been caught having sex with the inmates and, again and again, can’t keep maggots out of the food...  
“Job Destruction” Rising Under Kasich, Top Economic Analyst Finds   Plunderbund   ...“July was the 21st consecutive month when Ohio’s job growth was below the USA national average,” Zeller, who resides in Cleveland, told ONB. “Ohio’s year over year job growth rate for July was 1.00%. The USA job growth for July was 1.92%. This was not just a one month fluke for July. It is a continual problem that has been ongoing for 21 straight months...
War on Workers
FedEx worker dies after being pinned by his delivery vehicle  Kansas City Star   ...the worker was outside of his delivery vehicle at a residence when it rolled and struck him. Authorities arrived and found the worker pinned between the vehicle and a house...
State Police Officer Dies in Pennsylvania Ambush  New York Times   ...Law enforcement officers from three states were searching on Saturday for a suspect or suspects who ambushed two troopers at a state police barracks in northeastern Pennsylvania, killing one and wounding the other...
7 women working tirelessly to attack equal rights for women  Salon   ...Here is a list of nine women who have made a career out of opposing women’s struggle for social, political and economic equality...
Student Loan Debt Burdens More Than Just Young People  New York Times   ...the number of aging Americans with outstanding student loans had almost tripled from about 700,000 in 2005, whether from long-ago loans for their own educations or more recent borrowing to pay for college degrees for family members...
Young Households Are Losing Ground in Income, Despite Education  New York Times   ...the median family headed by someone under 35 years of age earned $35,509 in 2013 dollars. Adjusted for inflation, that is 6 percent less than similar families reported in the first such survey, in 1989...
Miscellaneous
Spy court renews NSA metadata program  The Hill   ...With a surveillance reform bill stuck in the Senate, the federal court overseeing spy agencies on Friday reauthorized the National Security Agency’s controversial bulk collection of Americans' phone records...
France is a mess, and Europe is worried  Salon   ...Despite the pharaonic scale of the building work for the new railroad, the French economy has run out of steam...
Trying to Hit the Brake on Texting While Driving  New York Times   ...A chemical engineer who built a company that made motors and docking stations for NASA, Mr. Tibbitts, 57, spent the last five years coming up with a novel way to block incoming and outgoing texts and to prevent phone calls from reaching a driver...

Today's Teamster News 08.26.14

Teamsters
Teamsters concerned about cameras monitoring Massena town employees  Watertown Daily Times   ...Teamsters Union business agent Mickey S. Smith claims that town officials have refused to negotiate the use of security cameras in public areas throughout the town, but Supervisor Joseph D. Gray sees it differently...
Trade
UPS, Fedex get approval for express services in more Chinese cities  Reuters   ...After years of waiting, United Parcel Service Inc  and FedEx Corp have received licenses in China to extend domestic express package services to Beijing and other cities without needing joint-venture partners...
State Battles
New Doe document links Walker campaign, two national groups  Milwaukee Journal Sentinel   ...A newly released document alleges Gov. Scott Walker's campaign illegally coordinated with two national groups on political advertising in a way that went further than what had been previously known...
WEDC board OK'd Ashley Furniture getting $6 million tax credit, cutting 1,900 jobs  Wisconsin State Journal   ...The board overseeing the state’s flagship job-creation agency has quietly approved a $6 million tax credit for Ashley Furniture Industries with a condition allowing the company to eliminate half of its state workforce...
6 Reasons Why Rick Scott Is One of the Worst Candidates for Working Families in the 2014 Elections  AFL-CIO   ...Scott rejects policies that would raise wages. “When I hear a politician say that we have to raise the minimum wage so working families can make ends meet, I cringe,” he said...
Companies that hire disabled ordered to pay back wages  The Morning Call   ...The U.S. Department of Labor has ordered Pennsylvania organizations to pay $118,000 in back wages to workers with disabilities since 2011, according to records PublicSource obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. The workers, who mostly have intellectual and developmental disabilities, already were earning far below minimum wage because the employers have a special license to pay people with disabilities less...
The Con Artistry of Charter Schools  In These Times   ...Charter schools are such a racket, across the nation they are attracting special attention from the FBI, which is working with the Department of Education’s inspector general to look into allegations of charter-school fraud...
Missourians Fight ALEC Over Big Agriculture’s “Right to Farm”  Mint Press News   ...the conflict was essentially between large agricultural factories and consumers increasingly concerned with the sustainability and ethics behind the food they eat...
Educators protest corporate influence on public education  The Legislative Gazette   ...Protestors from New York State United Teachers demonstrated on the steps of the State Education Department building, shredding a Pearson testing contract while speaking out against what they call the growing corporate influence on teaching and learning in New York's public schools and colleges...
Ride-sharing firms shift into overdrive to kill insurance bill  Los Angeles Times   ...The fight pits companies such as Uber and Lyft against insurers, taxicab firms and some consumer advocates. At issue is how much and what kind of insurance should be required for ride-sharing drivers in case of an accident...
War on Workers
Retirees' Social Security checks garnished for student loans  CNN Money   ...It's a growing national trend. Last year, 156,000 Americans had their Social Security checks garnished because of student loans they had defaulted on. It's tripled in number from 47,500 in 2006...
Amazon at odds with Germany over strong union tradition  Seattle Times   ...Unions are a part of the cultural fabric in Germany. For Amazon, that poses a persistent challenge as thousands of its German warehouse workers fight for union recognition, striking occasionally to demonstrate their commitment...
Indiana county highway worker killed when hit by tire rim  Associated Press   ...State safety officials are investigating the death of a northwestern Indiana county highway department worker who was killed when a tire rim blew off a road grader...
McDonald's maintenance worker Jose Carillo, 81, won't let his age keep him from waging the fight for fair wages for fast-food workers  New York Daily News   ...Peruvian immigrant Castillo is paid $8.10 an hour at a Midtown McDonald's and can't afford to retire. He is one of hundreds of fast-food workers campaigning to have their wages raised to $15 an hour...
Despite Economic Recovery, Millions Of Workers Stuck In Part-Time Jobs  NPR   ...Americans who'd like to have full-time jobs are often working two or more part-time jobs to make ends meet. Some are hamstrung by increasingly difficult labor tactics used by their employers...
Taco Bell Owners Sued For Forcing Workers to Give Fake Money as Change  Jezebel   ...The operators of two Manhattan Taco Bells have been handed a class-action lawsuit alleging they forced underage workers to hand out counterfeit $20 bills to customers as change...
The Kochs' commercial appeal  Politico   ...This cycle, Koch-affiliated groups, such as Americans for Prosperity, are expected to spend up to a staggering $290 million to support conservative causes and candidates, much of it on advertising...